"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?..."
WHY DO SO
MANY PEOPLE READ THIS PASSAGE AND MAKE IT TO TEACH THE LIE THAT THE GOSPEL
MINISTRY IS THE MEANS GOD USES FOR REGENERATION? PLEASE EXPLAIN!
-----------
Sing
F Lau
Please
note a few things:
Paul
DID ask, "How then shall they call on him...?"
Paul
DIDN'T ask, "How are they to BE REGENERATED... without calling on Him' DID
he? It seems that many insist on reading that idea into Paul's question.
Paul
DID ask, "How shall they believe in Him...?"
Paul
DIDN'T ask, "How shall they BE REGENERATED... without believing in
Him" DID he? It seems that many insist on reading that idea into Paul's
question.
Paul
DID ask, "How shall they hear without a preacher?"
Paul
DIDN'T ask, "How shall they BE REGENERATED without a preacher" DID
he? It seems that very many PREACHERS insist on reading that idea into Paul's
question.
Concerning
Paul's rhetorical questions:
-
"How then shall they CALL on him?,"
-
"How shall they BELIEVE in Him?," and
-
"How shall they HEAR without the preacher?"
DO
NOT all these rhetorical questions PRESUPPOSE one simple and plain truth...
that they are dealing with people who are ALREADY regenerated... For it is SUCH
alone who are able to HEAR the good news (the REPORT of their eternal salvation
by God's free grace). to BELIEVE in Him and to CALL on Christ???
DO
NOT all these activities PRESUPPOSES LIFE? Is it not EVEN COMMON SENSE that
life MUST PRECEDE the activities of that life?
Is
it not common sense that these activities - of calling upon Christ, of
believing in Christ, and hearing the gospel - are POSSIBLE only because eternal
life has been given to them. They are spiritual activities of the eternal life
that has been bestowed at new birth - WITHOUT the gospel preaching. "So is
EVERY ONE that is born of the Spirit."
Christ
Himself declared, "Except a man be born again, he CANNOT..." Those
under consideration in Paul's rhetorical questions are those who have enabled
and CAN... they are ALREADY regenerated, and they needed to be CONVERTED to the
truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the gospel ministry.
So
many preachers and their followers insist that the preaching of the gospel is an indispensable means to the regeneration of sinners dead in their trespasses and
sins.
===============
Vernon
Johnson
Amen Bro. Sing. It has been embedded in the minds of the multitudes that man must hear and believe the gospel in order to get themselves saved. As you point out, only those who have already been regenerated can hear and believe the gospel One of the great utilities of the gospel is to bring good news of salvation, not to offer salvation.
Sing
F Lau
Of
course, they must hear and believe in order to save themselves from this
perverse and crooked generation. But in order for them to be able to hear and
believe God must FIRST effectually call them out of their state of sin and
death, all by God's own free and sovereign grace. God got them saved from
eternal hell, so that they may hear and believe and obey to save themselves
from the hell on earth!
Vernon
Johnson
