What is the state of a man before regeneration???
You want the simple, glaring truth?
You may not like it. The truth shatters lies.
Eph 2:1 ¶ And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 ¶ But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved...
1. He is dead in trespasses and sins. This deadness does not consist in inactivity. In fact, he is full of activities but they are all activities of death! In this deadness, he is utterly incapable of any activity that brings himself to God. Instead, he is actively in enmity against God and separated from God.
2. He walks according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. He is under the power and influence of the spirit that works in him. (so much for the imagined 'free will' of this captive under Satan's power!)
3. He is a child of disobedience... a rebel, in enmity against God. (so much for the fable that this man can believe Christ and get eternal life!)
4. He lives in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. That's his native state. (so much for the fiction that such a man will believe in order to have eternal life!"
5. He is by nature a child of wrath.
BUT... BUT... BUT... BUT... BUT... this disjunctive is one of the best in the Scriptures!
Without grace... a man will happily remain in his NATIVE states of sin and death! He is completely helpless, dead in trespasses and sins, captives under the power and influence of the strong man, and in enmity and rebellion against God.
While in such helpless condition, God freely and sovereignly - i.e. by grace, quickened him who was dead in sins.
In quickening him, God VITALLY unites him to Christ and gave him the eternal life that Christ has secured for His people. This is 'by grace ye are saved'! With the quickening that man is saved... yes S. A. V. E. D. - as saved as could be... i.e. perfectly and completely fit for eternal glory.
God saves and saves by His free and sovereign grace. He quickens the dead, and this enables a man to believe. God does not give faith to a man dead in trespasses and sins, and expects him to believe, in order to be regenerated! That's a fable!
The simple and plain truth is, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved."
Those SAVED by God's free grace are called by the ministry of the word to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling... through their obedience to the will of their FATHER.
The salvation that God freely and sovereignly bestows upon the elect dead in trespasses and sins and which enables them to work out their own salvation and the salvation that God's children are summoned to work out for themselves are different and distinct salvation.
A biblical distinction is the essence of sound theology.
