Hello David. How can anyone be regenerated if he does not accept the things of God? If regeneration is foolishness to him, how will any unbeliever accept it? If you say God forces His regeneration on man, you might have a point.
Natural man can obey the things of God. If it were not possible, then we might as well lock up every unbeliever, for they cannot understand and accept that God says do not murder. Let me ask you, was 'do not murder' foolishness to you while unsaved? Did you murder and not not accept that murder was against God's law? What unbeliever, but the vilest, cannot understand God's law of 'do not murder'?
Besides, even those who are new creatures can't understand and accept God's law of not sinning. Some see nothing wrong with sinning. Some can't understand and accept God's word about keeping the commandments to inherit eternal life. So, it's not the natural man verses the spiritual man as far as accepting the things of God. It's those who freely choose to obey the things of God.
Hi Em, we've all made our choices, and what we've all chosen to do (from the days of our first parents) is to march in lockstep away from God, and then to rush headlong toward our own eternal destruction (i.e.
Romans 3:10-12; Romans 3:23).
Regeneration = being made alive "spiritually" = being "born again". It's God causing hearts of stone to become hearts of flesh (
Ezekiel 36:26). We go from being dead spiritually to being alive spiritually. This is something that God alone must do because the dead can "
do", well, nothing! He causes the Elect (who were just as dead in their trespasses and sins as everybody else ..
Ephesians 2:1-3), to be made "alive" in His Son (
Ephesians 2:4-5) so we can and will choose to believe (
John 6:37-40; John 6:44/John 6:65).
That's why saving faith is called a "gift" from God later on in that chapter (
Ephesians 2:8-9) and why choosing to believe is not considered to be meritorious. Regeneration makes believing "possible" (and inevitable) because by it, we are able to know and understand God, and we can finally "
see" His Kingdom.
Regeneration precedes faith.
BTW, it's the elect of God who have their free will interfered with (in a sense), but the reprobate is allowed to continue on his/her way, unchecked by God, their free will left intact. In fact, without God's intervention in the lives of His Elect, the eternal destination of both saint and reprobate would be the same. God promised His Son a bride however, so all of us cannot be destroyed, a remnant needs to be saved.
You might want to take a little closer look at what the Lord said to the lawyer and the rich, young ruler about inheriting eternal life. The Law wasn't given to show us how to become righteous in God's sight, it was given to show us that we can't be.
The Law has several purposes in the life of a believer, but its main purpose in the life of an unbeliever is to show them how lost and hopeless they truly are, and to drive them to Christ (i.e.
Galatians 3:24-25).
Obedience to the Law can't "save" anyone, because no one can keep the Law.
You might also want to take a close look at everything that's said in
John 5:24. There the Lord tells us that we are "saved" from the moment we first believe, that we literally pass
from death to life in that moment, not after years of faithfully obeying the Law. Obedience is the
RESULT, the
"fruit" of our salvation in Him, not the cause (i.e.
Ephesians 2:10)! Our salvation is all about Him .. not us!!
Here's a question for you, have you
EVER, "
loved the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and loved your neighbors as you love yourself"?
Even once As far as I know, only One among us has ever done that, but if you think you're the exception to the rule and you actually believe that you pulled that off once or twice, St. James has a word or two, just for you
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point, he has become guilty of all.
11 For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT COMMIT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ~James 2
If you want to be judged "righteous" by the Law, then you cannot break the Law ..
EVER
Those are a few things to consider. Hopefully we'll be able to talk more a little later (Dv).
Yours in Christ,
David
"For if a law had been given which was able to
impart life, then righteousness would
indeed have been based on law"
Galatians 3:21