by Abraham Kuyper
in ePub, mobi & .pdf formats
God did not begin by leading the sinner to repentance, for repentance must be preceded by conviction of sin; nor by bringing him under the hearing of the word, for this requires an opened ear. 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. The call by the Word and the Spirit, internal and external. Even this is a divine act, commonly performed through the service of the Church. It addresses itself not to the deaf but to the hearing, not to the dead but to the living, altho still slumbering. It proceeds from the Word and the Spirit, because not only the faith-faculty, but faith itself—i.e., the power and exercise of the faculty—are gifts of grace. The faith-faculty can not exercise faith of itself. It avails us no more than the faculty of breathing when air and the power to breathe are withheld. Hence the preaching of the Word and the inward working of the Holy Spirit are divine, correspondent operations. Under the preaching of the Word the Spirit energizes the faith-faculty, and thus the call becomes effectual, for the sleeper arises.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
REGENERATION
Old and New Terminology
Its Course
Regeneration the Work of God
The Work of Regeneration
Regeneration and Faith
Implanting in Christ
Not a Divine-Human Nature
The Mystical Union with Immanuel
CALLING AND REPENTANCE
The Calling of the Regenerate
The Coming of the Called
Conversion of All that Come
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