Doctrine of Salvation Part 11: How Regeneration Occurs

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and "shelter-in-place" recommendations, Dr. Craig gives this lecture from the safety of his home office.

"Defenders" is Dr. William Lane Craig's weekly Sunday school class on Christian doctrine and apologetics. This video is part 11 of his locus on the Doctrine of Salvation.

We welcome your comments in the Reasonable Faith forums:

[happykidsproduction]

Nice our dear Dr.wiilliam lane.

I m from India, we listen to your doctrines. Of doctrine of man, salvation. And other videos.

It's really helpful to our spiritual growth with the Truth.

We are doing ministry among children and youth.

As I saw your quotes of the need to teach the right Doctrines and and apologetics.
We are following your quotes to reach many unreached.

Thank you uncle .

[ht]

Excellent exposition of what regeneration is!

[samuelcallai]

great exposition! So important to say that believing in Christ implies welcoming him and devoting your life to him and the passage of John 1 shows that so well. I hate how that notion is not obvious in the midst of evangelical community. They give room to "cheap grace" by not understanding the proper relation between faith and works, which James clearly exposed

[reynaldodavidJo]

Thanks Dr. Craig, you explain it beautifully and clearly... However, not being arrogant, I just want to comment what I believe about Regeneration. Regeneration happened only during and after the day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2, When God poured out the Holy Spirit to all the disciples of Christ... =>>> I cannot agree with you also that the Holy Spirit comes to us in place of Christ during the absence of Christ when Christ ascended to heaven... =>>> Because the disciples received the Holy Spirit, only 10 days after Jesus ascended to heaven... =>>> And in Romans 8:9-10, It did not say that the Holy Spirit Replace Christ... Thanks to Dr. Craig, and to any one who reads my comment... May the blessings of Jesus Christ be with us all....

[andrej]

repentance from unbelief to believing on Jesus is what saves. that is the gospel.

true belief will most definitely bring forth repentance of sins and fruit (some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty).

just how much repentance of sins/old life is required before one is saved? the answer is nobody has 100% repented of every sin or area of their old life. therefore what is the standard? 90%? 80%?

[jamesbertram]

why do you ignore Acts chapter 26v26, and First Peter chapter 1v30, and v22-25

[kylehardaway]

PLEASE READ

Beginning at 11:00 Dr. Craig said we receive the Holy Spirit when we believe (John 1:12, 13). But that's not what the scripture says. It actually says, "12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God." There is no mention of the Spirit. By accepting Jesus, we have the right to become children of God. But that alone does not make us a child of God. No one could be born again if it were not for Christ's resurrection.

By faith in Christ we are baptized. In this way, we become children of God.
Galatians 3
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Jesus said we must be baptized into the Holy Spirit. It is in baptism that we are united with Christ and the Holy Spirit, not by belief alone. No one is in Christ unless they are baptized into Christ.
Matthew 28
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. ~ Jesus

We are united with Christ and are born again based on our resurrection union with Christ in baptism. If we die in baptism, He gives us new life.
Romans 6
1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

Baptism is a spiritual event that provides Christ room for the removal of our sin on a spiritual level. This is not works on our part to be saved. We come to Christ in baptism to have our sins removed. It's a surgical procedure done in the spirit. No one can remove their own sin. He gives us new life by removing our sin.
Colossians 2
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised, ” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

At 16:00 Dr. Craig began his invitation to receive Christ. He said there's no recipe. But he did offer a prayer. However, there are no suggested prayers in scripture. The recipe to receive Christ is found in scripture. It is to believe and be baptized.
Mark 16
16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. ~ Jesus


Acts 2
38 Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ~ Peter

Man cannot become righteous on his own. It is up to God. No one can fulfill righteousness without baptism. Jesus made this command. It is necessary. That is why even He was baptized. Without Jesus' baptism, the appearance of God and, the Holy Spirit, (three in one) would not have taken place. If Jesus needed to be baptized, how much more do we?
Matthew 3
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

God Bless

[danshep]

Hey Dr William Craig I am struggling with the fact that I want to change and be a regenerate Christian, however I struggle with the same sin every day even though I know what I am doing is wrong I keep doing it. Do you have any advice, if you see this comment.
All the best
Dan

[Jr-bueb]

So... In the beginning of the video, Dr. Craig argues from John 3 that being born again is "out of human control" because "the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from or where it is going, so is everyone who is born of the spirit"... Meaning that there is nothing that we can do and that regeneration is a sovereign act of God.
Yet, in the rest of the video, Dr. Craig argues that an individual first has to 1) repent 2) believe and ask the holy spirit to regenerate them. How does this fit John 3? That's not what Jesus told Nicodemus, was it?

Dr. Craig also adressess John 1:12-13, but seems to ignore the fact that it says that those who received Him are not born because of the will of the flesh or the will of man.
Yet, Dr. Craig argues that we ARE born again because our human, fleshly will chooses to put his trust in Christ, not realising that John is describing those who believe as being born of God prior to receiving Him (see also 1 John 5:1).

How is this 'exposition' not a very obvious contradiction in Dr. Craig's interpretation of the Scriptures?

[somerandom]

I love how the comments are disabled on most of your videos.

Probably because you don't like people pointing out how unreasonable your faith is.