Salvation

Regeneration is a gradual process taking many years, involving effort, love, good works

In his book What the Bible Actually Teaches, John Odhner, who is a follower of spiritist Emmanuel Swedenborg, states: ‘Changes in our spiritual life are also gradual. They take place one step at a time, and spiritual growth will be easier if we know that it does not take place in a moment. It is an ongoing process. Jesus said, "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) Many passages in the Bible indicate that being born again spiritually will be just as much a step by step process as physical conception, gestation, birth, growth, and development. For example, Peter describes it in seven distinct steps: "Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." Only by completing this process can we be sure to enter the Kingdom of God. (2 Peter 1:5) One reason why being born again must be a gradual process is that it involves a complete change of character. "If any one be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:5) Rebirth involves new knowledge, new habits, new activities, new loves, and new awareness of the Lord. … We cannot expect to be born again in a single moment. Again and again, the Bible advises steadfastness and endurance if we wish to gain the promise of heaven. "It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." (Lamentations 3:26,27) For although it takes time, if we do our part, the Lord will certainly make it happen. "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." (Psalm 37:5,7) References from Swedenborg: Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven) 4063, True Christian Religion 601-614.

Confutation

First of all, I want to tell you what regeneration is according to the Bible. Regeneration or the new birth is a spiritual experience through which a man is resurrected spiritually, that is, through which a man is made alive for the Holy Spirit comes into his heart. The new birth is necessary in order to enter the Kingdom of God, for Jesus said that unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God (cf. John 3:3). The reason why a man must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God is that he is spiritually dead, that is, he is dead in trespasses and sins, in him there is no life, and so he is not worthy to enter the Kingdom of God, so he needs to experience a spiritual birth in order to enter the Kingdom of God. Just as a man must be born physically to enter this world, so likewise a man must be born spiritually to enter the kingdom of God.

When does the new birth take place in a man? How long does it take to be born again? The Scripture teaches that a man is regenerated or born again when he believes in Jesus Christ, for it is when he believes that he receives the remission of sins. The apostle John wrote: “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God ….” (1 John 5:1 – NKJV). You may say, ‘John does not refer to the time when a person is born of God, but he refers just to the spiritual condition of a man who believes that Jesus is the Christ!’ You are wrong, because it is evident that if a person who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, that means that when he believes that Jesus is the Christ he experiences the new birth. In other words, if a person who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, that means that a person who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ is not born of God, so it is evident that this person becomes a child of God – or is born of God - when he believes. So the new birth is a spiritual experience that takes place in a single moment. The apostle John confirms this important concept in the Gospel when he says: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:11-13 – NKJV). As you can see, John says that all those who have received Jesus, that is to say, who have believed in His name, have been born of God, so one is born again when he believes in Jesus.

Anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ can say, ‘I am born again!’ No matter how long he has been a believer, he is born again, he is a child of God, for he is in the faith, he has the Spirit of God in his heart who bears witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. All over the world there are millions of people who have experienced the new birth, and all of them confirm what I have just said, that is, what the Bible teaches about regeneration.

As we have seen, however, John Odhner affirms that the new birth is a step by step process that involves a complete change of character and that Peter describes it in seven distinct steps: "Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge self-control, and to self-control perseverance, and to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7) Did Peter mean by those words that regeneration is a gradual process taking many years, involving effort, love, and good works? Not at all, for he wrote in his first epistle: “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:22-23 – NIV). Note that Peter commanded the saints to love one another for they had been born again, and not in order to be born again. Peter confirmed that concept in his second epistle too, for before saying to the saints: “Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love” (2 Peter 1:5-7 – NKJV), he said to them: “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust …” (2 Peter 1:3-4 – NKJV). As you can see, the recipients of that letter had been given all things that pertained to life and godliness, in that they had been made partakers of the divine nature, thus they were already born again. On the other hand, since Peter told them to add to their faith virtue and so on, that means that those people had faith, therefore they had been already born again for - as we saw before – whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.

If regeneration were a gradual process taking many years, which involves effort, love and good works, an unbelieving person who is about to breathe his last – like the thief on the cross - could not have the possibility of entering the kingdom of God, for he could not be born again. That would be a great injustice toward those who are about to breathe their last. But thanks be to God for the new birth takes place in a single moment, so we are sure that if a sinner who is about to breathe his last believes in the Lord Jesus Christ he will be born again, and thus after his death he will enter the kingdom of God.

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