Abraham Kuyper wrote:
"The word "regeneration" is used in a limited sense, and in a more extended sense. It is used in the limited sense when it denotes exclusively God's act of quickening, which is the first divine act whereby God translates us from death into life, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. In this sense regeneration is the starting-point. God comes to one born in iniquity and dead in trespasses and sins, and plants the principle of a new spiritual life in his soul. Hence he is born again...But this is not the interpretation of the Confession of Faith, for article 24 reads: "We believe that this true faith, being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God and the operation of the Holy Ghost, doth regenerate and make him a new man, causing him to live a new life, and freeing him from the bondage of sin." Here the word "regeneration," used in its wider sense, denotes the entire change by grace effected in our persons, ending in our dying to sin in death and our being born for heaven. While formerly this was the usual sense of the word, we are accustomed now to the limited sense, which we therefore adopt in this discussion."
This testimony of Kuyper is significant in that it contains an acknowledgment that the Calvinistic fathers taught a different view than that of Kuyper. They did not define "regeneration" as did Kuyper. They did not divorce regeneration from faith and conversion as did Kuyper. The Confession knew nothing about the new strict definition of Hopkins, Kuyper, and of the founding fathers of Hardshellism. Kuyser confesses - "But this is not the interpretation of the Confession of Faith." And says - "formerly this was the usual sense of the word." And admits - "we are accustomed now to the limited sense."
W. G. T. Shedd, in his "Dogmatic Theology," Volume 2, pages 492-494, confessed much the same, saying:
"The divines of the seventeenth century very generally do not distinguish between regeneration and conversion, but employ the two as synonyms. Owen does this continually: On the Spirit, III. v. And Charnock likewise: Attributes, Practical Atheism. The Westminster [Confession] does not use the term regeneration. In stead of it, it employs the term vocation, or effectual calling. This comprises the entire work of the Holy Spirit in the application of redemption."
Thus, there can be no doubt that the view of Hopkins, Kuyper, Berkhof, Shedd, and the founding fathers of the Hardshells, was not the original view of the Reformers and primitive Calvinists, the view of such men as John Owens, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, John Gill, etc. To accuse those who make regeneration and conversion to be synomous of being "Arminians" is ludicrous.
Shedd continues:
"But this wide use of the term regeneration led to confusion of ideas and views."
This is the frequent charge of those of the "New Divinity," of the Hyper Calvinists. They affirm that the orthodox view was "unscientific," and "unclear," and not "exhaustive" and "exact," and needed to be "refined" and "clarified." The orthodox confessions needed to be "re-worked" by the new "hair-splitting" theologians, who could debate for hours on the question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. But all they did in all their theological hacking and hewing was to create confusion in areas where the confessions were unconfusing.
Shedd continues:
"As there are two distinct words in the language, regeneration and conversion, there are also two distinct notions denoted by them. Consequently, there arose gradually a stricter use of the term regeneration, and its discrimination from conversion. Turrettin (XV. iv. 13) defines two kinds of conversion, as the term was employed in his day."
This is illogical, as I have already shown. Will Shedd take all the various words used to decribe the initial saving experience and make them all separate and distinct experiences? But, again Shedd states what is historical fact. The view that separates the experience of regeneration from conversion is not the traditional orthodox view. Shedd says "there arose gradually a stricter use of the term regeneration, and its discrimination from conversion." He says that Turretin was the first to define things differently from what they were before.
Shedd continues:
"After thus defining, Turrettin remarks that the first kind of conversion is better denominated 'regeneration,' because it has reference to the new birth by which man is renewed in the image of his Maker; and the second kind of conversion is better denominated 'conversion,' because it includes the operation and agency of man himself. . .We shall adopt this distinction between regeneration and conversion. . . Regeneration is a cause; conversion is an effect."
"Better denominated" to whom? Why can we not say that "the old is better"? The novel paradigm of Shedd and the "New Divinity" was not better than what was the confessional and traditional view of Reformers and Calvinists.
Further, Shedd and the Hyperists erred, as Archibald Alexander said, in failing to exclude the effect from the cause in defining biblical regeneration. If conversion is the "effect," and a definition of "regeneration" includes the effect as well as the cause, then regeneration includes conversion. Applying the logic of Shedd to the statement - "regeneration is a cause, life is an effect" - could we say that one was regenerated who not experienced the effect?
Kuyper wrote:
"Hence the first conscious and comparatively cooperative act of man is always preceded by the original act of God, planting in him the first principle of a new life, under which act man is wholly passive and unconscious."
"Preceded by the original act of God," yes, but since when do we define "regeneration" by the cause alone? If it only refers to the cause, to the exclusion of the effect, then men are regenerated even before they are actually regenerated, logically speaking. In fact, regeneration, salvation, rebirth, re-creation, quickening, etc., are all terms, in scripture, that describe what is actually effected.
Whether man is wholly "passive" or not will be a question we will address later in this series. We will show that it is both passive and active, as well as both conscious and sub-conscious.
Kuyper wrote:
"This led to the distinction of the first and second grace. The former denoted God's work in the sinner, creating a new life without his knowledge; while the latter denoted the work wrought in regenerate man with his full knowledge and consent."
Notice his testimony that the distinction between regeneration and conversion was novel and not the traditional orthodox view. He says "this led to" a later new paradigm.
Kuyper wrote:
"The first grace was naturally called regeneration. And yet there was no perfect unanimity in this respect. Some Scottish theologians put it in this way: "God began the work of grace with the implanting of the faith-faculty (fides potentialis), followed by the new grace of the faith-exercise (fides actualis), and of the faith power (fides habitualis). Yet it is only an apparent difference. Whether I call the first activity of grace, the implanting of the "faith-faculty," or the "new principle of life," in both instances it means that the work of grace does not begin with faith or with repentance or contrition, but that these are preceded by God's act of giving power to the powerless, hearing to the deaf, and life to the dead."
There was "perfect unanimity" among the writers of the oldest confessions, however. Those of the "New Divinity" were trying to solve a problem that they had in their own minds about what is taught in the scriptures and the old confessions, but those problems arose from their lack of understanding of what the scriptures and the old confessions taught. A "regeneration" without faith, repentance, and conviction of sin?
Kuyper wrote:
"2. The keeping of the implanted principle of life, while the sinner still continues in sin, so far as his consciousness is concerned. Persons who received the life-principle early in life are no more dead, but live. Dying before actual conversion, they are not lost, but saved. In early life they often manifest holy inclinations; sometimes truly marvelous. However, they have no conscious faith, nor knowledge of the treasure possessed. The new life is present, but dormant; kept not by the recipient, but by the Giver--like seed-grain in the ground in winter; like the spark glowing under the ashes, but not kindling the wood; like a subterranean stream coming at last to the surface."
Kuyper's definition of the regenerate state allows for someone to be "regenerated" but who still continues in sin! If one of the "regenerated" ones happens to die "before actual conversion," according to Kuyper, "they are not lost, but saved." Thus, one may be "regenerated" but not "born again." Is being "born again" not necessary for eternal salvation? Are some of God's children "still born"? Did not God say - "Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God." (Isa. 66: 9)
Kuyper speaks of the "new life" of the regenerated soul being "present, but dormant." This is what is also taught by the Hardshells. But, such an idea is foreign to scripture.
Kuyper continued:
"4. This call of God produces conviction of sin and justification, two acts of the same exercise of faith. In this, God's work may be represented again either subjectively or objectively. Subjectively, it seems to the saint that conviction of sin and heart-brokenness came first, and that then he obtained the sense of being justified by faith. Objectively, this is not so. The realization of his lost condition was already a bold act of faith. And by every subsequent act of faith he becomes more deeply convinced of his misery and receives more abundantly from the fulness which is in Christ, his Surety."
Kuyper argues that those who are under conviction of sin are "believers" and possessors of both "faith faculty" and actual "faith knowledge," though they do not yet believe the gospel, or in Christ, or accept him as Lord and Savior. Kuyper argues that the limited belief that one is a guilty sinner before God is enough "belief" to prove a prior regeneration. I have addressed this issue of the placement of conviction in the ordo salutis in the present series and in separate chapters early in this book and show that mere conviction of sin is no evidence of regeneration and that this is taught in scripture and in the primitive writings of Calvinists and Reformers. Thus, it is not true that "the realization of his lost condition was already a bold act of faith." Judas realized his doomed fate and lost condition, but it was not a "bold act of faith."
Kuyper wrote:
"And this implies that the work of regeneration is not a moral work; that is, it is not accomplished by means of advice or exhortation."
The denial that the work of regeneration does not involve a "moral work," and is not accomplished by "means" or "exhortation," is against the teaching of scripture and the orthodox writings of the Calvinists and Reformers.
Kuyper wrote:
"For this reason it is so necessary to examine regeneration (in its limited sense) in an infant, and not in an adult, in whom it necessarily includes conversion...Hence regeneration does actually take place in persons that are not self-conscious...These statements being indisputable, it is evident, therefore, that the nature and character of regeneration can be determined most correctly by examining it in these still unconscious persons."
Why is it "so necessary"? to redefined the word regeneration in a limited sense, contrary to both scripture and the orthodox writings? There is no such thing as un unconscious regeneration in either scripture or in the primitive writings of Baptists. The Hardshells became Hopkinsians of the "New Divinity" in their teachings on regeneration and the new birth.
See Kuyper's work here
John Owen (1616–1683), an early Calvinist and Reformed theologian, presented what may be called the original view of Calvinists on the subject of the nature and causes of regeneration, a view that is opposed to the later "New Divinity" views of Hopkins, Kuyper, and the Hardshells.
Owen wrote (see here):
"What our Saviour calls being “born again,” John iii. 3, he calls being “born of the Spirit,” verses 5, 6, because he is the sole, principal, efficient cause of this new birth; for “it is the Spirit that quickeneth,” John vi. 63; Rom. viii. 11. And God saveth us “according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” Tit. iii. 5. Whereas, therefore, we are said to be “born of God,” or to be “begotten again of his own will,” John i. 13, James i. 18, 1 John iii. 9, it is with respect unto the especial and peculiar operation of the Holy Spirit.
Our sole inquiry, therefore, must be after the manner and nature of this work; for the nature of it depends on the manner of the working of the Spirit of God herein. This, I acknowledge, was variously contended about of old; and the truth concerning it hath scarce escaped an open opposition in any age of the church.
The ancient writers of the church, who looked into these things with most diligence, and laboured in them with most success...
Frequent mention we find in them of grace, as “preparing, preventing, working, co-working, and confirming.” Under these heads do they handle the whole work of our regeneration or conversion unto God. And although there may be some alteration in method and ways of expression,—which may be varied as they are found to be of advantage unto them that are to be instructed,—yet, for the substance of the doctrine, they taught the same which hath been preached amongst us since the Reformation, which some have ignorantly traduced as novel."
The primitive Christians spoke of regeneration as involving God's work of "preparing" a soul for regeneration, and thus did not see the first act and work of God in producing regeneration to be regeneration itself. Owen says that the early church taught the same view on regeneration that Owen is teaching in his treastise on the subject.
Owen wrote:
"I shall, therefore, in general, refer the whole work of the Spirit of God with respect unto the regeneration of sinners unto two heads:— First, That which is preparatory for it; and, secondly, That which is effective of it. That which is preparatory for it is the conviction of sin; this is the work of the Holy Spirit, John xvi. 8. And this also may be distinctly referred unto three heads:— 1. A discovery of the true nature of sin by the ministry of the law, Rom. vii. 7. 2. An application of that discovery made in the mind or understanding unto the conscience of the sinner. 3. The excitation of affections suitable unto that discovery and application, Acts ii. 37. But these things, so far as they belong unto our present design, have been before insisted on. Our principal inquiry at present is after the work itself, or the nature and manner of the working of the Spirit of God in and on the souls of men in their regeneration; and this must be both negatively and positively declared:— FIRST, The work of the Spirit of God in the regeneration of sinners, or the quickening of them who are dead in trespasses and sins, or in their first saving conversion to God, doth not consist in a moral suasion only. By suasion we intend such a persuasion as may or may not be effectual; so absolutely we call that only persuasion whereby a man is actually persuaded. Concerning this we must consider,—
And I shall handle this matter under this notion, as that which is known unto those who are conversant in these things from the writings of the ancient and modern divines;
That the word of God, thus dispensed by the ministry of the church, is the only ordinary outward means which the Holy Ghost maketh use of in the regeneration of the adult unto whom it is preached."
Notice that Owen believes that God works on a soul prior to its regeneration, a preparatory work. He clearly says that "conviction of sin" is a pre-regeneration work, a preparation for it, and not a result of it. Notice also how he confesses that the preaching of the gospel is God's means of accomplishing the work of regeneration.
Owen wrote:
"That the effect of regeneration or conversion unto God is assigned unto the preaching of the word, because of its efficacy there-unto in its own kind and way, as the outward means thereof, 1 Cor. iv. 15; James i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23.
We may consider what is the nature and wherein the efficacy of this moral work doth consist. To which purpose we may observe,— (1.) That in the use of this means for the conversion of men, there is, preparatory unto that wherein this moral persuasion doth consist, an instruction of the mind in the knowledge of the will of God and its duty towards him.
Notice that Owen does not make regeneration to be a separate and distinct experience from conversion and that he affirms that the preaching of the word is the means. He says that "preparatory unto that" regeneration experience, there is "moral persuasion," or the working of the means.
Owen wrote:
"The institution of God. He hath appointed the preaching of the word to be the means, the only outward ordinary means, for the conversion of the souls of men, I Cor. i. 17-20; Mark xvi. 15, 16; Rom. i. 16. And the power or efficacy of any thing that is used unto an end in spiritual matters depends solely on its divine appointment unto that end.
That the Holy Spirit doth make use of it in the regeneration or conversion of all that are adult, and that either immediately in and by the preaching of it, or by some other application of light and truth unto the mind derived from the word; for by the reasons, motives, and persuasive arguments which the word affords are our minds affected, and our souls wrought upon in our conversion unto God, whence it becomes our reasonable obedience. And there are none ordinarily converted, but they are able to give some account by what considerations they were prevailed on thereunto."
Notice that Owen argues for both a mediate and an immediate work of the Spirit in regeneration. He does not make regeneration to be separate from conversion nor make regeneration into a unconscious experience, but affirms that regeneration occurs "by some application of light and truth unto the mind derived from the word."
Owen wrote:
"And notwithstanding the perception which the mind may attain unto in the truth of gospel proposals, and the conviction it may have of the necessity of obedience, yet is not the will able to apply itself unto any spiritual act thereof, without an ability wrought immediately in it by the power of the Spirit of God; or rather, unless the Spirit of God by his grace do effect the act of willing in it. Wherefore, not to multiply arguments, we conclude that the most effectual use of outward means alone is not all the grace that is necessary unto, nor all that is actually put forth in, the regeneration of the souls of men."
Owen speaks of regeneration as not only being mediated through the preaching of the word but also with "an ability wrought immediately." He teaches against the "word alone" view as well as the "Spirit alone" view. Regeneration is a "most effectual use" of "means."
Owen wrote:
"There is not only a moral but a physical immediate operation of the Spirit, by his power and grace, or his powerful grace, upon the minds or souls of men in their regeneration. This is that which we must cleave to, or all the glory of God’s grace is lost, and the grace administered by Christ neglected. So is it asserted, Eph. i. 18-20, “That ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead.” The power here mentioned hath an “exceeding greatness” ascribed unto it, with respect unto the effect produced by it."
When Owen says "not only a moral operation" he is arguing for the view that says that regeneration is both mediate and immediate, and that the "word alone" and "Spirit alone" views are both wrong. He argues that there is both a mediated "moral operation" and an "immediate physical operation."
Owen wrote:
"Wherefore, it is plain in the Scripture that the Spirit of God works internally, immediately, efficiently, in and upon the minds of men in their regeneration. The new birth is the effect of an act of his power and grace; or, no man is born again but it is by the inward efficiency of the Spirit."
Again, even though Owen argues for "means" in regeneration, for its mediate manner, he also argues that "the Spirit of God works immediately."
Owen wrote:
"The power which the Holy Ghost puts forth in our regeneration is such, in its acting or exercise, as our minds, wills, and affections, are suited to be wrought upon, and to be affected by it, according to their natures and natural operations: “Turn thou me, and I shall be turned; draw me, and I shall run after thee.” He doth not act in them any otherwise than they themselves are meet to be moved and move, to be acted and act, according to their own nature, power, and ability. He draws us with “the cords of a man.” And the work itself is expressed by persuading,—“God shall persuade Japheth;” and alluring,— “I will allure her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her:” for as it is certainly effectual, so it carries no more repugnancy unto our faculties than a prevalent persuasion doth."
This work of regeneration that is both the result of the Spirit working through means as well as immediately, does not exclude the changing of the mind regarding faith, for Owen says "the work itself is expressed by persuading." Regeneration involves conversion, the "turning" of the sinner to the Lord in repentance.
Owen wrote:
"The will, in the first act of conversion (as even sundry of the schoolmen acknowledge), acts not but as it is acted, moves not but as it is moved; and therefore is passive therein, in the sense immediately to be explained. And if this be not so, it cannot be avoided but that the act of our turning unto God is a mere natural act, and not spiritual or gracious; for it is an act of the will, not enabled thereunto antecedently by grace. Wherefore it must be granted, and it shall he proved, that, in order of nature, the acting of grace in the will in our conversion is antecedent unto its own acting; though in the same instant of time wherein the will is moved it moves, and when it is acted it acts itself, and preserves its own liberty in its exercise. There is, therefore, herein an inward almighty secret act of the power of the Holy Ghost, producing or effecting in us the will of conversion unto God, so acting our wills as that they also act themselves, and that freely. The Holy Spirit, who in his power and operation is more intimate, as it were, unto the principles of our souls than they are to themselves, doth, with the preservation and in the exercise of the liberty of our wills, effectually work our regeneration and conversion unto God."
In these words we notice how Owen speaks of the experience of regeneration involving both passivity and activity, as well as being both mediate and immediate. He also continues to see regeneration and conversion as being the same experience.
Owen wrote:
"First, The work of conversion itself, and in especial the act of believing, or faith itself, is expressly said to be of God, to be wrought in us by him, to be given unto us from him. The Scripture says not that God gives us ability or power to believe only,—namely, such a power as we may make use of if we will, or do otherwise; but faith, repentance, and conversion themselves are said to be the work and effect of God. Indeed, there is nothing mentioned in the Scriptures concerning the communicating of power, remote or next unto the mind of man, to enable him to believe antecedently unto actual believing. A “remote power,” if it may be so called, in the capacities of the faculties of the soul, the reason of the mind, and liberty of the will, we have given an account concerning; but for that which some call a “next power,” or an ability to believe in order of nature antecedent unto believing itself, wrought in us by the grace of God, the Scripture is silent."
Owen defines the experience of regeneration as the making of a believer and he condemns the view of Hopkins, Kuyper, and the Hardshells who affirm that God gives a power to believe prior to actual believing. Owen clearly does not argue that regeneration must precede faith as do the Hardshells. The Hardshells say that regeneration must precede faith and conversion because one must first be given the ability to believe before one actually believes. But, Owen says that "the Scripture is silent" in proving such a view.
Owen wrote:
"This is the whole of what we plead: God in our conversion, by the exceeding greatness of his power, as he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, actually worketh faith and repentance in us, gives them unto us, bestows them on us; so that they are mere effects of his grace in us. And his working in us infallibly produceth the effect intended, because it is actual faith that he works, and not only a power to believe, which we may either put forth and make use of or suffer to be fruitless, according to the pleasure of our own wills."
Again, Owen uproots the Hardshell argument that says that it is not "actual faith" that is obtained in regeneration, but "the power to believe," or as Kuyper affirmed, a "faculty of faith" is given before actual faith is obtained.
Owen wrote:
"Secondly, As God giveth and worketh in us faith and repentance, so the way whereby he doth it, or the manner how he is said to effect them in us, makes it evident that he doth it by a power infallibly efficacious, and which the will of man doth never resist; for this way is such as that he thereby takes away all repugnancy, all resistance, all opposition, every thing that lieth in the way of the effect intended: Deut. xxx. 6, “The LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” A denial of the work here intended is expressed chap. xxix. 4, “The LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.” What it is to have the heart circumcised the apostle declares, Col. ii. 11. It is the “putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,”—that is, by our conversion to God. It is the giving “an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear,”—that is, spiritual light and obedience,—by the removal of all obstacles and hinderances. This is the immediate work of the Spirit of God himself. No man ever circumcised his own heart. No man can say he began to do it by the power of his own will, and then God only helped him by his grace. As the act of outward circumcision on the body of a child was the act of another, and not of the child, who was only passive therein, but the effect was in the body of the child only, so is it in this spiritual circumcision,— it is the act of God, whereof our hearts are the subject. And whereas it is the blindness, obstinacy, and stubbornness in sin that is in us by nature, with the prejudices which possess our minds and affections, which hinder us from conversion unto God, by this circumcision they are taken away; for by it the “body of the sins of the flesh is put off.” And how should the heart resist the work of grace, when that whereby it should resist is effectually taken away?
Again, Owen does not distinguish between, or separate, regeneration and conversion. He also argues that the work of regeneration is "the immediate work of the Spirit of God" and one in which the sinner is passive. But, he did not make the whole of regeneration to be immediate and passive.
Owen wrote:
"There is, therefore, in it an implantation of a new principle of spiritual life, of a life unto God in repentance, faith, and obedience, or universal holiness, according to gospel truth, or the truth which came by Jesus Christ, John i. 1 7. And the effect of this work is called “spirit:” John iii. 6, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” It is the Spirit of God of whom we are born; that is, our new life is wrought in us by his efficiency. And that which in us is so born of him is spirit;
It is true, God doth command us to circumcise our hearts and to make them new: but he doth therein declare our duty, not our power; for himself promiseth to work in us what he requireth of us. And that power which we have and do exercise in the progress of this work, in sanctification and holiness, proceeds from the infused principle which we receive in our regeneration; for all which ends we ought to pray for Him, according to the example of holy men of old." ("Regeneration," CHAPTER V., "THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND MEANS OF REGENERATION.")
Here Owen shows that salvation is both unconditional and conditional, a truth we will deal with in this series. Some Calvinists argue that God never commands men to regenerate or birth themselves, but Owen does not subscribe to this view. He refers to God commanding sinners, in scripture, to circumcise their hearts and to make themselves a new heart, showing that the work is not all passive. Owen believed, like all the old Calvinists, that the commands of the word are means that God makes use of to bring about regeneration.
Owen wrote:
"That the work of the Spirit in regeneration, ought to be seriously considered by the preachers and hearers of the gospel. As to the former, there is a peculiar reason for their attention to it; for they are employed in the work itself by the Spirit of God, as instruments of effecting it. Hence the apostle Paul styles himself a father:—'Though you have ten thousand instructors-in Christ, yet not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.' He had been the instrument of their conversion, and was therefore their spiritual father. So, speaking of Onesimus, he calls him his son, whom he had begotten in his bonds. Now certainly it is the duty of ministers to understand their work...But all this comes short of regeneration, nor does it necessarily ensue upon it. Many are thus enlightened, and yet never converted : but in the order of nature it is previous to conversion' and materially preparatory to it; for saving grace enters into the soul by light." (pg. 88)
Clearly Owen affirms means in regeneration and thus did not see the entirety of the work as being immediate. He says that gospel ministers are instruments in effecting regeneration, what he also makes the same as being "begotten." He also speaks of coming short of regeneration, by remaining under conviction of sin without going to Christ. The Hardshells will not allow that God does any work in "preparing" hearts for the experience of regeneration. He says that "saving grace enters into the soul by light," by the gospel light.
Owen wrote:
"Conviction of sin is another effect of the word, antecedent to real conversion."
This is such an important issue. The Hardshells teach a serious error when they say that conviction of sin is an effect or evidence of a prior regeneration.
Owen wrote:
"All these things may be wrought in the minds of men, und yet the work of regeneration never be perfected in them."
"All these things, wrought instrumentally by the word, are effects of the power of the Spirit of God. The word itself, barely proposed to the minds of men, will not so affect them...It is therefore the ministration of the Spirit, in and by the word, which produces these effects."
Owen states the orthodox view that sees conviction of sin as a preliminary preparation for regeneration and conversion and he sees regeneration as both mediate and immediate.
Owen wrote:
"In many persons who are thus affected, real conversion ensues; and thus these preparatory operations make way for the introduction of a new spiritual life; and so they belong to a work that is perfect in its kind. Wherever they come short of it, it is not from any imperfection in themselves, but from the sins of men. For instance, common illumination and conviction of sin have a tendency to conversion; and where this end is not attained, it is from the wilfulness and stubbornness of the mind. This actual resistance God is pleased to take away in some: it is therefore of sovereign grace where it is removed; but the sin of men, where it is continued." (pg. 88-92 of "Pneumatologia: or, A discourse concerning the Holy Spirit," see here)
Owen again writes about "preparatory operations" which "make way for the introduction of a new spiritual life." He also speaks of some who "come short" of being regenerated even though under conviction of sin. He speaks of the conviction of sin as a "common illumination and conviction," a common grace.
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