The doctrine of regeneration is an essential teaching in the Bible concerning salvation.

John 3:3 (NKJV)

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

In the above verse, Jesus clarifies to Nicodemus (a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council) that no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are regenerated or born again.

In the order of salvation, regeneration comes before faith. This is based on the Bible’s teaching that we are born depraved, dead in our sins and unable to believe unless God first grants us new life.

In Christ, God changes our sin-loving and God-hating nature into a desire that loves righteousness and all that is pure and true.

Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV)

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.

The miracle of salvation is a singular / one-time event. As part of the miracle of salvation, we repent, have faith, are justified, converted, redeemed, ransomed, adopted, and sanctified. 

By the power of His Spirit, God removes our spiritual blindness, raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life, and causes us to be born again from above. In the same way that we do not contribute to our physical birth, we have no part in our spiritual birth. It is all God’s work. 

When you examine salvation closely and break it down into logical parts, you must conclude that regeneration precedes  (comes before) faith. 

Prior to salvation, we are blinded by the darkness, dead in our trespasses and sin, in a constant hatred of God, and unable to know Him and comprehend all that He has to say (Ephesians 2:1; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 2:14). 

In Ephesians 4:18, Paul describes the Gentiles (the non-believers) as incapable of anything, including believing in Christ until the Spirit of God awakens their hearts. 

Salvation is a great miracle performed by God.

True faith originates with God not people

How can someone who’s dead in sin, blinded by Satan, incapable of understanding God’s things, and continuously filled with evil exercise saving faith?

Some have tried to answer that objection by asserting that, although everyone begins life with a sin nature, God restores each individual to the point of believing. The Holy Spirit is said to lead the sinner step by step toward salvation if the sinner gradually accepts the Spirit’s promptings. As a result, it is up to the individual to somehow muster enough obedience to warrant the Spirit’s ongoing involvement in their lives. There is no biblical basis for that. As Paul stated in Ephesians 2:8–9, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and not by works, so that no one may boast” (Rom. 3:19–20; Titus 3:5).

“Faith comes from God, not from people.”

Acts 13:48 illustrates this truth well: “When the Gentiles heard the preaching of [Paul and Barnabas], many of those appointed to eternal life believed.” Eternal life is a certain outcome of salvation, because it is appointed and ordained by God.

It is true that God foresees who will become believers, but it is faith that He Himself creates that He foresees. Thus, God’s foreknowledge refers not to His omniscient foresight but to His foreordination (or predetermination).

In other words, He does not merely see the future; rather, He orders it and is actively working towards it happening. The Bible clearly teaches that God sovereignly chooses who will believe in Him.

Pastor John MacArthur in his book titled saved without a doubt perfectly summarizes this;

“Much of contemporary evangelism leaves people thinking that salvation is predicated on their decision for Christ. Actually it is based on God’s decision for them. That is the emphasis of Scripture. How in the world could a person make a decision for God on his or her own? After all, an unbeliever “does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor. 2:14). Also, “the god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel” (2 Cor. 4:4). We all start off ignorant, in darkness, and dead in sin (Eph. 2:1). There is no way we can muster up enough of whatever it takes to turn around and accept Christ. God makes the first move in line with His eternal purpose.”