The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Regeneration without means

Hey.... thanks for the excellent clarification. Yes, I would also reject both of those errors which cannot be supported from Scripture. The Word of God (preached/read) is the means (vehicle) which the Holy Spirit generally uses and accompanies in regeneration quite naturally since it is Christ that the regenerated sinner first beholds, falls before and embraces by faith. But the Word of God has no power in and of itself. It is the Spirit working through the Word that is effectual.

Methinks we are on the same page with the exception of the matter of "preparatory grace". Those few Puritans that held to that view seem to contradict themselves for most all of them, e.g., Hopkins, believed that there is no "intermediate" spiritual state between unregenerate and regenerate. Without regeneration, an individual is always and forever at enmity with God and possesses an innate hatred of God and all that is good. Even the message of the Gospel is "foolish" to him. As I wrote before, the only "preparation" I can see in Scripture is in regard to circumstances which has nothing to do with a sinner's ability to partially hear, see, take interest in the things, of God, etc. Sinners are by nature, spiritually dead, aka: totally depraved until at which time they are quickened by the Spirit.

In His grace,