John Calvin On Union By Faith

My dear friend Bob L. Ross, and his associate "Charles," wrote the following against those who claim that John Calvin taught the "born again before faith" error. (here)

John Calvin vs. "Born Again Before Faith"

The doctrine that an unbeliever is born again before placing saving faith in Jesus Christ is a heresy held by almost all of today’s Reformed Calvinists. As Bob Ross has decisively proven, this heresy is not taught in any of the historic Baptist confessions. It is likewise not found in the Baptist Faith and Message, the confession of the Southern Baptist Convention. In fact, the BF&M teaches exactly the opposite of "born again before faith."

"Born again before faith" theology is not only rejected by Southern Baptists, it was rejected by John Calvin himself! In the book Theology of the Reformers (Broadman, 1988), Dr. Timothy George, the five-point Calvinist dean of the Beeson School of Divinity, says that John Calvin taught that faith precedes regeneration, which is exactly what the BF&M teaches and what Southern Baptists believe.

"This being placed into Christ (insitio in Christo) occurs in regeneration which, Calvin was careful to point out, follows from faith as the result: Since faith receives Christ, it leads us to the possession of all His benefits. Repentance too, which is part of regeneration, is the consequence of faith." (225-226)

Again, Calvin is clear that faith unites to Christ and all the aspects of salvation follow that union.

Brother Ross also wrote:

"In his comment on 1 Corinthians 13:13, Calvin says, "In fine, it is by faith that we are born again, that we become the sons of God -- that we obtain eternal life, and that Christ dwells in us."" (here)

Now, let us no more hear of Calvin teaching that one is born again before and without faith. It is only the later Hyper leaning Calvinists who teach this heresy.

Furthermore, as I have shown, the first Hardshells, like Elder John Clark, editor of Zion's Advocate, also plainly said that we "are children of God by faith."