John 1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."
There are several
verbs here: receive him/believe on his name, God gave power to become His sons,
and were born of God.
What is the sequence of these events? Are they
simultaneous?
Please tell
----------
Lahry Sibley
The devils believe
and tremble. If you believe, you will repent and be baptised. Then you will
recieve the life of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38)
Sing
Welcome again Lahry.
One question to
understand what you are saying, what is the life of the Holy Spirit you find in
Acts 2:38?
"If you
believe..."
- Do you believe in
order to get eternal life? (which necessarily implies that you were able to
believe when you were still dead in trespasses and sins).
-Or you believe
because you have been given eternal life at the new birth by God's free and
sovereign grace?
Please keep to the
point of my simple inquiry. Thank.
Sing
Many - both arminian
and fullerite calvinists - insist that these verses teach their idea of gospel
regeneration, i.e. "IF you believe in Jesus Christ, THEN you will be born
of God!" EVEN THOUGH it is plainly stated that they were born "not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man."
Don't those three
categories of negation exclude every possible human activity or contribution,
including faith and repentance, toward a man new birth by God? And the act of
believing most certainly involves the volitional faculty of a man.
The statement
"IF you believe... THEN you will receive the life of the Holy Spirit"
is a very typical statement of man-centred religion. It presupposes that a man
who IS dead in trespasses and sins, WITHOUT the life of the Holy Spirit, can
believe in order to obtain the life of the Holy Spirit.
This notion forgets
one basic premise laid down by Jesus Christ himself: life must precede the
activities of that life.
Perhaps they EQUATE
the FACT of the new birth by God's free grace with the EXPERIENCE of the
privilege of sonship conditioned on faith in Jesus Christ.
That is, they equate
'were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God' to be THE SAME as were given "the power to become the sons of
God" that is conditioned upon believing in Christ.
Doing so, are they
not then equating what is clearly UNCONDITIONAL by God's free grace with
something that is plainly CONDITIONAL upon believing?
This is the same old problem dealt with by Apostle Paul... Ro 11:6 "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."
Tom Sellier
God chooses, I just
agree with Him!
Sing
Amen, God chooses.
May I inquire, was God's choice of you conditioned upon your agreement with
Him?
