Jesus Teaches that Regeneration Precedes Faith

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." (John 6:37)

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe ...And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." (John 6:63, 65)

According to Scripture, all people are born dead in sin (Eph 2:1). This simply means that, as a result of the Fall, people are born without the Holy Spirit and therefore, (left to themselves and being spiritually dead) are hostile to Christ (Rom. 8:7) and unable to understand to spiritual things (1 Cor 1:21). It does not mean they can do (or think) nothing in their fallen state, but it means they can do nothing spiritual or redemptive ... that they will always think God's word is foolish (1 Cor 2:14) until the Holy Spirit, who comes from the outside, works grace in their hearts (Ezek 11:19-20). The natural man may be alive to carnal things, but he is dead to spiritual things. So to the question: can any person come to faith in Christ apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, both the Arminian and the Calvinist would definitively answer "no". The Arminian asserts that this work of the Holy Spirit (this "prevenient grace" that temporarily gives the power of free choice) is ultimately resistible by the fallen sinner. Arminian's affirm that man, apart from grace, hates the light and will not come into the light. And because of this, the Spirit grants them a kind of post-regenerate - pre-conversion state where he is, for a time, lifted out of his moral depravity and given the opportunity to receive or reject the free offer of Christ in the gospel. To be a just God, most Arminians reason, God must give all people an equal opportunity to choose whether to believe or not. And this opportunity is granted, they claim, through prevenient grace. As most Arminians will admit, however, this "semi-regenerate" state is logically, rather than exegetically deduced. On the other hand, the Calvinist is convinced that the Bible teaches that regenerative grace itself opens our blind eyes, unplugs our deaf ears and gives us a new heart (Ezek 36:26, John 6:63) making God's call effectual, infallibly bringing the sinner to faith in Jesus Christ.

Arminian synergists assert that prevenient grace resolves the problem of human boasting since God initiates with grace. But in reality this sleight of hand does not resolve the problem at all and only begs the question. For if God gives this prevenient grace to everybody, we must ask: why do some respond positively to Christ and not others? What makes them to differ? Jesus Christ or something else? The problem of boasting is not removed, for if God gives grace to everybody and only some believe, then the heart that believes still thinks that it made the wiser decision by improving on grace while others did not. The person affirming prevenient grace still must ultimately attribute his repenting and believing to his own wisdom, prudence, sound judgment, or good sense. So in the Arminian belief system, they are not willing to confront the obvious question of why some believe and not others? The only answer I have ever heard to this question in all my years debating this was "because some believed". But, this avoids the question, because I did not ask them what they did, but why they did it? And the "why" seems to be a question that Jesus goes out of his way to answer. (John 8:46-47 & John 10:26)

There are many texts which affirm beyond doubt that regeneration is indeed monergistic ... that the implanting of the new heart is what gives rise to understanding, love of Christ and faith. One of the most important discussions in the Bible about this is where Jesus was speaking to some fellow Jews who did not believe in him (John 6:64) . He said to them:

“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” ( 6:37) ”

The reason I bring these three verses to your attention is because, they are spoken in the same context (John 6) and in this long discussion with Jesus and the Jews about faith these three verses are essentially speaking of the same issue. In fact they share more than one thing in common. They all use the phrase "come to me" and they each make a universal declaration ("no one" or "all"). When read in context the phrase "come to me" is spoken in the same breath as the word "faith". It is a synonym. Likewise the phrase "draws him" is used in parallel with the phrase "gives me" or "granted him". Our Lord declares that "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. (John 6:44) and "All that the Father gives me [draws to Me] will come to me." (John 6:37). In other words, the passage simply states that no one will trust in or have faith in Jesus unless God grants it (John 6:65), and ALL to whom God grants (or gives/draws to Jesus) will believe. Not some of them, but all of them. This universal positive and universal negative means that we are forced to conclude that all that God draws to Jesus infallibly come to faith in him.

Just to demonstrate that "come to me" is identical to "faith" see that just prior to verse 37 Jesus says, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” Here we observe that Jesus uses the phrase “believe in me” and “come to me” interchangeably. Even more clear is that the context of John 6:63-65 forces us to understand "come to me" to mean "believe in me" or "have faith in me". In verse 64 Jesus says, "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. 65And 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."

If we place these statements all together, (understanding that "come to me" and "believe in me" are synonymous), then the magnitude of the Jesus' words become evident, for it allows for no synergistic interpretation. And what does this have to do with regeneration? Well in verse 6:63 Jesus directly alludes to it: "It is the Spirit that quickens [gives life, regenerates]... No one will believe in Me unless God grants it... and ALL to whom God grants it will believe”. Jesus is making sure that no one thinks that anything apart from Jesus is what saves them. That even the very new heart we need to understand spiritual truth, love Jesus and believe is itself a gift of God. This text leaves no room for any other interpretation. This is profoundly important because it creates the inescapable conclusion that the quickening grace of God is invincible. This is why just prior to saying “no one can come to me UNLESS God grants it”, Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail.” This means that it is the Spirit who raises our dead spirits to life, makes us born from above John 3:3, 6. The flesh, that is, our sinful nature, cannot regenerate itself and can do no redemptive good of itself, including believe the gospel until quickened by the Holy Spirit.

Faith, Jesus is saying, is not a product of our unregenerate human natures; It is, rather, the product of new life that only He can give us through the quickening work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit alone who, uniting us to Christ, gives life to our dead souls that we may believe. Jesus is affirming the same truth to Nicodemus in John 3, using the same type of language. In verse 6 Jesus tells him, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” And unless one is born of the Spirit he can neither see nor enter the kingdom of God. Jesus never gives Nicodemus an imperative (command) to be born again, but instead, tells him what must happen to him for eternal life to be a reality. Belief springs from a change of nature, for the old man considers the gospel foolish and thus cannot comprehend it (1 Cor 2:14).

This does away completely also with the Arminian argument where they point to John 10, where Jesus says "when I am lifted up I will draw all men to myself". While we already demonstrated that "draw him" (v. 44) is parallel with "gives me" (v. 37) because it is spoken in the same context with multiple parallelisms so we concluded that ALL the Father gives (draws to) Christ come to him. But the Arminain must reach outside of this passage (out of context) to a completely different situation where Greeks approach Jesus. There is no indication that Jesus is referring to the same issue. In fact, when read in context, Jesus is telling them that he is fulfilling the promise to Abraham that he would become a father of many nations. Not only Jews but gentiles will be included, so Jesus is establishing that He will draw (not all men without exception) but all men without distinction (Jews and Gentiles). He is announcing that his coming coincides with the expansion of God's kingdom to include Gentiles, in large measure.

On a side note, it is interesting to note that the passage on regeneration in John 6:63-65 is one of the most explicitly Trinitarian passages in all of Scripture. It speaks of this work as the powerful, supernatural work of the Triune God. The Father grants faith in Christ the redeemer (John 6:65), through the quickening of the Holy Spirit by means of the spoken word (John 6:63). So the Spirit is the Agent and the word is the instrument used to germinate spiritual life in us, apart from which, no one would believe (V.65).

I have often heard preachers say to people, “all you need to do is believe,” as if this were the easiest thing in the world, but the natural man is unwilling to submit to the gospels' humbling terms. It is a massive affront to our pride to believe that we have no hope save in Jesus alone. J.I. Packer once wisely said, "Sinners cannot obey the gospel, any more than the law, without renewal of heart." We see this at work in this passage when, at the end of John chapter six many of those who previously were with Jesus left because his teaching was too hard, and only the twelve were left. Peter confesses belief however, and Jesus says to him, “…have I not chosen you?” But what is so hard about this passage that everyone else leaves Jesus? It is hard because the gospel of grace alone strips man of all hope that he could have to contribute something, be it ever so small, to his own salvation. Never underestimate the reality of our sinful nature deceiving us this way. The gospel forces us to see our own spiritual impotence and bankruptcy in contributing anything, or even lifting a finger toward our own salvation. But of those who do believe the gospel, we can know with certainty that the Holy Spirit has quickened them and is doing a work of grace in them. Trusting Christ is the immediate result of the new birth, not the cause of it, as John notes in his first epistle:

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1)

It is also important to further understand that Jesus “will never cast out [those the Father has given Him].” (John 6:37). According to Jesus, those whom He draws are the same as those he will raise up at the last day (John 6:44). This is important because those who reject the perseverance of the saints, believing that Christ does not preserve us to the end, are in effect saying that we must somehow maintain our own justification before God. This is to believe that Jesus’ atonement for us is not sufficient for salvation.

This passage (John 6) is one of the most forceful passages in all of Scripture relating to the invincibility of saving grace. The grace of the Holy Spirit in regeneration is not only sufficient but efficient, unfailingly bringing about God’s desired result. We may resist the gospel when hearing the outward call and even resist stirrings of the Holy Spirit, but no one resists the inward quickening and call of God (Rom 8:30; 1 Cor 1:22-24). In the Old Testament sometimes God would discipline Israel by telling them their crops would fail even though they labored to sow seed. This is proof that all that we do in this world, such as planting crops, requires the prior blessing of God if it is to be fruitful.

Similarly Paul uses an agricultural metaphor when speaking of casting the seed of the gospel. He says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.” This means that people need to hear the gospel in order to be saved, but we can preach till we are blue in the face and nothing will take root unless the Holy Spirit sovereignly applies that word to the heart that one might hear.

To use some biblical imagery, we cast the seed of the gospel indiscriminately because the Holy Spirit alone can “germinate” the word unto life in Christ. The fallow ground of our hearts must first be plowed up by God, for the soil of our heart is not good by nature, but only by grace. The seed will not find good soil until God makes it so. For Ezekiel the prophet says:

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

Notice that this passage demonstrates that in order for obedience to take place the Lord must first cleanse our hearts, put a new spirit in us and remove our hardened uncircumcised heart. No one believes and obeys while their heart is still stone. Our blind eyes must be opened, our deaf ears unstopped, and our corrupt nature supernaturally changed by the Holy Spirit, before we can begin to have any good thoughts about Christ. The Bible likens the new birth, or regeneration, to the first creation (2 Cor. 5:17). God let light shine into what was darkness. And God breathed life into lifeless man and then man, because of the new principle of life now within him, breathed and walked. Likewise regeneration can be likened to God's first breath in man, and faith, to Adam's first breath. The former is monergistic and the later, while it springs from the principle of grace that now exists within, is participatory. Both the creation and the maintaining are all of grace, but only God's breathing life into us (ex nihilo) is monergistic (that is, it is the work of God alone). When God brings forth something out of nothing, it is monergistic, but when we breathe (or have faith) as a result of God's act, we are now participating, so by definition this is not monergistic, but all springs forth from God's initial monergistic act of giving life from nothing.

"...since you have been born again [by the agency of the Spirit], not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God [instrument]" 1 Peter 1:23

Important note: Some who oppose the biblical teaching on monergistic regeneration will argue that this cannot be true because no one can be regenerate and not saved. If regeneration precedes faith, they reason, then there is a time, be it ever so short, where one is regenerate but does not yet believe. But this is to misunderstand what regeneration precedes faith actually means. It does not temporally precede faith but rather causally. What do I mean? An example would be one pool ball striking another. Does one ball temporally strike the other first. No they both hit one another simultaneously ... YET the one which rolls has causal priority. The same could be said of heat and fire. Likewise when God, the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the word, opens our heart to the gospel and gives us new eyes to see the beauty, truth and excellency of Christ, our response is immediate.

"No sooner is the soul quickened, than it at once discovers its lost estate, is horrified thereat, looks for a refuge, and believing Christ to be a suitable one, flies to him and reposes in him." -C.H. Spurgeon

"Faith in the living God and his Son Jesus Christ is always the result of the new birth, and can never exist except in the regenerate. Whoever has faith is a saved man." C.H. Spurgeon

I would not call it the " Gospel of Paul " for the whole word of God is God's.
The theology of Paul ? once again, Paul gained that understanding from God himself and ? Paul was well taught in the Hebrew writings, and he also was a teacher of the law.
The point I was trying to make here is we have those anti-Paulites trying to say that Paul was a false teacher because he taught so much on God's grace and then go into what Christ himself had to say about damnation, judgment.
The point I was making was ? they would like to rule out 2/3s of the new Testament by disregarding Paul's writings and teaching, but yet ? Paul was a associate and contemporary of Dr. Luke, and St. Mark.
Paul even mention those 2 in one of his writings.
Now would it be to far fetched to think and believe that Paul may have had a help in helping Dr. Luke and St. Mark write their books also ?
If anything ? The Aposple Paul had a influance on Dr. Luke and St. Mark.

“If God chooses individuals for regeneration with no concern for anything regarding that individual’s beliefs, choices, thoughts, character or actions then for what conceivable reason does God choose one person over another?”

The exact reasons we are never told. It is simply a fact. All that the Lord reveals to us on the matter is that it is according to “His grace and purpose” or His “pleasure” that He decides to pluck His own peculiar people from the fire.

God has always chosen, according to His own purpose, a peculiar people for Himself. He chose the seed of Abraham instead of any other seed in the world to accomplish His purposes and be His people. He never revealed Himself to the Greeks in any special way, or the Vikings or anyone else, giving them Prophets and special care and protection. This was to the Jews only, and not to any other.

“I would not call it the “ Gospel of Paul “ for the whole word of God is God’s.
The theology of Paul ? once again, Paul gained that understanding from God himself and ? Paul was well taught in the Hebrew writings, and he also was a teacher of the law.”

Don’t worry, I agree with you. I could have been clearer though originally. My position is that the “Gospel” of Paul is the same one given to us by all the Apostles, who all received the same message from God.

The “anti-Paulites,” as absurd as they are, would have to remove a whole lot more than just the works of Paul. Notice this particular thread is analyzing a chapter out of John. Thus, they would have to add to the list John the Apostle as well to those they ban. And we could keep on doing it to others, like Peter, who refer to the epistles of Paul as Holy scripture (2 Pe 3:15-16). The anti-Paulites, logically, would be left with no Bible at all at the end of the process.

Another thing those Anti-Paulines choose to forget and disregard is that the major Apostles Church elders meet with Paul and approved of his teachers and affirmed that he was the real deal.
It went even farther than that ? Peter told him that Peter would be the great Apostle over the house of Israel and Paul would be the great apostles over the gentiles.
Those anti-Paulines are wolves in sheep's clothing and are the false teachers of our day.
Can't have more of a greater stamp of approval then from God himself and from Peter and the other Apostles, I don't know how those who call Paul a false teacher can get around that one, unless ? they are lying to you.

I was even called a heretic because I said for those who are in Christ ? who trust in Christ ? for it's a utter impossibility for those who trust in Christ to ever go to hell.

Romans 8 verse 1 :
8. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Oh yeah, those heretic hunters ? when Paul says ( by the way ? isn't it amazing how they cheery pick Pauls teachings to condemn and teach the salvation by the law teachings with this ? ) who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.
They go on how this is talking about those who walk in SIN SIN SIN ! I TELL YA SIN !

No, nope, nada, it does not talk about SIN SIN SIN SIN !

It's talking about the " carnal " human natural, i.e. human efforts, human strength.
Trying to keep the law in a effort to win or gain your salvation is being " Carnal " .
But, God's word says that the carnal mind is at war, at emmity against God.
So ? what does those who walknot after the flesh but after the spirit mean ? it mean's being spiritual, the spirit of grace.
It means ? walking in the spirit of grace, God's grace, and not in your own human reasoning and trying to keep the law or do good works.

True, there is much if not an infinite amount of knowledge that God knows that we do not know. I do believe though that the Bible teaches that God is a God of logic and truth and that the knowledge God has revealed to us is logical, rational and free from contradiction.

The problem I have with the idea that God regenerates us, which then in turn causes saving faith is that His choice in this matter has to be at least in part random or capricious. Surely God considers everything He knows when making any decision even if He has predetermined to discount certain categories of His knowledge in making a particular decision, such as whether or not to regenerate a person. In my limited mind there are only five potential categories of knowledge God has of individuals on which to base His decision regarding regeneration. 1) Our sin and sinful flesh, 2) good works 3) our amoral qualities such as our physical appearance 4) expediency and 5) faith. Clearly the Bible teaches that our good works are inadequate and He does not choose based on our physical appearance.

God could choose the worst sinners of which Paul and I are chief, but clearly our experience tells us that God doesn't always choose the worst sinners over lessor sinners so that cannot be His basis for choosing. And with respect to expediency, surely a sovereign, omnipotent God never cuts corners. This leaves only faith as the basis for His decision unless His choice is completely random.

Faith seems to me to be both the logical answer and the clear Bible teaching as well. Faith is not a work and has no merit as Paul convincingly argues in Romans 4:1-8. In fact we all know this intuitively as Christians, because the act of placing our faith in Christ is an admission of our guilt, our sinfulness, and our compete inability to save ourselves and that we have no appeal other than the promise of Christ's saving work. Saving faith is the antithesis of merit and therefore can be God's reason for choosing who is regenerated and consequently saved while preserving His grace and mercy and justice.

See my response to American Constitutionalist in 30.

Yes God does choose for His purposes and His pleasure, but both of those involve reason and reason always must have some basis in His knowledge. God does not make any choice at random or for no reason or without any knowledge. Any decision He might make in choosing particular individuals must take into account at least one piece of knowledge He has of that individual. The Biblical answer is clearly that He takes into account who has faith in His Son as the only determining factor.

Since faith has no merit, then basing His decison on the individual's faith in Christ preserve salvation by grace alone.

“The problem I have with the idea that God regenerates us, which then in turn causes saving faith is that His choice in this matter has to be at least in part random or capricious.”

The only conclusion one can gleam from the scripture is that God’s decision is unknown. We cannot conclude so blasphemous a thought that it was random or capricious:

2Ti_1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Why it is He ordained us to produce fruit, and that our fruit should remain, is totally in the mind of God. But that He has done it for His own “grace and purpose” cannot be denied.

“This leaves only faith as the basis for His decision unless His choice is completely random.”

The question then becomes, “Why did you have faith, and why did others not have faith?” If the answer is, “because I had better sense, I sought when they did not, I responded as the righteous man, in my humility and fear of God, and those who believe not are more obstinate than I,” then, ultimately, you were responsible for your own salvation. You chose Jesus Christ. Christ, however, is quite clear. We did not choose Him, He chose us:

Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

And outside of God’s will, no man can believe in Christ:

Joh 6:64-65 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. (65) And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

Notice He says “Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given... of my Father” as an explanation for “But there are some of you that believe not.” The Jews did not disbelieve because they refused to be as righteous as you in choosing Christ. They disbelieved because they did not receive it from the Father.

“Yes God does choose for His purposes and His pleasure, but both of those involve reason”

So you confess that if He has a purpose and a pleasure in it, that therefore they must involve a reason. The only thing you don’t know is what exactly that “reason” is. You’ll have to wait to ask Him after death, though I suspect it’ll be clear by then.

“The Biblical answer is clearly that He takes into account who has faith in His Son as the only determining factor.”

In that event, then everyone would be drawn alike. But we know that is impossible, because the Jews were not drawn at all, as seen in John 6. They disbelieved not because they were drawn and rejected, but because they simply did not receive it of the Father. Therefore, this idea that God is choosing us based on us choosing Him, is totally undone from the beginning. (Well, so is the statement “You have NOT chosen me,” but I’m just adding upon it.)

I’ll also add that this also only works if faith does precede grace, or works without the aid of any other force. But the scripture is clear:

1Co_12:3 ... that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

And that no one can believe unless they are ordained:

Act_13:48 ... and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

Notice they do not believe, and therefore are then ordained. They are ordained, and therefore they believe.

I have experienced those so focused on the doctrine of election that they felt it unnecessary to preach the gospel, given their belief that God would save them anyhow. They thus forget, “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? - Rom. 10:14. But, more to the point of this thread, in the previous verse we read, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The “Whosoever’s” of the bible insert a departure from man’s understanding of “the elect,” introducing an open to all view of salvation. How do we make these ideas jibe? I have often heard those speak about this using the imagery of a door into heaven, where, on the one side (facing mankind trapped in time and place) we read “Whosoever will” and on the other side of the door (having stepped through the door and into eternity), the glorified saint now reads “the elect of God” on the Heaven-side of the door.

To “over-emphasize” the doctrine of election (and I assert right now to any who might read here, that I say so with all humility and trusting that I am part of God’s elect, having received Christ as my Savior), to over-emphasize this point is to diminish (pervert?) the “Whosoever” aspect of God’s plan of salvation.

The first thing Christ did once He had chosen His disciples was to send them out into all of Israel with His message. One of the first things He told them upon His resurrection was to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations. The last thing He spoke to them before His ascension into Heaven was to serve as witnesses of Him in Jerusalem and throughout the whole world. Election did not seem to be on the mind of Christ so much as “Whosoever will.”

This is the crux of what I said...and us copied from my post
“Therefore when God chooses an individual He does knowing this and regenerates them which allows them to exercise saving faith. “

Works does not save the person...God chooses whom He wills according to His purpose. A great example is Paul...before he became a believer he was a persecutor and a murderer of Christians. There was nothing in him, nor us for that matter, that made him better than anyone else to be chosen by God..but due to grace and mercy God chooses some and bypasses others....His choice since we all deserve hell and damnation.
When God regenerates He gives us the capacity to believe in ahimsa and the Work of Christ and to come to a saving faith....not any faith in any god but rather to the faith in His Son. Apart from that grace and mercy no one, including myself, would ever believe

But no one will...that is the point...no one will accept His conditions because we are dead in sin and in reality hate God in our unregenerate state. So therefore we can never come to God UNLESS hHe draws us,,,in the Greek the word for the draw by God of the individual is literally the word DRAG. so man cannot come to Him on their own...God must initiate...coming to God is NOT synergistic in nature, where we cooperate, but is rather monergistic...where He predestines, chooses and hen draws the individual...

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