THE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION SERIES - PART 1

THE ORDER OF THE APPLICATION OF SALVATION

I remember watching a program a few years ago in which a huge maze of dominos was assembled. Lines of stacked dominos ran every direction in a large warehouse. The dominos went up little ramps and crossed each other. It took over a month to construct the intricate rows of dominos. At a signal, carefully positioned cameras began to film and the first domino was pushed over into the second one in the row. A massive chain reaction took place as the rows of dominos began to fall. Some rows split into three and four rows that fell simultaneously. The room was filled with the loud clatter of falling domino tiles. In just a few minutes, every domino had fallen. The stunt was dramatic and illustrated how closely related objects affect each other.
The domino stunt is a reminder that the Bible contains a unified system of truth. Scripture interprets Scripture and the Bible does not present truth in terms of contradiction. Consequently, when an error is made in one area of our theological understanding of the Word of God, that error does not remain in isolation for long. The error cascades throughout our theology and, if not halted at some point, produces greater and greater falsehood. Theological error is not just an intellectual issue; theological error can result in the loss of one’s soul. At the very least, it quickly spills over into the way we live our Christian lives. B. B. Warfield said that a mutilated gospel produces mutilated lives. Bad theology is a cruel taskmaster. This principle is especially important in understanding the application of Christ’s work of salvation to the elect of God. A proper understanding of the logical order of the application of salvation is vital to a right understanding of the gospel.
This little book is a study of the various doctrines of salvation and their relationship with each other. Christ’s work on the cross met all the needs associated with our salvation. His accomplished work stands before us. The question is how is the sinner made a partaker of the work of atonement that Christ accomplished? This question addresses the issue of the application of Christ’s work and leads us to a study of the doctrines of salvation. In speaking of our salvation, the New Testament teaches that behind a sinner’s faith in Christ and every other spiritual grace he possesses is the sovereign saving activity of the Triune God. The New Testament also teaches that the application of salvation is not one act. John Murray writes: “When we think of the application of redemption we must not think of it as one simple and indivisible act. It comprises a series of acts and processes. To mention some, we have calling, regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification, glorification. These are all distinct, and not one of these can be defined in terms of the other. Each has its own distinct meaning, function, and purpose in the action and grace of God.”1 These “series of acts and processes” follow an order in their application to the sinner. Historically, Reformed theologians have spoken of this as the “order of salvation” or ordo salutis. It is important to note that this order of salvation is a logical order and not a chronological one.

SCRIPTURAL BASIS FOR THE LOGICAL SEQUENCE OF THE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION

For our purposes now, we are simply examining the Scriptural basis for the logical sequence of the act of salvation. The meaning of the terms will be considered later. 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.
The next issue in discerning the order of salvation is the position of faith in the broad outline we have considered. The Scriptures are clear that faith in Jesus Christ is the instrumental precondition of justification. For example, Romans 5:1 states: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. . . .” Galatians 2:16 strongly states the same idea: “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” John Murray writes:
. . . the Scripture undoubtedly states that we are justified by faith, from faith, through faith, and upon faith (see Rom. 1:17; 3:22, 26, 28, 30; 5:1; Gal. 2:16; 3:24; Phil. 3:9). It would surely seem impossible to avoid the conclusion that justification is upon the event of faith or through the instrumentality of faith. God justifies the ungodly who believe in Jesus, in a word, believers. And that is simply to say that faith is presupposed in justification, is the precondition of justification, not because we are justified on the ground of faith or for the reason that we are justified because of faith but only for the reason that faith is God’s appointed instrument through which he dispenses this grace.2
Therefore, faith is the antecedent to being justified and justification is dependent on the presence of faith. The logical sequence is that faith precedes justification. Many Scriptures state that faith is the response of our heart and mind to the divine call to believe in Christ (Acts 16:31; 1 Cor. 1:9). Therefore, faith should be positioned in the broad outline between calling and justification. Therefore, in the application of salvation, this gives us the logical sequence of: calling, faith, justification, and glorification.
Closely related to faith is repentance; there is a coordination between repentance and faith. In Acts 20:21, Paul told the Ephesian elders at Miletus that he had taught them publicly and from house to house: “solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Faith and repentance are interdependent graces. John Murray writes: “Repentance is the twin sister of faith - we cannot think of the one without the other, and so repentance would be cojoined with faith.”3 Therefore, repentance and faith are joined together as coordinate acts in the logical sequence of salvation. This gives us the order: calling, faith and repentance, justification, and glorification.
The place of adoption in the order of salvation may be discerned from an exegesis of John 1:12,13: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” First, it is important to note that in this passage the act of “receiving” Christ (aorist tense in the Greek) and the continuous “believing in his name” (a present participle) both refer to faith in Jesus Christ. The first idea of receiving Christ refers to initial faith in Christ and the later idea of continually believing in his name refers to the instrumentality whereby the Christian continues to appropriate Christ’s benefits throughout his life.4 John states that as many as received him are given the right to become children of God. The Greek word translated as “right” (exousian) has the meaning of the legal word “authority;” it is refering to the legal act of God’s grace in adoption. Therefore, John is teaching that faith is the necessary logical precondition to adoption. Since being adopted into God’s family would presuppose that a person’s sins are forgiven and he is accepted by God as righteous, it is logical to assume that adoption follows justification. John Murray writes: “Adoption would obviously come after justification - we could not think of one being adopted into the family of God without first being accepted by God and made an heir of eternal life.”5 This gives us the logical order: calling, faith and repentance, justification, adoption, and glorification.
A crucial question in the order of the application of salvation is the position of regeneration in the ordo salutis. John 1:13 indicates that those who receive and continually believe in Christ are those who have first been born of God. Robert Reymond writes,
Why do some people repent and respond by faith in Christ to the divine summons to faith while others do not? Concerning those who believe in Christ’s name John immediately says in John 1:13: “[These are they] who have been begotten [egennethesan], not by blood, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of a husband, but by God.” By this particular reference to God’s ‘begetting’ activity John refers to regeneration, and clearly suggests by his statement that, while faith is the instrumental precondition to justification and adoption, regeneration is the necessary precondition and efficient cause of faith in Jesus Christ. In short, regeneration causally precedes faith.6
This is a crucial point in the debates between Arminian and Reformed theology. The idea that regeneration precedes faith relates closely to the biblical teaching concerning the nature of sin and its effect on man. The Bible teaches emphatically that sin corrupts the totality of man's heart; a person's will and desires are under the slavery of sin (Titus 3:3-5), he is dead in sin without spiritual life or any inclination toward Christ (Eph. 2:1-3), he does not have the moral ability to choose Christ apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (John 1:12,13; 6:44,45, 63-65), and the things of God are foolishness to him (1 Cor. 2:14). For saving faith and repentance to be present, a prior work of regeneration must take place. Scripture is clear and consistent on the point that, because of man's radical falleness, God is the divine initiator of salvation (John 3:1-10; Eph. 2:1-5; Col. 2:13). This relationship between regeneration and faith and repentance is crucial for a proper understanding of the grace of God. If it is taught that man has the moral ability to come to Christ on his own and he takes the first step, then, not only is the Scriptural teaching concerning man's sin denied, but the grace of God in salvation is diminished and a false view of salvation is held. This ultimately leads to a concept of salvation in which man's merit becomes the necessary condition for salvation to be present; therefore, a person believes in Christ because he is somehow intrinsically more righteous than someone else. Consequently, what may seem to be a small theological point concerning the relationship of regeneration and faith and repentance has large ramifications concerning the grace of God and the nature of the gospel itself. In the following chapters, we will examine the key debate points and Scriptures that show the idea that regeneration precedes faith and repentance. In terms of the relationship between calling and regeneration, Roman 8:30 teaches that glorification is the last act in the application of salvation. This implies that calling is the first act in the application of salvation. Therefore, calling either precedes regeneration or regeneration is the work of God that makes calling effectual. This now fleshes out our order of the application of salvation gives us the following order: calling, regeneration, faith and repentance, justification, adoption, and glorification.
The concept of sanctification is usually thought of as a progressive work that follows justification and adoption. The New Testament, however, also speaks of a type of sanctification that is a definitive act. For example, 1 Corinthians 6:11 states: “And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.” (see also: Acts 20:32; 26:18; 1 Cor. 1:2). These passages speak of sanctification in the same definitive terms as justification. Definitive sanctification is an act that follows faith (Acts 26:18: “. . . those who have been sanctified by faith in me.”). Therefore, it should be positioned in the order of salvation as a concomitant act with justification and adoption. We now have this order: calling, regeneration, faith and repentance, justification, adoption, definitive sanctification, and glorification.
The final aspect of the order of salvation to be considered is progressive sanctification. As its name implies, it is a continuous process rather than a momentary act like calling, regeneration, justification, adoption, definitive sanctification, and glorification. John Murray writes: “Sanctification is a process that begins, we might say, in regeneration, finds its basis in justification, and derives its energizing grace from the union with Christ which is effected in effectual calling.”7 A life-long process of dying more and more to sin and “growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18) begins when the sinner is regenerated. Part of this life-long process is God’s enabling the redeemed to persevere (Philippians 1:6; 3:13,14; 1 Pet. 1:3-5). Therefore, perseverance is placed in the order of salvation as a concomitant of progressive sanctification. This completes our order of the application of salvation and gives us the following order: effectual calling, regeneration, faith and repentance, justification, adoption, definitive sanctification, progressive sanctification (perseverance), and glorification.
Robert Reymond gives this explanation and chart of the order of the application of salvation:
From all this, the following order of application has emerged. Concomitant aspects of the order are highlighted by arranging them in vertical columns under five headings indicating which aspects are entirely divine acts and which aspects entail human activity working both in response to and in conjunction with accompanying divinely initiated activity. It should be noted that the first three columns to do not reflect chronological occurrences, since the moment the sinner is regenerated, in that moment he repents and places his confidence in Christ’s saving work, and in that same moment God justifies, definitively sanctifies, and adopts and seals him. These columns reflect the logical (or causal) connection between the several aspects.



In the chapters that follow, we will examine the biblical teaching concerning each of these doctrines as well as further examine the biblical warrant for this order of the application of salvation.

1John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982 reprint of 1955 edition), 79, 80.
2Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 85.
3Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 87.
4Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998), 708.
5Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 87.
6Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 708.
7Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 87.
8Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 711.

THE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION SERIES - PART 2

MAN’S RADICAL CORRUPTION

A favorite hymn of many Christians is Amazing Grace by John Newton. While this hymn is a favorite of many Christians, there are few Christians in the present evangelical community who know or understand the profound theology set forth in this hymn. The hymn proclaims the tremendous truth of God's divine initiative in our salvation. John Newton had been a slave trader who had been miraculously saved and became a minister. Because of his past, he understood well what he was writing when he penned the words: “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. T'was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.” The words of the hymn emphasize that it is by God's grace that our hearts have an understanding of God, have a fear of God's justice and an awareness of our need, and that we are enabled to believe.
In a study of the doctrines of salvation, an understanding of the doctrine of man's radical corruption in sin is an essential starting point. Understanding man's condition in sin and his need before God is the foundation for understanding and appreciating the grace of God in our salvation. Today, most Christians realize that it is by God's grace that they are saved, but they do not comprehend the depth of their sin and the extent of grace that has been given them in their salvation. It is only when we realize the degree of our fallenness in sin that we realize the degree of grace that has been given to us in our salvation. This doctrine is not only crucial for understanding the grace of God in our salvation, but also for understanding almost every doctrine associated with our salvation.
In historical theology, man's condition in sin has been called “Total Depravity.” This terminology, however, is easily misunderstood. It does not mean that every human being is a bad as they could possibly be; that would be “utter depravity.” The phrase “total depravity” is attempting to communicate that sin affects every aspect of man's being. Sin dominates every aspect of a person's thoughts, actions, attitudes, and desires. Because of the misunderstanding associated with the term “Total Depravity,” many theologians prefer the term radical corruption. The term radical is derived from the Latin radix, which means “root.” Therefore, this term is saying that sin permeates the very core or root of man's being.

FALLAN MAN IS DEAD IN SIN

Ephesians 2:1-3 strongly sets forth the degree of man's radical corruption in sin. It states:
And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
This passage states that fallen man is “dead in sin,” that he has no spiritual life whatsoever. It is important to note that the Apostle Paul did not say that man is sick in sin or simply influenced by sin; he declared that fallen man has no spiritual life.
I've often heard the illustration given concerning man's condition in sin that he is sick in sin like a man deathly ill in a hospital bed. The man is near death, struggling for every breath, but he is still alive. A nurse comes in with a bottle of medicine that will cure him and restore him to perfect health. The medicine represents the gospel which is offered to the sinner who is sick in sin. She pours the dose of medicine into a spoon and holds it to the man's mouth. Here is the offer of the gospel in evangelism. Now it is up to him to take the medicine and live or refuse it and die. In other words, it is up to the man to receive Jesus and live or refuse him and die. The main problem with this illustration is that the man is still alive. He is affected by sin; he is sick in sin, but he is not dead in sin. In order to make this illustration fit Ephesians 2:1-3, it would be necessary to put the man in the hospital morgue. He is in one of the little refrigeration units with a toe tag. The nurse comes in with medicine (the gospel) and stands by the dead man all day, but he doesn't take the medicine because he is not alive. What he needs is a spiritual resurrection. He must move from a condition of being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive before he will be able to receive the medicine. This is exactly the pattern set forth in Ephesians 2:1-5. After stating that man is spiritually dead and exhibits that lack of spiritual life in his sinful disposition and actions, verses 4 and 5 proclaim: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). . . .” Scripture declares that we were dead in sin and God acts first to bring about a spiritual resurrection making us alive in Christ. Colossians 2:13 reiterates the same idea. J. Gresham Machen, the great theologian of the early 20th century said, “Man, according to the Bible, is not merely sick in trespasses and sins; he is not merely in a weakened condition so that he needs divine help: but he is dead in trespasses and sins. He can do absolutely nothing to save himself. . . .” Charles Spurgeon in commenting on man's condition in sin said, “What a dreadful inability sin brings with it! That simple command of the gospel, ‘Believe,’ the sinner cannot obey in himself. He can no more repent and believe without the Holy Spirit's aid than he can create a world.”1

FALLEN MAN REPRESSES THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND BECOMES AN IDOL FACTORY

Another important passage dealing with man's corruption in sin is Romans 1:18-23:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that theyare without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
This passage declares that fallen man universally suppresses or represses the truth of God (verse 18). Verses 19-21 state that all men know there is a God, that creation bears a witness to God's existence and that witness is understood by every person. However, even though the witness gets through to everyone, everyone represses that witness. Why is that? Fallen man is hostile toward God. He does not want to acknowledge or honor God (Rom. 8:7). Besides this basic disposition of the heart of fallen man, another factor is involved in this repression of the truth. People tend to repress or push out of conscious thought those things which are painful or unpleasant to them. The most unpleasant truth that anyone can face is that they are guilty before a holy God who will render to them perfect justice for their deeds. Therefore, fallen man represses the reality of God, does not honor God as God, and does not render proper gratitude to God. Julian Huxley wrote, “For my own part, the sense of spiritual relief that comes from rejecting the idea of God as a supernatural being is enormous.”2 An old story tells of a desert nomad who awakened hungry in the middle of the night. He lit a candle and began eating dates from a bowl beside his bed. He took a bite from one end and saw a worm in it, so he threw it out of the tent. He bit into the second date, found another worm, and threw it away also. Reasoning that he wouldn't have any dates left to eat if he continued, he blew out the candle and quickly ate all the dates. Romans 1:18 proclaims that sinful man is just like the nomad; he prefers darkness and denial to the light of reality. Because the reality of being under the judgment of God is too difficult to face, fallen man represses the reality of God, does not honor God as God, nor render proper gratitude to God (verse 21).
This passage goes on to say that after sinful man represses the knowledge of the true God, he sets up his own idea of God; he creates an idol. This could be an idol of wood, stone, or metal or it could simply be a false concept of God. Sometimes the repression of God is so profound that men make themselves the sum of all things and declare that there is no deity at all; they declare themselves to be atheists. John Calvin, in commenting on this propensity of the sinful human heart wrote:
. . . but we are all alike in this, that we substitute monstrous fictions for the one living and true God. . . . almost every man has had his own god. To the darkness of ignorance have been added presumption and wantonness, and hence there is scarcely an individual to be found without some idol or phantom as a substitute for Deity. Like water gushing forth from a large and copious spring, immense crowds of gods have issued from the human mind, every man giving himself full license, and devising some peculiar form of divinity, to meet his own views.3
Calvin said that fallen man is a idol factory (fabricum idolarum). This repression of the true God and the creation of idols is a normative pattern for the heart that is radically corrupt in sin. Man, being dead in sin, exchanges the truth of God for a lie and worships and serves an idol.

NO ONE DOES GOOD AND NO ONE SEEKS GOD

Romans 3:10-12 also speaks of man's dire condition in sin: “. . . as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.” In this passage, Paul puts together a series of Old Testament quotations that show the radical corruption of the fallen human heart. This section states that “none is righteous, not even one” and that “there is none who does good, there is not even one.” Some may object and say, “What do you mean there is none who does good? I know people who do all kinds of good deeds.” What is the answer to this objection? It is important to define the term good in the same way that Scripture defines it. For an act to be good, it must not only be something God has commanded, but it must be done perfectly with perfect motives. An act may appear to be good from an external perspective, but if it is not done from pure motives, motives that seek to glorify God, it does not conform perfectly to God's law. Jonathan Edwards said that we tend to do good things from enlightened self-interest. We understand that sometimes it pays to do good things. We are on-time for work and do a good job because, in so doing, we don't get fired and we may get a raise in pay. In this regard, we have a tendency to look at good works from an external perspective. We do not have the ability to evaluate the attitude and motives of the heart. God, however, does and he declares that no one does good according to his standard. R. C. Sproul illustrates this by the use of the term good with regard to dogs. We call a dog a good dog when it meets certain standards for dogs. It is a good dog when it doesn't wet the carpet, when it comes when you call it, when it doesn't chew up your shoes, and when it brings you your paper in its mouth. We do not use that same standard of good for people. We do not say that Joe is a good man because he is housebroken, comes when you call him, doesn't chew up your shoes, and brings you your paper in his mouth. The standards are different for dogs than for men. In the same way, God's standards of good are different from our external standards. According to God's standards, no one does good, not even one.4 When we understand the requirements of the Law of God, we are stripped of any sense of self-righteousness (see: Romans 3:19,20). Many people are like Snoopy in a Peanuts cartoon. The cartoon shows Snoopy walking toward his dog house and thinking, “This has been a really good day.” In the next panel, Snoopy is sitting on his house and thinking, “I did everything right.” In the final panel Snoopy adds, “In my opinion.” People do everything right or they think they are good “in their opinion.” God's Law takes the definition of good and the evaluation of our performance out of our subjective and relative perspective and places all our actions and motives under the scrutiny of God's standard.
This passage also states that “there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.” I've often heard ministers and evangelists talk about the occult or new age movement and reflectively say, “The rise of the occult in our culture demonstrates the universal desire of man to seek God.” As we have just observed in Romans 1:18-25, the opposite is true. The rise of the occult and other false religious activities stem from man's universal desire to repress the knowledge of the true God and create an idol. Closely related to this idea is the statement in Romans 3:10-12 that fallen man does not understand the things of God and he does not seek God. I’ve also heard Christians say, “So and so is not a Christian, but he’s searching.” The assumption is that a non-Christian is seeking after the true God of the Bible. The Apostle Paul, however, bluntly states that “no one seeks for God.” Michael Horton commented on this and wrote, “We cannot find God for the same reason that a thief can't find a police officer.”5
How do we account for those people, who apart from God's grace in Christ, seem to be seeking for God. First, it is possible that when we see this happening we are witnessing a work of the Holy Spirit effectually bringing the person to faith in Christ. There are those, however, who are seeking all types of religious experiences and have no interest in the God of the Bible. How do we explain this so-called “seeking for God?” As Christians, we know there are certain benefits that only come from a relationship with God through Christ. We have the assurance of forgiveness, an absence of the fear of death, the sure hope of an eternity with God, the promise of God's care and fatherly love, and numerous other benefits that come from our relationship with God. When we see unbelievers seeking those benefits, we assume they are seeking salvation through Jesus Christ through whom those benefits come. However, the nature of man's sin is such that he seeks after the benefits of a relationship with God while at the same time he flees from God himself. He wants the benefits, but he doesn't want God. Therefore, he represses the knowledge of God, becomes an idol factory, and flees from the presence of the true and living God. R. C. Sproul writes concerning this idea:
The Bible tells us repeatedly to seek after God. The Old Testament cries, “Seek the Lord while He may be found” (Isa. 55:6). Jesus said, “Seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7). The conclusion we draw from these texts is that since we are called to seek after God it must mean that we, even in our fallen state, have the moral capacity to do that seeking. But who is being addressed in these texts? In the case of the Old Testament it is the people of Israel who are called to seek the Lord. In the New Testament it is believers who are called to seek the kingdom. . . . So what? The point is that seeking is something that unbelievers do not do on their own steam. The unbeliever will not seek. The unbeliever will not knock. Seeking is the business of believers. Edwards said, ‘The seeking of the kingdom of God is the chief business of the Christian life.’ Seeking is the result of faith, not the cause of it.”6

FALLEN MAN IS HOSTILE TOWARD GOD AND CANNOT PLEASE GOD

Another important passage on man’s radical corruption in sin is Romans 8:7-8: “because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” In the context of this passage, those who are “according to the flesh” are the unregenerate and those who are “according to the Spirit” are the regenerate. Romans 8:9 shows this principle clearly: “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Those who belong to Christ have the Spirit and are not in the flesh. Paul says that unregenerate people who are in the flesh are hostile toward God and are not subject to the law of God. He adds an important statement at the end of verse 7: “for it is not even able to do so.” Not only is the unregenerate, fleshly mind hostile toward God and his law, it also lacks the ability to subject itself to the law of God. Romans 8:8 states: “and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Apart from God’s divine initiative, the unregenerate cannot do anything that is pleasing to God. He cannot obey his holy law nor can he repent and believe in Christ, acts which are certainly pleasing to God. James White writes:
Paul does not say “those who are in the flesh at times do things that are displeasing to God, but at other times do things that are pleasing to Him.” He does not teach that “men are free to believe in Christ at any time” for obviously, such an action is well-pleasing to God. How can a person in the flesh do such things as repent, believe, turn from sin, embrace holiness, etc., when they are still in the flesh? Unregenerate man lacks the ability to please God. Something must happen first: he has to be translated from the realm of the flesh to that of the spirit. He must be raised to spiritual life so that he can do what is pleasing to God: repent and believe in Christ.”7
In 1736, in Northampton, Mass., Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon titled, Men Are Naturally God's Enemies. This was a lengthy exposition of Romans 5:10. The basic thesis of the sermon was that man hated God. He said,
They are enemies in the natural relish of their souls. They have an inbred distaste and disrelish of God's perfections. God is not such a sort of being as they would have. Though they are ignorant of God, yet from what they hear of Him, and from what is manifest by the light of nature of God, they do not like Him. By His being endowed with such attributes as He is, they have an aversion to Him. They hear God is an infinitely holy, pure, and righteous Being, and they do not like Him upon this account; they have no relish of such kind of qualifications; they take no delight in contemplating them. It would be a mere task, a bondage to a natural man, to be obliged to set himself to contemplate these attributes of God. They see no manner of beauty or loveliness nor taste any sweetness in them. And upon the account of their distaste of these perfections, they dislike all the other of His attributes. They have greater aversion to Him because He is omniscient and knows all things; because His omniscience is a holy omniscience. They are not pleased that He is omnipotent, and can do whatever He pleases; because it is a holy omnipotence. They are enemies even to His mercy, because it is a holy mercy. They do not like His immutability, because by this He never will be otherwise than He is, an infinitely holy God.”8
Since fallen man is dead in sin, represses the knowledge of God and creates idols, is not righteous, does no good works, does not understand and does not seek for God, is hostile toward God and cannot submit to the law of God, and cannot please God, the grace of God is absolutely essential for a person to come to Christ. Sinful man, left to himself and his own desires will never desire Christ. This is why in Ephesians 2 after the declaration is made that man is dead in sin, verses 4 and 5 proclaim that God is the divine initiator of our salvation: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” Notice that it does not say, “But you, because you were smarter than your neighbor, or more righteous than your neighbor had the good sense to come to Christ.” God takes the first step in our salvation; God initiates our salvation and makes us alive in Christ. It is only after God makes us alive in Christ that we desire salvation, have faith and repentance, and have a genuine love for the true God who is revealed in Scripture. Charles Spurgeon said it this way: “I take it that the highest proof of Christ's power is not that he offers salvation, not that he bids you take it if you will, but that when you reject it, when you hate it, when you despise it, he has a power whereby he can change your mind, make you think differently from your former thoughts, and turn you from the error of your ways.”9

FALLEN MAN DOES NOT NATURALLY HAVE THE MORAL ABILITY TO COME TO CHRIST

In John 6:44-45, Jesus proclaimed man's inability to come to him apart from God's initiative: “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to me.” This statement begins with a universal negative, “No one can come to Me. . . .” It is universal because the phrase, “No one” refers to all people. The word, can in this phrase refers to ability. I remember early grammar lessons that taught the difference between can and may. Can refers to ability while may refers to permission. Perhaps you had the experience in first grade of asking your teacher, “Can I sharpen my pencil.” The standard reply was, “I'm sure you can and you may.” Jesus said that no one has the ability to come to Him on their own. Jonathan Edwards made a distinction that is helpful in thinking about this issue. He distinguished between natural ability and moral ability. God provides certain natural abilities to members of his creation. For example, he provides the birds with the ability to fly. Fish have the ability to live under water and extract oxygen from the water through their gills. God provides the fish with fins and gills and the birds with feathers and wings. Human beings do not naturally have that equipment. Human beings, however, are given the natural ability to make choices. God gave people minds that can receive and analyze information. Man's corruption in sin does not strip from him the ability to choose what he wants. In the fall, however, man did lose his desire for God and his inclination toward the good. In this regard, a person can intellectually understand the law of God and its obligations and he can understand the content of the gospel. The unregenerate person, however, does not want to obey God or to come to Christ. He could choose Christ and the things of God if he wanted them, but he has no desire for them. This is where Edwards made the distinction between natural and moral ability. Man has the natural ability to choose God, but he does not have the moral ability to do it.10 The things of God and the gospel are foolishness to him (1 Cor. 2:14) and he has no desire for Christ. R. C. Sproul writes concerning this moral inability:
The ability to make righteous moral choices requires righteous desires and inclinations. Without a righteous inclination to the good, no one can choose the good. Our choices follow our inclinations. For man to be able to choose the things of God, he must first be inclined to choose them. Since the flesh makes no provision for the things of God, grace is required for us to be able to choose them. The unregenerate person must be regenerated before he has any desire for God.11
This is what Jesus was addressing when He said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. . . .” Fallen man may look at Jesus and be impressed with his moral teaching; he may think that Jesus is interesting, but, apart from God's divine initiative, he will never come to Christ for salvation. He has no desire to submit to God or to believe the gospel; he lacks the moral ability to come to Christ.
After Jesus said that no one has the ability to come to him, he gave an exception clause, “unless the Father draws him.” What does the word "draw" mean? Some have proposed that it simply means “to woo” or “to entice.” Using this meaning, Jesus would have been saying that God's action in salvation is merely that he encourages a person to come to Christ. This is a necessary encouragement for a person to come, but it is not an effectual action; it does not guarantee that a person will come. This explanation is incorrect. First of all, in John 6:45, Jesus said, “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to me.” Jesus saw this drawing of the Father as not only a necessary condition for someone to come to salvation, but also as a sufficient condition. Everyone that is drawn by the Father will come. It was not merely an enticement or encouragement to come. Second, the Greek word translated as draw is elko. Gerhard Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament defines elko as “to compel by irresistible superiority.”12 The linguistic and lexicographical meaning of elko is “to compel.” Therefore, Elko is a forceful verb. To see the force of this verb, let's consider two other passages in the New Testament where the word is used. In Acts 16:19, Paul and Silas are attacked by the owners of a slave girl after Paul cast a demon out of her: “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities.” In this verse, elko is translated as dragged. Certainly, Paul and Silas were not enticed or wooed into the market place. They were forcibly seized and compelled to come. Another passage where elko is used is James 2:6. James is addressing the problem of favoritism in the church. He is rebuking his readers for honoring the wealthy and disparaging the poor. He writes in verse 6: “But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?” Again, elko is translated as drag. In both of these verses, the linguistic meaning of elko as “to compel” is reflected in the translation and the context of the verse. Jesus was not saying that the Father merely woos or entices a person to come, but that there is an effectual action that compels a person to come.
This same idea is set forth just a few verses later in John 6:63-65:
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 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. And 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.”
Jesus said that the Spirit gives life and the flesh profits nothing. Martin Luther commented that when Jesus said that the flesh profits nothing that doesn't mean a little a little something. Jesus emphasized that it is the Holy Spirit that brings spiritual life to a person. In verse 65, he again speaks of man's moral inability to come to Him unless it has been granted by the Father. For a person to come to Christ, the ability to come must be granted or given by the Father. No one can come to Christ in the flesh. Without God's divine initiative, no one can come. John Murray writes concerning John 6:44, 45, 65:
In John 6:37 Jesus says, “Everything that (pan ho) that the Father gives to me shall come to me, and him that cometh unto me I will no wise cast out.” Jesus is here speaking of coming to him which consists in faith and which has its issue in the salvation that reaches its apex in the resurrection at the last day. The former is shown by vs. 40 and the latter by vss. 39, 40. It is therefore of the faith in Jesus unto salvation that he speaks in vss. 44, 45, 65.
Now, obviously, as men are confronted with the gospel the most elementary demand, the demand that is the only avenue to the fulfillment of all other demands, is to believe in Christ. But of that Jesus says man is incapable. It is a psychological, moral, and spiritual impossibility apart from an efficacious drawing which is of the nature of a gift from the Father. It is therefore of that faith in Christ that Jesus says, “No one can come unto me except the Father who sent me draw him” . . . and “On this account I said to you that no one can come unto me except it were given him of my Father.” Nothing therefore can be plainer than this, that the act of true and simple faith in Christ is impossible apart from the drawing and gracious gift of the Father.13

FALLEN MAN IS SPIRITUALLY BLIND

1 Corinthians 2:14 states: “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned” (NIV). This verse declares that a person who is unregenerate does not have the ability to understand or accept of the things of God. Again, the Scriptures confront us with something that fallen man does not have the ability to do in himself. Not only can the person without the Holy Spirit not accept or understand the things that come from the Spirit of God, but they are foolishness to him. Simon Kistemaker comments on this verse:
The spiritual things relate to sin, guilt, forgiveness, redemption, salvation, righteousness, and eternal life. To the unspiritual person, these things are meaningless, irrelevant, and even foolish. They have no place in a life that is limited to the present world. . . . “And he is unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” Paul speaks about an inability that is caused by the absence of the Holy Spirit in the life of an unbeliever. Granted the unbeliever can excel the Christian in various ways: intellectually, educationally, philosophically, or even morally. He may be a worthy citizen and a leader in society who shuns the sensuous excesses that characterize other people. Yet, the non-Christian is unable to understand spiritual matters. He lacks the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to enlight his understanding.14
Apart from a divine action of God, the unregenerate person considers the message of the gospel foolish and has no desire to accept the things that come from the Spirit of God; he is spiritually blind to the things of God.
The Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes these points: “Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.”15
This is the same pattern we observed earlier in Ephesians 2:1-5. Verses 1-3 declare that man is dead in sin and lives out that sinful condition. Verses 4 and 5 declare: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). . . .” Paul said the same thing in Ephesians that Jesus declared: Man does not have the moral ability to come to Christ in his flesh; a divine initiative is the necessary first condition for salvation. Fallen man is spiritually dead, spiritually hostile, and spiritually blind. He does not have the moral ability to come to Christ, unless the Father draws him. The action of being drawn to Christ is coupled closely with the Holy Spirit's work of making a person alive in Christ or regenerating him. Once a person is made alive in Christ, he has the desire for Christ and he comes to Jesus. That moral ability to come to Christ, however, is the result of the Spirit giving life. The Westminster Confession declares:
When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, He freeth him from his natural bondage under sin; and, by His grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so, that by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil. The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to do good alone in the state of glory only.16
Understanding this strips all boasting and claims of self-righteousness from man. If you are in Christ, it is because God has shown you mercy and initiated your salvation. Charles Spurgeon, said, “If God requires of the sinner, dead in sin, that he should take the first step, then he requires just that which renders salvation as impossible under the gospel as it was under the law, since man is as unable to believe as he is to obey.”17 The result is that God alone gets all the glory and praise for one’s salvation. The second stanza of the hymn Amazing Grace reflects these points: “‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!” When you see real faith in your life, you are seeing a manifestation of God's grace operating in your life.
This truth is described in a poem that was discovered in the pocket of Major John Andre after his execution during the Revolutionary War. It was written in his death cell, so these words are literally a dying man's testimony:
Hail, Sovereign Love, which first began the scheme to rescue fallen man! Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace, which gave my soul a Hiding Place! Against the God who built the sky I fought with hands uplifted high-- Despite the mention of His grace-- too proud to seek a Hiding Place Enrapt in thick Egyptian night, and fond of darkness more than light, I madly ran the sinful race, secure, I thought, without God's grace. But the eternal counsel ran: "Almighty Love, arrest that man!" I felt the arrows of distress, and found I had no Hiding Place. Indignant Justice stood in view; to Sinai's fiery mount I flew; But Justice cried with frowning face, “This mountain is no Hiding Place!” Ere long a heavenly voice I heard, and mercy's angel soon appeared; He led me, with a beaming face, to Jesus as my Hiding Place! On Him almighty vengeance fell, which would have sunk a world to Hell; He bore it for a sinful race, and thus became their Hiding Place!
If you are in Christ now, it is because God has taken the first step in your salvation and drawn you to Jesus. This eliminates all claims of self-righteousness, boasting, or spiritual pride. It is only as we understand our desperate need that we realize the mercy and grace we have been shown in our salvation. Understanding these truths should move our hearts to give God all glory and honor for the work he has performed in our lives and the mercy we have received. In fact, the more you understand the biblical teaching concerning man's condition in sin, the more you will bow in worship and sing, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!”

1Tom Carter, Spurgeon AT His Best (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988), 107.
2Religion Without Revelation (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1979).
3John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 Vols., edited by John T. McNeill, translated and indexed by Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 1.5.11-12.
4R. C. Sproul, Chosen By God (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1986), 106-107.
5Michael Horton, Putting The Amazing Back Into Grace (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1994)
6Sproul, Chosen By God, 110-111.
7James R. White, The Potter’s Freedom (Amityville: Calvary Press, 2000), 117.
8The Works of President Edwards, Vol. 4 (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1879), 38.
9Carter, Spurgeon At His Best, 89.
10R. C. Sproul, Grace Unknown (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997), 135.
11Sproul, Grace Unknown, 135-136.
12Albrecht Oepke, “Elko,” in Gerhard Kittel, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. and trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1964), 503.
13John Murray, “Inability” in Collected Writings of John Murray (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1977), 2:84-85.
14Simon J. Kistemaker, New Testament Commentary, Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993), 92.
15The Westminster Confession of Faith, 9.3.
16The Westminster Confession of Faith, 9.4-5.
17Carter, Spurgeon At His Best, 62.

THE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION SERIES - PART 3

MAN’S MORAL INABILITY

In the first article of this series, we examined some of the aspects of man's radical corruption in sin. We observed that man is dead in sin (Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 2:13), represses the knowledge of God and creates idols (Rom. 1:18-25), does not do good according to God's law, and does not seek for God apart from the work of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 3:9-12). Because of the nature of man's sin, for a person to come to Jesus for salvation, God must take the initiative; God's divine initiative is the first step in anyone's salvation. The Bible's strong statements about the degree of man's corruption in sin and God's initiative in our salvation magnify the grace of God in salvation. This article continues this examination of man's corruption in sin which is classically called total depravity (meaning that sin affects man's total being) and God's divine initiative in our salvation.

In John 6:44, 45, Jesus proclaimed man's inability to come to him apart from God's initiative: "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to me." This statement begins with a universal negative, "No one can come to Me. . . ." It is universal because the phrase, "No one" refers to all people. The word, "can" in this phrase refers to ability. I remember early grammar lessons that taught the difference between "can" and "may." "Can" refers to ability while "may" refers to permission. Perhaps you had the experience in first grade of asking your teacher, "Can I sharpen my pencil." The standard reply was, "I'm sure you can and you may." Jesus said that no one has the ability to come to Him on their own.

Jonathan Edwards made a distinction that is helpful in thinking about this issue. He distinguished between natural ability and moral ability. God provides certain natural abilities to members of his creation. For example, he provides the birds with the ability to fly. Fish have the ability to live under water and extract oxygen from the water through their gills. God provides the fish with fins and gills and the birds with feathers and wings. Human beings do not naturally have that equipment. Human beings, however, are given the natural ability to make choices. God gave people minds that can receive and analyze information. Man's corruption in sin does not strip from him the ability to choose what he wants. In the fall, however, man did lose his desire for God and his inclination toward the good. In this regard, a person can intellectually understand the law of God and its obligations and he can understand the content of the gospel. The unregenerate person, however, does not want to obey God or to come to Christ. He could choose Christ and the things of God if he wanted them, but he has no desire for them. This is where Edwards makes the distinction between natural and moral ability. Man has the natural ability to choose God, but he does not have the moral ability to do it. The things of God and the gospel are foolishness to him (1 Cor. 2:14) and he has no desire for Christ. This is what Jesus was addressing when He said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. . . ." Fallen man may look at Jesus and be impressed with his moral teaching; he may think that Jesus is interesting, but, apart from God's divine initiative, he will never come to Christ for salvation. He has no desire to submit to God or to believe the gospel; he lacks the moral ability to come to Christ.

After Jesus said that no one has the ability to come to him, he gave an exception clause, "unless the Father draws him."

What does the word "draw" mean? Some have proposed that it simply means "to woo" or "to entice." Using this meaning, Jesus would have been saying that God's action in salvation is merely that he encourages a person to come to Christ. This is a necessary encouragement for a person to come, but it is not an effectual action; it does not guarantee that a person will come. This explanation is incorrect. First of all, in John 6:45, Jesus said, "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to me." Jesus saw this drawing of the Father as not only a necessary condition for someone to come to salvation, but also as a sufficient condition. Everyone that is drawn by the Father will come. It was not merely an enticement or encouragement to come. Second, the Greek word translated as "draw" is elko. Gerhard Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament defines elko as "to compel by irresistible superiority. The linguistic and lexicographical meaning of elko is "to compel (Kittel, Vol. 2, p. 503).

Elko is a forceful verb. To see the force of this verb, let's consider two other passages in the New Testament where the word is used. In Acts 16:19, Paul and Silas are attacked by the owners of a slave girl after Paul cast a demon out of her: "But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market place before the authorities." In this verse, elko is translated as "dragged." Certainly, Paul and Silas were not enticed or wooed into the market place. They were forcibly seized and compelled to come. Another passage where elko is used is James 2:6. James is addressing the problem of favoritism in the church. He is rebuking his readers for honoring the wealthy and disparaging the poor. He writes in verse 6: "But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?" Again, elko is translated as "drag." In both of these verses, the linguistic meaning of elko as "to compel" is reflected in the translation and the context of the verse. Jesus was not saying that the Father merely woos or entices a person to come, but that there is an effectual action that compels a person to come.

This same idea is set forth just a few verses later in John 6:63-65: "'It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. 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. And 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.'" Jesus said that the Spirit gives life and the flesh profits nothing. Martin Luther commented that when Jesus said that the flesh profits nothing that doesn't mean a little bit. Jesus emphasized that it is the Holy Spirit that brings spiritual life to a person. In verse 65, he again speaks of man's moral inability to come to Him unless it has been granted by the Father. For a person to come to Christ, the ability to come must be granted or given by the Father. No one can come to Christ in the flesh. Without God's divine initiative, no one can come. The Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes these points: "Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto (Chapter 9, Art. 3)."

This is the pattern that is set forth in Ephesians 2:1-5. Verses 1-3 declare that man is dead in sin and lives out that sinful condition. Verses 4 and 5 declare" But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). . . ." Paul sets forth in Ephesians the same idea that Jesus declared: Man does not have the moral ability to come to Christ in his flesh; a divine initiative is the necessary first condition for salvation.

The action of being drawn to Christ is coupled closely with the Holy Spirit's work of making a person alive in Christ or regenerating him. Once a person is made alive in Christ, he has the desire for Christ and he comes to Jesus. That moral ability to come to Christ, however, is the result of the Spirit giving life. The Westminster Confession declares: "When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, He freeth him from his natural bondage under sin; and, by His grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so, that by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil. The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to do good alone in the state of glory only (Chapter 9, art. 4 and 5)."

Understanding this strips all boasting and claims of self-righteousness from man. If you are in Christ, it is because God has shown you mercy and initiated your salvation. Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th century preacher said, "If God requires of the sinner, dead in sin, that he should take the first step, then he requires just that which renders salvation as impossible under the gospel as it was under the law, since man is as unable to believe as he is to obey." He also said, "I take it that the highest proof of Christ's power is not that he offers salvation, not that he bids you take it if you will, but that when you reject it, when you hate it, when you despise it, he has a power whereby he can change your mind, make you think differently from your former thoughts, and turn you from the error of your ways."

The second stanza of the hymn Amazing Grace reflects these points: "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!" When you see real faith in your life, you are also seeing a manifestation of God's grace operating in your life.

This truth is described in a poem that was discovered in the pocket of Major John Andre after his execution during the Revolutionary War. It was written in his death cell, so these words are literally a dying man's testimony:

"Hail, Sovereign Love, which first began the scheme to rescue fallen man! Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace, which gave my soul a Hiding Place! Against the God who built the sky I fought with hands uplifted high-- Despite the mention of His grace-- too proud to seek a Hiding Place Enrapt in thick Egyptian night, and fond of darkness more than light, I madly ran the sinful race, secure, I thought, without God's grace. But the eternal counsel ran: "Almighty Love, arrest that man!" I felt the arrows of distress, and found I had no Hiding Place. Indignant Justice stood in view; to Sinai's fiery mount I flew; But Justice cried with frowning face, "This mountain is no Hiding Place!" Ere long a heavenly voice I heard, and mercy's angel soon appeared; He led me, with a beaming face, to Jesus as my Hiding Place! On Him almighty vengeance fell, which would have sunk a world to Hell; He bore it for a sinful race, and thus became their Hiding Place!"

If you are in Christ now, it is because God has taken the first step in your salvation and drawn you to Jesus. This eliminates all claims of self-righteousness, boasting, or spiritual pride. Understanding these truths should move our hearts to giving God all glory and honor for the work he has performed in our lives and the mercy we have received.

THE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION SERIES - PART 4

EFFECTUAL CALLING AND REGENERATION

In the last chapter, we examined the nature of man's sin and the consequent necessity of God being the divine initiator of our salvation. We are now going to consider the process by which God makes us alive in Chirst. Ephesians 2:1-5 states:
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desire of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved. . . .
As we observed earlier, this passage proclaims that fallen man is dead in his sins and trespasses; he has no spiritual life or moral ability to respond to the gospel. His disposition and desires flow from a condition of spiritual death and, therefore, he does not desire God or have any inclination toward true faith and repentance. Verses 4 and 5 say that when we were in this condition God acted and made us alive in Christ Jesus: “But God. . . made us alive together with Christ.” There are two aspects to this work of God, calling and regeneration. Both are works of God that take place at the initial point of salvation in our lives and are closely linked together. The sovereign call of God is effective in that it produces the desired results. The term call implies that a person answers and responds to the call. This call of God is made effectual through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.1 The concept of regeneration addresses how the Holy Spirit changes the heart of fallen man so that he responds positively to the call of God. The person who is made alive in Christ, who is regenerated, acts according to a regenerate nature and responds positively to the gospel in faith and repentance. This chapter first examines effectual calling and then the concept of regeneration.
The term calling in the Bible has several applications. It is used to describe a vocation that we are called to fulfill or a call to a special office in the church (Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1). In reference to the gospel, the appeal to sinners to believe in Christ and repent of their sins is described as a call from God. In this regard, there is an external or general call of the gospel and an internal, effectual call. Whoever hears the message of the gospel hears a general call to believe and be saved from the wrath of God against sin. That external or general call, coming from some form of evangelism or witnessing, is not always heeded. Many people hear that call and dismiss or ignore it. In fact, the universal response of fallen man is to reject that external call (Rom. 1:18; 3:9-12; 8:7; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2:14). If a person is going to be saved, an internal call must be coupled with the external call. The internal call is the call of God that empowers and makes the external call effective. In the New Testament, the term “calling” or “called,” is almost exclusively used to describe a call from God that is internal and always effectual.
A crucial passage that demonstrates the efficacious nature of this call from God is Romans 8:29-30:
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.
This passage has been called the golden chain of our salvation. Each item mentioned is inextricably linked to the item before and after it. Everyone foreknown in the sense of this passage is predestined; everyone predestined is called; everyone called is justified, and everyone justified is glorified. The object of the verb in this passage is “whom.” The passage is describing individuals, not things about them such as good works, faith, or repentance. Without delving into an exposition of the concept of predestination, I want to point out the link between the various aspects of our salvation and the fact that everyone who is called is justified. In other words, the calling that is perceived of in this context is a calling that always produces the result of a person being justified. It is an effectual call.
Jesus spoke of a people being given to him by the Father and the surety that those people would come to him. In John 6:37, Jesus said: “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” Similarly, in John 6:44, 45 he states: “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.” In the last chapter, we examined John 6:44 in detail and observed that Jesus gave a universal negative that no one can come unless he is drawn by the Father. No one has the moral ability or desire to come to Christ apart from this action of God. The last phrase of verse 45 is important in regard to the idea of an effectual call: “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.” This echoes Jesus’ statement in John 6:37: “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me. . . .” The drawing of the Father and the person learning from the Father guarantees that the person will come to Christ. Everyone who is acted upon in this way by God will come to Christ. Everyone who is called is justified.
2 Timothy 1:9 also speaks of a call of God that is in accordance with his eternal purpose and produces salvation: “. . . who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. . . .” First, the call is not according to our works; it is not according to anything in us or foreknown by God to be in us, but according to God's eternal purpose and grace granted in Christ Jesus. This parallels the idea in Romans 8:29, 30 that those whom God foreknew, he predestined, and whom he predestined, he called, and whom he called, he justified. The call is according to an eternal purpose and plan of God. Second, this eternal purpose has the goal of the called being ushered into union with Christ. This again sets forth the effective nature of this call from God. Similarly, 1 Corinthians 1:9 states: “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:18 begins a section that elaborates on the divine origin and effectiveness of this call: “For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” The external call or the proclamation of the gospel is foolishness to fallen man apart from the efficacious grace and call of God. 1 Cor. 2:14 says the same thing: “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.” 1 Cor. 1:21 continues this idea: “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.” Those who believe the proclamation of the gospel are saved, but it is not of themselves that they believe; it is because of the effective, internal call of God. 1 Cor. 1:22-24 states: “For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” The message of the gospel is either a stumbling block or considered foolishness to fallen man, “but to those who are called” it is the power of God to salvation. Simon Kistemaker comments on verse 24:
Once again Paul uses the verb to call (see vv. 1, 2, 9). Only those people, including Jews and Greeks, who have been effectually called by God are able to believe the message of the cross and accept it without reservations. God calls to himself a people who are beloved, holy, and separated from the world. He calls them away from those Jews for whom Christ is an offense and from those Greeks for whom Christ is folly.2
Verses 30 and 31 conclude this section: “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (emphasis mine). 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 emphatically states that the message of the gospel is foolishness to fallen man. However, when the external message is coupled with an internal, effectual call of God, the message is not foolishness, but rather it is eagerly embraced. This is the same teaching as Romans 8:30: “. . . whom he called, he justified. . . ;” and “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me. . .” (John 6:37). Therefore, it is by His doing that you are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:30) and God alone gets the glory for our salvation (1 Cor. 1:31). Consider also: Rom. 1:6-7; Gal. 1:15-16; 1 Peter 2:9-10; 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Thess. 2:13-14. John Murray summarizes these points and defines calling:
Calling is the efficacious summons on the part of God the Father, in accordance with and in pursuance of his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, addressed to sinners dead in trespasses and sins, a call that ushers them into fellowship with Christ and into the possession of the salvation of which he is the embodiment; a call immutable in its character by reason of the purpose from which it proceeds and the bond it effects.3

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S WORK OF REGENERATION

Since Scripture describes fallen man as having no spiritual life and being spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 2:13), as not having the moral ability to come to Christ apart from the Father drawing him (John 6:44, 63-65), as repressing the knowledge of God and creating idols, not seeking for God, and not doing any good according to the standard of God's law (Rom. 1:18-25; 3:9-12), in order for anyone to be saved, God must be the divine initiator of his salvation. The question in regard to our response to the gospel is: how can a person who is dead in sin, who is at enmity with God, who does not have the moral ability to come to Christ apart from the work of God, respond to the call of the gospel? The answer is found in the doctrine of regeneration. The external call of the gospel is made effective through the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration. A person responds to the call to believe in Christ and repent because the Holy Spirit has opened his heart and made him willing to respond.

REGENERATION PRECEDES FAITH

The first chapter of John's gospel contains a profound statement concerning the primacy of God's divine initiative in our salvation. John 1:12-13 states: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Verse 12 speaks of those who receive Christ and believe in his name. Verse 13 qualifies who those are who receive Him; they are those who have been born of God. Verse 13 emphasizes that being born of God is a divine action that is not tied to the will of man. The person who receives Christ is the person who has first been born of God.
John 3:1-10 records Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus concerning the necessity of being born again. In this passage, Jesus sets forth the idea that being born again is a sovereign action of God that precedes faith and repentance. John 3:3 states: “Jesus answered and said to him [Nicodemus], ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” In John 3:5, Jesus reiterates this point: “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’” Jesus said that unless one is born again, he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. Semi-Pelagian and Arminian theology holds that a person exercises faith and repentance in order to be born again. In Arminian theology, an unregenerate person exercises faith through an act of his will and is then born again. Arminian theology reverses these statements of Jesus. It claims that people see and enter the kingdom and then they are born again. Jesus said that is impossible. John 3:6 destroys any claim that man has the moral ability to cause himself to be born again: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The flesh can only produce flesh. Jesus said in John 6:63: “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. . . .” The flesh or fallen human nature does not have the moral ability to respond to the gospel. The cross is foolishness and undesirable to the flesh (1 Cor. 1:18-24). John 3:8 sets forth the sovereign action of the Holy Spirit in regeneration: “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Just as the wind blows where it wishes, so the Spirit does what He wishes concerning this work of regeneration. This again emphasizes God's sovereignty in our salvation.
In John 3:5, Jesus mentioned the necessity of being “born of water and the Spirit.” Those who argue for baptismal regeneration often point to this verse. First, it is important to note that Jesus said water not baptism. Robert Reymond comments: “This is not a pericope on baptism; the institution of that sacrament lay some years in the future, and Nicodemus could not possibly grasped an allusion to a not-yet existing sacrament.”4 Second, in verse 10, Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not understand these things?” Jesus tells Nicodemus that he should know these things as a teacher in Israel. Nicodemus, as a Pharisee, would have known the Old Testament extremely well. The use of the phrase “water and Spirit” should have conveyed to the mind of Nicodemus the idea of purification and cleansing. Ezekiel 36:25,26 parallels Jesus statement in John 3:5: “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” This Old Testament prophecy speaks of the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration. This is an important concept in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament and a concept with which Nicodemus would have been familiar. Jesus was not referring to baptism, but to cleansing and regeneration. In our regeneration, the Holy Spirit makes a person who is spiritually dead alive in Christ; he takes out the heart of stone and gives him a heart of flesh, that is, a heart that is responsive to the gospel and the things of God. John Murray, in commenting on John 3 and this sovereign action of the Holy Spirit writes:
. . . we are instructed by our Lord that for entrance into the kingdom of God we are wholly dependent upon the action of the Holy Spirit, an action of the Holy Spirit which is compared to that on the part of our parents by which we were born into the world. We are as dependent upon the Holy Spirit as we are upon the action of our parents in connection with our natural birth. We were not begotten by our father because we decided to be. And we were not born of our mother because we decided to be. We were simply begotten and born. We did not decide to be born. This is the simple but too frequently overlooked truth which our Lord here teaches us. We do not have spiritual perception of the kingdom of God nor do we enter into it because we willed to or decided to. If this privilege is ours it is because the Holy Spirit willed it and here all rests upon the Holy Spirit's decision and action. He begets or bears when and where he pleases. Is this not the burden of verse 8?5
J. I. Packer curcurs:
Infants do not induce, or cooperate in, their own procreation and birth; no more can those who are ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ prompt the quickening operation of God’s Spirit within them (see Eph. 2:1-10). Spiritual vivification is a free, and to man mysterious, exercise of divine power (John 3:8), not explicable in terms of the combination or cultivation of existing human resources (John 3:6), not caused or induced by any human efforts (John 1:12-13) or merits (Titus 3:3-7), and not, therefore, to be equated with, or attributed to, any of the experiences, decisions, and acts to which it gives rise and by which it may be known to have taken place.6

REGENERATION IS A MONERGISTIC WORK

Two terms are helpful in clarifying this concept: monergistic and synergistic. Both of these terms contain the root word erg which means a unit of work. The prefix mon means one; the prefix syn means two. Therefore, a monergistic work is something that works alone and a synergistic work is the work of two cooperating together. Regeneration or being born again is a monergistic work; it is the work of the Holy Spirit alone. The Holy Spirit is the actor in regeneration; we are passive. The Holy Spirit raises the spiritually dead sinner to new life; the Holy Spirit takes out the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. This is why in John 1:12,13, those who respond to the gospel are those who have been born of the Spirit. Faith and repentance is the response of the heart that has been made alive in Christ, that has been born again. The exercise of faith and repentance, although dependent on the Spirit's prior work of regeneration is a synergistic work; the person whose heart has been regenerated believes and repents. John Murray writes:
It has often been said that we are passive in regeneration. This is a true and proper statement. For it is simply the precipitate of what our Lord has taught here [John 3]. We may not like it. We may recoil against it. It may not fit into our way of thinking and it may not accord with the time-worn expressions which are the coin of our evangelism. But if we recoil against what shall we answer when we appear before him whose truth we rejected and with whose gospel we tampered? But blessed be God that the gospel of Christ is one of sovereign, efficacious, irresistible regeneration. If it were not the case that in regeneration we are passive, the subjects of an action of which God alone is the agent, there would be no gospel at all. For unless God by sovereign, operative grace had turned our enmity to love and our disbelief to faith we would never yield the response of faith and love7
R. C. Sproul in commenting about man being spiritually dead and the consequent necessity that regeneration be monergistic or a work of God alone writes:
Here we reach the ultimate point of separation between semi-Pelagianism and Augustinianism, between Arminianism and Calvinism, between Rome and the Reformation. Here we discover whether we are utterly dependent on grace for our salvation or if, while still in the flesh, still in bondage to sin, and still dead in sin, we can cooperate with grace in such a way that affects our eternal destiny. In the Reformation view, the work of regeneration is performed by God and by him alone. The sinner is completely passive in receiving this action. Regeneration is an example of God's operative grace. Any cooperation we display toward God occurs only after the work of regeneration has been completed. Of course we respond to this work. We respond in a manner similar to that of Lazarus when, after being loosed, he stepped out of the tomb8
In the same context he also writes:
What the unregenerate person desperately needs in order to come to faith is regeneration. This is the necessary grace. It is the sine quo non of salvation. Unless God changes the disposition of my sinful heart, I will never choose to cooperate with grace or embrace Christ in faith. These are the very things to which the flesh is indisposed. If God merely offers to change my heart, what will that accomplish for me as long as my heart remains opposed to him? If he offers me grace while I am a slave to sin and still in the flesh, what good is the offer? Saving grace does not offer liberation, it liberates. This is what makes grace so gracious: God unilaterally and monergistically does for us what we cannot do for ourselves9
John Murray also emphasizes this idea that effectual calling and regeneration are purely acts of God’s sovereign grace:
The fact that calling is an act of God, and of God alone, should impress upon us the divine monergism in teh initiation of salvation in actual procession. We become partakers of redemption by an act of God that instates us in the realm of salvation, and all the corresponding changes in us and in our attitudes and reactions are the result of the saving forces at work within the realm into which, by God’s sovereign and efficacious act, we have been ushered. The call, as that by which the predestinating purpose begins to take effect, is in this respect of divine monergism after the pattern of predestination itself. It is of God and of God alone.10

APPLICATION

This doctrine again emphasizes the extent of man's radical corruption in sin, his moral inability to come to Christ on his own, and God's divine initiative in our salvation (the subject of the second chapter). There are several important applications of this doctrine. First, it strips from us any claim to meriting salvation. When we consider our own salvation and realize that we have responded to the gospel, it is easy to believe that we made that choice on our own. In fact, from our self-perception, it appears that we hear the gospel and have the good sense to believe it. Scripture, however, informs us that behind our response to the gospel was the mercy and gracious operation of God. We embraced the gospel, not because we were smarter, more virtuous, or more righteous than someone else, but because God called us and changed our hearts from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh (Ezek. 36:26; Eph. 2:1-5). We were the recipients of the monergistic call and regeneration of God. This doctrine strips from man any self-righteousness or pride. If a person is in a state of salvation, it is purely because of God's mercy and grace. Therefore, God alone gets the glory for our salvation.
Second, this gives us confidence in evangelism. 1 Corinthians 1:21-23 says that the outward message of the gospel is foolishness to fallen man, but to the called of God it brings salvation. When we preach, evangelize, and make the gospel known in a variety of ways, we do so with the confidence that God will accomplish his sovereign purposes in proclamation of the gospel. He will bring his elect to faith and repentance using our witness as a means in his eternal plan. Isaiah 55:10, 11 speaks of God's sovereignty in accomplishing his plans and it also applies to our faithfulness in making the gospel known: “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth, and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire.” We give the external call of the gospel. When God couples his internal call with that external call, it effectively accomplishes the eternal plan of God in bringing salvation to his elect. The case of Lydia in Acts 16:14 is a good example of this principle: “And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” The phrase “worshiper of God” identifies her as a proselyte to Judaism. We are told that she heard the message of the gospel spoken by Paul and that she responded to that message. We are also informed that the reason she responded is because the Lord opened her heart to respond. It was a sovereign work of God that brought salvation to Lydia. Simon Kistemaker comments:

Luke clearly teaches that salvation is the work of the Lord, for he saves his people according to his eternal plan. Recording Peter’s Pentecost sermon, Luke states that Jesus suffered on the cross “according to God’s set purpose and foreknowledge” (2:23 and see 4:28). When the Gentiles in Pisidian Antioch hear the saving Word of God and express their happiness, Luke observes: “And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (13:48). Luke truthfully conveys the teaching that God, in accomplishing his work of salvation, fulfills his eternal plan.
Salvation originates with God. Thus, the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to have her pay close attention to the words Paul was speaking. God granted Lydia a receptive heart to understand spiritual things. He gave her the gift of faith and the illuminations of the Holy Spirit. Concludes John Albert Bengel, “The heart is in itself closed, but it is the prerogative of God to open it.”
In Greek, Luke employs different verb tenses to emphasize God’s work in salvation. In this translation, the changes in tense are italicized: “While Lydia continued to listen, God once for all opened her heart to have her apply her mind to the things that were being said by Paul.” Conclusively, God is the author of her salvation.11

Our duty before God is to proclaim the gospel; God will accomplish his eternal purposes in the proclamation of that message. Charles Spurgeon correctly applied these truths when he said:

I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, “You are mine, and you shall be mine. I claim you for myself.” My hope arises from the freeness of grace, and not from the freedom of the will. A poor haul of fish will any gospel fisherman make if he takes none but those who are eager to leap into the net. Oh, for five minutes of the great Shepherd's handiwork!12
Third, this gives us confidence in our prayer life for the salvation of others. We can pray knowing that it is possible for God to sovereignly answer a prayer for someone's salvation. In the Arminian understanding, the most a person could consistently pray is that God would send people to witness to a person and send circumstances that would cause a person to contemplate eternity and the gospel. If God is the monergistic actor in regeneration, then you can pray for someone's salvation with the knowledge that God could sovereignly open their heart to the gospel and bring them to salvation.
Finally, the doctrine of God's divine initiative in regeneration moves us to worship. This teaching of Scripture profoundly confronts us with our helplessness in sin and how much mercy we have received from God in our salvation. How could we not give praise and honor to one who has shown us such great mercy!
Robert Reymond summarizes this doctrine:

“Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel” (Shorter Catechism, Question 31). By the regenerating work of his Spirit, God the Father irresistibly summons, normally in conjunction with the church’s proclamation of the gospel, the elect sinner into fellowship with, and into the kingdom of, his Son Jesus Christ. His call is rendered effectual by the quickening work of the Spirit of God the Father and God the Son in the hearts of the elect.
By the Spirit’s regenerating work the elect sinner (1) is made spiritually alive, thereby opening and favorably disposing him to the things of the Spirit, which were foolishness to him before (1 Cor. 2:14), (2) is convinced of his sin, (3) is enlightened to the all-sufficiency of the Savior Jesus Christ as he is offered in the gospel, and (4) is renewed in his will, rendering him thereby willing (no sinner is brought to Christ against his will!) and able to embrace Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. In other words, the Spirit’s work makes the sinner willing and able to repent and to believe, but his repenting and his believing per se are not aspects of the effectual call itself. They are his divinely effected responses to God’s effectual call which, taken together, are indicative of his conversion.13

1See Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 715-718 for the biblical and theological arguments in support of regeneration being that which makes the call effectual.
2Kistemaker, New Testament Commentary, Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 59-60.
3Murray, “The Call” in Collected Writings of John Murray, 2:165.
4Robert L. Reymond, John, Beloved Disciple, A Survey of His Theology (Fearn, Ross-Shire, Great Britain: Geanies House, 2001), 96.
5Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 98-99.
6J. I. Packer, “Regeneration,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, edited by Walter A. Elwell, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1984), 925.
7Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 99-100.
8Sproul, Grace Unknown, 186.
9Sproul, Grace Unknown, 188.
10Murray, “The Call,” in Collected Writings of John Murray, 2:166; see also his Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 93-94.
11Simon J. Kistemaker, New Testament Commentary, Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1990), 591.
12Carter, Spurgeon At His Best, 90-91.
13Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 718.

THE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION SERIES - PART 5

SAVING FAITH

The question has sometimes been raised about which comes first, faith or repentance. The two concepts, however, are really twins that are linked together. Our faith is a repenting faith and our repentance is a believing repentance. In Acts 20:21, in the middle of Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders, he states, “. . . solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul sees faith and repentance as concomitants. While they are linked together, they are different concepts.

FAITH IS A GIFT FROM GOD

The teaching of Scripture strongly affirms that faith is a gift from God. In the previous chapters, we have examined the fact that man is dead in sin and that God is the Divine initiator of our salvation (Eph. 2:1-5; Col. 2:13; John 6:44,45, 63-65). We have observed that regeneration precedes faith (John 1:12,13; 3:3-10). While this implies that faith is a gift from God, there are also direct Scriptures that state that it is God who grants faith. Ephesians 2:8 states: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” In English, the phrase, “and that not of yourselves” could be said to modify “grace,” “have been saved,” or “faith.” However, the Greek is clear that “faith” is the antecedent of the phrase “and that not of yourselves.” Robert Reymond writes:
Even though “faith” is a feminine noun in the Greek and “this” is a neuter demonstrative pronoun, it is still entirely possible that Paul intended to teach that “faith,” the nearest possible antecedent, is the antecedent of the pronoun “this,” and accordingly that saving faith is the gift of God. It is permissible in Greek syntax for the neuter pronoun to refer antecedently to a feminine noun, particularly when it serves to render more prominent the matter previously referred to (see, for example, ‘your salvation
[. . . soterias], and this [. . . touto] from God’ - Phil. 1:28; see also 1 Cor. 6:6, 8)1
Therefore, this passage states that it is of God's free mercy (grace) that we have been saved through the instrumentality of faith and even our faith is a gift from God. Our faith is a gift from God that flows out of God's work of regeneration. Ephesians 2:8-10 is the capstone to the previous statements in Ephesians 2 concerning our being dead in sin and being made alive by God.
Philippians 1:29 also states that faith is a gift from God: “For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” This verse mentions two things that have been granted or given to the Philippians, faith and suffering for Christ. While we might not be excited about a call to suffer for Christ, this passage again affirms that faith is a gift from God.
Three times in the book of Acts God is said to be the source of faith. In Acts 13:48, Paul announced that because of Jewish persecution he was turning to the Gentiles: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” Notice the last phrase of this verse. Faith is said to have its source is God's eternal plan of salvation and election. Simon Kistemaker writes concerning the last phrase of this verse:
“And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Luke adds a sentence in which he uses the passive voice were ordained. The implication is that God is the agent, for only he grants eternal life (Matt. 25:46; John 10:28; 17:2). In the Greek, the form were ordained is a passive participle in the perfect tense. The perfect denotes action that took place in the past but is relevant for the present. In the past,, God predestined the salvation of the Gentiles.2
Acts 16:14 states: “And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” As we observed earlier, the phrase “worshiper of God” was an expression used to describe a Jewish proselyte. Lydia had some information concerning God, but notice that it was the Lord who opened her heart to respond; her faith in Christ was a gift from God.
Acts 18:27 speaks of Apollos and his work: “And when he [Apollos] wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he helped greatly those who had believed through grace.” They had believed through the grace of God. Again, the idea of faith being a gift of God is set forth. When a person believes in Christ, it is the result of God giving that faith and opening their heart to respond; faith flows out of a heart that has been made spiritually alive through the sovereign action of God. Faith and repentance are the natural actions of a heart that has been regenerated by God. John Murray writes:
Regeneration is inseparable from its effects and one of the effects is faith. Without regeneration it is morally and spiritually impossible for a person to believe in Christ, but when a person is regenerated it is morally and spiritually impossible for that person not to believe. Jesus said, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me” (John 6:37), and he was referring in this case surely to the giving of the Father in the efficacious drawing of the Father mentioned in the same context (John 6:44, 65). Regeneration is the renewing of the heart and mind, and the renewed heart and mind must act according to their nature.3

THREE ASPECTS OF SAVING FAITH

The Bible presents three main aspects to true faith: knowledge, assent, and trust. These aspects of faith are logical components of faith. An understanding of each of these aspects of saving faith is important.
Knowledge (notitia) is the cognitive foundation of true saving faith. In order to believe or trust in someone or something, it is necessary to have some knowledge of the object of trust and it is necessary to believe that the content of the knowledge is true. Romans 10:14 states: “How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10:17 summarizes this thought: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ.” The logic of these statements is simple: in order to call upon Christ or have faith in Christ and his work of salvation, a person must have some knowledge content concerning the person and work of Christ. This also means that faith has content; it is not a blind leap into the darkness. We are not justified by believing anything. The statement is often made, “It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.” However, it is possible to be sincerely wrong. Justification is not by sincerity alone; it is by faith in the biblical Christ alone. The content of faith focuses on the nature of man's sin, his need before a holy and just God, and the person and work of Christ for the salvation of sinners. Robert Reymond writes,

In sum, saving faith is based upon divine testimony. It knows nothing of the modern notion that faith is the enemy of knowledge and that it repudiates all grounding in propositional truth, expressed in such sentiments as “It is when one cannot or does not know that one can or must believe” and “It does not matter what one believes as long as one is sincere.” These sentiments, of course, are simply empty superstitions and amount to salvation by ignorance and/or by sincerity, which is no salvation at all. They also fatally wound Christianity in the heart. To the contrary, the Bible glories and delights in knowledge and propositional truth as the foundation of true faith and characterizes “faith” devoid of knowledge as ‘believing the lie’ which leads to condemnation (2 Thess. 2:11-12).”4

The following Scriptures also set forth the idea of content or propositional truth in saving faith:
Heb. 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
John 8:24: “‘I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.’”
John 16:27: “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father.”
Romans 10:9: “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;”
1 Thessalonians 4:14: For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.”
1 John 5:1: “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.”
1 John 5:4, 5: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”5
On April 30, 1976 Evelyn Mooers attached a rappelling rope to a drain pipe grating on the roof of the Mark Twain South County Bank. Mooers, an experienced climber, had once scaled 14,410- foot Mt. Rainier in Washington State. The rappelling exercise from the bank building would have been routine but for one miscalculation. The drain pipe grating wasn't anchored. Numerous bank officials and their friends watched as Mooers plummeted to her death. Her so-called faith in the grating was fatally misplaced. She did not have proper knowledge concerning the grating that was to be her support.
The second aspect of faith is assent (assensus). A person must believe that the knowledge concerning Christ is true. Assent is the conviction that the knowledge of Christ's work of salvation is true. It is possible for someone to study the Bible and to read theology and have a great deal of knowledge concerning what the Bible says about God, man, Christ, and salvation. However, if he does not believe the content of the knowledge to be true, if he does not assent to the knowledge, he will not trust in Christ for salvation; he will not trust in that which he does not believe to be true. While assent is a necessary part of saving faith, true faith does not contain only knowledge and assent. A person may have knowledge concerning his sin and Christ's work of salvation, assent to that knowledge, but not take the final step of trusting in Christ for his salvation. For example, Satan and demons know there is a God, they know of Christ's work and they assent to that knowledge, they know it is true. James 2:19 states: “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe and shudder.” The demons know there is a God and tremble at that knowledge. If a person only has knowledge and assent, that does not mean he is a Christian, but he is at least qualified to be a demon (see also: Matthew 8:28,29). Suppose I am in New York City and I want to reach Chicago by midnight. I phone my travel agency and learn that the last plane to reach Chicago before midnight leaves LaGuardia at 10:00 p.m. To check the information I secure a time-table, verify the 10:00 p.m. departure and make a reservation. I buy a ticket. In plenty of time I take a limousine to the airport, check in, and get my boarding pass. To make sure I'm at the right gate area, I ask a passenger or two if this is the 10:00 p.m. flight to Chicago. I am told that it is. I mentally review the situation. The travel agency, the timetable, the airline clerk, the passengers, all assure me this is the 10:00 p.m. flight to Chicago. Suddenly, the airline clerk announces the flight is ready to board. Passengers begin moving through the doorway to the plane. I stand there nodding my head in sincere assent - this is the 10:00 p.m. flight to Chicago. I keep nodding my head in genuine agreement while the gate is shut and the plane begins to move toward the takeoff area. I even watch as it accelerates down the runway and takes off into the night without me. I had knowledge that it was the right plane, I assented to the knowledge that it was the right plane, but I didn't take action and enter the plane. Consequently, my knowledge and assent were worthless.
The third aspect of faith is trust (fiducia). A person knows that he is a sinner and Christ is the only way of salvation, he assents to that knowledge, and he places a reliant trust in Christ alone for salvation. John Murray writes: “Faith is knowledge passing into conviction, and it is conviction passing into confidence. Faith cannot stop short of self-commitment to Christ, a transference of reliance upon ourselves and all human resources to reliance upon Christ alone for salvation. It is a receiving and resting upon him.”6 People either trust in something in themselves or in Christ for salvation. They trust in their past works, present works, or something they plan to do in the future. This last crucial aspect of faith is the transfer of trust from oneself to Christ alone. Many Scriptures express this idea of trusting in Christ as a crucial element of saving faith (John 1:12; 2:11, 23; 3:16, 18 [twice], 36; 4:39; 6:29, 35, 40; &;5, 31, 38, 39, 48; Acts 10:43; 14:23; 16:31; 19:4; 22:19; Romans 4:5, 24; 10:14; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:8; 1 John 5:10 [twice], 13. Robert Reymond writes, “But all these expressions of believing ‘in’ or ‘upon’ or ‘into’ Jesus connote, at the very least, that one believes that Jesus always tells the truth and that what the Bible teaches about him is also always true, for saving faith necessarily entails believing propositional truths about him.”7
Do you trust in Christ alone for salvation? Do you recognize that he is your only hope of salvation and you rely only on him? D. James Kennedy writes:
It was a dark night on the Mississippi highway from Jackson to Vicksburg. The sky was overcast, but at least the heavy rains of the last few days had stopped. The truck driver relaxed in the cab of his truck and watched the broken line of the road disappear monotonously beneath his cab, thankful that at least now the roads were dry and much safer. Suddenly the twin tail lights of the car in front of him melted into the road and disappeared! He sat bolt upright in his cab. That was inexplicable. It could not happen, and yet it just had. That thought went through his mind in a fraction of a second. In the next fraction of a second he saw the gaping black hole where a bridge had stood over the river. He slammed on his brakes. The wheels stopped instantly, but there was no longer any road beneath them. His truck sailed silently and eerily into the black void. Breaking glass, he extricated himself and managed to swim to shore. He scrambled up the embankment, all the while hearing one car after another zoom smoothly into the gap, and disappear, followed by shrieks and a booming splash. Finally, he reached the road and frantically waved his hands at oncoming cars. They were no doubt surprised by this dripping scarecrow, but at least three passed him before he was able to stop a driver from speeding over the edge. Sixteen people died that night. Each had faith in a bridge that the swollen river had torn away - a bridge that was out.
Many suppose that by the bridge of good works - morality, piety, church membership, good character, and religiosity - they can somehow make their way across that dark river safely into paradise. That bridge is out. The abyss is real, and it is eternal. I cannot imagine how frightening it must be to feel yourself, at the end of life, silently slipping over the edge into eternity without heeding God's call - without being justified, adopted, and sanctified.”9

1Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith. 732. See also: Reymond, Paul: Missionary Theologian, 424-425.
2Kistemaker, New Testament Commentary, Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, 496.
3Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 106.
4Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 727.
5See also: John 11:42; 14:11; 17:8, 21; 20:31.
6Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied, 111.
7Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 729.
9Kennedy, How Do I Live For God?, 114-115.