- May 28, 2018
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Agreed. And bad theology can steer the heart wrong. And I mean, even if that bad theology is Calvinistic. Some of the supposedly Calvinism I have heard taught is phrased in terminology to directly oppose the Grace of God, delivered antagonistically (apparently for its shock value) instead of accurately. Some of the strawmen that opponents make of Calvinism are of that same nature. (For example: An Arminian might say Calvinism posits a god who accuses robots. I have heard self-described Calvinists say that there is no such thing as choice, for the sinner, which to me is pretty much the same thing the Arminian says. But even Calvin didn't say that, as far as I know.)The way you put it is good. Sadly there are Christians who believe in Christ but have not submitted their life to God. I will say, and I don't know if you agree, this is not a matter of theology, but a matter of the heart. Though a good theology can stear our heart right.
You may have heard of some Calvinists (and others) who say there was no such thing as regeneration occurring in the Old Testament and the Gospels up until Acts 2. I don't say that, but I mention it as a "Who knows how this played out?". To my thinking, the ONLY way for any true virtue or grace is by the Spirit of God. While that brings up many questions I have not answered to my satisfaction, such as the apparent displacement Jesus mentions in John 16:7 "For if I should not go forth, the comforter shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you." On the other hand, why would he then say, "And lo, I am with you always."?I would disagree to the order you suggest. Belief, repentance, submission of the heart first, then the gift of God the Holy Spirit, salvation which is faith, love for Christ, submission of life.
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
— Acts 2:38
As for sequence, while it may be hard to take because of our dependence on time passage, causative sequence is not necessarily time dependent. Remember 1 John 1:9, where the Greek says that the forgiveness is already accomplished in the past, yet contingent on our confession present time. We also consider that a person is not actually saved until they believe, yet we know their salvation was accomplished by Christ in the past. We do couch that in all sorts of temporal doctrines in order to make it work for our minds, but that isn't how God sees it. And as I said, I see no way the "spiritually dead" can do a "spiritually alive" thing. He MUST be born again ("from above") John 3
To be fair to other Calvinists/Reformed who don't see the temporal issue the way I do, I should mention that there are several other ways to take the matter of 'receive the gift of the Holy Spirit', most prevalently, I suppose, being that it is talking about the filling, and not the indwelling. But whatever the case. I find no reliable way to see it meaning that the sinner's choice, apart from regeneration, produces regeneration. Concurrent? —maybe. Causation? —Regeneration first.
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