Revised February 13, 2013
The following table briefly summarizes various historical views of regeneration, some of which link regeneration with infant baptism. The table, for the most part, is based on material found in Bruce Demarest, The Cross and Salvation: The Doctrine of Salvation, Crossway, 1997, chapter 7.
| View | Persons | Teachings regarding Regeneration |
|---|---|---|
| People regenerate themselves | ||
| Religious liberalism | Rauschenbusch Abbot |
Everyone is already a child of God. Regeneration is merely self effort at following the example of Christ, and results in social and ethical improvement. |
| Liberation theology | Gutierrez | Each person, responsible for his own regeneration, must break his servitude to established institutions, religion, etc., and help forge his own just society. |
| Process theology | Lewis Ford Norman Pittenger |
Regeneration involves subjective inspiration (coming from Jesus, Plato, Buddha, etc.) and our efforts to make ourselves new. |
| Synergism: People and God cooperate in regeneration | ||
| Pelagianism | Pelagius Charles Finney |
People are not completely spiritually debilitated by an inherited sin nature so they have the ability, in cooperation with God, to change their disposition toward God. Thus they perform their own personal and moral reformation, which is their regeneration. |
| God (and parents) through the sacrament of baptism effect regeneration | ||
| Roman Catholicism | Augustine |
Regeneration occurs through the sacrament of baptism (usually infant baptism). After the Second Vatican Council (1965) the "baptism of desire" often replaces actual formal baptism, as long as one (inside or outside the R. C. church) strives to lead a good life. |
| Lutheranism | Luther |
Regeneration, freedom from sin, becoming children of God, all occur at baptism. At that time the infant exercises a simple, rudimentary faith, which he/she will ratify when older. |
| Anglicanism (Church of England) | Baptism grafts the individual into the church and provides forgiveness of sin, adoption as God's children, and eternal salvation. | |
| God, through parents and the covenant, regenerates | ||
| Covenant Reformed (presumptive) |
John Calvin | Baptism represents the fact that the infant of believing parents already possesses the "seed" of regeneration, which is an extended process. |
| Covenant Reformed (promissory) |
W. G. T. Shedd | Baptism, while a sign and seal of the covenant, provides only potential or latent regeneration. The individual must personally repent and believe later. |
| God alone regenerates | ||
| Reformed Evangelicals | Millard Erickson Bruce Demarest |
Based on God's particular effectual calling, the individual repents and believes, and then becomes regenerated by God. |
| Arminianism | James Arminius John Wesley |
Based on God's general prevenient grace, the individual repents and believes (which is not a work), and is therefore regenerated by God. |