Simply Irresistible Part 2

The primary reason I see it as impossible for a person to believe in a Calvinism/Arminian hybrid theology is because there is a cause/effect relationship between Regeneration and Faith.

Last week I defined regeneration "...the spiritual change wrought in the heart of man by the Holy Spirit in which his/her inherently sinful nature is changed so that he/she can respond to God in Faith, and live in accordance with His will." The problem with my definition for a skeptic, however, is that it already assumes that regeneration is the cause of faith (which I admit is a Calvinistic assumption). So we should look at regeneration closer and then show why it must precede faith.

The only place where the word "regeneration" is used in the Bible is in Titus 3, "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior" (Titus 3:4-6). We see here that regeneration is a "washing" which is done by the Holy Spirit. Though the word is only used here the reality is pictured in both the Old and New Testament.

The most familiar term for Regeneration is “the new birth.” The writings of the apostle John give the most in depth study of this event. Among them we see in John 3 Jesus saying “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God… The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:3, 8). Here we see Jesus describing the new birth. He shows Nicodemus how this is an act accomplished by the Holy Spirit according to the Spirit’s free will, “the wind blows where it wishes” the word Jesus used for “wind” and for “Spirit” is the same. I will devote a future post in this series to the full text of John 3:1-21.

1 John tells us how we know someone is born again. If we are to take 5:1 at its full meaning we must conclude that regeneration is the cause of faith and not a mere reaction of God to faith, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him” (1 John 5:1).

Last we look back to John’s Gospel for another clear text that defeats the idea that the new birth is anything but the first act of God in conversion which causes a man’s responsibilities in the event. “But to all who did receive [Christ], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

This act of renewal is the event referred to in the doctrine of Irresistible Grace. Thanks for hanging with me.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen