Jesus defines humility in the context of the whole parable:
Luke 14: 7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Humility is not like some pill you swallow, but is an emotion found within the individual. There is nothing wrong with felling humble, but it is also not a gift given only to the elect, since the parable is talking about a proud person becoming humble without going through a rebirth.
Who said anything about a pill? Humility is not an "emotion" as you claim, but is a spiritual understanding of one's own condition. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." When you talk about "emotions" you are talking about living according to the flesh - that is, acting out what the body is telling you to do, whether good or bad - Rom. 8:13.
I love the way people say: “Only those people who God reveals the truth to are able to exercise hope in Christ” and give no Biblical reason for God to not reveal the truth to everyone. Do you have the Biblical reason?
2 Cor. 4:3-4 "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
1 Cor. 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned."
I have talked about scripture like this many times, but it seems like you're not listening, or completely disregarding it. The true condition of man's soul is that he is imprisoned in the blindness and deafness of spiritual death, which the devil (the "serpent") has captured them. They are in bondage. They think they are ok and don't need a savior, because they think they are righteous enough to be accepted by God (if they even believe He exists). The gospel first tells them the bad news that they are headed for destruction - "wide the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that find it."
Whoever remains in their unbelieving state are there by their own devices (they are culpable for their unbelief), even though the devil has blinded them from the truth. So then, it takes God to make someone spiritual, at least enough to make them see how they deserve lake of fire judgment, in addition to having some hope that Jesus can save them from it. This is clearly taught in the cited verses, as well as Eph. 2:1-10.
The Biblical reason I see for God to reveal the gift of truth to some and not others is because “others” are unwilling to humbly accept any and all God’s gifts as pure undeserved charity.
It is not a one-sided transaction, since the receiver of God’s gifts has to accept those gifts as charity to complete the transaction (Matt. 18).
The problem is that you aren't taking what Paul clearly taught into consideration. From the point of view of a man who has no understanding of how God works, it appears that they "have to accept the gifts of God as charity to complete the transaction" - you use Mat. 18 as a prooftext. But the fact is, you don't understand that when Jesus said things like, "do this and you will live" (Lk. 10), He is accommodating the unbelieving mind that doesn't understand how God works. Paul taught that the elect are predestined, which means that our placement in God's kingdom was His doing, not ours - 1 Cor. 1:30 "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption." Therefore, it is a one-sided transaction.
The problem with thinking it's a two-sided transaction is that you have to assume that a person is able to do something (even if it's a "selfish acceptance of pure charity") to cause God to regenerate him. But it doesn't work that way, because God's favor (grace) is unmerited, which means we did nothing at all to cause God's spiritual blessing to be bestowed on us. We were chosen by God only because God chose to love us more than the rest of the world. This is clearly taught in Eph. ch. 1 & 2.
Again, I did not say or claim: “…a person can naturally accept charity, therefore you can conclude that a person can naturally believe in Christ”.
Oh, but it's what you really mean, and you revealed that in your post. Your "claim" (your agenda) is to teach that if an unregenerate person can naturally accept charity, the implication is that it leads to an unregenerate person receiving the ultimate charity, regeneration and eternal life. Your posts are full of this idea. It reeks of Roman Catholic synergism, which teaches that a person merits salvation by cooperating with God. They also disregard verses like 2 Cor. 4:3-4 by assuming that an unregenerate person can understand and obey the gospel, which is contrary to what Paul clearly taught.
The issue is: “What Biblically logically determines who is “regenerated”?”
Look in scripture to find the value and importance of being humble.
I take your question to mean, what CAUSES a person to be regenerated. I answered this question in the last post. Did you read it? This is the question of "why does God save some and not others?" If this is not what you mean, then you need to be clear about it. Ask the question in different words, in a different way. Be more specific about your question. If you are meaning, how can we determine if a person is regenerated, that's a completely different question, answered by a different set of scripture.
Humility does not CAUSE a person to be regenerated. A person who humbles himself before God already has a faith that justifies him. Again, there is a humility based on natural desperation, and a humility based on real faith in God, and the twain shall never meet in the unregenerate soul, but they do meet in the regenerate soul. Titus 3:5 "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit."
The humility that is based solely on natural desperation and has no spiritual component is soon forgotten after the need has been satisfied. The one blinded by the "god of this world" will never acknowledge his need for God - Rom. 3:10-11. Such humility is a temporary hiccup in the typical life of an unbeliever. Certainly God uses natural desperation sometimes to aid in His efforts to regenerate a person, just as He uses natural wisdom and reasoning; but those things cannot, and do not regenerate a person. Regeneration is done according to the election of God alone, taught by Paul in Eph. 1 and elsewhere.
Therefore, don't confuse an after-the-fact experience of regeneration with Paul's teaching of how a person is actually regenerated, thereby transitioning them from unsaved to saved. Paul clearly states in Col. 1:13 "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son." God did not rescue us BECAUSE we asked, but we asked to be rescued BECAUSE of the convicting power of the Spirit. IOW, we were first regenerated, then we began to realize how desperately we needed Christ's deliverance.
I’m pointing to the obtaining of the regeneration, which than produces faith and faithfulness. There is a natural type of free will faith and hope which needs to generate a willingness to be humble to the point of accepting God Love/charity as charity. You get nothing if you are unwilling to even selfishly accept pure undeserved charity as charity.
This statement reveals a lot about your agenda, as I stated above. You are trying here to give some reason in man why God saves some and not others. But according to the verses I cited, among many others, the reason why God saves some and not others is found only in God's will, not in ours. Our "free will" isn't free spiritually until God frees us from the bondage of the devil's lie. We naturally want to think that we have control of our eternal destiny, because we feel some sense of security in that feeling; but unfortunately it's a false sense of security. Only God has control of our eternal destiny, and this is why we have to completely trust Him (i.e. trust Christ). This is what surrender and submission is all about.
Regeneration is only obtained when God decides to do it. Cooperation with God is after-the-fact. We are exhorted by the apostles to cooperate with God, so that circumstances will go well with us, and that God won't have to chastise us. It's all after-the-fact of regeneration. Gal. 5:16 "I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" is an exhortation to Christians, not to unbelievers.
Jesus describes Himself as a physician healing the sick (sinners), but there is nothing about them “knowing” they were sick (sinners) and Jesus was going only to those who knew they were sinners.
But if a person doesn't know they are a sinner, they won't seek a savior. This was the problem with the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They were oblivious to the fact that Jer. 17:9 applied to them. "The heart
is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Part 2 in the next post.
