Before spiritual awakening, individuals exist in a state of spiritual death—separated from God through transgression and sin. (Eph 2:1–5) The transformation from this condition involves several interconnected divine actions that occur at the moment of conversion.
When the Soul Becomes Alive
Spiritual rebirth refers to God’s act of making a person alive spiritually through the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, by which sinners receive new spiritual life enabling them to relate to God in faith, love, obedience, and delight.[1] This regeneration happens at the moment of conversion.[1] God, motivated by great love and rich mercy, makes individuals alive with Christ even while they remain dead in their transgressions. (Eph 2:1–5)
The Relationship Between Regeneration and Faith
A crucial theological question concerns the sequence: Does faith produce regeneration, or does regeneration produce faith? While the logical relationship between the Spirit’s regenerating work and a sinner’s repentance and faith has generated considerable discussion, biblical language emphasizing regeneration as movement from death to life and as sovereignly worked by the Spirit appears to favor the view that faith itself is a gift from God.[1] The illustration of human infants breathing because they have been born—not in order to be born—parallels how Christians “breathe spiritually” (repentance and faith) because they have already received life from their heavenly Father.[1]
The Baptism of the Spirit
At Pentecost, when the disciples gathered together, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1–4) Believers are baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body, and all are given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Cor 12:13) This Spirit-baptism occurs at conversion, empowering believers for witness and transformation.
The remaining biblical passages emphasize that those who receive Christ and believe in his name are given the right to become children of God, born not of natural descent or human decision but born of God (John 1:12–13), and that faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. (Rom 10:17)
[1] Kendell Easley, 52 Words Every Christian Should Know (Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2010). [See here, here, here, here.]
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