The correct order: Regeneration, Metanoia, Faith, Justification, and Metamelomai

[JLR1300]

Most Calvinists nowadays think that Regeneration causes repentance from sin and then Faith... which of course brings justification. I always believed that too. I have come to believe that is incorrect. The true order is this: The Holy Spirit regenerates us... Regeneration then produces faith, faith brings justification ...then the Holy Spirit enters and indwells us and begins producing the fruit of the Spirit... which is love and goodness etc. Out of this goodness and love for God true repentance of sin and submission to God and Christ is born.

The reason we as Calvinists have become confused is manifold. One reason is that we think that Regeneration produces the fruits of the Spirit. We think that regeneration by itself produces love for God and goodness... and that Love and goodness causes Repentance of sins. Regeneration itself doesn't do all that. Regeneration by itself is not enough to make you good and moral. Regeneration simply opens your spiritual eyes and you see that you are a sinner and you believe that Jesus' blood rescues you from God's wrath. It produces a simple trust and belief in Christ for salvation. Galatians proves that Love and goodness are the fruits of the indwelling Holy Spirit not regeneration alone.

What we need to understand is that we cannot produce the fruits of the Spirit until the Spirit enters and indwells us as His temple. But the Holy Spirit cannot and will not live in an unjust person. We must be justified before the Spirit will live in us. Before we are justified we are legally unclean. The Holy Spirit is Holy. Being Holy He will not dwell in a legally unclean temple. So we must be regenerated to have faith and then we will be justified and only then will the Spirit enter and indwell us and only then will He start producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives which, as Paul says, include goodness and love... which we must have to really repent of sins and place God first in our lives.

Now the problem we often have is that we don't understand several things. We don't understand that in the New Testament there are two main Greek words for repentance. Metanoia and metamelomai. Metanoia means an intellectual change of mind. Metamelomai means to regret and sorrow. This word usually means that a person who has sinned regrets it and has godly sorrow. Metamelomai is never used in the New Testament in any passages regarding becoming a Christian. In the passages about being saved the New Testament uses the word metanoia. To become a Christian an unbeliever must stop thinking he can get to heaven by his good deeds and trust Christ alone to save him instead. He must metanoia. He must change his mind about whatever he is relying on and trust in Jesus instead. Not once does the bible tell us to repent OF SIN to be saved.

So the true order is this. Regeneration causes us to repent in the sense of metanoia.... it causes us to quit trusting in ourselves and to change our mind and trust in Jesus for salvation instead. It causes repentance and faith meaning metanoia and pistis. At that point Justification occurs. Only then will the Holy Spirit enter us and start producing the Fruit of the Spirit. The first fruit Paul lists is Love. Love for God and man. And goodness. We must have those two fruits before we can really put Jesus first in our lives and be truly regretful for sin and have godly sorrow. Without goodness you don't really regret sin and without Love you put yourself first instead of Christ and others. So repentance in the sense of metamelomai (regret) FOLLOWS justification.

This is why Calvin taught that faith is simple belief and trust. It is the firm belief that God is merciful to us because of what Christ did at the cross. Calvin wasn't a lordship salvationist. He taught that repentance follows faith. He said "Those who think that repentance precedes faith instead of flowing from, or being produced by it, as the fruit by the tree, have never understood its nature, and are moved to adopt that view on very insufficient grounds."

We also need to understand that according to 1 John 3:4 sin is transgressing God's law. It says "for sin is the transgression of the law". As a former Baptist pastor who was a lordship salvationist I found myself preaching that we must trust in Christ alone for salvation and not look to the law. Then I would preach that we must repent of sin. But what is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law. So to repent of sin means to agree to stop transgressing the law. To agree to stop transgressing the law means to agree to keep the law. So what I was really saying is that the sinner needs to trust in Christ alone for salvation and not try to be saved by keeping the law... but he also needs to agree to start keeping the law to be saved! That is totally nuts. Paul said "therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith APART FROM the deeds of the law."

Also I would tell sinners that to be justified they must put Jesus first in their lives and love Him supremely. That sounds good. But I didn't realize two things... 1. Love is the fruit of the Spirit and you don't get the indwelling of the Spirit before you are justified. 2. Love isn't the Gospel it is the LAW. Jesus was asked one day..." what is the GREATEST COMMANDMENT IN THE LAW?" and Jesus Answered... the greatest commandment in the law is to Love the Lord..." The gospel is not... if you agree to love Jesus He in return will give you salvation. The gospel is not ... keep God's law... love God and the Lord Jesus. No. The gospel is this....

You have failed to keep God's law so stop believing you can be good enough to save yourself. Change your mind and believe the gospel. Believe and trust that you are now right with God because the blood of Jesus covers your sins and saves you from God's wrath. If God regenerates you you will believe that. Then you will be justified. Then the Holy Spirit will indwell you. Then He will produce the fruit of the Spirit. Love for the Lord and a repentant goodness. Regeneration and the indwelling Spirit TOGETHER will produce these things. Lordship salavtion is works salvation. Without meaning to it says "look to Christ and look to the law for salvation". I used to couldn't see this because of reading so much John MacArthur and people like that..

 

[twin1954]

First I want you to understand that I differ with Reformed theology on a few points so I am not seeking to defend Reformed theology. But your post does bring a couple of questions to mind. First we must establish the Biblical definition of regeneration. What actually happens when we are regenerated? Is it different than being born again and becoming a New creation? Second is when does justification actually occur? I differ on this with Reformed theology believing that we are justified in the purpose of God before the foundation of the world, actually justified in time when Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree and have that justification made known to us when we believe.

I think the answers to these questions will shed some light on your post.

Yours in Christ, twin.

 

[JM]

Opponents of regeneration proceeding faith have come up with unbiblical ideas such as prevenient grace to explain how a spiritually dead sinner produces saving faith. The Reformed view has already been defended...more than a few times and by more than Reformed folks.

Yours in the Lord,

jm

Jesus Teaches that Regeneration Precedes Faith by John Hendryx

Regeneration precedes faith | faith does not proceed regeneration | Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry

Regeneration Precedes Faith by R.C. Sproul | Ligonier Ministries Blog

 

[JLR1300]

With regards to justification I used to believe in the eternal justification teaching of John Brine and Dr John Gill. However, I finally decided that a better term is eternal reconciliation. I was talking to Dr. Tom Nettles one day and he pointed out that in Philippians where Paul says that we are justified by faith the Greek word is epi (upon) faith. We are justified upon faith. And yet we know that Christ was "slain before the foundation of the world". Also we know that " God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (NASB) So here is what I concluded eventually after some study.

Before the world began God had planned the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sins. In view of Christ and His sacrifice He chose certain persons for salvation. Ephesians says He chose us in Him...meaning He chose us in light of Him and His sacrifice. At that point God was reconciled to us... meaning He forgave us in His heart and was not our enemy but our friend. He could do this because at the cross God was in Christ reconciling the world (all of the elect from every nation) to Himself and since Christ was slain before the foundation of the world all of the elect were reconciled to God before the world began. Of course God was reconciled to us then ...but we were not yet reconciled to Him. We actually have God's forgiveness and frendship in eternity. Nevertheless that is not justification.

Justification is a legal term which means to declare legally or officially not guilty. So although we were reconciled to God in eternity we are not officially declared so until we have faith. Ephesians says that we were "children of wrath even as others" That means that although God forgave us in His heart before the world began... LEGALLY we were still condemned by the law and so still needed to be officially and legally declared not guilty by God." If we were really justified in eternity we could not be called children of wrath even as others.

Here is an illustration. Imagine a man who is accused of a crime. He is brought before a judge. The judge goes into his office to look at all of the evidence and think about the case. After he thinks about it for a while He decides that the man is innocent. Now at that point the Judge is reconciled to the man in his mind. In other words, he doesn't see the man as his enemy but as a friend. Later on... the Judge goes back to the courtroom and declares the man to be legally not guilty. Now the man is justified. While the Judge was in his office the Judge was reconciled to the man and He thought of him as a friend and not an enemy. But it wasn't official yet. He still needed to go out and declare the man officially and legally not guilty.

So before the world began God chose people and decided to cover their sins with the blood of the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. So he was planning to forgive their sins.

Now if you plan to forgive a person then you HAVE forgiven them. If a person has wronged you, and on Monday you plan to forgive that person when you see them on Wednesday, then you have actually forgiven them on Monday. So in eternity God, by planning to forgive the elect, did forgive them. And therefore since in eternity he did forgive them he was reconciled to them. Nevertheless He did not declare it officially until they believed in time. So we are justified upon (epi) faith. So I am with you in that for all practical purposes we are justified in eternity. It is mainly semantics because we were forgiven in eternity but we are not declared forgiven until faith. Jesus said that there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. That may be when a sinner's salvation is officially declared in the court of Heaven. God forgave us and reconciled us in eternity but not until we believe does He officially and legally declare it in Heaven and at that time the angels rejoice. So I believe that the order of salvation is...

1. Christ agrees to provide a sacrifice. 2. In view of Him and His sacrifice God elects some for salvation. 3. Because of that God is reconciled to those persons and they are forgiven in His heart. 4. God sends the Gospel message. 5. God regenerates the elect (they are born again). 6. They trust in Christ alone for salvation and do not look to works. 7. They are LEGALLY AND OFFICIALLY declared to be forgiven and not guilty (Justification) 8. They are adopted (Meaning the Holy Spirit enters them which gives them the nature of sons... and they are sealed by this) 9. The process of sanctification begins including Repentance of the metamelomai type and continues throughout life. 10. Glorification (at death)

 

[JLR1300]

I wanted to define regeneration. The Greek word means new birth. It is used in ancient times in secular culture to speak of spring. The concept is used in John Chapter 3 when Jesus spoke of being born-again. Paul uses the idea in Ephesians 2 when he said that we were once dead in sins but God made us alive. The Old testament prophet Ezekiel spoke of it but connected it to the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 36:26-27 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Because of this verse many have supposed that regeneration causes the ability for the sinner to do moral works. However, if you look at the verse it is not until after Ezekiel says that "I will put my Spirit within you" that he says "and cause you to walk in my statutes"...etc. So it is not regeneration alone that gives us the ability do good moral works. It is regeneration plus the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

An illustration of regeneration is physical birth. When a child is first born it cannot do any works that are helpful to it's father. The child cannot plow the field or feed the chickens or mow the lawn. The only thing the child can do is cry out to his father and hope and trust that his father will have mercy and attend to his needs. The father can hear the cry of his child and come and give him all things that are necessary for physical life. In the same way, when those who are dead in sin are regenerated they are birthed and made alive. When they are born they can do no moral good. All they can do is cry out to Jesus for mercy and hope and believe that Jesus gives them mercy and answers their prayer for forgiveness and justification. Jesus will then come to them and justify them and then enter them by His Spirit and give them all things necessary for their Spiritual lives including the Fruit of the Spirit which is love for God and goodness...etc.

Thus we see that regeneration alone only gives the sinner the ability to look to Christ for mercy and salvation. It is the Spirit's subsequent indwelling that causes us to love the Lord and submit to Him and to repent of sins and begin to do good. Thus we see that regeneration properly understood does not support lordship salvation's understanding of conversion.

 

[twin1954]

With regards to justification I used to believe in the eternal justification teaching of John Brine and Dr John Gill. However, I finally decided that a better term is eternal reconciliation. I was talking to Dr. Tom Nettles one day and he pointed out that in Philippians where Paul says that we are justified by faith the Greek word is epi (upon) faith. We are justified upon faith. And yet we know that Christ was "slain before the foundation of the world". Also we know that " God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (NASB) So here is what I concluded eventually after some study.

Before the world began God had planned the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sins. In view of Christ and His sacrifice He chose certain persons for salvation. Ephesians says He chose us in Him...meaning He chose us in light of Him and His sacrifice. At that point God was reconciled to us... meaning He forgave us in His heart and was not our enemy but our friend. He could do this because at the cross God was in Christ reconciling the world (all of the elect from every nation) to Himself and since Christ was slain before the foundation of the world all of the elect were reconciled to God before the world began. Of course God was reconciled to us then ...but we were not yet reconciled to Him. We actually have God's forgiveness and frendship in eternity. Nevertheless that is not justification.

Justification is a legal term which means to declare legally or officially not guilty. So although we were reconciled to God in eternity we are not officially declared so until we have faith. Ephesians says that we were "children of wrath even as others" That means that although God forgave us in His heart before the world began... LEGALLY we were still condemned by the law and so still needed to be officially and legally declared not guilty by God." If we were really justified in eternity we could not be called children of wrath even as others.

Here is an illustration. Imagine a man who is accused of a crime. He is brought before a judge. The judge goes into his office to look at all of the evidence and think about the case. After he thinks about it for a while He decides that the man is innocent. Now at that point the Judge is reconciled to the man in his mind. In other words, he doesn't see the man as his enemy but as a friend. Later on... the Judge goes back to the courtroom and declares the man to be legally not guilty. Now the man is justified. While the Judge was in his office the Judge was reconciled to the man and He thought of him as a friend and not an enemy. But it wasn't official yet. He still needed to go out and declare the man officially and legally not guilty.

So before the world began God chose people and decided to cover their sins with the blood of the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. So he was planning to forgive their sins.

Now if you plan to forgive a person then you HAVE forgiven them. If a person has wronged you, and on Monday you plan to forgive that person when you see them on Wednesday, then you have actually forgiven them on Monday. So in eternity God, by planning to forgive the elect, did forgive them. And therefore since in eternity he did forgive them he was reconciled to them. Nevertheless He did not declare it officially until they believed in time. So we are justified upon (epi) faith. So I am with you in that for all practical purposes we are justified in eternity. It is mainly semantics because we were forgiven in eternity but we are not declared forgiven until faith. Jesus said that there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. That may be when a sinner's salvation is officially declared in the court of Heaven. God forgave us and reconciled us in eternity but not until we believe does He officially and legally declare it in Heaven and at that time the angels rejoice. So I believe that the order of salvation is...

1. Christ agrees to provide a sacrifice. 2. In view of Him and His sacrifice God elects some for salvation. 3. Because of that God is reconciled to those persons and they are forgiven in His heart. 4. God sends the Gospel message. 5. God regenerates the elect (they are born again). 6. They trust in Christ alone for salvation and do not look to works. 7. They are LEGALLY AND OFFICIALLY declared to be forgiven and not guilty (Justification) 8. They are adopted (Meaning the Holy Spirit enters them which gives them the nature of sons... and they are sealed by this) 9. The process of sanctification begins including Repentance of the metamelomai type and continues throughout life. 10. Glorification (at death)

Sorry it took me so long to respond to your post.

I think you miss the distinction between a plan and a purpose. The Scriptures never speak of God having a plan or planning they speak of His purpose. He has an end to which He is working all things. God didn't plan to justify us He purposed to justify us and therefore we are justified in the purpose of God from before the foundation of the world. 2Tim. 1:9-10

We were actually justified in time when Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree, was buried and rose again from the dead. His resurrection is the declaration of God to all Heaven and Earth that we are justified. Rom. 4:25 You can substitute the word "because of" where we read "for" in that passage for (see how that works) that is what it means. Now I believe the translators put in a little of their own theology into the translation of Rom. 5:1. In the Greek there is no comma between the faith and we as we have in our translation. Instead it ought to read "Therefore being justified, by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

If we are actually justified when we believe then our faith is the cause of our justification rather than the imputed righteousness of Christ.

I wholeheartedly agree with you that Lordship Salvation is a subtle legalism. I have written and spoken on this before.

I am once more your servant in Christ, twin.

 

[twin1954]

I wanted to define regeneration. The Greek word means new birth. It is used in ancient times in secular culture to speak of spring. The concept is used in John Chapter 3 when Jesus spoke of being born-again. Paul uses the idea in Ephesians 2 when he said that we were once dead in sins but God made us alive. The Old testament prophet Ezekiel spoke of it but connected it to the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Ezekiel 36:26-27 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Because of this verse many have supposed that regeneration causes the ability for the sinner to do moral works. However, if you look at the verse it is not until after Ezekiel says that "I will put my Spirit within you" that he says "and cause you to walk in my statutes"...etc. So it is not regeneration alone that gives us the ability do good moral works. It is regeneration plus the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

An illustration of regeneration is physical birth. When a child is first born it cannot do any works that are helpful to it's father. The child cannot plow the field or feed the chickens or mow the lawn. The only thing the child can do is cry out to his father and hope and trust that his father will have mercy and attend to his needs. The father can hear the cry of his child and come and give him all things that are necessary for physical life. In the same way, when those who are dead in sin are regenerated they are birthed and made alive. When they are born they can do no moral good. All they can do is cry out to Jesus for mercy and hope and believe that Jesus gives them mercy and answers their prayer for forgiveness and justification. Jesus will then come to them and justify them and then enter them by His Spirit and give them all things necessary for their Spiritual lives including the Fruit of the Spirit which is love for God and goodness...etc.

Thus we see that regeneration alone only gives the sinner the ability to look to Christ for mercy and salvation. It is the Spirit's subsequent indwelling that causes us to love the Lord and submit to Him and to repent of sins and begin to do good. Thus we see that regeneration properly understood does not support lordship salvation's understanding of conversion.

I would argue that the new birth, regeneration and being a new creation are all the same thing. God doesn't make the old nature to be something other than what it was but creates us as a whole new creature. We are born of God having a new nature. Eph. 4:24 speaks of having a new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 1John 3:9 speaks of us having the seed of Christ in us that cannot sin because we are born of God.

God doesn't reform the old man in the new birth He creates us as a whole new creature.

Your servant in Christ, twin.

 

[JLR1300]

Hey Twin 1954...
Thanks ever so much for your comments. I think our views are extremely close. I don't have a real problem with your doctrinal understanding of justification depending on how you explain it. Where did you write about the Lordship issue, I would like to read it. Thanks ..... JLR (John)

 

[twin1954]

Hey Twin 1954...
Thanks ever so much for your comments. I think our views are extremely close. I don't have a real problem with your doctrinal understanding of justification depending on how you explain it. Where did you write about the Lordship issue, I would like to read it. Thanks ..... JLR (John)

Here is one thing that I wrote a while back:

John MacArthur and subtle legalism in his Lordship salvation.


Let me begin by saying that I am aware for the need to speak out against the “easy-believism” which makes salvation to be just a mental assent to the Gospel truth. I do not in any way make the claim that one is truly saved merely by saying a prayer or making a profession of faith which doesn’t change your life. Every true believer experiences a life change and does turn from his rebellion and submits to Christ as Lord. I do not differ with MacArthur on that. Where I do differ with him is on the application of the lordship of Christ and the use of tests and fruit to determine whether a person is truly saved. I say it is subtle legalism because it sounds so very appealing and right. It feeds our need to have regulations that keep us in line. We naturally want boundaries and fences and walls to keep us in and bad things out. We think that we are safe when we have them. That is the subtlety of MacArthur’s legalism, it gives us what we think we need.
So what are my objections to the subtle legalism of MacArthur’s lordship salvation and other doctrines that he teaches?

1. He makes repentance the saving act.
It was an offer of eternal life and forgiveness for repentant sinners, but at the same time it was a rebuke to outwardly religious people whose lives were devoid of true righteousness. It put sinners on notice that they must turn from sin and embrace God's righteousness. Our Lord's words about eternal life were invariably accompanied by warnings to those who might be tempted to take salvation lightly. He taught that the cost of following Him is high, that the way is narrow and few find it. He said many who call him Lord will be forbidden from entering the kingdom of heaven (cf. Matt. 7:13-23).( from an introduction to Lordship salvation An Introduction to Lordship Salvation)
The strait gate and narrow way isn’t about our walk but about where our faith lies. Are we looking to how we walk or are we looking to the one hope we have which is Christ? He makes salvation dependant on our walk not on faith in Christ. In His reference to Matt. 7:13-23 he applies to all that which the Lord is specifically speaking concerning false prophets. The fruit by which they are known isn’t what they do but what they say. They come in sheep”s clothing which means that they look like sheep, smell like sheep and act like sheep so what they do is a deception that we cannot use to figure out whether they are false or not. In verses 21-23 the Lord is showing that not all who profess to be His are His. He shows why they are not His by illustrating that they are looking to what they do instead of simply resting in what He has done. MacArthur turns the teaching of the Lord in this passage upside down to make works and repentance to be the saving act.
2. He makes assurance come from obedience.
Eighth, Scripture teaches that behavior is an important test of faith. Obedience is evidence that one's faith is real (1 John 2:3). On the other hand, the person who remains utterly unwilling to obey Christ does not evidence true faith (1 John 2:4). ( again from the introduction to Lordship salvation) We can go to his writings on repentance and assurance: The Call to Repentance In this article he lays out very clearly his doctrine of repentance being essential to salvation and how assurance comes from our walk instead of the promises of Christ.

John MacArthur points us to ourselves in almost everything he teaches concerning salvation. He claims that believers are saved by Christ alone but then teaches the exact opposite. If you read or listen to him for very long you will hear and see, if you have a discerning ear and eye, his subtle legalistic tendencies. His teaching on the role of elders is atrocious to say the least and again sets up his legalism. You are free to read for yourselves but I caution you to do so with an open eye and a discerning mind. He makes it sound all good and right but in reality you are pointed to yourself instead of Christ.