Gospel Basics: New Birth

[Part 4 of a series on Gospel Basics. See here Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.]

It is an entirely reasonable question to ask in what way a person becomes a partaker of the Gospel. It is the good news of the gracious God to treacherous rebels, calling them to and enabling holy life. The pressing question is: How does one receive this good news? Paul answers that very question in expounding the goodness of God:

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7)

Regeneration means new birth. This new life is the work of the Holy Spirit, without which the Gospel remains merely true words to those who hear it. God saves us through the regenerating work of the Spirit poured out through Jesus Christ our Savior. The language of the good news is inescapably trinitarian. It entails the Father, Son and Spirit. The Father saves us through the Son by the Spirit.

The effect of God's way of saving us is to procure all of the honor for Himself. We cannot claim that we were deserving, or repentant (from ourselves). Our only claim is that we were dead, and through the good news God gave us new life by His Spirit.

So where does that leave us? If you have any inclination at all to believe this devastating news, that is the work of the Spirit. When the receive the gospel on its own terms: that we were dead, disobedient, deceived and enslaved, unable to save ourselves, the only way to believe it is for the Spirit to regenerate us and renew us. Trusting God to save us is the mark of that new life. That is why Christians can boldly announce this good news to dead people: not because people are going to see that it has the best cosmology, or the best ethics, or leaves the fewest unanswered questions, but because through the proclamation of this humbling message the Holy Spirit gives new life to people and enables us to believe!