Within the Reformed Calvinist ordo salutis, regeneration precedes faith since it is impossible for totally depraved humanity to respond to God’s gift of salvation through His Son apart from the work of the Spirit in conversion (John 6:44). The call of God goes forth to the elect and this call is irresistible. Once the sinner responds to the gospel, they are already regenerated in order to respond to the gospel.
The Arminian, obviously, differs with this order as presented by many Calvinists. Arminius listed the divine decrees for salvation as thus:
1) It is My will to save believers.
2) On this man I will bestow faith and preserve him in it.
3) I will save this man.
Robert Picirilli, in his book Grace, Faith, Free Will, states the following about saving faith:
1) The capacity to believe is from God.
2) The possibility of believing is from God.
3) The content of belief – the gospel truth – is from God.
4) The persuasion of truth which one believes is from God.
5) The enabling of the individual to believe is from God.
6) But the believing itself can only be done by no one other than the person who is called on to believe the gospel.
I agree.
Picirilli goes on to state that had the New Testament writers clearly believed that faith is a gift of God for the elect then they would have clearly taught this in the New Testament, but there is simply lack of biblical content for such a view. The idea that regeneration must proceed faith is based not on Scripture itself but upon philosophy of Calvinist theologians. It logically does follow that faith must be a gift from God if one holds to the Calvinist notion of total depravity wherein humanity is so sinful that they cannot even respond to the gospel apart from saving faith being placed within them by the Spirit.
The New Testament teaches that justification is by faith and not unto faith. Romans 5:1 is clear on this. Romans 10:9-17 builds a case for the gospel being preached to the lost and yet in the same passage Paul makes it clear that faith is the condition for the gospel. Ephesians 2:8-9 is often cited by Calvinists as proof of faith being a gift but the key to Ephesians 2:8-9 is to determine what the word “that” means in the passage. The Greek implies that the “that” is salvation and not faith itself. Galatians 3:2 teaches that we receive the Spirit by faith (Acts 5:32) as does Galatians 3:14. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 teaches that God calls us through the gospel and our salvation is dependent on belief in the truth.
Jesus Himself said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.”
John 7:39 gives us John’s insights from John 7:37-38 and John says that the reception of the Holy Spirit is to be faith (believed in Him).
The overall tone of the New Testament is that God saves those who meet His conditions (John 1:12-13). The main condition that God has set forth for salvation is faith in His Son (Hebrews 11:6). 1 John 5:1 says, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” Notice that John says that believing equals being born again (John 3:3-7; 1 Peter 1:18-20). From faith in Jesus Christ will flow repentance and a desire to obey Him as Lord, but faith is the first requirement that God has set on the gospel and without faith in Jesus, there can be no hope of salvation.
[Link to original post and comments on Roy Ingle’s website.]
