<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>[color:"blue"] To me, regeneration = born again = New Creature in Christ = The Church = Bride of Christ. (1Jo 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:) </font><hr></blockquote><p><br><br>On that point, we agree. Abraham was a new creature in Christ, a patriarch of the Church, and part of Christ's bride. The Church has always existed, my friend, it just wasn't always called "the Church." In ancient days she existed only in a single household. Then she existed in many households and went by the name "Israel." Old Testament Israel is hugely multiplied in the New Testament to include the Gentiles, and the church is now called "the Church." But salvation has always been only by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone. <br><br>God is timeless! The Old Testament Church looked forward with faith, and we look backward with faith, but both looked with faith to Christ, the Savior of the whole Church.<br><br>Natural man is [color:red]DEAD</font color=red> in tresspasses and sins. Natural Man is incapable of responding to anything. He is not merely sick, but dead. He must be resurected first in order to even hear the gospel, let alone respond to it. The only cure for spiritual death is spiritual rebirth, and only God can do that. Otherwise unregenerate men can boast in their own merit for having the good sense to accept Christ, or in their sensitivity to God's leading, or in their own ability to comprehend and believe in an unseen God and accept an unseen Christ as risen from the dead.<br><br>Such things are foolishnes to the unregenerate.<br><br>