Regeneration and Faith: Which Comes First?

Beloved Kinney,

God wants all glory in salvation. When we take credit for any percentage of
our salvation, we’re robbing God of what is rightfully his! And we are
robbing ourselves of the fullness of joy in giving God all the glory.

This is one reason why it’s important to believe that regeneration by the
Spirit (i.e., new birth, being born again) is not caused by your faith. Rather,
your faith is caused by regeneration. In other words, you believed in Christ
because Christ, by his Spirit, made you alive to do so.

Think of the connection between fire and light. The light of a fire is not the
cause of the fire. The fire causes the light. But where there is fire, there is
light! It’s a simultaneous occurrence, yet one is still the cause of the other.
Here’s how the apostle John puts it in his first epistle: “Everyone who
believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God…” (1 John 5:1). You
were (past tense!) born of God, and that is why you believe in Christ.

This view of our salvation leaves no room for boasting (Eph. 2:8-9)! Let us
give all glory to God, even for our belief in Christ, knowing we would never
have trusted Christ had he not first raised us from death to life!

Love,
Pastor Josh