WRITINGS
Justification and regeneration are closely related doctrines. Regeneration occurs in believers' hearts when they receive Christ and become “born again.” It refers to an impartation of life and is God’s answer to the problem of sin and spiritual death. In comparison, justification by faith is the foundational truth of God’s provision of salvation. Justification is often misunderstood but is one of the profound truths of God’s salvific plan restored to the church from the Protestant Reformation.
To understand the imputation of sin, we must first recognize what is meant by “original sin,” the first sin of Adam, and the subsequent sinful nature inherited by every person because of his transgression. Our sinful nature is called depravity and consists of four things that are true of every man and woman ever born:
We are void of original righteousness.
We do not possess any holy affection toward God.
The depraved nature is within our hearts.
We have a continuous bias towards rebellion and evil.
The Apostle Paul said, “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). From Paul’s words, we see that we have an incredible destiny in Christ. Let us discover what it looks like.
