Thread: Jesus teaches that Regeneration precedes Faith
Admin
Jesus teaches that Regeneration precedes Faith
Posted : 14 Oct, 2011 04:15 PM
Jesus Teaches that Regeneration Precedes Faith
by John Hendryx
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." (John 6:37)
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe
...And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." (John 6:63, 65)
According to Scripture, all people are born dead in sin (Eph 2:1). This simply means that, as a result of the Fall, people are born without the Holy Spirit and therefore, (left to themselves and being spiritually dead) are hostile to Christ (Rom. 8:7) and unable to understand to spiritual things (1 Cor 1:21). It does not mean they can do (or think) nothing in their fallen state, but it means they can do nothing spiritual or redemptive ... that they will always think God's word is foolish (1 Cor 2:14) until the Holy Spirit, who comes from the outside, works grace in their hearts (Ezek 11:19-20). The natural man may be alive to carnal things, but he is dead to spiritual things. So to the question: can any person come to faith in Christ apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, both the Arminian and the Calvinist would definitively answer "no".
The Arminian asserts that this "prevenient grace" is ultimately resistible by the fallen sinner. Arminian prevenient grace affirms that man in indeed dead in sin, that is, unless the Spirit grants the type of grace that places them in a kind of post-regenerate - pre-conversion state so they can have the opportunity to choose whether to believe or not. As most Arminians will admit, however, this is a logically deduced, rather than biblical, assertion. On the other hand, the Calvinist is convinced that the Bible teaches that regenerative grace itself opens our blind eyes, unplug our deaf ears and gives us a new heart (Ezek 36:26, John 6:63) making God's call effectual, infallibly bringing the sinner to faith in Jesus Christ.
Arminian synergists assert that prevenient grace resolves the problem of human boasting since God initiates with grace. But in reality this sleight of hand does not resolve the problem at all and only begs the question. For if God gives this prevenient grace to everybody, we must ask: why do some respond positively to Christ and not others? What makes them to differ? Jesus Christ or something else? The problem of boasting is not removed, for if God gives grace to everybody and only some believe, then the heart that believes still thinks that it made the wiser decision by improving on grace while others did not. The person affirming prevenient grace still must ultimately attribute his repenting and believing to his own wisdom, prudence, sound judgment, or good sense. So in the Arminian belief system, they are not willing to confront the obvious question of why some believe and not others? The only answer I have ever heard to this question in all my years debating this was "because some believed". But, this avoids the question, because I did not ask them what they did, but why they did it? And the "why" seems to be a question that Jesus goes out of his way to answer. (John 8:46-47 & John 10:26)
There are many texts which affirm beyond doubt that regeneration is indeed monergistic ... that the implanting of the new heart is what gives rise to understanding, love of Christ and faith. One of the most important discussions in the Bible about this is where Jesus was speaking to some fellow Jews who did not believe in him (John 6:64) . He said to them:
�All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.� ( 6:37) �
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. (John 6:44)
"� no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." ( 6:65)
The reason I bring these three verses to your attention is because, they are spoken in the same context (John 6) and in this long discussion with Jesus and the Jews about faith these three verses are essentially speaking of the same issue. In fact they share more than one thing in common. They all use the phrase "come to me" and they each make a universal declaration ("no one" or "all"). When read in context the phrase "come to me" is spoken in the same breath as the word "faith". It is a synonym. Likewise the phrase "draws him" is used in parallel with the phrase "gives me" or "granted him". Our Lord declares that "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. (John 6:44) and "All that the Father gives me [draws to Me] will come to me." (John 6:37). In other words, the passage simply states that no one will trust in or have faith in Jesus unless God grants it (John 6:65), and ALL to whom God grants (or gives/draws to Jesus) will believe. Not some of them, but all of them. This universal positive and universal negative means that we are forced to conclude that all that God draws to Jesus infallibly come to faith in him.
Just to demonstrate that "come to me" is identical to "faith" see that just prior to verse 37 Jesus says, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.� Here we observe that Jesus uses the phrase �believe in me� and �come to me� interchangeably. Even more clear is that the context of John 6:63-65 forces us to understand "come to me" to mean "believe in me" or "have faith in me". In verse 64 Jesus says, "But there are some of you who do not believe " For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. 65And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."
If we place these statements all together, (understanding that "come to me" and "believe in me" are synonymous), then the magnitude of the Jesus' words become evident, for it allows for no synergistic interpretation. And what does this have to do with regeneration. Well in verse 6:63 Jesus directly alludes to it: "It is the Spirit that quickens ... No one will believe in Me unless God grants it... and ALL to whom God grants it will believe�. Jesus is making sure that no one thinks that anything apart from Jesus is what saves them. That even the very new heart we need to understand spiritual truth, love Jesus and believe is itself a gift of God. This text leaves no room for any other interpretation. This is profoundly important because it creates the inescapable conclusion that the quickening grace of God is invincible. This is why just prior to saying �no one can come to me UNLESS God grants it�, Jesus says, �It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail.� This means that it is the Spirit who raises our dead spirits to life, makes us born from above John 3:3, 6. The flesh, that is, our sinful nature, cannot regenerate itself and can do no redemptive good of itself, including believe the gospel until quickened by the Holy Spirit.
Faith, Jesus is saying, is not a product of our unregenerate human natures; It is, rather, the product of new life that only He can give us through the quickening work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit alone who, uniting us to Christ, gives life to our dead souls that we may believe. Jesus is affirming the same truth to Nicodemus in John 3, using the same type of language. In verse 6 Jesus tells him, �That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.� And unless one is born of the Spirit he can neither see nor enter the kingdom of God. Jesus never gives Nicodemus an imperative (command) to be born again, but instead, tells him what must happen to him for eternal life to be a reality. Belief springs from a change of nature, for the old man considers the gospel foolish and thus cannot comprehend it (1 Cor 2:14).
This does away completely also with the Arminian argument where they point to John 10, "when I am lifted up I will draw all men to myself". While we already demonstrated that "draw him" (v. 44) is parallel with "gives me" (v. 37) because it is spoken in the same context with multiple parallelisms so we concluded that ALL the Father gives (draws to) Christ come to him. But the Arminain must reach outside of this passage (out of context) to a completely different situation where Greeks approach Jesus. There is no indication that Jesus is referring to the same issue. In fact, when read in context, Jesus is telling them that he is fulfilling the promise to Abraham that he would become a father of many nations. Not only Jews but gentiles will be included, so Jesus is establishing that He will draw (not all men without exception) but all men without distinction (Jews and Gentiles).
On a side note, it is interesting to note that the passage on regeneration in John 6:63-65 is one of the most explicitly Trinitarian passages in all of Scripture. It speaks of this work as the powerful, supernatural work of the Triune God. The Father grants faith in Christ the redeemer (John 6:65), through the quickening of the Holy Spirit by means of the spoken word (John 6:63). So the Spirit is the Agent and the word is the instrument used to germinate spiritual life in us, apart from which, no one would believe (V.65).
I have often heard preachers say to people, �all you need to do is believe,� as if this were the easiest thing in the world, but the natural man is unwilling to submit to the gospels' humbling terms. It is a massive affront to our pride to believe that we have no hope save in Jesus alone. J.I. Packer once wisely said, "Sinners cannot obey the gospel, any more than the law, without renewal of heart." We see this at work in this passage when, at the end of John chapter six many of those who previously were with Jesus left because his teaching was too hard, and only the twelve were left. Peter confesses belief however, and Jesus says to him, ��have I not chosen you?� But what is so hard about this passage that everyone else leaves Jesus? It is hard because the gospel of grace alone strips man of all hope that he could have to contribute something, be it ever so small, to his own salvation. Never underestimate the reality of our sinful nature deceiving us this way. The gospel forces us to see our own spiritual impotence and bankruptcy in contributing anything, or even lifting a finger toward our own salvation. But of those who do believe the gospel, we can know with certainty that the Holy Spirit has quickened them and is doing a work of grace in them. Trusting Christ is the immediate result of the new birth, not the cause of it, as John notes in his first epistle:
�Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God� (1 John 5:1)
It is also important to further understand that Jesus �will never cast out [those the Father has given Him].� (John 6:37). According to Jesus, those whom He draws are the same as those he will raise up at the last day (John 6:44). This is important because those who reject the perseverance of the saints, believing that Christ does not preserve us to the end, are in effect saying that we must somehow maintain our own justification before God. This is to believe that Jesus� atonement for us is not sufficient for salvation.
This passage (John 6) is one of the most forceful passages in all of Scripture relating to the invincibility of saving grace. The grace of the Holy Spirit in regeneration is not only sufficient but efficient, unfailingly bringing about God�s desired result. We may resist the gospel when hearing the outward call and even resist stirrings of the Holy Spirit, but no one resists the inward quickening and call of God (Rom 8:30; 1 Cor 1:22-24). In the Old Testament sometimes God would discipline Israel by telling them their crops would fail even though they labored to sow seed. This is proof that all that we do in this world, such as planting crops, requires the prior blessing of God if it is to be fruitful.
Similarly Paul uses an agricultural metaphor when speaking of casting the seed of the gospel. He says, �I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.� This means that people need to hear the gospel in order to be saved, but we can preach till we are blue in the face and nothing will take root unless the Holy Spirit sovereignly applies that word to the heart that one might hear.
To use some biblical imagery, we cast the seed of the gospel indiscriminately because the Holy Spirit alone can �germinate� the word unto life in Christ. The fallow ground of our hearts must first be plowed up by God, for the soil of our heart is not good by nature, but only by grace. The seed will not find good soil until God makes it so. For Ezekiel the prophet says:
�I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.� (Ezekiel 36:25-27)
Notice that this passage demonstrates that in order for obedience to take place the Lord must first cleanse our hearts, put a new spirit in us and remove our hardened uncircumcised heart. No one believes and obeys while their heart is still stone. Our blind eyes must be opened, our deaf ears unstopped, and our corrupt nature supernaturally changed by the Holy Spirit, before we can begin to have any good thoughts about Christ. The Bible likens the new birth, or regeneration, to the first creation (2 Cor. 5:17). God let light shine into what was darkness. And God breathed life into lifeless man and then man, because of the new principle of life now within him, breathed and walked. Likewise regeneration can be likened to God's first breath in man, and faith, to Adam's first breath. The former is monergistic and the later, while it springs from the principle of grace that now exists within, is participatory. Both the creation and the maintaining are all of grace, but only God's breathing life into us (ex nihilo) is monergistic (that is, it is the work of God alone). When God brings forth something out of nothing, it is monergistic, but when we breathe (or have faith) as a result of God's act, we are now participating, so by definition this is not monergistic, but all springs forth from God's initial monergistic act of giving life from nothing.
"Regeneration is the fountain; sanctification is the river." - J. Sidlow Baxter
"...since you have been born again [by the agency of the Spirit], not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God [instrument]" 1 Peter 1:23
Important note: Some who oppose the biblical teaching on monergistic regeneration will argue that this cannot be true because no one can be regenerate and not saved. If regeneration precedes faith, they reason, then there is a time, be it ever so short, where one is regenerate but does not yet believe. But this is to misunderstand what regeneration precedes faith actually means. It does not temporally precede faith but rather causally. What do I mean? An example would be one pool ball striking another. Does one ball temporally strike the other first. No they both hit one another simultaneously ... YET the one which rolls has causal priority. The same could be said of heat and fire. Likewise when God, the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the word, opens our heart to the gospel and gives us new eyes to see the beauty, truth and excellency of Christ, our response is immediate.
"No sooner is the soul quickened, than it at once discovers its lost estate, is horrified thereat, looks for a refuge, and believing Christ to be a suitable one, flies to him and reposes in him."
-C.H. Spurgeon
"Faith in the living God and his Son Jesus Christ is always the result of the new birth, and can never exist except in the regenerate. Whoever has faith is a saved man."
C.H. Spurgeon
For More on this Subject
Monergistic Regeneration - Part I by Dr. Art Azurdia III (On Effectual Calling)
Monergistic Regeneration - Part II by Dr. Art Azurdia III (On Regeneration)
A Short Response to the Arminian Doctrine of Prevenient Grace
Donna, in your desire to defend your Calvinsits beliefs and had you READ the article and NOT SKIMMED over it you would have found plenty of scripture passages.
There realy is no need to keep arguing over this matter becasue God's Word has spoken for its self... Jesus says WE ARE TO HAVE FAITH TO BELIEVE... if you can't undertand the meaning of
Donna, in your desire to defend your Calvinsits beliefs and had you READ the article and NOT SKIMMED over it you would have found plenty of scripture passages.
There realy is no need to keep arguing over this matter becasue God's Word has spoken for its self... Jesus says WE ARE TO HAVE FAITH TO BELIEVE... if you can't undertand the meaning of
This is where humanist and believers will always disagree Ella. I believe it is the total all sufficient work of God and humanist as yourself believe it is of themselves. You can not believe apart from God.
God's breathing life into us (ex nihilo) is monergistic (that is, it is the work of God alone). When God brings forth something out of nothing, it is monergistic, but when we breathe (or have faith) as a result of God's act, we are now participating, so by definition this is not monergistic, but all springs forth from God's initial monergistic act of giving life from nothing.
Sorry, this posted before I had finsihed what i was saying...
Donna, in your desire to defend your YWISTED Calvinist's beliefs, and had you READ the article and NOT SKIMMED over it you would have found plenty of scripture passages.
BUT, There really is no need to keep arguing over this matter because God's Word has spoken for its self... Jesus says WE ARE TO HAVE FAITH TO BELIEVE... if you can't understand the meaning of the word regeneration and what God is speaking in His word, how in the world are you fgoing to understand f I had posted a thousand scriptures... you still would not understand that when a person is REGENERATED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, THIS MEANS THE PERSON HAS BEEN BORN AGAIN! what part of this don't you Calvinist don't understand????!
REGENERATION MEANS TO BE BORN AGAIN BY GOD THROUGH THE WASHING AND CLEANSING POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! ...AFTER A PERSON HAS HEARD THE GOSPEL ABOUT JESUS, COME INTO FAITH TO BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS WHO HE SAYS HE IS AND DID WHAT GOD SAID HE DID, AND THAT HE DIED ON THE CROSS FOR THE REMISSION (FORGIVENNESS OF SINS, AND THEN THE PERSON REPENTS OF THEIR SINS BECASUE OF THEIR FAITH ABOUT WHAT THEY HEAR ABOTU JESUS, THEN AND ONLY THEN DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT (THE WHOLE GODHEAD WHICH IS GOD, JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT) TAKE UP RESIDENCE IN THE PERSON, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT SEALS THE PERSON UNTIL THE DAY OF REDEMPTION, THEN STARTS THE WASHING AND CLEANSING PROCESS JUSTIFYING AND SANCTIFYING CONVERTING THE PERSON INTO A NEW CREATURE FIT FOR THE KINGDOM...
Ephesian chapter 1:13 In Him you also trusted, AFTER you HEARD THE WORD OF TRUTH, THE GOSPEL OF YOUR SALVATION; IN WHOM YOU ALSO AFTER HAVING BELIEVED, YOU WERE SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
Now, Donna if you and James and whoever the Calvinsits are on this forum, if you guys can't understand the plainness of these scriptures why in the world should I post any more for you not to understand!...how does a person =ome to belief? Romans 10 says: For the Scripture says, �Whoever BELIEVES on Him will not be put to shame.�For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For �whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.�
How then shall they call on Him in whom they HAVE NOT BELIEVED? And how shall they BELIEVE in Him of whom they have not HEARD? And how shall they HEAR WITHOUT A PREACHER? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: � How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!�
16.But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, �LORD, who has believed our report?� So then FAITH COMES BY HEARING, AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD. 18 But I say, have they NOT HEARD? Yes indeed: � Their sound has gone out to all the earth, And their words ( the preaching of the gospel) to the ends of the world.�
Donna said: Good Job Ella posting an article with no scripture to back up it's claims. You can keep your unauthored article and Wesleyanism. I will continue to worship the Holy, Loving, Gracious, Righteous, Sovereign, God of the bible. As the founding fathers did.
Ella SAYS: Donna, your defense mechanism DO NOT WORK WITH ME! I am passed all your mechanics people use when they are found to be in error and they try to reidrect the attention from themselves and their wrong and errors of their ways, because they can't present their case with soundness.
One things for sure that stands as God's truth ... there is nothing that can come up against the truth except the truth its self!... and that's Bible!
I have nothing to do with who you worship, love, praise or whatever, nor do I have anything to do with YOUR founding fathers, who were in need of the turth of God's word themselves and were searching.
Allll I know is, that GOD IS THE FOUNDING FATHER OF HIS WORD, and HIS WORD means what HE SAYS, and HE SAYS what HE MEANS, and I'm not into what men say in their own search of God's truth.
I only know and hear and believe what God says through the revelation of His Holy Spirit who promises to lead us into ALL UNDERSTANDING, of what GOD has already said BEFORE YOUR SO-CALLED FOUNDING FATHERS even knew who Jesus was...And who from where I sit, found nothing but contradictions and confusions, and have brought about spiritual retardation against God's word of truth, in the body of Christ, becasue you guys do not read for yourselves, you depend on what your so-called founding fathers have written and this you believe over and above God who is the ONLY FOUNDING FATHER OF HIS GOSPEL TRUTH AND THE CHURCH.
BTW, explain yourself... just what do you mean by your comment here?...
Donna said: You can keep your unauthored article and Wesleyanism?
Your article has no author, and if you read the article before you posted it, whom ever wrote the article quoted and twisted a few scripture text to prove his own belief. Whom ever also quoted insight from John Wesley. I said you can keep your unauthored article and your Wesleyism. I will continue to worship the Holy, Loving, Gracious, Righteous, Sovereign, God of the bible.
Donna said: Ella please practice what you preach. You can not take one scripture and twist it to make what you believe what the bible says. You must take God as a whole not in pieces. Salvation is of God alone.
Ella says: Donna, please point out what scripture that I hjave twisted and mde it to say what I beleive,,, I'm not a Calvinist!:ROFL:... that what you guys do isn't ?...
We alreayd know that salvation belong to God, but before anyone can belive this, one must first have faith to believe that salavtion belongs to God ONLY... and how does one come to this knowledge ot faith to believe that salvation belong to God only?... by hearing and hearing and hearing and hearing AND HEARING the WORD of God!... which is the gospel power of God which leads to Jesus Chirst.
Plus, this is not about salvation, REGENERATION is about what happen AFTER A PERSON HAS FAITH TO BELIEVE UNTO SALVATION!... REGENRATION HAPPENS AFTER THE FACT OF FAITH, NOT BEFORE!
it comes from God. We can do nothing when it comes to salvation apart from God. Why can't people just deny self and follow him. Why can't people confess their pride and believe in an all sufficient God.
No Ella you are obviously ignorant of anything of the reformation. The bible says what it says. That is what i believe. I believe what God says. The whole bible.
You can not pick one scripture to prove your point. You must take God as a whole not in pieces.
Donna says: Your article has no author, and if you read the article before you posted it, whom ever wrote the article quoted and twisted a few scripture text to prove his own belief. Whom ever also quoted insight from John Wesley. I said you can keep your unauthored article and your Wesleyism. I will continue to worship the Holy, Loving, Gracious, Righteous, Sovereign, God of the bible.
Ella says: Its apparent that YOU DID NOT READ the article because at the bottom of the article the website is given,The article about Faith Preceding Regeneration is as posted at the bottom of the article www.truthonfire... I see you missed that, just as you miss what God says in scripture, cuz you ain't READING~:laugh:
And as far as the author writing the article quoting and twisting scripture, I ask of you to provide your proof of this, because it BEHOOVES me as to how you can even make such a statement, when you yourself don't spriitually understand scriptures or how to connect the dots, otherwise, you would know that Faith comes before regeneration... Jesus said to BELIEVE ON HIM, AND WHEN HAT happens God takes care of the person being regenerated by the pwoer of the Holy Spirit.
So how can you say such as this:Your article has no author, and if you read the article before you posted it, whom ever wrote the article quoted and twisted a few scripture text to prove his own belief.
And what does John Wesley have to do with what God says?My faith is not based on Wesley or any other man, and when one takes a close view of what Calvin and the other founding father of your beliefs, who jumped all over the place in their church religious beliefs, changing from one twisted denomination to the other... I would rather stand in Wesley's corner any day. But its more profitable for me to stand with what God says and has already spoken in His Holy Word...
