Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach by Kenneth Keathley

Author:Kenneth Keathley
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780805431988
Publisher: B&H Publishing
Published: 2010-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

The “Regeneration-precedes-faith” Position: The elect believe because they have been regenerated.

Most Calvinists believe that regeneration precedes conversion. Speaking for the majority, R. C. Sproul Sr. succinctly states, “A cardinal point of Reformed theology is the maxim: ‘Regeneration precedes faith.’ Our nature is so corrupt, the power of sin is so great, that unless God does a supernatural work in our souls we will never choose Christ. We do not believe in order to be born again; we are born again in order that we may believe.”33 But can Calvinism affirm such a “cardinal point” and still maintain without contradiction that justification and even salvation are by faith? According to their ordo salutis, faith is just one tiny piece of a salvation process that begins with regeneration, or even with sovereign election. In such a case, does Calvinism have sufficient warrant for joining with other Protestants in proclaiming that “salvation is by faith”?

Furthermore, what is regeneration? Berkhof states, “regeneration is that act of God by which the principle of the new life is implanted in man, and the governing disposition of the soul is made holy.”34 And Grudem defines regeneration as “the act of God awakening spiritual life within us, bringing us from spiritual death to spiritual life.”35 If regeneration means to receive new life and a holy disposition of the soul, how can one understand that event as preceding faith without denying in effect that salvation is by faith?

At the popular level, most evangelicals would find the Calvinist position of conversion as the fruit of regeneration surprising. Citing John Gerstner’s critique of Billy Graham, Sproul Sr. takes issue with Billy Graham for teaching that the “new birth is something that God does for man when man is willing to yield to God” [emphasis original].36 Sproul Sr. criticizes Billy Graham for teaching “decisional regeneration” (i.e., that a person is born again when he trusts Christ for salvation).

Those who adhere to regeneration preceding faith also hold to a corollary, which is that there is a distinction between a general call to salvation and a special call. The general call is given to every hearer of the good news, but the special call is a secret, inward call directed only at the elect. This special call is understood simply to be another term for regeneration.

A second corollary naturally follows the first: the special call always succeeds. The nonelect will ignore or reject the general call because they do not have the ability to accept the gospel. But according to the regeneration-before-faith view, the gospel was never really meant for them anyway. God passes over the reprobate, and for reasons known only to Him, He does not give the gift of faith to them. But for the elect, their hearts are unilaterally transformed. The secret, inward call cannot fail.

Proponents of the regeneration before faith position appeal to a number of texts that seem to support their case. For example, John 3:5 states that unless a person is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.