247 – The Doctrine of Calling – The Inward Result (Regeneration)

SEMESTER 3

247 – The Doctrine of Calling – The Inward Result (Regeneration)

BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE

COURSE: SOTERIOLOGY III LESSON # 47
THE DOCTRINE OF CALLING
(THE INWARD RESULT – REGENERATION)

INTRODUCTION:

1. In closing lesson number 46, I pointed out that the inward call is always effectual, or successful.
2. What then is that effect? It is regeneration, analogized by our Lord as the New Birth.
3. It is important that we, by order and statement give the proper cause and effect, to rightly perceive either doctrine.
4. Effectual calling is the cause, being born again is the effect.
5. This is not to say that all that is in salvation, is in calling, but that it is communicated to us by calling.

I. WHY MUST ONE “BE BORN AGAIN”

1. In John 3:1-5, our Lord makes the fact of this necessity very clear.
2. The reasons for this necessity are as follow:

i. God’s blessings are reserved for His spiritual seed. (Rom. 8:16-17, Gal. 3:14-16)
ii. Spiritually and morally man is by nature a child of Satan and the enemy of God. (Jn. 8:44, I Jn. 3:10)
iii. Man is spiritually dead and thus cannot by nature become a subject of a spiritual kingdom. (Eph. 2:1, Rom. 5:12, I Cor. 2:14)
iv. That does not mean, as some have suggested, that man is not a spirit until he is regenerated, but that his spiritual state is death.
v. Being in God’s kingdom (Jn. 3:5) implies subjection to the King, and this is impossible for the natural man. (Rom. 8:7,8)

II. THE NATURE OF THE NEW BIRTH – NEGATIVELY

As is often the case, a good way to determine what a thing is, is to first consider what it is not.

1. The New Birth is not an eradication of the old nature. (Rom. 7:14-25, Gal. 5:17)
2. A misconception of II Cor. 5:17 may cause us to so expect, but the whole Bible will teach us that we still must contend with:

i. the flesh. (Jn. 1:13, Rom. 7:18, Rom. 7:25, I Cor. 5:5, etc.)
ii. the body. (Rom. 6:6, Rom. 7:24, Rom. 8:13, I Cor. 9:27, etc.)
iii. the old man. (Rom. 6:6, Eph. 4:22, Col. 3:9, etc.)
iv. indwelling sin. (Rom. 7:17 and 20)
v. the carnal mind. (Rom. 8:7)

3. The above facts are not to be interpreted as meaning:

i. That our body, as physical matter is of sinful composition.
ii. That the saint has two souls or two spirits.
iii. That the believer has two personalities.
iv. They do not mean that he has two faculties of will.
v. It does mean that out of the physical body arises lusts and evil desires.

4. The New Birth is not merely “getting religion.”

i. All men are by nature religious, including those who promote the religion of atheism.
ii. A devoutly religious man may go to hell as surely as the infidel.

5. It is not human reformation.

i. Human reformation deals with human action, not with the heart that produces it. (Mk. 7:15)
ii. The New Birth does its work in the heart which produces the action. (Mk. 7:23)

6. It is not adoption

i. I have often heard adoption referred to as being synonymous with the New Birth. It is not.
ii. T. P. Simmons refers to it as the legal aspect of salvation, and the immediate result of regeneration. (T. P. Simmons’s; A System­atic Study of Bible Doctrine.) I think not.
iii. Adoption is the ultimate result of the New Birth, i.e., final conformity to the image of Christ.

a) We are never said to be adopted, in the past or present tense, it is always future. (Rom. 8:23, 9:4, Gal. 4:5, Eph. 1:5)
b) We at present have received only the spirit of adop­tion. (Rom. 8:15)

7. It is not the removal or replacement of any faculties of the soul.

i. In the fall these faculties, i.e., mind, heart, conscience, will, etc. were corrupted, not lost.
ii. In the New Birth these faculties are restored to divine subjec­tion, yet man always had them.

Note: Though there is some disagreement, I gladly and grateful­ly contribute the format of this work to T. P. Simmons’s; A SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF BIBLE DOCTRINE.