Regeneration is the communication of the new heart to sinners by the operation of the Holy Spirit through the Word...a Christ-generated act of instantaneously communicating spiritual life to a man convicted of sin.
Regeneration is expressly denied to be of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man (John 1:13), and is ascribed to God himself. Not all men have faith in Christ; and those who do have it, have it not of themselves; it is the gift of God, worked out through the Redemption which is in Christ through the mighty operation of his Spirit, which is the fruit and effect of His invincible grace. This is because the natural man is wholly captive under the power and dominion of sin, and a slave unto it, and has neither a power nor will to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
"And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live...Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD." - Ezekiel 37:14
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive [quickened us] with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions � it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:4-5
�It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.� (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, �This is why I told you that no one can come to me [i.e. believe in me] unless it is granted him by the Father.�
John 6:63-65
You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God..."�
1 Peter 1:23-25
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.
1 John 5:1
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.
Charles Spurgeon from the sermon �Faith and Regeneration�
If salvation is the implantation of a new, infinite life in the soul, it must be a work of God. Self-caused effects can never rise above the character or qualities of their cause. "Flesh gives birth to flesh but the Spirit gives birth to Spirit," Jesus told Nicodemus. This saving grace cannot be caused by the creature, it can only come from God.
John Hannah from To God be the Glory (pg. 34-5)
The inward offer is a kind of spiritual enlightenment, whereby the promises are presented to the hearts of men, as it were, by an inward word.
James wrote - "And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live...Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD." - Ezekiel 37:14
Notice the order. God puts His Spirit in a person and THEN.......they come alive spiritually. Human nature has always been the same since The Fall. 71 gives us more evidence: . Look at verse 11-
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
The "whole House of Israel". God has ONE chosen people, and WE Christians ARE spiritual Israel. Now keep in mind this is ALL about the ORDER of things. What happens FIRST???? Did you believe, and THEN the Holy Spirit was allowed to make you come alive???"
I should've known you'd be into Replacement Theology as well, James. You'd have to perform some real gymnastics with Ezekiel 37 in order to apply that chapter to the Church, much less say it is "proof" of "regeneration precedes faith" in the believer. And if you want to go in "order" as application to your belief, then this would occur first - "I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken [it], and performed [it], saith the LORD."
So James, apply that to your belief. The grave is opened, Israel is brought out of her grave and God brings her into the land of Israel, and Israel knows that God is the Lord when He has opened their graves. And all this is what you want to apply to and support your belief in "regeneration" of a believer in Christ with? Read the rest of the chapter. Try to insert yourself into it. Which stick represents you? The chapter is for Israel, not you. The children of Israel are exactly that... the children of Israel. And that is not you.
James wrote - "Why is all three of you DEMAND that you saved yourself??? That You made yourself to be Born again."
Let me tell you something, James. If you want to accuse us of something we say or as you said, "DEMAND", you'd better find where one of us has said that we saved ourselves or made ourselves to be born again, and then quote it. But you can't, can you? Because none of us has said that, and none of us believe it. Again you fabricate something, call if our belief so you can make us look bad, and then argue it. What you are doing is slanderous. Do you not know your Bible well enough to know that that is not something Jesus would condone? It's a false witness to say someone says something that they do not say, or to paint someone in a picture of lies for your own gain and amusement. It's also a bad witness as a Christian. But you keep on doing it. Makes one wonder....
James wrote - "Now, I want to hear ET, 71 and Jude all say it together, "NO JESUS, THE FLESH IS OF AVAIL"!!! Come on lets hear it. If you are going to contradict the plain words of Jesus, you might as well be bold about it!!"
You have got a serious problem, James.
James wrote - "Lets leave me out of it. I am just one man. What you should say is, "Christians all throughtout history, have read about Jesus and Nicodemus and THEY HAVE AGREED that fallen mankind must first be regenerated by the Holy Spirit before they can SEE or ENTER the Kingdom of God." Why did you leave that part out 71? Why did you NOT mention that Jesus said a person can NOT ENTER the kingdom of God unless they are first "born again"?"
Let's leave you out of it? If that's what you want, why don't you stop posting your Gospel of Calvin/Reformed Theology? And regardless of whether I wrote SEE or ENTER the kingdom of God does not change anything. You must be born again before you can see or enter the kingdom of God. Can't do one without the other. And again, Jesus did not tell Nicodemus that he had to wait for the Holy Spirit to "regenerate" him and become born again so that he could believe what Christ was teaching and accept Him. More gymnastics on your part. Jesus said nothing of regeneration prior to belief.
James wrote - "Now, if you wish to give evidence that FAITH comes first and THEN we are born again, you need to give actual scriptures that say that! NONE of you did that, because it is not possible. THERE ARE NO scriptures that say that faith comes first."
And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. - Luke 7:50
Latin, "the order of salvation." The ordo salutis is the theological doctrine that deals with the logical sequencing of the benefits of redemption as we are united to Christ which are applied to us by the Holy Spirit. This first thing to remember is that we must never separate the benefits (regeneration, justification, sanctification) from the Benefactor (Jesus Christ). The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration, etc.) is the work of God in Christ and is by grace alone. Election is the superstructure of our ordo salutis, but not itself the application of redemption. Regeneration, the work of the Holy Spirit which brings us into a living union with Christ, has a causal priority over the other aspects of the process of salvation. God opens our eyes, we see. God circumcises/ unplugs our ears, we hear. Jesus calls a dead and buried Lazarus out of the grave, he comes; In the same way, the Holy Spirit applies regeneration, (opening our spiritual eyes and renewing our affections), infallibly resulting in faith. All the benefits of redemption such as conversion (faith & repentance), justification, sanctification and perseverance presuppose the existence of spiritual life. The work of applying God's grace is a unitary process given to the elect simultaneously. This is instantaneous, but there is definitely a causal order (regeneration giving rise to all the rest). Though these benefits cannot be separated, it is helpful to distinguish them. Therefore, instead of imposing a chronological order we should view these as a unitary work of God to bring us into union with Christ. We must always keep in mind that the orders expressed in the following articles occur together or happen simultaneously like heat and fire. All aspects of the work of God continue together throughout the life of a Christian.
Historically in the Church there has been disagreement about the order of salvation, especially between those in the Reformed and Arminian camps. The following two perspectives of God's order in carrying out His redemptive work reveals the stark contrast between these two main historic views. Keep in mind that both viewpoints are based on the redemptive work which Christ accomplished for His people in history:
In the Reformed camp, the ordo salutis is 1) election, 2) predestination, 3) gospel call 4) inward call 5) regeneration, 6) conversion (faith & repentance), 7) justification, 8) sanctification, and 9) glorification. (Rom 8:29-30)
In the Arminian camp, the ordo salutis is 1) outward call 2) faith/election, 3) repentance, 4) regeneration, 5) justification, 6) perseverance, 7) glorification.
Notice the crucial difference in the orders of regeneration and faith. While the Reformed position believes spiritual life is a prerequisite for the existence of the other aspects of salvation, the Arminians believe that fallen, natural man retains the moral capacity to receive or reject the gospel of his own power. Even with the help of grace he still must find it within himself to believe or reject Christ. This has broad implications and raises questions like why does one man believe and not another? You might also notice that, according to Arminians, election is dependent on faith, not the other way around. This is no small matter ...understanding the biblical order, while keeping in mind its unitary process, is crucial and has a profound impact on how one views God, the gospel, and the Bible as a whole.
Romans 8:28-30 serves as a good starting point for discerning the Scriptural basis for the logical sequence of the doctrines of salvation:
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom he foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
These verses contain a chain of unbreakable links that begin with foreknowledge and end with glorification. We have in this passage three acts in the application of salvation: calling, justification, and glorification. This passage also contains evidence that the order in which these acts are presented is intended to be a divine order of sequence. The first implication of a logical sequence is found in verse 28 in the expression �called according to His purpose.� This phrase indicates that a divine purpose is behind the order given in verses 29 and 30. This purpose is expressed in verse 29 as foreknowledge and predestination. Therefore, this purpose is an eternal purpose. This progression of thought is from foreknowledge to predestination. According to the construction of the passage, foreknowledge and predestination are prior to calling, justification, and glorification. The final three acts of salvation (calling, justification, and glorification) are obviously meant to be understood as sequential in order. Glorification is the final goal of the Christian�s salvation; it could not be logically prior to calling and justification. Since the passage gives clear indication that at least some of these acts are presented in a sequential order, it is proper to conclude that the order in which calling and justification are presented is an intended order of logical progression. Therefore, Romans 8:28-30 provides a broad outline of the order of salvation. The sequential order that is given is: foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. The acts of salvation presented in this passage, however, are not exhaustive. Scripture speaks of other acts in the order of salvation, but Romans 8:28-30 gives us a basic framework into which the other acts of salvation may be placed.
Oh POOoooo on you....:nahnah:...Faith....Precedes....Regeneration.... No one on this Thread is gona Leap the Gully...:bouncy:...to Meet Calvin in the Air...xo
