There's a difference between believing something is true, and believing IN HIM.
So you say. But the Scriptures do not teach the difference you imagine.
What it says is that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And I see nowhere in the immediate context that claims the definition of the Gospel = "a call to repentance and faith in Lord Jesus to be saved". You are adding to scripture, my man, bending it to fit your soteriology and ecclesiology. That is sloppy, at best, and misleading.
READ the Context.
The Gospel Message is a call to repentance. That is the whole point of the Great Commission that Christ commanded to be preached to all nations.
Luke 24:46-47 (WEB) 46 “So it is written, and so it was necessary for the
Christ to suffer and to
rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that
repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Acts 20:20 [I have] taught you
publicly and from
house to house, 21 earnestly declaring to both
Jews and
Greeks that they
must turn to God [
conversion]
in repentance and have
faith in our
Lord Jesus.
Lord Jesus was sent from the Father to earth to call sinners to
repentance. Read the Scriptures.
Matthew 9:13;
Mark 2:17;
Luke 5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance.
I did not say that the Spirit of God regenerates that faith within us. I said the Spirit of God generates that faith within us.
Same thing. That is what regeneration is: to make alive. A person first has to believe to be made alive by indwelling Spirit.
John 7:37-38 (WEB) 37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried out [to the crowds that formed on the Greatest Day], “If
anyone is thirsty, let him come to me
and drink! 38 He who
believes in me, as
the Scripture has said, from
within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about
the Spirit, which
those believing in him were
to receive.
Since you underline "anyone" in that verse, I assume you think it is random who will and who will not. I ask, as always, how does one at enmity with God, and unable to please Him, suddenly, uncharacteristically, somehow produce that valid faith unto salvation?
As Scripture states: By faith we receive eternal life.
John 3:36 (NIV)
Whoever believes in the Son
has eternal life, but
whoever rejects the Son will
not see life, for God’s
wrath remains on them.
Second, since you asked it of me, and did not ask it of those I love and mostly agree with on this site, I will give you my take. Verse 39 is indeed, as you seem to think, referring to the Acts 2 event on Pentecost. This does not mean that the Spirit was not around, and even indwelling, those who had faith in God, even in the Old Testament. Pentecost was a different sort of filling, for at least two purposes —one being to show the power of God to unbelievers, and the second, to formally introduce the work of the Spirit of God as "comforter" and "paraclete".
The Indwelling of the Spirit
to all believers (
whoever) is a New Covenant Promise that OT Prophecy foretold - to anyone who believes.
John 7:37-38 (WEB) 37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried out [to the crowds that formed on the Greatest Day], “If
anyone is thirsty, let him come to me
and drink! 38 He who
believes in me, as
the Scripture has said, from
within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about
the Spirit, which
those believing in him were
to receive.
Repeating, again: That does not mean that in the Old Testament, that anyone came to saving faith of their own fallen free will, at enmity with God, nor does it imply that in the New Testament, it is possible for anyone to have saving faith in and of their own power.
All those in the OT believed before ever receiving the Holy Spirit. The Promise of Eternal Life by the indwelling Spirit was made possible only by Christ's sacrifice on the Cross for our sins.
Romans 3:25 God presented
Christ as a
sacrifice of atonement, through the
shedding of his blood — to be received by faith. He did this
to demonstrate his righteousness, because in
his forbearance he had left the sins committed
beforehand unpunished
Hebrews 9:15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called
may receive the promised eternal inheritance —
now that he has died as a ransom to
set them free from the
sins committed under the first covenant.
We receive the Spirit by faith, and this "
Promised Spirit" was only made possible in the
New Covenant. The "
Promise" was only a prophetic promise,
not yet a reality, that the Scriptures foretold, until the New Covenant was established by Lord Jesus.
Ephesians 1:13-14 (WEB) 13 In him you also, having
heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom,
having also believed,
you were sealed with the
promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is
a pledge of
our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s
own possession, to the praise of his glory.
Galatians 3:14 (NIV) 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, that we
might receive "
the promise" of the Spirit through faith.
