Friday, June 7, 2019
Tuesday, June 4, 2019
先相信後重生
Can an Unregenerate Person Believe the
Gospel?
Dr. Charlie Bing
Many would answer this question, "Of course. How else could a person
be eternally saved?" But there are some who would disagree, because they
think that a person must be regenerated (born again) before he or she can
believe the gospel. That perspective is demanded by their view of man's
sinfulness, which they call total depravity. But what does the Bible say?
The issue of total depravity
Total depravity is a theological term used by some to describe the
sinfulness of man. The term itself is not in the Bible. After Adam's fall in
Genesis 3, man is considered "dead in trespasses and sins" as
described in Ephesians 2:1 (see also Rom. 3:10-18; 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22).
How one understands this spiritual death determines how one relates faith to
regeneration.
Those who insist that God must
regenerate a person before that person can believe define total depravity as
man's total inability to respond positively to God. They believe that an
unregenerate person cannot even understand and believe the gospel. This view is
held by Reformed theology and strong versions of Calvinism.
It would be more biblical to take "dead in trespasses and sins"
as a description of man's condition before God. Because of Adam's sin and man's
relationship to Adam, man is totally separated from God and lacks anything that
can commend him to God. Though sin's corruption extends to every man and all of
his being, man retains the capacity to respond to God's initiative. Even after
Adam sinned and died spiritually, he was able to talk with God immediately (Gen. 2:17; 3:1-19).
The biblical evidence that regeneration does not precede
faith
Many biblical arguments show that man's
sinfulness does not require regeneration before faith.
Man
remains in God's image. Man was made in God's image, which includes a
measure of self- determination. The image of God was not destroyed by man's
fall, but marred or corrupted, with the result that man, when left to himself,
is inclined toward evil and rejection of God. Self-determination, even if used
to reject God, is essential to humanness and personhood. Without
self-determination man would be nothing more than a robot with every decision
and action determined and controlled by God.
Man is
responsible. Because human beings can make self-determining choices, unbelievers
are held accountable by God for rejecting the gospel (John 3:18, 36; 5:40-47; Acts 17:30; 2 Thess. 1:6-10).
God would not be just or fair if He condemned people who could not believe
because He did not regenerate them. That would actually make God the author of
evil.
The
invitation to believe is legitimate. God's invitation to be saved
through the gospel is a sincere and legitimate offer only if any and every
person can believe it. If God must regenerate people before they can believe
the gospel, then the invitation is not really to all people, but only to those
already born again. But this is contrary to biblical statements that the gospel
is for all (John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:19-20; 1 Tim. 2:3-6; 1 John 2:2).
Just as Paul preached everywhere with the assumption that anyone could respond
to the gospel (Acts 20:21), we also should share
the gospel with everyone (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8) because it is a genuine
offer to everyone. God regenerates anyone who believes the gospel.
God draws
men to Himself. Because in his sinful state man does not seek God. The Bible teaches
that before anyone believes, God draws that person to Himself (John 6:44; 12:32). God convinces or persuades
the unbeliever of truth, righteousness, and judgment concerning Jesus Christ (John 16:8-11).
The Holy Spirit works mysteriously in a person's heart to bring her to the
point of faith (John 3:8).
Faith is
the means not the result. Nowhere does the Bible say that faith is created by
regeneration. John 3:16 is a very familiar
verse which, according to the preceding context of 3:1-15, explains how God
gives eternal life as a result of faith, not a requirement for faith.
Likewise, Ephesians 2:8 explains how it
is through faith God made alive those who were dead in sins (Eph. 2:1-7). Regeneration is the
result of receiving God's eternal life, and that life is only available through
faith (John 5:24; 20:31).
Faith is
simply a personal response. Man can believe either truth or falsehood that is
presented to him. An unregenerate person can believe the truth of the law of
gravity, or he can believe the error of a flat earth. Likewise, an unregenerate
person can believe the truth of Christ's gospel or she can believe the error of
a false religion. Since faith is only the instrument, the response of faith in
the gospel is not a special kind of faith. Faith is simply faith. It is the
object of faith, the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is special and brings
salvation.
Faith is
not a good work. Those who define total depravity as total inability claim that if
man were able to believe, then that faith would be a meritorious good work for
salvation. But that cannot be true, because the Bible declares that faith is
necessarily contrary to works (Rom. 3:27; 4:4-6; 11:6; Eph. 2:8-9). Faith is not the cause
of our salvation; God is the cause. Faith is God's designated means by which
the unregenerate can receive His grace for salvation. Faith is passive because
it means that one is convinced that something is true or trustworthy. It is not
a work in the sense of actively doing something, thus it is non-meritorious.
Conclusion
The view that regeneration must precede faith is a theological construct,
not a biblical one. To say that a person goes from being spiritually dead to
eternally alive before he believes in Jesus Christ is both absurd and contrary
to biblical teaching. The Bible teaches that man is so corrupted by sin that
left to himself, he would not seek God or believe the gospel. Therefore, God
must draw a person to the point of faith. Nevertheless, it is the person who
believes. Faith is not man's contribution or good work. It is the means through
which man receives God's grace in salvation. The unregenerate person believes
in Jesus Christ as Savior precisely because he can contribute nothing to God's
work of salvation. Faith makes the new birth accessible to anyone, but that
birth is God's work.
Monday, June 3, 2019
得救的信心是神所賜的嗎?
Is Faith in Jesus Christ a Gift of God?
Dr. Charlie Bing
A person is eternally saved through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ,
but does God give this faith or is it purely a human response? Those who teach
that faith must be given by God are usually constrained to do so by their
theological perspective, as is true of Reformed theology. Their view of man's
total depravity does not allow for any positive response from man toward God.
They claim that if faith originated in man it would be a meritorious work that
robs God of His glory. In their view, since God gives the faith that saves,
that faith will sustain the believer in a life of obedience. But there are
problems with viewing faith as a gift of God.
Theological problems with faith as a gift
Those who view faith as a gift interpret man's condition, described
in Ephesians 2:1 as "dead in
trespasses and sins," as a total inability to respond to God in a positive
way. But that phrase describes man's total separation from God, not his
inability to respond to God. Sinful man is totally separated from God and
therefore without eternal life. Man retains the image of God to some degree; it
was severely marred in the fall, but not totally destroyed. Acts 10:2 describes Cornelius
before he came to know Jesus Christ as Savior as a devout man who feared God,
gave alms, and prayed to God (and God heard his prayers! Acts 10:31). In Acts 17 the
Athenians did not have the proper object of faith but worshiped idols. Paul
encourages them to seek to know their "unknown God" which of course
is Jesus Christ. Men can seek God in their unsaved state as God draws them (John 6:28-29, 44-45).
Another theological problem with the view of faith as a gift of God is
that it misunderstands the nature of faith. Faith is not (as they claim) a
divine energy, a special power, or an infused dynamic. That confuses faith with
the power of the Holy Spirit. Faith is simply faith. It means that one is
convinced or persuaded that something is true so that there is a personal
appropriation of that truth. There is not a special kind of faith for eternal
salvation. There is only a special object of faith - Jesus Christ. The kind of
faith one might have in Buddha is no different from the kind of faith that one
can have in Jesus. The only difference is the object: Buddha does not save;
Jesus saves. To make faith the power of salvation is to confuse faith with the
Holy Spirit. According to Ephesians 2:8 grace is the
grounds of salvation and faith is the means by which we appropriate that grace.
Properly speaking we are not saved by faith, but through faith.
To show that faith is not a meritorious work, the Bible contrasts faith in
Christ with meritorious works in both Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 4:4-5.
Faith means exactly that we can do nothing for our salvation. We can only
receive salvation as a gift. Faith is like an empty hand that simply accepts a
gift.
Exegetical problems
The main passage used to support faith as a gift of God for salvation
is Ephesians 2:8-9. "For by grace
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift
of God, not of works lest anyone should boast."
It is claimed that the demonstrative pronoun "that" refers to
"faith" as a gift of God (the words "it is" are not in the
original language, but are supplied by the translation as shown by the
brackets). But "that" cannot refer to "faith" (nor to
"grace") because in the original Greek it would have to be in the
feminine gender. But "that" is neuter which shows that the best
antecedent is the concept of salvation by grace. This fits the context which is
governed by salvation by grace in chapter 1 and especially in 2:4-9. There are
other passages used to argue that faith is a gift of God, but they offer no
support. For example, it is clear that some passages speak of faith as a
special spiritual gift (Rom. 12:3; 1 Cor. 12:9)
or simply as the opportunity to believe (Phil. 1:29), but not as a gift for
salvation.
Logical problems
On the surface the view that says God
must give us faith to believe is a tautology. It assumes what it seeks to
prove. In other words, this view claims we believe because God gives us faith.
But if God give us faith, then we do not need to believe. Or if we can believe,
then God does not need to give us faith.
Another problem with that view is its
theology which says unsaved man is "dead" and cannot believe unless
he is first made alive. Therefore God gives us faith as a divine life-giving energy
that regenerates us so that we can believe. But if we have the divine life and
are regenerated, we would not need to believe to have eternal life - we already
have it!
Also, if faith as a gift is a divine
power that sustains the believer in a life of obedience, then that obedience
would be perfect and never interrupted by sin or disobedience. New Testament
admonitions and commands to live righteously would be superfluous. But since
believers do sin, it shows that their human response is a crucial aspect of
their sanctification.
Finally, if we cannot be saved unless and until God gives us faith in the
gospel, then God could not hold us responsible for not believing the gospel.
But he clearly does (John 3:18, 36, 5:40).
Conclusion
It is hard to escape the conclusion that those who claim that God must give
us the faith to believe for salvation do so out of a theological construct that
is not validated by Scripture. Sinful man retains the image of God to the
degree that he can have faith in either an unworthy or a worthy object for
salvation. The only faith that saves is faith in the person and work of Jesus
Christ. Faith is not the gift; Jesus Christ is the gift. God can draw us to
Himself (John 6:28-29, 44-45),
convict us of the gospel's truth (John 16:8), and invite us to
receive eternal life (John 3:16; 4:10; 7:37), but it is our responsibility
to believe the gospel for eternal life.
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