Seeds Before Fruit: Explaining the Necessity of Regeneration and the Priority of the Gospel

One of the telltale signs of biblical ignorance is over-spiritualizing the Bible.

We humans have a hard time admitting our faults, so when we face an experience we don’t understand, it’s quickly labeled as luck, destiny, or some spiritual phenomenon.

It’s all a mystery that can’t be learned or studied. And who are we to try and grasp the unknowable?

That’s the mindset many professing Christians have. To them, the faith is about feelings, signs, and wonders, not a system of revealed truth.

I’ve never been a fan of that mindset.

When I was younger, I was exposed to many people who spoke often of God, but who couldn’t point you to verses that explained what God actually does. These people judged Scripture by their experiences instead of the other way around, and that always rubbed me the wrong way.

I knew God didn’t give us a huge Book just for us to figure life out ourselves. That’s why I love theology today. It shows us the logic and reason behind all this stuff that seems unknowable.

When we do things “by the Book”, we don’t have to make up explanations. We just work within the frame of what God has already revealed.

That’s why I’m cautious when I evaluate claims my believing peers make. No, it’s not that I don’t trust them. It’s that I trust the Bible more. And when we go beyond what it explicitly says, we open ourselves to all kinds of false teaching.

But now with that said, it’s also important that we don’t under-spiritualize the Bible either.

There are significant spiritual truths that can’t be explained by our limited reasoning. And today, I’ll cover one of those truths.

Regeneration: What Is It?

Back in May, I wrote a post about God’s sovereignty in salvation. That post was all about predestination and election—two of the most interesting topics in the Bible.

I encourage you to read about those if you haven’t already, but another term I briefly explained there was “regeneration”. And that’s a doctrine I need to cover more thoroughly.

So let’s ask again: What is regeneration?

Regeneration is an experience that’s more commonly called “being born again”. It’s a transformative event Jesus described in John chapter 3:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:3-8 ESV)

Now let’s unpack a few things here.

First, Jesus says “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” So this new birth is a prerequisite to entering God’s kingdom.

A lot of people think Jesus is referring to heaven here—the place Christians claim they go when they die—but that’s not exactly what the verse is saying.

The “kingdom of God” isn’t just a future location. Jesus spoke often about the kingdom being present among His contemporaries (Luke 17:20-21 NIV, Mark 1:15, Luke 10:9). So the kingdom of God isn’t only a future concern.

Paul’s later writing confirms this when he says, “For [God] rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13 NASB).

This transfer occurs the moment we trust in Christ for salvation. So the kingdom of God’s rule isn’t just a future promise; it’s also a present reality.

Now going back to John chapter 3, Jesus said we must be born again to enter this kingdom. Or in other words, we must be regenerated to become true Christians.

After this explanation, Nicodemus, who was one of Israel’s teachers, recognized the miraculous nature of those words. That’s why he asked “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Of course, Nicodemus was off base with these questions. The birth Jesus described wasn’t natural, but spiritual. So He clarified that one had to be “born of water and the Spirit”. And this is where things get interesting.

Many people think the “born of water” part refers to our natural birth or even to water baptism as a salvation requirement, but neither of these is the case.

One of the biggest rules of biblical interpretation is that Scripture interprets Scripture. If we don’t understand a particular verse, we need to see where similar words or teachings are found elsewhere in the Bible.

Almost every major New Testament doctrine was prophesied in the Old Testament. And this is the case with Jesus’ teaching that one must be “born of water and the Spirit”.

God used the prophet Ezekiel, who lived more than 500 years before Jesus’ birth, to prophesy about this experience:

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezek. 36:25-27; also see Jer. 31:33, Deut. 30:6)

The original context of this passage referred to Israel, but these verses also foretold how God would work in all New Testament believers.

The water God mentioned symbolized a cleansing effect. And this effect is what Jesus referred to in John chapter 3.

As a teacher of the Mosaic Law, Nicodemus should have also recognized this as a reference to ceremonial cleansing in the Old Testament (see Num. 8:7, Num. 19:20).

The author of Hebrews tells us that the rituals from the Old Testament foreshadowed greater spiritual realities in the New (Heb. 10:1 NLT; also see Col. 2:16-17). And ceremonial cleansing with water was one of those symbols that foreshadowed regeneration (see Heb. 10:22 ESV, Titus 3:5 NASB).

Jesus used these allusions to show that people can’t just enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9-10). They have to be cleansed, reborn, and regenerated first (1 Cor. 6:11).

How exactly does this happen?

Well, we don’t know.

Yes, God cleans a person and places His Spirit within them, but the details are a mystery to us. That’s why Jesus said “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

God’s Spirit is like the invisible wind. We can’t see Him but we see His effects. And these effects are what I’ll cover next.

Signs of Regeneration

In a previous post, I said, “The Bible is not a rulebook that shows us how to be good people. It’s a map that points us to the Person who makes people new”.

This doctrine of regeneration is what I was getting at.

Too often, the Church is treated like a political party or a group with a shared ideology—as if we’re all just a weird book club that’s obsessed with a dead Jewish guy.

That’s what the world thinks Christianity is, but this is far from what the Bible describes.

True Christians are members of God’s kingdom. And what is the biblical requirement to enter God’s kingdom?

That’s right, regeneration.

Biblical Christians are not rule-keepers with better morals. They are entirely new creations (2 Cor. 5:17, Gal. 6:15 NIV, Rom. 14:17).

Now of course, that’s an awesome statement and a profound truth, but skeptics will still find fault.

Every religion has some claim on the supernatural. So how would they know if this change really worked?

Well, let’s go back to the Bible.

Scripture says a lot about the proof of regeneration. And the following traits are a quick summary:

Reverence for Jesus as God in the flesh (1 Cor. 12:3 ESV, 1 John 4:2, 1 John 4:15 NIV)
No habitual practice of sinning (1 John 3:6 ESV, 1 John 3:9 ESV, 3 John 1:11)
Resistance to worldly philosophies and temptations (1 John 5:4-5, 1 John 5:18 NLT)
Understanding of biblical truth (1 Cor. 2:12, 1 Cor. 2:14 NIV)
A life filled with good works (1 John 2:29 NIV, Eph. 2:10, Titus 2:14 ESV, James 2:17)
Love for God, His commands, and other people—especially other Christians (1 Cor. 8:3, 1 John 2:5 NIV, 1 John 3:14, 1 John 4:7 NASB, 1 John 4:16 NIV)
And finally, the all-encompassing fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23, Eph. 5:8-9 NLT)

It’s easy to call yourself a Christian but it’s hard to fake being regenerate. Will power can only do so much. Without a supernatural rebirth, no human will consistently show those traits.

Many modern churches overlook this point though. At worst they don’t believe it; at best, they lack confidence in it. But the Bible clearly says that regenerate people show specific traits.

I think the main reason we neglect regeneration though is due to its mysterious nature. We don’t fully understand it and it’s rare to know when it happens.

Adults who become Christians are actually the ones most likely to believe this doctrine. They experienced a shift in desire that led to a drastic change from their former life (see Eph. 2:4-5, Col. 2:13).

Things were different for those of us who were saved at an early age. We didn’t immerse ourselves in unregenerate lifestyles, so it was hard to notice a difference.

We only had time to get our feet wet before we realized the pool was actually a tub of sewage. But the truth is, we were born again too.

The Necessity of Regeneration

So now that we know how regenerate people act, what about those who haven’t been changed?

Well, the Bible has a lot to say about them too. And unfortunately, it’s not good.

I’ve covered the natural state of people many times before, so I won’t go into detail here, but Paul sums it up well in the following verse from Romans:

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. (Rom. 8:7 ESV)

The unregenerate live life according to “the flesh”—that is, their sinful nature. And Paul tells us three facts about the sinful mind here:

It is hostile to God.
It doesn’t submit to God’s commandments.
It cannot submit to those commandments.

Sin has affected us all so much that we don’t—and can’t—naturally please God (Rom. 8:8).

Our natural inclinations don’t just affect our desire to live godly lives. They also destroy our ability to do so.

People think they’re being trendsetters when they burn Bibles and mock the Christian faith, but really, they’re proving the Bible right.

The unregenerate want nothing to do with God or His commands because their nature inclines them to disobey. And the fact that we expect better from them is an indictment of our bad theology.

Case in point, a popular rap song debuted earlier this year that ruffled a lot of feathers in conservative circles. I won’t mention the song’s name though, and frankly, I can’t because the full title is too vulgar.

Anyway, I still listen to secular music but I knew this one was far beyond my tolerance level, so I didn’t bother listening. But what was interesting to me was the whole “we’re better than this” sentiment that rose online.

People were shocked by the raunchy lyrics, they petitioned for the song’s removal, and they bemoaned this obvious sign of our culture’s moral decline.

It was quite the backlash indeed, but the only thing I thought was, “Why are you surprised?”

Why are you surprised when sinful people make sinful songs about how much they love sinning?

Does your jaw drop in awe when you hear a dog bark? Do you double take when you see pigs roll in the mud?

This is what unregenerate people do (Gal. 5:19-21 NIV).

John Lennon wanted us to think of what the world would be like without “religion”. Well guess what? Now you don’t have to imagine.

Humanity will always devolve to what it really is when God is out of the picture (Rom. 1:28 NASB). That’s why all these secular moral movements and false religions are doomed to fail: they all have a fundamental error in their belief about human nature.

Now don’t get me wrong, the unregenerate are still capable of doing “good” things. But their actions won’t stem from godly motives, and their morality won’t fully align with God’s absolute standard (see James 2:10).

Sure, you can convince them that abortion is wrong, but they’ll still crave unrestricted sex. Yeah, you can curb their racist actions and attitudes, but they’ll still equate the homosexual lifestyle to being black.

Making the unregenerate conform to God’s moral standard is like plugging holes in a leaky dam. You can always plug the first two or three leaks, but five more will open up next.

The Priority of the Gospel

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. (1 Cor. 15: 3-5 ESV, emphasis added)

Once you know the difference between regenerate and unregenerate people, it’s easy to see why rule-keeping, self-improvement, and education won’t save us. That’s why it’s so frustrating when churches devote all their energy to those solutions.

The Church is the only group of people with the ultimate answer to our condition. And while those other actions are well-intentioned, we have to treat them like the band-aid solutions they are.

The only message that can truly save is the gospel and it’s transformative power, so we can’t let skepticism keep us from sharing it (see Rom. 1:16).

Yes, people will doubt its effectiveness. They’ll say we’re fools for believing it and that it doesn’t solve the world’s biggest problems, but that’s okay.

The Bible says people will do that (1 Cor. 1:18-25). Yet we’re still commanded to share it anyway.

Why is that you ask?

Because it’s the means God uses to make us alive (Rom. 10:17 ESV).

James wrote that God “chose to give us birth through the word of truth” (James 1:18 NIV), and Peter wrote that believers “have been born again…through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23 ESV).

The message of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection isn’t just a ticket to Heaven when we die. It’s also a seed we plant to bring new life right now (see Matt. 13:3-9, Matt. 13:18-23).

The results of our planting are up to God (John 1:13, 1 Cor. 3:7), but if we don’t plant at all, new life won’t come (Rom. 10:14).

That’s why the gospel is of “first importance”. Apple seeds have to be planted before you get apples. Likewise, the seed of the gospel must be planted before the Spirit’s fruit shows up.

We have to remember that every New Testament epistle was written to people who were already Christians (i.e. they were regenerate). The Gospels were written so people would believe (John 20:31), but the instruction was for people who already took that first step.

If our audience isn’t “in Christ”, our moral appeals will fall on deaf ears. But if we birth more members of the kingdom in this world, we won’t have to try so hard to make this world look like the kingdom.