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For God hath not
given us the spirit of fear; |
"Faith does not proceed from ourselves, but is the fruit of spiritual regeneration."
- John Calvin.
I commented, but my
comments were deleted because they exposed the popular lie embraced by many!
Sing F Lau
comment 1 deleted:
And regeneration is
the EFFECT and FRUIT of the LEGAL JUSTIFICATION APPLIED by God's free grace at
effectual calling out of the state of sin and death to that of grace and
salvation. (Legal Justification was ACCOMPLISHED on the cross, but APPLIED
personally at effectual calling of each elect).
It is the removal of
the condemnation of death through the application of the righteousness of Jesus Christ to an elect PERSONALLY that gives the basis and warrant for the Holy Spirit to regenerate
an acquitted and righteous man.
This enables a child
of God to believe the gospel. In believing, he gives evidence of his justified
and regenerated and adopted state!
God justifies
forensically!
Faith justifies
EVIDENTIALLY.
The Papists insist
that legal justification is by both works and faith.
The new reformers
insist that legal justification is by faith ALONE!
The Scriptures
insist that legal justification is by God's free grace (the manner) alone, based on the
righteousness of Christ alone (the basis), and that BOTH faith and works justify experientially, and
A biblical distinction (rightly dividing the word of truth ) is the essence of sound theology!
Sing F Lau
Comment 2 deleted:
So many believe and
approve something so immoral... that the Holy Spirit regenerates an unjustified
man, i.e. giving eternal life to one still under the just condemnation of
death, guilty and without righteousness (i.e. someone whom the Father has not APPLIED the righteousness of Jesus Christ!)
It is like the
condemned guilty criminal was released and given freedom before the Judge
declared him not guilty but righteous and free.
They believe that
such a regenerate man then believes, and God justifies him!
Justification by God's grace must LOGICALLY precede regeneration! That's elementary.
Regeneration makes
believing possible, i.e. makes evidential justification by faith possible.
The three Persons of the Godhead work in perfect and complete unity and harmony.
MB retorted:
Can any person come
to faith in Jesus Christ apart from the work of the Holy Spirit?
I replied:
"Except a man
be born again, he CANNOT... that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
So what is the issue?
Can anyone be
regenerated by the HOLY Spirit who is still under the condemnation of death,
i.e. not justified by the free grace of God?
That is the issue, MB!
Please delete this
again!
Jason
Eph 2:8-9
Sing F Lau
Brother Jason, what
does that passage teach?
It ain't polite to
just give chapter and verse.
At least tell us
what you believe the passage says.
This is because ONE
SAME passage
Out of ONE SAME
passage, some people conclude that they must believe INORDER TO have eternal
life, and a few others conclude that they believe BECAUSE they have been given
eternal life.
And this vast
difference is evident among those who claimed themselves 'reformed'!
I preached a sermon
on that text, Eph 2:8-9.
Read it here.
https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2008/01/saved-by-grace-through-faith-whose.html
Read it, and may our Lord bless you to learn few things.
Sing F Lau
Terrance L Krueger
@Why does no one consider the passages telling who's faith "justifies
eternally"?
==========
"Saved by grace
through faith – whose faith?" at
https://things-new-and-old.blogspot.com/2008/01/saved-by-grace-through-faith-whose.html
Jason
The faith Christ
gives as Reformers claim. Sing I do not believe it to be impolite not to
exegete every scripture; helpful, yes, but impolite not at all.
Both grace and
faith are both gifts given by Christ.
Sing F Lau
In Eph 2:8-9, the
gift is most certainly the salvation... and that salvation is by the
FAITHFULNESS of Jesus Christ, and bestowed to sinners by grace; the former
speak of the ground of that salvation, the latter speak of the manner that that
salvation is bestowed to the ill-deserving.
Jason
In response to John
Gill's commentary on eternal justification I recommend also reading John
Flavel's response A.W Pinks and Spurgeons for further clarification.
Sing I have read a
fair amount of what Gill wrote so then why should I not read of the others I
mentioned lest I become bias and if what you claim is so simple why be afraid
to make a comparison?
Sing F Lau
Glad that you have
read Gill on eternal justification. Now, please summarise what he said on
that subject. Thanks.
Jason, lest you
misunderstand... I don't mean you don't read those three people you mentioned.
I am suggesting that I can read the mind and thoughts of SO MANY more by
reading their confessional statement on THAT PARTICULAR POINT. Those
theologians who signed both the WCF and the 1689BCF were easily more than 100.
