59: Baptismal Regeneration: How It Misses the Mark

Welcome to the Ready for Eternity podcast, a podcast and blog dedicated to inquisitive

Bible students exploring biblical truths that might not be fully explored in typical sermons or Bible studies.

My name is Eddie Lawrence. In this episode we're talking about the term baptismal regeneration, how and why it misses the mark.

When we discuss biblical topics we need to define key terms clearly.

I've realized that in past conversations about baptismal regeneration I didn't always share the same definition as others in the room.

In those cases we just left confused and no real harm done, but the experience reminded me how easily unclear terms can derail a conversation.

In other settings that kind of confusion could create serious misunderstandings.

What do people mean by baptismal regeneration? Before diving in let me clarify what

I mean by each term. By baptismal I'm referring to baptism, specifically the

New Testament practice. The Greek word baptizo means to cleanse by dipping or submerging, to wash, to make clean with water.

That's the definition from Thayer's Greek -English lexicon of the New Testament. Biblically baptism involves full body immersion in water.

Sprinkling or pouring is not biblical baptism. The word rightly means immersion.

The Greek word palingenesia gives us the term regeneration.

This compound word combines pali, which means new, and genesia, meaning beginning, forming the idea of a new beginning or as some

Bible translations put it, a new birth. BDAG defines it as an experience of a complete change of life, rebirth.

In John chapter 3 verses 3 through 5, Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born of water and the

Spirit to enter God's kingdom, emphasizing spiritual rebirth. Titus chapter 3 verse 5 also describes the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit, highlighting regeneration as a spirit -driven transformation.

As I hinted at before, I've come to realize that there are three major views on what baptismal regeneration means.

Here are high -level summaries of each. View number one, sacramental or ex operae operato.

This view teaches that baptism is a sacrament which causes the new birth. A person is spiritually reborn at the moment of baptism.

In other words, the ritual itself brings about regeneration. This belief rests on the idea of ex operae operato, a

Latin phrase meaning from the work performed. According to this view, the effectiveness of baptism depends only on it being done properly.

It does not depend on the faith of the person being baptized or the spiritual condition of the one doing the baptizing.

Baptism in this framework is more than symbolic. It becomes the actual means by which

God gives saving grace and forgives sin. The faith of the recipient is irrelevant, which is why this view is embraced by those who practice infant baptism.

View number two, faith response or spirit regeneration. This view sees baptism not as a sacrament, but as the point in time when the

Holy Spirit regenerates a person. The water or the ritual does nothing by itself.

The baptizer's spiritual condition makes no difference. What matters is the faith of the one being baptized.

This is the moment when the Holy Spirit removes sin and regenerates. This timing appears as the norm in the

New Testament, however, Scripture shows that regeneration doesn't always happen at immersion.

Acts records exceptional cases where people were regenerated either before or after baptism.

Regeneration happens only when someone responds in faith to the gospel's invitation, according to this view.

And finally, view number three, the critics' conflation view or timing equals cause.

This view isn't a theology of its own, but rather a criticism. It comes from those who oppose any link between baptism and regeneration.

They argue that if regeneration happens at baptism, then baptism must cause it.

In their minds, timing equals cause. So when someone claims faith -based regeneration, if it happens during baptism, critics label it baptismal regeneration.

This view assumes that linking regeneration with baptism, regardless of the intent, makes salvation dependent on a human ritual.

Critics overlook or dismiss distinctions between sacramental and faith response views when baptism and regeneration coincide.

In my writings on baptism, I argue that the New Testament teaches the second view, the faith response or spirit regeneration view.

The baptismal theology found in the New Testament leads me to reject the term baptismal regeneration as a misnomer.

Before I summarize my reasons for this conclusion, let's reflect on Anthony R.

Cross's comments on the topic. Anthony Cross was a British Baptist, and he authored

Recovering the Evangelical Sacrament. In this book, he argues that baptism plays an essential role in the salvation process.

Dr. Jack Cottrell called it the best book on baptism since George R.

Beasley Murray's Baptism in the New Testament. Although Cross uses the term baptismal regeneration, he closely aligns with view number two, the faith response slash spirit regeneration view, or as he calls it, conversion baptism.

Chapter six of Cross's book focuses on baptismal regeneration, and he gives a historical overview and presents several important observations.

In the first three centuries of the church, most Christians held baptismal regeneration as the orthodox view of conversion.

Cross quotes Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Cyprian, and others who described baptism as the moment of regeneration.

This view persisted into the post -Nicene period, following the First Council of Nicaea in 325

A .D. Theodore of Mopsuestia affirmed the regenerating and renewing power of baptism.

Cyril of Jerusalem also upheld the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. Augustine, 354 to 430

A .D., initiated a shift in thought regarding baptismal regeneration. He argued that baptismal supported infant baptism.

In the following centuries, the church developed his ideas into the doctrine of ex opera operato.

John Calvin, 1509 to 1564 A .D., following Augustine's example, upheld infant baptism, teaching that baptism signifies union with Christ and the regeneration of the elect through the

Holy Spirit. He argued that only the elect receive the Spirit who regenerates them before baptism.

Rooted in predestination, this view influenced the Westminster Confession and shaped early evangelical and Calvinistic Baptist theology.

Although many modern evangelicals have distanced themselves from sacramental views, Calvin's legacy still resonates in their understanding of baptism.

Cross notes that Ulrich Zwingli, 1484 to 1531 A .D., did what no one in church history had done before.

He severed baptism from faith. Evangelicals, especially Baptists, have largely adopted a

Zwinglian view of baptism as merely symbolic. This perspective, which separates baptism from faith and regeneration, rejects both sacramental theology and the idea that baptism imparts grace.

Their discomfort with the notion of spiritual benefit through physical means has led them to dismiss baptismal regeneration altogether.

Cross goes on to make a bold and confident assertion. The reason why baptismal regeneration has featured in the writings of the church's theologians and in its initiatory rites is because it is present in the

New Testament. This is a bold and contentious statement, but one which, quite simply, the evidence of the

New Testament demands. The majority of evangelicals have rejected this in large measure due to their emphasis on a form of justification solified that has not seen baptism as faith baptism, set the spiritual and physical in opposition, and, more importantly, because of the development of the ex -uperoperative views of baptism that owe so much to Augustine and his doctrine of infant baptism and original sin.

The New Testament teaches that immersion is inseparably linked to salvation.

However, I take issue with the term baptismal regeneration. In my opinion, we're better off thinking in terms of Holy Spirit regeneration.

This isn't meant to sidestep the modern stigma surrounding baptismal regeneration. Rather, it more accurately describes the one who does the regenerating.

The waters of baptism do not regenerate, nor does the ritual itself.

In fact, it is the Holy Spirit who regenerates. Several Bible passages support this idea, such as John 3 5 -8,

Titus 3 5, 1 Corinthians 6 -11, and Romans 8 -11, to name a few.

Far from denying the importance of baptism, a Holy Spirit regeneration framework affirms it as the defiantly appointed moment of response where faith, confession, repentance, and immersion converge, and the

Spirit gives new life. In the end, regeneration isn't about the water, it's about the

Spirit. Immersion plays a vital, God -ordained role in our faith response, but the water isn't the source of new life.

The New Testament consistently presents regeneration as the Spirit's work, received through faith, not through ritual.

While baptism marks the moment of that transformation, baptism isn't directly the cause.

That's why I believe baptismal regeneration is a misleading label. It shifts the focus away from the

Holy Spirit and obscures the dynamic of faith and grace at work in salvation.

If we want to speak biblically and clearly, we should say what the

New Testament says. The Spirit gives life, and He does so when faith meets

God's appointed means of responding to the gospel. Thanks for listening to the podcast.

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