Charge: Calvinism distorts the New Birth
Question: Does the Bible say that faith must first be expressed in order to be Regenerated?
Answer: It depends. If regeneration is exclusively reserved in Christ, as I suppose that it is, then the question becomes: Does the Bible explicitly state that faith must first be expressed in order to be in Christ? To answer, since redemption is in Christ (Romans 8:1) and since unbelievers remain under condemnation in Adam (John 3:18), it therefore follows that in order to be in Christ, one must be a believer.
Question: What is the difference between Illumination and Regeneration?
Answer: John 1:9 states: “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” That’s Illumination, by which the Gospel is the Light through which the Holy Spirit gives Sight.
Regeneration: It is exclusively reserved for the redeemed in Christ. When we are sealed in Christ with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13), we receive a new heart and a new spirit and are made into a new creature. (2nd Corinthians 5:17). The purpose of the new birth of regeneration, which is in Christ, is to implant a new nature that instills faith and gives us the desire to want to serve God.
Illumination: Otherwise known as Prevenient Grace, this is not the full blown regeneration of New Birth that is alone reserved for the redeemed in Christ, who have been sealed in Christ. Prevenient Grace is for the unregenerate whereby Jesus knocks upon the heart’s door of the unregenerate (Revelation 3:20), seeks (Luke 19:10) and draws the lost (John 12:32), while the Holy Spirit convicts (John 16:8), pricks (Acts 26:14), pierces (Acts 2:37) and opens hearts to respond to the Gospel. (Acts 16:14)
The problem with Calvinism: It is forced to conclude that a person must first be in Christ before he ever believes in Christ, in order to have access to what is in Christ, namely the new regenerate heart in order to unfailingly come to Christ. Calvinism requires that a person must become preemptively in Christ, apart from repentance and apart from believing in Christ, in order to gain access to the regenerated new heart which is alone reserved in Christ.
For Calvinism to teach that certain people are regenerated in Christ, apart from the basis of believing in Christ, while also trying to juggle salvation by faith, Calvinists must also hold that a person who is in Christ remains unsaved until he exercises faith in Christ. So how can a person who is “born again in Christ” even for one instant of time, remain lost in sin?
Question: What is the purpose of Regeneration?
Answer: To implant a new nature that instills faith and a real desire to serve God.
Question: What is the purpose of Illumination?
Answer: Evangelization.
Question: Is the New Birth of Regeneration equal to Salvation?
Answer: If Regeneration is in Christ, which it is according to 2nd Corinthians 5:17, and if Redemption is in Christ, which it is according to Romans 8:1, then you might as well be asking whether a person who is forgiven is actually saved.
