Again, I really like your answer - just one other point of clarification - like Spurgeon said the regenerated/convicted sinner becomes diligent in wanting to be obedient to God and recognizes Jesus as needful unto salvation. But often a natural result of the new life is a renewed sense of responsibility/accountability to a righteous God.

So often/always we actively reform - does the fact that we become active and diligent in the need for righteousness diminish the fact that we are also acknowledging our own righteousness is as filthy rags (and as a result are fleaing to Jesus?)

I often hear that we have to come to an end of ourselves before Jesus becomes fully needful, which would seem to indicate that there is a distance in time between conviction of sin and truly relying on Jesus for mediation (true faith)

or is this simply a matter of faith being in exercise or not?



Originally Posted by Pilgrim
Regeneration is just what the word connotes; to reanimate, bring back to life. Thus when a sinner is regenerated the dead soul is made alive, i.e., spiritually alive where it was once dead. This new spiritually alive soul (nature) is able to discern spiritual things where before it could not. The apprehension of these spiritual things includes but is not limited to one's guiltiness before God, the odiousness of sin, a desire to repent of sin, the desire to be reconciled to God, the recognition that the Lord Christ is the only way to that reconciliation, and a desire to please God through obedience to His revealed will.

Now, all these things are part and parcel of a regenerated soul. There may be a time-sequence as to how they are expressed, but these elements are so closely related that one could say that they happen at nearly the same time. In other words, contrary to some who hold that one can be regenerated and not believe on Christ for months or years later. This is typically applied to infants or children. But I personally find no such teaching in Scripture. The purpose of regeneration is to bring a person to Christ unto salvation and to thereafter live a life of holiness before God and man. A spiritually alive soul will most naturally be convicted of sin and believe upon Christ nearly instantaneously.

There are several excellent articles on The Highway on this subject here: Soteriology - The Doctrine of Salvation.

Last edited by AC.; Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:13 PM.
The mercy of God is necessary not only when a person repents, but even to lead him to repent, Augustine