“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 5:24
Calvinism teaches that faith is a gift given by God to the elect. This is necessary for two reasons. First, people are born totally depraved, which entails being dead in sin (Ephesian 2:1-3), which means that apart from God saving the elect, the elect could never respond to the gospel since they are dead. Second, if God elected from the beginning who would be saved by His grace, then it reasons that He would be the one who would choose to save the person by His own sovereign choice and not because of their faith.
Calvinists such as R.C. Sproul teach that regeneration takes place before faith since only someone alive can respond to the gospel. Calvinists have debated down through the years whether those who never have faith go to heaven (such as those who have yet to hear the gospel since it is possible that they are elected and regenerated though have not yet exercised the God-given gift of faith in Jesus). Either way, Sproul logically sees regeneration as necessary for people to have faith (John 3:3-7).
The Arminian view, however, is that salvation is by faith and not unto faith (Romans 5:1). For instance, here in John 5:24 we find Jesus showing us when a person crosses from death to life and the passage is clear: when they believe. The Greek word for believe here is in the present active participle implying that the belief here is ongoing. This is not a one shot deal. The text could literally be translated then: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever keeps on hearing my word and keeps on believing him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
But the key for the Arminian view of salvation is the fact that Jesus says that believing in Him leads to eternal life. With this faith, the person now crosses from death to life. This implies that regeneration takes place after faith (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7). This is the theme of the Gospel of John, that faith in Jesus Christ leads to eternal life (John 1:12-13; 3:15-16; 4:14; 5:24; 6:28-29, 35-40; 20:31; etc.). In John’s first epistle he writes, “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” (1 John 5:1). Peter wrote that a person purifies our souls when we obey the truth (1 Peter 1:22).
And thus, this is why the preaching of the gospel is necessary for seeing people become Christians. Without the preaching of the gospel, people could not become disciples of Jesus and be saved by His grace (Romans 10:14-17). The gospel is necessary for regeneration despite what Sproul may say. Jesus makes it clear that His Church was to proclaim the gospel to all nations (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16) since Jesus knew that the gospel would bring salvation to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Salvation comes only in Christ Jesus (Acts 4:12) and He alone is our Mediator (1 Timothy 2:1-6). While Jesus came for all people, He alone is the Savior of those who believe (1 Timothy 4:10) and so faith is necessary to please God (Hebrews 11:6 NIV).
To us Arminians, the biblical record is clear: regeneration takes place through faith and not before faith. Regeneration, faith, and repentance all take place at one moment. Baptism flows next from a regenerated heart (Acts 2:37-39, 41). Acts presents baptism as the moment that people identified with Christ and became true disciples (Matthew 28:19; Acts 8:12-13, 36-38; 9:17-18; 10:44-48; 11:18; 16:14-15, 30-34; 18:8; 19:5; 22:16).
[Link to original post and comments on Roy Ingle’s website.]
