Regeneration means that one has been born again or born from above (Jn. 3:3, 5, 7, 8). The new birth is the work of God, so that all those who are born again are “born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:8). Or, as 1 Pet 1:3 says, it is God who “caused us to be born again to a living hope” (1 Pet 1:3). The means God uses to grant such new life is the gospel, for believers “have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23; cf. Jas. 1:18). Regeneration or being born again is a supernatural birth. Just as we cannot do anything to be born physically – it just happens to us! – so too we cannot do anything to cause our spiritual rebirth.
— Thomas Schreiner (b. 1954), Theologe und Neutestamentler
Related Bible passage: JHN.3.3
Topics: Grace & Redemption, The Bible & the Word of God
Occasions: For Reflection
Thomas Schreiner
Thomas Schreiner (* 1954) ist ein US-amerikanischer Theologe und lehrt seit 1997 als Professor für neutestamentliche Exegese am Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Er vertritt eine reformiert-baptistische Theologie, verteidigt das traditionelle Rechtfertigungsverständnis gegenüber der Neuen Paulusperspektive und befürwortet komplementäre Geschlechterrollen in Gemeinde und Ehe. Bibellesern dienen seine Kommentare und Studien als sprachlich präzise, am griechischen Grundtext orientierte Auslegungen des Neuen Testaments.
All quotes by Thomas Schreiner (5)
It wasn't the nails that held Jesus to the cross. It was love.
Max Lucado
Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part.
Philip Yancey
In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.
Henri Nouwen
God does not love us because we are lovable, but because his nature is love.
Oswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers
God counts on your failure far more than you do yourself.
Hans Peter Royer
Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.
Henri Nouwen
The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.
Tim Keller