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3. IT IS ALSO EXPRESSLY ASSERTED BY SCRIPTURE. Scripture does not leave us in doubt about
the necessity of regeneration, but asserts this in the clearest terms. Jesus says: “Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3.[Cf.
also the verses 5-7.] This statement of the Saviour is absolute and leaves no room for
exceptions. The same truth is clearly brought out in some of the statements of Paul, as, for
instance, in I Cor. 2:14: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for
they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned”; Gal. 6:15: “For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature.” Cf. also Jer. 13:23; Rom. 3:11; Eph. 2:3,4.
F. THE EFFICIENT CAUSE OF REGENERATION.
There are only three fundamentally different views that come into consideration here, and all
the others are modifications of these.
1. THE HUMAN WILL.
According to the Pelagian conception regeneration is solely an act of the
human will, and is practically identical with self-reformation. With some slight differences this is
the view of modern liberal theology. A modification of this view is that of the Semi-Pelagian and
Arminian, who regard it as, at least in part, an act of man, co-operating with divine influences
applied through the truth. This is the synergistic theory of regeneration. Both of these views
involve a denial of the total depravity of man, so plainly taught in the Word of God, John 5:42;
Rom. 3:9-18; 7:18,23; 8:7; II Tim. 3:4, and of the Scripture truth that it is God who inclines the
will, Rom. 9:16; Phil. 2:13.
2. THE TRUTH.
According to this view the truth as a system of motives, presented to the human
will by the Holy Spirit, is the immediate cause of the change from unholiness to holiness. This
was the view of Lyman Beecher and of Charles G. Finney. It assumes that the work of the Holy
Spirit differs from that of the preacher only in degree. Both work by persuasion only. But this
theory is quite unsatisfactory. The truth can be a motive to holiness only if it is loved, while the
natural man does not love the truth, but hates it, Rom. 1:18,25. Consequently the truth,
presented externally, cannot be the efficient cause of regeneration.
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The only adequate view is that of the Church of all ages, that the Holy
Spirit is the efficient cause of regeneration. This means that the Holy Spirit works directly on the
heart of man and changes its spiritual condition. There is no co-operation of the sinner in this
work whatsoever. It is the work of the Holy Spirit directly and exclusively, Ezek. 11:19; John
1:13; Acts 16:14; Rom. 9:16; Phil. 2:13. Regeneration, then, is to be conceived monergistically.
God alone works, and the sinner has no part in it whatsoever. This, of course, does not mean,