In Acts 2:38-39, Peter promises remission of sins and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost to those who repent. If we respond with repentance, which is not a work of the law, then God changes our nature. Just take God at His word.
Nice. It is good to have a simple heart toward the Scriptures. But that doesn't mean that any of them should be abandoned or neglected.
Does Acts 2:38-39 deny these can happen simultaneously? Nevertheless, the cause-effect relationship is clear according to multiple scriptures, such as Romans 8 and Eph 2, that the mind of the flesh cannot do what is spiritual, until it is made spiritual. The dead cannot do anything until they are made alive. And that happens by Grace, not of yourself.
More on 'receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit' below.
I see God's continuing work in us as being correction and guidance. He has already given believers the Holy Spirit and many promises - as you dig into the word. He does not make us do anything. God will not do for us what He has commanded us to do.
How about he will do
in us what he has commanded us to do?
"For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." I have yet to claim what I have been accused of, that the believer does not choose, does not will to do, does not work.
You seem to imply correction and guidance being external in some sense, that is, that he acts, we respond in gratefulness or whatever the case may be, by our own choice and hopefully by our continually increasing integrity. God does his part, we do ours. Cooperation. Total sum better by the two of us, than simply by the unimproved will of God.
I have had it explained by some that our relationship with Christ, of growth in Christ, is a give and take sort of thing, where God takes us through more and more independent duties of our own, until we can do on our own, and are mature, strong, etc. But a simple reading of Scripture shows that independence as not only foolishness but sin, and that our maturity grows by our dependence on him. John 17 is scary how Christ regards his own, attributing us with a personality that sounds so like himself, that I tend to fear it, wanting to shrink back from such a duty, such a standing: ONE with him. Not separate from him. ONE IN HIM. No more of this world than he is. I submit that nobody is ever up to that challenge. But the indwelling Spirit of God is.
Not trying to be rude, but I am only responsible to follow NT directives - among which is not being anxious about things I am not called to address. Is this the kind of stuff that many Calvinists spend there time contemplating?
Not trying to be rude, but you are being —(what's the word?)— dismissive of what you don't see necessary for you to have the habit of being or doing. As if, since it doesn't matter to you, why should it matter to anyone else?
There are many gifts. If you don't see the need for accurate doctrine, it's either because "maybe that's just not [your] gift" (i.e. you're simply just not really that interested), or you don't understand the importance of Scripture, or because you are satisfied with 'freewill' as superior to God's sovereign choice. Calvinists are amazed and compelled by God's Grace. Why God would bother to exalt us, at such cost to himself,
"while we were yet sinners...", is beyond our ability to praise adequately. We MUST look into it.
"The lion has roared —who will not be afraid?" comes to mind.
I take exception to the notion that we are not called to address the question of GRACE. It is endemic to the Gospel. ALL the credit goes to God, from first to last, beginning to end.
