Regeneration Precedes Faith

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Comment by Mike on March 1, 2009 at 5:06am

A wonderful presentation glorifying the sovereignty of God in salvation. If there is ever a message that the elect are never tired of hearing, it is the fact that ‘salvation is of the Lord’!
Yes regeneration must precede faith, because a spiritually dead man cannot believe anything. We can no more assist the Holy Spirit in the quickening of our souls to spiritual life than Lazarus could help Jesus raise him for the dead.

This strange sounding teaching that regeneration precedes faith is not a novel. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield.

These giants of Christian history derived their view from Holy Scripture. The key phrase
in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians is this: "...even when we were dead in trespasses, made
us alive together with Christ (by grace have you been saved)" (Eph. 2:5). Here Paul
locates the time when regeneration occurs. It takes place 'when we were dead.' With one
thunderbolt of apostolic revelation all attempts to give the initiative in regeneration to
man are smashed. Again, dead men do not cooperate with grace. Unless regeneration
takes place first, there is no possibility of faith.

This says nothing different from what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Unless a man is born
again first, he cannot possibly see or enter the kingdom of God. If we believe that faith
precedes regeneration, then we set our thinking and therefore ourselves in direct
opposition not only to giants of Christian history but also to the teaching of Paul and of
our Lord Himself.
Another passages in the Bible which clearly teaches that regeneration precedes faith is:
1 John 5:1 - "everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God", John
1:13, Rom 9:16. In other words, his belief in Christ evidences the fact that he has been already born of God, and therefore believes!
And again – “John 6:63,65 "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life... Therefore have I told you that no man can come to me, unless it be given to him by my Father."
After the Scripture asserts that as many as received Christ he gave them the power to become the sons of God, it goes on to explain how this came about. “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” [Jn 1;12,13].
“Not of blood,” that is to say, it is not a matter of heredity, for regeneration does not run in the veins!
Nor of the will of the flesh. By flesh is meant man in his natural, corrupt state, as he is antecedent to regeneration. This is the meaning of flesh as it is used in many places in Holy Scripture. What is here asserted then is, that persons are not regenerated by any inclinations, choice, or exertions of their own, while they were in a state of unregeneracy. They do not, by the exercise of their own wills, or by their endeavors, do any thing towards their being born again; nor do they cooperate in the least degree with the efficient cause. So far from this, that all their inclinations, and every act of will and exertion of theirs, is in direct opposition to it, for the flesh always lusteth against the Spirit.
Nor of the will of man; that is, not by the power and influence of others. No one person is born again by the will and endeavors of others. However pious and wise they are, and how much soever they exert themselves to bring others to holiness, they do in no degree produce the effect.
The mission of the Church then is not to regenerate the lost, but to preach the gospel whereby those whose hearts have already been prepared in regeneration are made ready to embrace Christ through conversion. Here is a lesson for all of God’s servants to heed. The gospel is good news to those whom the Holy Spirit has regenerated. Paul said it is foolishness to everyone else.

Comment by Sara on February 10, 2009 at 12:18pm

Testing comments.