#813 Justification and Regeneration
December 11, 2022Hi Dr Craig
I had a few questions I wanted to ask about regeneration and justification. Please note, I am asking these questions so that I can have a better understanding of these doctrines
1) From what I understand, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are regenerated (John 3:5-8). Is this correct?
2) Is there a biblical/theological reason why we must be regenerated in order to enter the kingdom of God? Or is this just something we accept because Jesus taught this and we know what Jesus taught is correct (without necessarily knowing a biblical/theological reason for this)?
3) If we are justified by imputation, what is the reason that we also need to be regenerated? It seems that if we are covered by the righteousness of Jesus then I am not sure why regeneration is also required?
4) If regeneration is required to enter the kingdom of God, doesn't that mean that we are justified by imputation and regeneration?
5) What is the purpose of regeneration if we end up sinning again? I don't mean this in a skeptical way. I'm just trying to understand the biblical/theological purpose of it so that I understand this doctrine more clearly
6) What is the relationship between justification and regeneration?
I hope you can help.
God bless
Anonymous
United States
Dr. craig’s response
A
These are good questions that merit reflection. Justification and regeneration, as I understand them, belong to two different orders, one legal and the other ontological (specifically spiritual). Justification is God’s provision of a legal pardon for us of our sins and the legal imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us. Regeneration is the Holy Spirit’s initial act of sanctification, quickening us, healing our ruptured relationship with God, and restoring fellowship with God. As such, these two acts are different and complementary.
So in answer to your questions,
1) Yes, we must be spiritually born anew in order to have eternal life.
2) Yes; the reason is that spiritually dead people cannot experience fellowship with God. They have no spiritual life and so no capacity to know God. Think, by way of analogy, of the legal pardon of a criminal who is deceased. He is now innocent of his crimes, but he is still just as dead!
3) Justification and imputation are purely legal acts. They have no causal impact upon us to change us. Think of a condemned murderer whom the Governor has pardoned. The legal pardon effects no change of moral character in the criminal at all, who may be just as wicked as he ever was, though now innocent in the eyes of the law. You still wouldn’t want him as your neighbor.
4) No, because regeneration is not a legal act. It is the first step in our moral transformation, that process of sanctification of becoming more and more like Christ, fitting us for heaven. It is necessary for salvation, but is not part of justification.
5) Regeneration is necessary to set us on that path whereby we sin less and less. We are like the pardoned criminal who decides to undertake a program of moral reform, resulting in a transformed character.
6) Justification and regeneration are intimately related. I should say that they occur simultaneously in a person’s life when he places his faith in Christ. At that moment the Holy Spirit comes into him, bringing new life, and God pronounces him pardoned of all his sin and righteous in His sight.
Hope this helps!
- William Lane Craig