Irresistible Grace and Spiritual Death

[InTruth]

A Christian is said to be "dead to sin" (Rom. 6.2,7,11). Yet Christian still sin from time to time, because the Christian does not recognize that he is dead to sin or to abide in this fact. Nobody thinks a Christian is incapable of sinning, for as long as we still have these bodies of flesh and blood there is still the possibility, but there is not the possibility of the believer refusing Christ, because the reason a person is a Christian is because his choice was an authentic one unto eternity, fulfilling the condition to receive eternal life. So the sinner who is spiritually dead doesn't mean he is incapable of receiving what Jesus did on the cross. It goes both ways. There is no absolute sense in these terms. Why should a spiritual death to God be taken in an absolute sense, while the Christian's being dead to sin is not? There is no biblical reason for doing so.

Eph. 5.14 commands, "Awake thou that sleepest, arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." You are commanded to arise from the dead, hear the gospel and respond to it. Paul seems to be paraphrasing Is. 60.1-2: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come...gross darkness is over the people." Have any Calvinists every addressed this verse? We must conclude likening spiritual death to physical death is erroneous, for in such an analogy a dead man can't refuse God, but obviously some people do.

[InTruth]

No Distinction Between Regeneration and Born-Again (Salvation)

"Faith cometh by hearing...the word of God" (Rom. 10.17). Through that faith the spiritually "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2.1) are given spiritual life, eternal life. Repeatedly we are told that he who "believeth" is given "everlasting life" through his faith, and as a result passes "from death unto life." He is not regenerated by means of a God sovereignly making him spiritually alive without his believing the gospel and thereafter given faith to believe in Christ, as Calvinism asserts. No, he is regenerated as a result of putting his faith in Christ. "They that hear shall live" (John 5.25). It is one thing to "heareth my word" but not "believeth on him" (v.24) and a completely other thing to really "hear" (v.25) so as to "believe on him" (v.24).

Calvinists insist that "regeneration and salvation are distinctly differerent..." Yet nowhere in Scripture is that distinction made. Calvinists accuse us of confusing regeneration and salvation. There is no confusion--they are one and the same. How could one be regenerated by the Spirit of God, making one a child of God, yet still need to be saved? Could a regenerated calvinist never get saved after he is allegedly regenerated? That would be weird. It's weird enough to be regenerated without being saved. How long does this period last of not having faith and not being saved after being supposedly regenerated?

My experience in new birth is actual "regeneration," that is, "salvation." God saving me is regenerating me with new birth. Christ spoke to Nicodemus about being "born again." One cannot believe the gospel until after "regeneration"? On the contrary, all the saved have been born again and all who are born again are saved--which only happens by faith. No faith, no regeneration. Salvation and regeneration are two words in the English language describing the exact same work of God. They are one in the same with no delay.

According to Calvinism, without believing in Christ, the "elect" are regenerated. A Calvinist admits he doesn't believe in Christ before being apparently regenerated, therefore it is a false regeneration--a false salvation! True regeneration can only mean being "born again" by the Spirit of God into the family of God. What other regeneration could there be? Since we are saved by faith--"by grace are ye saved through faith...believe...and thou shalt be saved" (Eph. 2.8, Acts 16.31)--and Calvinism says that we can't have faith until we have been regenerated--we must (according to this strange doctrine) be born again before we are saved!

Do you really think a person is regenerated without believing? If so, I dare say you are not truly regenerated.