I received a text message asking me to post my thoughts on whether regeneration - the Christian doctrine of receiving of a new spiritual nature, also called new birth - precedes or follows man's act of faith in Christ's person and redemptive work.
I have written pretty frequently on this subject and will make reference to those previous posts, but to give a straight answer, yes, there is a sense in which regeneration precedes faith. That sense however has to do with logical priority, not chronology. This is to say that the Christian experience of faith and regeneration are simultaneous in time. This much is easily understandable if not immediately apparent. Within Christianity there is no possibility of a person having real faith and yet being unregenerate. Neither are there regenerate persons who lack real faith in Christ. So, in order of chronological occurrence in time, the two occur simultaneously.
However, in the mind of God and according to the acting of His Spirit, regeneration is a sovereign and monergistic act whereby God of His free grace crucifies and subdues the Old Man, and imparts a new nature or "heart" after the pattern of Christ. This new nature and sudden freedom from bondage to sin always enables and draws forth from man a willing faith in Christ alone for righteousness. Without regeneration and the new nature it entails, man universally chooses darkness over light. He is "almost persuaded" but "does not seek God."
If nothing else on this site, here are three personal articles I recommend:
Part I - The Relative Freedom of the Will
Part II - Duty doesn't mean ability: Imperatives versus Indicatives
Part III - Ongoing interaction with opponents of Free Grace
Now that you've read those, here are excerpts from past articles:
From, "Christ, the Do-All of the Gospel"
From, "A letter on graciously responding to opponents of free grace"
From, "Statement of Faith and Primary Doctrines"
From, "How were the heavenly things purified?"
From, "The restful work of faith"
From, "Update: God's Will for Your Life." This article is a decent overview, but here is a snippet.
From, "Neither Calvinism nor Arminianism"
From, "Webster on Theology"
From, "So what's the difference?"
From "Where can I go to learn about the Doctrines of Grace / TULIP?"
So there you have it! My longest post ever.
Was this helpful to you? Please share. Thanks!
© Michael Spotts:. 2010
———————
You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this article in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and that you do not charge any fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For printed copies, as well as web posting, please include the following statement:
By M. Benjamin Spotts:.
Copyright © The Open Life
www.theopenlife.com
Titus 3:3-8
I have written pretty frequently on this subject and will make reference to those previous posts, but to give a straight answer, yes, there is a sense in which regeneration precedes faith. That sense however has to do with logical priority, not chronology. This is to say that the Christian experience of faith and regeneration are simultaneous in time. This much is easily understandable if not immediately apparent. Within Christianity there is no possibility of a person having real faith and yet being unregenerate. Neither are there regenerate persons who lack real faith in Christ. So, in order of chronological occurrence in time, the two occur simultaneously.
However, in the mind of God and according to the acting of His Spirit, regeneration is a sovereign and monergistic act whereby God of His free grace crucifies and subdues the Old Man, and imparts a new nature or "heart" after the pattern of Christ. This new nature and sudden freedom from bondage to sin always enables and draws forth from man a willing faith in Christ alone for righteousness. Without regeneration and the new nature it entails, man universally chooses darkness over light. He is "almost persuaded" but "does not seek God."
If nothing else on this site, here are three personal articles I recommend:
Part I - The Relative Freedom of the Will
Part II - Duty doesn't mean ability: Imperatives versus Indicatives
Part III - Ongoing interaction with opponents of Free Grace
Now that you've read those, here are excerpts from past articles:
From, "Christ, the Do-All of the Gospel"
O! the revelations that will come when we look upon Christ and see the books opened. We shall not find therein records of our own wills, but of "Him that worketh in you both to will and to do." We shall not read of our good intentions, but of God who "foreordained good works that we should walk in them." With covered mouths, the heavenly crowns will be handed back to Christ, the Do-All of the Gospel. God's final mercy will be to reward the very dispensations of His grace.
I spoke with Mormons yesterday who described their faith, that "God will help us get to a better place." I asked to what extent God helps. "Enough so that we can make it, yet not so much that we cannot fall away." I pointed out the ramification of their words. Their actual faith was decisively in themselves to make the best use of what God had given them. In their view, God had done all He could and now they must exert their wills beyond the extent of His help to finally merit their salvation. Remarkably, they nodded! Yet how many professing Christians would, if pressed, be found to believe that same false hope? It was certainly my belief at one time.
Paul says it so beautifully, in Titus 3, that "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, andrenewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
The wonder of the true gospel, as illustrated in the soteriology of Calvinism, is not that men are freed from fear of judgment so that sin may abound (God forbid), but that those who believe they are presently saved receive definite promises of holiness and perseverance by the Spirit given to the Elect. Having faith in Christ's real atonement and unconditional election to final salvation, we take comfort that, by His grace, we shall endure.
My whole theology is summed up in this: I trust Christ planned to save me, has saved me, shall save me. I believe His everlasting love for His chosen people will provide all the means necessary to guarantee that His redeemed will endure, so that not one who was born again shall be lost. I believe I am one of these because of the faith in Him which God has given me. When I heard Jesus proclaim, "All who come to me, I shall in no wise cast out," I ran to Him that cannot lie. I beat my chest like the publican on the temple steps, God forgive a wretched sinner! and then read in Psalm 51, " The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." From where came this humbled and willing heart? The Lord prophesied through Ezekiel that, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." From where came my faith? Paul tells me that,"By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."
Amen, glory to God. Thank Jesus who is the Do-All of the Gospel. May our faith be in Him to save to the uttermost.
From, "A letter on graciously responding to opponents of free grace"
"Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Romans 8:30
The sense in which Paul here uses the word "called" is contextually exclusive to those who are justified and glorified. It must then differ from the general gospel call which men naturally refuse, or at best cannot see to receive. The sense of this term "called", in Romans 8, is synonymous with the term "chosen" in "many are called but few are chosen." [Matthew 22:14] These called-out ones are referred to in John 6 as being "drawn out", when Jesus says, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me."
Look with me at this verse, one piece at a time. "No man can come" - because no man has a desire or ability to. Even if the law stirs up a sincere desire for escape from judgment, sin creates a distrust of God apart from works, thereby paralyzing the man to any true faith in Christ alone.
"Except the Father... draw him" - the sole exception whereby a man may come to Christ is that the Father initiates a drawing, by sending His Spirit. Is this a universal drawing? Some assert that this drawing is performed equally upon all men, only to be resisted by some and accepted by others. This mis-understanding denies the context of the verse, or else Christ would not follow with "and I will raise him up at the last day."
Certainly not all are raised to life on the final day, but only those who are saved. Therefore, the sense in which the father draws these people is one that results unavoidably in their being raised to life at the last day.
Now look at the statement, "they shall be all taught of God." Does this term "all" include everyone on the planet? Certainly not. In the first place, not all of the world hears the gospel message. Secondly, Jesus says emphatically that "Every manthat hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." Every last man and woman who has "heard" and "learned" in this sense of supernatural drawing, does infallibly come to Christ. All who come to Christ shall have life everlasting; all who the Father gives and calls, come.
This helps us to see the beautiful relationship between the passages which say, "Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I shall give you rest," [Matt.11:28] and "He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst... All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." [John 6:35,37] He that promised rest and satisfaction also supplied the them to His people on whom He takes gracious pity. therefore
From, "Statement of Faith and Primary Doctrines"
REGENERATION. Regeneration is a change of heart, wrought by the Holy Spirit, who makes alive those who are dead in trespasses and sins, enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the Word of God, and renewing their whole nature, so that they love and practice holiness. It is a work of God's free and special grace alone.
From, "How were the heavenly things purified?"
Because of God's holy standard, sinful men cannot justifiably enter and enjoy God's presence without having been cleansed of their sin. This cleansing came, once for all time, through the offering of Christ on the cross. Christ's blood prepares the way for men to enter the holiest of holies, God's presence. Just as blood from the animal sacrifices was applied to earthly temple vessels to justify their use on behalf of the sinful nation of Israel, even so the means of saving grace are secured by Christ's blood on behalf of his elect.
I understand the heavenly vessels to be the means of saving grace which work together to save men - such as election before time [Eph 1:4], the washing of regeneration unto faith [Eph 2:2,5-9], the application of Christ's death and resurrection to our spirits [Eph 2:13]; the adoption and ushering into the holiest of holy places with the Father [Eph 1:5, 2:14]. Christ is our priest who administers salvation, using these spiritual implements to bring us to right standing with God.
However, it would not be right for Him to apply these heavenly gifts to sinners, no, it would be impossible, unless the use of these means had been justified - "purified" - through the spilling of His blood on our behalf. This is what makes God both just, and the justifier of sinners.
From, "The restful work of faith"
I have been meditating lately on the nature of faith, how it is both an act of the will and yet is the chosen means by which one receives salvation which is "not of works." May I share my thoughts with you?From, "The Beastly Babylonian"
Without doubt, faith is exerted by the will of an individual, and may therefore be properly called a work. There are two reasons, however, why faith should not be considered meritorious towards salvation. First, the origin of saving is the effectual work of the Holy Spirit at regeneration. "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ... to believe on him." [Phil. 1:29]
Secondly, faith's suitability before God as the means by which one receives salvation is due to the object which it grasps, Christ Victorious, rather than the activity of faith itself. Like the Syrian leper wading into Jordan's healing waters, faith receives a blessing only for that into which it goes. [2 Kings 5] Thus Paul writes that men are saved "through faith," by grace alone and that "not of yourselves but the gift of God." [Eph. 2]
Faith is a grace which works most by resting most. It is a mere faucet tapped into the Fountain of Living Waters. Faith in Christ is like an insect encased in amber, beautified and valuable for what it is in, despicable and worthless if found crawling elsewhere.
Tonight I was asked an interesting question. If one believes in Total Depravity, must he also believe in Unconditional Election? May God give me grace to answer it rightly, and ears to those who must receive it honestly.
The short answer is, yes. This is simply because if people will not come to God of themselves, and yet God will have a people, He must therefore elect - that is choose - a certain people based on something other than what they will (not) do. But let's consider it a bit more, shall we?
First, I do recommend those interested go to Monergism.com and check out this page full of articles on the subject. I suggest John Reisinger's two articles if you have an hour, or A. W. Pink's treatise on Depravity if you have about five hours and want to be very certain, one way or another.
Now, an important insight to keep in mind regarding this subject is that people often misunderstand historical "Calvinism" for teaching that Total Depravity means "men will not come because they cannot", as if unsaved men would want to be saved on God's terms if only God would stop restraining them. The true Reformed position, and that which I affirm the bible teaches, is that men "cannot come because they will never". This may sound like a slight difference, but consider it again and you may see the enormity of variance. In the first view, man is restrained by someone else. In the second, man is morally impaired by his own wickedness. A man who hates his brother cannot bring himself to honestly speak kind words to him, though he has all the faculties necessary to speak. It is a moral inability, not a physical disability. Likewise, the essence of Total Depravity is that all men everywhere, born of Adam, have natures which willingly never come to Christ on his terms. This is why men need to be born again of the Spirit, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13, read it and weep over God's goodness)...
Whatever is born receives the nature of its bearer. The calf receives the nature of the cow which bore it. A pig receives the nature of the sow in which it was conceived, and by this nature it freely chooses to wallow in the mud. Even so, man receives the nature of his fallen father, Adam, and therefore freely chooses to walk in the rebellion of a dark heart. (Rom 1, 3 & 5)
Yet, all hope is not lost. God can impart other natures to his creatures at any time. To the proud king, Nebuchadnezzar, God imparted the nature of a beast. Certainly the ruler did not prefer to have his nature changed, but once it was accomplished the king voluntarily lived in the wilderness for seven years, eating grass until his nails grew long like claws and his hair matted with oil like bird feathers. After God's will was done, this animal nature was removed and Nebuchadnezzar was restored to his former sanity. Even so, the wages of sin brought death to Adam. Upon our forefather came a nature previously unknown, one called dead, blind, darkened, enslaved, and deaf. This sinful nature is passed to Adam's children, even as the whole nature of the oak is passed to the acorn. From this, spiritual death is passed upon all the world; all men exist, therefore, in a corrupt state from the moment of embryonic union. Dozens of scriptures testify to this, saying, "in sin my mother conceived me", and, "they go forth from the womb speaking lies."
Praise God, even as the Lord returned the nature of a monarch to that beastly Babylonian, so is God sovereign and powerful to grant gracious restoration of life and holiness to his chosen people - even to them who are mysteriously called "all who will believe". This new nature brings with it an innate, instant, free desire to place faith in Christ's person and work alone for one's justification. This gift of faith, as it is certainly called in Ephesians 2, is granted to the elect of God, not according to works of righteousness which we did, but according to his kindness in grace. (Titus 3:5) If you have not yet experienced this "newness of life", in which "all things are become new", then I compel you this minute to cast yourself down before All-powerful God and ask Him to be gracious to a sinner, to give a new heart to you on account of Christ's righteousness, and to grant faith to your wayward soul. God is no liar - Jesus says, "all who come unto me, I will in no way cast out." Come, and welcome to Jesus Christ. If you have come to faith in Him alone for justification, you are this day a new creation.
From, "Update: God's Will for Your Life." This article is a decent overview, but here is a snippet.
(John 6:37) "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
"All" here refers to every single one whom the Father gives to Christ. All who the Father gives to the Son shall come to Him. One-hundred percent.
(John 6:65) "And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."
No man comes to Christ unless the Father first frees his wicked will from its bondage to sin. In effect, the Father changes the man's will as differently as if He were to transform a pig's will into the will of a cat. Suddenly the pig despises her mud and begin to bathe herself. Likewise, the natural state of man's will is defective and only desires sin until God frees it to choose life and redemption. As well, all who are brought to Christ shall be raised up. None shall be lost who were ever truly born again.
(John 15:16) "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."
Christ has ordained that their fruit should remain - that is, it absolutely will. All who are truly born again will persevere to the end by the grace of God working in them. Those who finally abandon the faith were never born again, but only made external professions. For this reason it says in 1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. "
And Jeremiah 32:40, "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me." All of God's elect remain with Him because He puts a fear of Himself in their hearts. Proverbs says that the "fear of God is to hate evil." God's elect people hate evil and do not abandon their faith to be saved by works.
(Acts 13:48) "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed."
Again, because all men are inherently evil, no one would have or could have chosen to come to Christ in the way required. Therefore God had to ordain some to eternal life by grace, not related to who they were or would do at all. All who are ordained freely come, because He frees their wills to love salvation apart from works. This is called regeneration.
(Romans 8:29-30) "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. {30} Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
From, "Neither Calvinism nor Arminianism"
Of all subjects, the disagreement between Calvinism and Arminianism is not one which offers a third side. To quote the oft-quoted Charles Spurgeon, "Calvinism is nothing more than the Gospel." By Calvinism, Spurgeon is not referring to all of the diverse things John Calvin taught, but specifically to the Five Points spelled out at the Synod of Dort, which Calvinists believe to be consistent with the bible.
With all love, I will remind everyone that I once halted between the two, but now see the impossibility of maintaining such a nonexistent stance.
Either you do or do not believe in unconditional election, which is not based upon any foreseen works, choices, or merit, but is solely decreed out of God's mysterious love in Christ for specific individuals.
Either you do or do not believe in the depravity of man, which is his unchangeable unwillingness to ever repent unto faith unless he is first regenerated by God's Spirit.
Either you do or do not believe in irresistible grace, which is the "inward call" given to the "few chosen" which "quickens them to life that were dead in trespasses and sins", changing them into "new creations" through "birth of the Spirit"; and is more than the common call of grace which is always willfully resisted and finally rejected by those who have not been elected.
Either you do or do not believe in particular redemption, which affirms that Christ's death brought certain benefits for all and is offered to all, but which also redeemed the elect to receive the effectual grace necessary to salvation, who were chosen unconditionally according to grace before time. [Isa 53, John 16 & 17, Hebrews 1&10]
Either you do or do not believe in the perseverance and preservation in faith of the saints, which confirms that one-hundred percent of those who are born again will be glorified with Christ at the resurrection of the just, nor will any of them ever finally apostatize from the faith.[John 6, Romans 8] Those who apostatize were false converts and were never born again. [1 John 2.]
From, "Webster on Theology"
REGENERA'TION, n.
1. Reproduction; the act of producing anew. 2. In theology, new birth by the grace of God; that change by which the will and natural enmity of man to God and his law are subdued, and a principle of supreme love to God and his law, or holy affections, are implanted in the heart. "He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." Titus 3.
From, "So what's the difference?"
What's the idea behind Sovereign Grace?
*God is not obligated to offer a way of salvation, nor is there anything in fallen man which God is impulsed to love. If God is merciful, it is because He is innately good, not because sinful man is worthy of pity.
*God has chosen to demonstrate His graciousness and glory in the gospel of Christ.
*God has made the benefits of the gospel contingent upon man's choice to receive it.
*Mankind is fallen into sin and his nature is corrupt. From his conception no man naturally desires the terms of the gospel. He will neither repent of sinfulness, nor can bring himself to have faith in Christ alone.
*Every choice a man makes flows from his nature, and is done in some way to gratify himself. Even a man who commits suicide does so to gratify his desire for escape from misery or to exact revenge. Therefore, no man has a free will, but rather a will that is subject to the inclinations of his nature. Even God's own will flows from His holy nature and for this reason He cannot will to lie. The will follows the nature.
*Therefore, God does not "force" the willful decision of men to believe the gospel, but regenerates their nature to be one that naturally and freely desires salvation on God's terms of repentance and faith.
*He performs this work in the elect only, and all of this people instantly and perpetually follow His voice: "My sheep hear my voice and follow me, another they will not hear."
*All who desire to repent and believe may do so, with the full promise of salvation. Those who repent and believe will at last discover that the source of their conversion was in the act of God which proceeded their willingness. They were saved by His gracious actions, purchased especially for them at the cross and determined from before the foundation of the world.
From "Where can I go to learn about the Doctrines of Grace / TULIP?"
For someone who wants a more clear explanation, I recommend the series done by Cornelius Pronk. Each episode is fifteen minutes:
Cornelius Pronk - Doctrines of Grace mini-series
Next, I recommend reading this chapter from A. W. Pink's "The Sovereignty of God":
Pink - The Sovereignty of God in Man's Salvation
And last, I would carefully read Nathan Pitchford's "List", which is almost nothing but scriptures demonstrating that these doctrines are biblical and can settle disputes about 'problem verses':
Nathan Pitchford's Categorized Scripture List
So, those are my thoughts on where to begin. Oh, and one more thing. Read all of Romans 1-3, 8-11, and Ephesians 1-2 this week. May God's grace comfort you, and be the movement and end of all your endeavors for holiness.
Was this helpful to you? Please share. Thanks!
© Michael Spotts:. 2010
———————
You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this article in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and that you do not charge any fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For printed copies, as well as web posting, please include the following statement:
By M. Benjamin Spotts:.
Copyright © The Open Life
www.theopenlife.com
Titus 3:3-8
3 comments:
God bless you bro! This post has been very helpful in clarifying regeneration and the nature of salvation as taught in scripture. It is always very humbling and refreshing to read about God's freely saving grace to those who are totally undeserving.
Thanks again
While we're taking requests, how about a polemic for covenant theology?
You're very welcome, BR. It was a blessing to read over myself.
Graeme, the polemic on CT is coming up. Check back in twenty years.
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