Anthony Hoekema (1913-1988), Dutch professor of systematic theology at Calvin Seminary last century:"It is at the moment of regeneration that the dead sinner becomes spiritually alive, that resistance to God is changed to non-resistance, and that hatred for God is changed to love. Regeneration means that the person who was outside of Christ is now in Christ. Hence this is a radical, not just a superficial change. . . .
"[R]egeneration is a total change—a change which involves the whole person. In Scriptural terms, regeneration means the giving of a new heart. And the heart in Scripture stands for the inner core of the person, the center of all activities, the fountain out of which all the streams of mental and spiritual exercises flow: thinking, feeling, willing, believing, praying, praising, and so on. It is this fountain which is renewed in regeneration. It should be added, however, that this does not mean the removal of all sinful tendencies. Though regenerated persons are new, they are not yet perfect."
--Saved by Grace (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 103-104.
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