Won't somebody tell me, answer if you can!
Want somebody tell me, what is the soul of a man
I'm going to ask the question, answer if you can
If anybody here can tell me, what is the soul of a man?
I've traveled in different countries, I've traveled foreign lands
I've found nobody to tell me, what is the soul of a man
I saw a crowd stand talking, I came up right on time
Were hearing the doctor and the lawyer, say a man ain't nothing but his mind
I read the bible often, I tries to read it right
As far as I can understand, a man is more than his mind
When Christ stood in the temple, the people stood amazed
Was showing the doctors and the lawyers, how to raise a body from the grave
Blind Willie Johnson
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me
Galatians 1:15,16
God has often used the words of Oswald Chambers to soothe my soul in times of spiritual crises. His daily devotions have helped me get through many work days as I've read them before going into work. But recently, I was asked my thoughts on Chamber's devotion from October 6, entitled, The Bent of Regeneration. Here is what Chambers wrote based off the verse in Galatians 1:15,16.
"The New Testament teaching about regeneration is that when a man is struck by a sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit, and his personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God, "until Christ be formed in you." The moral miracle of Redemption is that God can put into me a new disposition whereby I can live a totally new life. When I reach the frontier of need and know my limitations, Jesus says - "Blessed are you." But I have to get there. God cannot put into me, a responsible moral being, the disposition that was in Jesus Christ unless I am conscious I need it."
Chambers has made a grave error in asserting that "man must be struck by a sense of need" before God will impart His Spirit to effectively save. Paul tell us in Romans that "none seek God" and in Ephesians that we were dead in sin and made alive in Christ. Lets look at Paul's letter to the Colossians. 1:21,22 "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death." Paul says we were once alienated and hostile in our minds. If our minds our hostile to God, then when not only see no need for Him, we despise Him! This is true of all of us, for at one time, we were all hostile in our minds toward God. In the second chapter, Paul follows up with the state of man before salvation. "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands." Not only were our minds hostile and we were alienated toward God, but we were dead in our sins and uncircumcised in our hearts. There was nothing good in us. The uncircumcised heart does not seek God. It may sense the need that something is missing, but it does not seek God. Chambers also says that man is a "responsible, moral being." Scripture does not testify to man being "moral" for there are none good. When the rich young ruler approaches Christ, he calls him good. Christ rebukes him by asking, "Why do you call me good? There is none good but God."
Coming to Christ is not about sensing a need and knowing my limitations and deciding to let God help me. Coming to Christ is something done solely by the Triune God. In John 3, Nicodemus asks Jesus what man must do to enter the Kingdom of God. Jesus says that man must be born of the Spirit. What does this mean? Does this imply the freedom of man's will plays a role in this birth? The answer is a resounding No! For a dead man cannot choose to be reborn. Slaves cannot choose their masters. Prisoners cannot choose to be justified. Blind men cannot choose to see. It is a dangerous error to assume that man plays such a great role in the saving of His soul. Martin Luther said, "If any man doth ascribe of salvation, even the very least, to the free will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright." John Calvin said. "Indeed the Word of God is like the sun, shining upon all those to whom it is proclaimed, but with no effect among the blind. Now, all of us are blind by nature in this respect... Accordingly, it cannot penetrate into our minds unless the Spirit, as the inner teacher, through his illumination makes entry for it."
So, if this is true of our fallen state, how is anyone saved? God answers this in the book of Jeremiah. "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Regeneration is God changing the heart of those that he has foreknown and loved before the foundation of the world. The Westminster Confession of Faith beautifully sums up the doctrine of regeneration.
"I. All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, He is pleased, in His appointed time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature to grace and salvation, by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and, by His almighty power, determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ: yet so, as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.
II. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it."
Chambers is right that regeneration is a work of the spirit and He changes our disposition, though the Holy Spirit does so much more in us than that. But, according to scripture, he is absolutely wrong in attributing this regeneration by man's sense of need and his morality. He says that God will not change our disposition against our will. But I know that in my life I was not seeking God until He effectually called me and neither was Saul on his way to Damascus. The beauty of the gospel is that God saves sinners in spite of their sinfulness. Praise God that He saved me otherwise I would have never came to Him.
Posts
