On his website, Arminian Perspectives, Ben Henshaw has a questions page at which he answers questions about Arminianism and Calvinism that visitors to his site pose in the comment section of the page. Here is a question from a man named Gene (“Now Dimly”) followed by Ben’s answer:
Question:
Do you think that John 1:12, 13 is about being born again? I think it is. And if it is, then it seems pretty clear that faith precedes the new birth, and you would really have to do some theological voodoo here to say that regeneration precedes faith in this context.
All who receive (believe in) the Word are given the right to become children of God. You cannot say that we are regenerated first so that we can believe, so that we can then become children. That doesn’t make sense since regeneration is (to me) both becoming a new creature and a child of God. You also can’t say that this is adoption, or else I don’t think John would have used the word “born,” for the two concepts are quite different (born and adopted).
If John is speaking of regeneration, then this goes hand in hand with Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in chapter 3, and there doesn’t seem to be any real sense to push for regeneration preceding faith–especially since 3:14 clearly says practically the same thing 1:12 says: believe and you will have life/become a child of God. (I think John 3:8 is used to show that regeneration precedes faith because “since we have no control over our new birth then it must happen before we can exercise faith,” but that Calvinistic interpretation leaves me doubtful using this passage alone). Hope I made sense there!
Answer:
Absolutely. John 1:12, 13 is about being born again and clearly teaches that faith precedes the new birth, just as you described it. You are also right about John 3. Here are a few posts you should check out that will reinforce what you have discovered:
