Learned of the Father

"Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." (John 6: 45)

Jason, our Hardshell apologist, attempted to define the word "learned" in a strange and novel way, affirming that sinners receive no knowledge or conviction of truth, in this learning, but that it simply means their nature is changed, a change they do not even know they have experienced. The Greek word for "learned" is manthanō and means "to learn, be apprised," It means "to increase one's knowledge, to be increased in knowledge." To say that this "learning" is not cognitive or that it does not involve conscious knowledge is ludicrous.

One cannot divorce the mind being changed in the new birth. Things change in the thinking and behavior of the one born of the Spirit. Paul taught this when he said:

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (II Cor. 5: 17)

Many verses of scripture connect the regeneration experience with a coming to faith, to being convinced of gospel truth, to a receiving of it. The scriptures connect enlightenment and revelation as part of this experience, but if, as Jason teaches, there is nothing of truth learned in regeneration, then enlightenment, learning, faith, and revelation, can have no part of it. But, without all this, is not his "regeneration" experience a "hollow log" experience?

"All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." (Luke 10: 22)

This verse is interpreted by many Hardshells as being a sovereign, effectual, work of God and have traditionally applied it to regeneration. But, applying it to regeneration is problematic for the Hardshells, because they do not believe that regeneration gives knowledge of and faith in Jesus! But, if they make it conversion, then how can they affirm that it is not a sovereign, effectual, work of God as regeneration?

Today's Hardshells do not believe that regeneration brings a person to know God, the one true God, who he is, and to know Christ. They will often be found interpreting verses connecting coming to "know" God with the work of regeneration and yet argue that regeneration teaches a man nothing about truth or the gospel. Can a person know God and not know that he knows him? Can I know someone and not know that I know him?

Jesus, in speaking of the coming of the Holy Spirit and his new covenant work of applying the benefits of Christ's atonement and redemption, said: "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." (John 16: 8)

Will Jason apply this work of the Holy Spirit to regeneration or to conversion? If he applies it to either, using his definitions and descriptions of each, he has problems, much like he had on James 1: 18, applying it either way. If regeneration is the work described as "reproving" (convincing or convicting) the world of sin, then the work of regeneration is cognitive, for people are not convinced apart from cognition. Also, the Holy Spirit does not merely convict of sin, but convicts of the gospel, convicts the sinner about "righteousness" and "judgment." But, all this involves conviction, faith, and an enlightened understanding.

If Jason makes this work conversion, he has the problem of dealing with his own prior argumentation regarding the Spirit working apart from means. No means are mentioned in this work of the Spirit in convincing men. Yet, Jason, if he applies it to the work of conversion, will agree that the Spirit uses means, even though none are specifically mentioned in the words of Jesus. So, if means can be implied in the work of the Spirit in convicting the world, so too can means be implied in the work of the Spirit (John 3) in begetting sinners.