Iluvit, lol, so brother, was your heart burning within you, while he spake to you in the way, while he opened to you the scriptures? Praise the Lord.
Yeah, I get the drift. This is an old ‘evil under the sun’, the same evil brought to light and expounded on in Ezek 34 & Mt 23, that burdens and gives no rest or comfort, that muddies the water and fouls the pasture and drives the sheep away. There’s little real nourishment or rest or comfort or joy or peace or edification for His little lambs in the man-centric religion of our day.
Feel the Spirit?
Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by Luke2427, May 9, 2014.
Page 3 of 5
-
-
But I agree with you that God has chosen to reveal the knowledge of Christ through means, that being the gospel, whether preached or read. -
And, the statement "God uses means" is meaningless. Stop using it. I clarified your meaning in the quote. -
-
-
...It behoveth you to be born from above; the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.`YLT
Man is totally passive in this:
who -- not of blood nor of a will of flesh, nor of a will of man but -- of God were begotten. Jn 1:13 YLT
I'm pretty sure my soteriology is right in line not only w/mainstream PB but also generally with Old School Southern Baptists and other Reformed folks.
So, I take it you don't agree with the 'immediate regeneration' that SB old schoolers like Boyce, Dagg, Carroll, or Broadus held to? -
I'm not talking about man being active. God does it all. Every bit of it. Man is totally passive. But God uses means to do it.
What that passage does not say is that the wind blows without means. What it does say is that God is the one who brings it to pass, not man.
God bless! -
-
-
Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
-
-
Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
-
Then you need to take your own advice, "But remember we are charged with ....Matthew 28:19-20", and do something.
-
Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
-
-
"For the New Testament writers, however, there is not hint of a threat to divine sovereignty in the fact that the word is the instrumental cause of regeneration, while the Spirit is the efficient cause. This is signalled in the New Testament by the use of the preposition ek to indicate the divine originating cause (e.g. Jn. 3:5; 1 Jn. 3:9; 5:1) and dia to express the instrumental cause (e.g. Jn 15:3; 1 Cor 4:15; 1 Peter 1:23).
"Since the Spirit's work in regeneration involves the transformation of the whole man, including his cognitive and affective powers, the accompanying of the internal illumination of the Spirit by the external revelation of the word (and vice versa) is altogether appropriate. Since faith involves knowledge, it ordinarily emerges in relationship to the teaching of the gospel found in Scripture. Regeneration and the faith to which it gives birth are seen as taking place not by revalationless divine sovereignty, but within the matrix of the preaching of the word and the witness of the people of God (cf. Rom. 10:1-15). Their instrumentality in regeneration does not impinge upon the sovereign activity of the Spirit. Word and Spirit belong together." (Contours of Christian Theology: The Holy Spirit, Sinclair B. Ferguson, IVP, 1996, p. 125-126). -
Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
-
".... the Holy Spirit is the sole agent in regeneration. Here it will be good to quote Arthur w. Pink in his book, The Holy Spirit, pp. 56,57:
In His work of "quickening," by which we mean the impartation of spiritual life to the soul, the Spirit acts immediately from within, and not by applying something from without. Quickening is a direct operation of the Spirit without the use of any instrument: the Word is used by Him afterwards to call into exercise the life then communicated…The soul, then, is quickened into newness of life by the direct and supernatural operation of the Spirit, without any medium or means whatever…No, men are not "quickened" by the Word, they must be quickened in order to receive and understand the Word.
Pink says on page forty-nine of the same book:
In regeneration one of God’s elect is the subject, and the Spirit of God is the sole agent. The subject of the new birth is wholly passive: he does not act but is acted upon. The sovereign work of the Spirit in the soul precedes all holy exercises of heart- such as sorrow for sin, faith in Christ, love toward God… This great change is not a gradual and protracted process, but is instantaneous: in an instant of time the favored subject of it passes from death unto life.
Note: A number of Sovereign Grace groups agree with what we Primitive Baptists teach on the so-called Five Points, but very few agree with us on the doctrine of Immediate Regeneration. There are some, notably the Protestant Reformed denomination, W. G. T. Shedd, a Congregationalist, A. W. Pink, W. E. Best, and a few others. Some theologians seem to talk out of both sides of their mouths. In some places in their theology books they seem to teach Immediate Regeneration while in other places they plainly teach Gospel Regeneration."
John A. Broadus,successor to Boyce at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary: ".....Q. Does faith come before the new birth? A. No..." -
"Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God!"
Luke, do you make water here to mean the written word? -
Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Page 3 of 5