The correct order: Regeneration, Metanoia, Faith, Justification, and Metamelomai
Most Calvinists nowadays think that Regeneration causes repentance from sin and then Faith... which of course brings justification. I used to believe that for a short time too. Years ago I realized that that is incorrect. The true order is this: The Holy Spirit regenerates us... Regeneration then produces faith, faith brings justification ...then the Holy Spirit enters and indwells us and begins producing the fruit of the Spirit... which is love and goodness etc. Out of this goodness and love for God true repentance of sin and submission to God and Christ is born.
The reason we as Calvinists have become confused about this issue is manifold. One reason is that we think that Regeneration produces the fruits of the Spirit. We think that regeneration by itself produces love for God and goodness... and that Love and goodness causes Repentance of sins. Regeneration itself doesn't do all that. Regeneration by itself is not enough to make you good and moral. Regeneration simply opens your spiritual eyes and you see that you are a sinner and you believe that Jesus' blood rescues you from God's wrath. It produces a simple trust and belief in Christ for salvation. Galatians proves that Love and goodness are the fruits of the indwelling Holy Spirit not regeneration alone.
What we need to understand is that we cannot produce the fruits of the Spirit until the Spirit enters and indwells us as His temple. But the Holy Spirit cannot and will not live in an unjust person. We must be justified before the Spirit will live in us. Before we are justified we are legally unclean. The Holy Spirit is Holy. Being Holy He will not dwell in a legally unclean temple. So we must be regenerated to have faith and then we will be justified and only then will the Spirit enter and indwell us and only then will He start producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives which, as Paul says, include goodness and love... which we must have to really repent of sins and place God first in our lives.Now the problem we often have is that we don't understand several things....
We don't understand that in the New Testament there are two main Greek words for repentance. Metanoia and metamelomai. Metanoia means an intellectual change of mind. Metamelomai means to regret and sorrow. This word usually means that a person who has sinned regrets it and has godly sorrow. Metamelomai is never used in the New Testament in any passages regarding becoming a Christian. In the passages about being saved the New Testament uses the word metanoia. To become a Christian an unbeliever must stop thinking he can get to heaven by his good deeds and trust Christ alone to save him instead. He must metanoia. He must change his mind about whatever he is relying on and trust in Jesus instead. Not once does the bible tell us to repent OF SIN to be saved.
So the true order is this. Regeneration causes us to repent in the sense of metanoia.... it causes us to quit trusting in ourselves and to change our mind and trust in Jesus for salvation instead. It causes repentance and faith meaning metanoia and pistis. At that point Justification occurs. Only then will the Holy Spirit enter us and start producing the Fruit of the Spirit. The first fruit Paul lists is Love. Love for God and man. And goodness. We must have those two fruits before we can really put Jesus first in our lives and be truly regretful for sin and have godly sorrow. Without goodness you don't really regret sin and without Love you put yourself first instead of Christ and others. So repentance in the sense of metamelomai (regret) FOLLOWS justification.
This is why Calvin taught that faith is simple belief and trust. It is the firm belief that God is merciful to us because of what Christ did at the cross. Calvin wasn't a lordship salvationist. He taught that repentance follows faith. He said "Those who think that repentance precedes faith instead of flowing from, or being produced by it, as the fruit by the tree, have never understood its nature, and are moved to adopt that view on very insufficient grounds."
We also need to understand that according to 1 John 3:4 sin is transgressing God's law. It says "for sin is the transgression of the law". As a former Baptist pastor who was a lordship salvationist I found myself preaching that we must trust in Christ alone for salvation and not look to the law. Then I would preach that we must repent of sin. But what is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law. So to repent of sin means to agree to stop transgressing the law. To agree to stop transgressing the law means to agree to keep the law. So what I was really saying is that the sinner needs to trust in Christ alone for salvation and not try to be saved by keeping the law... but he also needs to agree to start keeping the law to be saved! That is totally nuts. Paul said "therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith APART FROM the deeds of the law."
Also I would tell sinners that to be justified they must put Jesus first in their lives and love Him supremely. That sounds good. But I didn't realize two things... 1. Love is the fruit of the Spirit and you don't get the indwelling of the Spirit before you are justified. 2. Love isn't the Gospel it is the LAW. Jesus was asked one day..." what is the GREATEST COMMANDMENT IN THE LAW?" and Jesus Answered... the greatest commandment in the law is to Love the Lord..." The gospel is not... if you agree to love Jesus He in return will give you salvation. The gospel is not ... keep God's law... love God and the Lord Jesus. No. The gospel is this....
You have failed to keep God's law so stop believing you can be good enough to save yourself. Change your mind and believe the gospel. Believe and trust that you are now right with God because the blood of Jesus covers your sins and saves you from God's wrath. If God regenerates you you will believe that. Then you will be justified. Then the Holy Spirit will indwell you. Then He will produce the fruit of the Spirit. Love for the Lord and a repentant goodness. Regeneration and the indwelling Spirit TOGETHER will produce these things. Lordship salavtion is works salvation. Without meaning to it says "look to Christ and look to the law for salvation". I used to couldn't see this because of reading so much John MacArthur and people like that.
Most Calvinists nowadays think that Regeneration causes repentance from sin and then Faith... which of course brings justification. I used to believe that for a short time too. Years ago I realized that that is incorrect. The true order is this: The Holy Spirit regenerates us... Regeneration then produces faith, faith brings justification ...then the Holy Spirit enters and indwells us and begins producing the fruit of the Spirit... which is love and goodness etc. Out of this goodness and love for God true repentance of sin and submission to God and Christ is born.
The reason we as Calvinists have become confused about this issue is manifold. One reason is that we think that Regeneration produces the fruits of the Spirit. We think that regeneration by itself produces love for God and goodness... and that Love and goodness causes Repentance of sins. Regeneration itself doesn't do all that. Regeneration by itself is not enough to make you good and moral. Regeneration simply opens your spiritual eyes and you see that you are a sinner and you believe that Jesus' blood rescues you from God's wrath. It produces a simple trust and belief in Christ for salvation. Galatians proves that Love and goodness are the fruits of the indwelling Holy Spirit not regeneration alone.
What we need to understand is that we cannot produce the fruits of the Spirit until the Spirit enters and indwells us as His temple. But the Holy Spirit cannot and will not live in an unjust person. We must be justified before the Spirit will live in us. Before we are justified we are legally unclean. The Holy Spirit is Holy. Being Holy He will not dwell in a legally unclean temple. So we must be regenerated to have faith and then we will be justified and only then will the Spirit enter and indwell us and only then will He start producing the fruit of the Spirit in our lives which, as Paul says, include goodness and love... which we must have to really repent of sins and place God first in our lives.Now the problem we often have is that we don't understand several things....
We don't understand that in the New Testament there are two main Greek words for repentance. Metanoia and metamelomai. Metanoia means an intellectual change of mind. Metamelomai means to regret and sorrow. This word usually means that a person who has sinned regrets it and has godly sorrow. Metamelomai is never used in the New Testament in any passages regarding becoming a Christian. In the passages about being saved the New Testament uses the word metanoia. To become a Christian an unbeliever must stop thinking he can get to heaven by his good deeds and trust Christ alone to save him instead. He must metanoia. He must change his mind about whatever he is relying on and trust in Jesus instead. Not once does the bible tell us to repent OF SIN to be saved.
So the true order is this. Regeneration causes us to repent in the sense of metanoia.... it causes us to quit trusting in ourselves and to change our mind and trust in Jesus for salvation instead. It causes repentance and faith meaning metanoia and pistis. At that point Justification occurs. Only then will the Holy Spirit enter us and start producing the Fruit of the Spirit. The first fruit Paul lists is Love. Love for God and man. And goodness. We must have those two fruits before we can really put Jesus first in our lives and be truly regretful for sin and have godly sorrow. Without goodness you don't really regret sin and without Love you put yourself first instead of Christ and others. So repentance in the sense of metamelomai (regret) FOLLOWS justification.
This is why Calvin taught that faith is simple belief and trust. It is the firm belief that God is merciful to us because of what Christ did at the cross. Calvin wasn't a lordship salvationist. He taught that repentance follows faith. He said "Those who think that repentance precedes faith instead of flowing from, or being produced by it, as the fruit by the tree, have never understood its nature, and are moved to adopt that view on very insufficient grounds."
We also need to understand that according to 1 John 3:4 sin is transgressing God's law. It says "for sin is the transgression of the law". As a former Baptist pastor who was a lordship salvationist I found myself preaching that we must trust in Christ alone for salvation and not look to the law. Then I would preach that we must repent of sin. But what is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law. So to repent of sin means to agree to stop transgressing the law. To agree to stop transgressing the law means to agree to keep the law. So what I was really saying is that the sinner needs to trust in Christ alone for salvation and not try to be saved by keeping the law... but he also needs to agree to start keeping the law to be saved! That is totally nuts. Paul said "therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith APART FROM the deeds of the law."
Also I would tell sinners that to be justified they must put Jesus first in their lives and love Him supremely. That sounds good. But I didn't realize two things... 1. Love is the fruit of the Spirit and you don't get the indwelling of the Spirit before you are justified. 2. Love isn't the Gospel it is the LAW. Jesus was asked one day..." what is the GREATEST COMMANDMENT IN THE LAW?" and Jesus Answered... the greatest commandment in the law is to Love the Lord..." The gospel is not... if you agree to love Jesus He in return will give you salvation. The gospel is not ... keep God's law... love God and the Lord Jesus. No. The gospel is this....
You have failed to keep God's law so stop believing you can be good enough to save yourself. Change your mind and believe the gospel. Believe and trust that you are now right with God because the blood of Jesus covers your sins and saves you from God's wrath. If God regenerates you you will believe that. Then you will be justified. Then the Holy Spirit will indwell you. Then He will produce the fruit of the Spirit. Love for the Lord and a repentant goodness. Regeneration and the indwelling Spirit TOGETHER will produce these things. Lordship salavtion is works salvation. Without meaning to it says "look to Christ and look to the law for salvation". I used to couldn't see this because of reading so much John MacArthur and people like that.
