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How the Holy Spirit Saves Sinners
Keith Sharp
Our
denominational friends generally believe that the Holy Spirit miraculously
enables sinners to believe the gospel and that salvation is impossible unless
the Spirit of God supernaturally regenerates the dead heart of the unbeliever
The gospel invitation extends a call to salvation to everyone who hears its
message.... But this outward general call, extended to the elect and
non-elect alike, will not bring sinners to Christ....
Therefore,
the Holy Spirit, in order to bring God’s elect to salvation, extends to
them a special inward call in addition to the outward call contained in the
gospel message.... The inward change wrought in the elect sinner enables him
to understand and believe spiritual truth....
Thus
the once dead sinner is drawn to Christ by the inward supernatural call of
the Spirit who through regeneration makes him alive and creates within him
faith and repentance (Steele and Thomas. 48-49).
“Without
the work of the Holy Spirit we cannot believe or even understand the
gospel” (Eric Lane,
I Want to Be Baptised. 54).
No
Bible believer questions the fact the Holy Spirit saves sinners. “Jesus
answered, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God’”
(John 3:5).
The
question is how does He do so, through a direct,
supernatural operation upon the sinner’s heart or through the moral,
intellectual influence of the gospel the Spirit of truth inspired. Indirect,
the question is Is the man God made capable of
understanding the message God gave him? Thus, we inquire, how does the Holy
Spirit save alien sinners?
How God Calls Sinners
The Testimony of Christ
The
testimony of Jesus Christ supports the fact “that the only call to
salvation God extends to sinners is through the gospel message.” The
Master taught that only those who are drawn by God can come to Him (John
6:44). But He explained how God draws sinners. “It is written in the
prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore
everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” (John
6:45) God draws sinners by teaching them. They hear, learn, and come. The
truth of the word brings freedom from sin (John 8:30-36)
The
Lord gave the Great Commission to take salvation to all people of the world
(Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15-16). How did God ordain that lost sinners be
saved? “Go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature.”
(Mark
16:15; Luke 24:47)
Examples in Acts
The
book of Acts records the fulfillment of the Great Commission (cf. Mark 16:20;
Acts 1:8). According to these examples, what draws dead sinners to Christ?
On
the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit inspired the apostles to preach the
gospel to lost Jews and endowed the apostles with the power to proclaim the
word to various nationalities by miraculously speaking their languages (Acts
2:1-11). Peter directed the multitude, “heed
my words” (Acts 2:14). He then preached the gospel to them (Acts
2:15-39). He testified and exhorted with words (Acts 2:40). “Then those
who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand
souls were added to them.” (Acts 2:41) The Holy Spirit operated
directly upon the apostles rather than their audience.
They
did not receive “the gift of the Holy Spirit” until after they
repented and were baptized (Acts 2:38).
This
pattern is found throughout Acts. People in Jerusalem believed through hearing the word
(Acts 4:4). Later “the word of God spread and the number of the
disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem,
and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).
The Samaritans believed and were baptized because Philip “preached
Christ to them” (Acts 8:5-13). Only later did they receive the Holy
Spirit (Acts 8:14-17). Both an “angel of the Lord” and the Holy
Spirit directed Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:8:26,29),
but Philip “preached Jesus” to the eunuch to lead him to faith
(verses 35-38). Saul of Tarsus saw the raised Lord in order to qualify him
for the apostleship (Acts 9:3-6; 26:14-18), but the preaching of Ananias led him to salvation (Acts 22:16). The Holy
Spirit was poured out on the Gentile household of Cornelius as proof
uncircumcised Gentiles could be saved (Acts 10:44-47; 11:17-18; 15:8-9), but
they were saved by the words Peter preached (Acts 11:13-14; 15:7). In a
special sense The Lord opened Lydia’s
heart by guiding the preachers to her (Acts 16:6-16), but He contacted her
heart through the word Paul preached (Acts 16:14). The Philippian
jailor and his household “believed in God” because Paul and Silas
“spoke the word of the Lord to” them (Acts16:29-34). The Bereans believed because “they received the word
with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether
these things were so”(Acts 17:10-12). “Many of the Corinthians,
hearing, believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8). The Ephesians
believed through the preaching of Paul (Acts 19:1-5; Ephesians 1:13-14). They
received the Holy Spirit afterward (Ibid). Never did the Holy Spirit operate
directly upon the sinner’s heart to enable him to believe. Always the dead
sinner was brought to saving faith by the gospel.
Testimony of Apostles
The
apostles of Christ in their inspired letters concur. We are saved by the
gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-2) and reconciled to God through the Word (2
Corinthians 5:18-19). God brings “us forth by the word of truth.”
(James
1:18)
“His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and
virtue....” (2 Peter 1:2-4)
Power of Gospel
I
affirm that this gospel message is completely able to bring dead sinners to
saving faith. This attributes
three powers to the gospel: it’s ability to
impart life to dead sinners, it’s capacity to bring the unbelieving to
faith, and it’s power to save the lost.
The
Word of God gives life (Psalm 119:50,93). The Master
taught, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits
nothing.” He immediately explained, “The words that I speak to
you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63)
The
gospel brings faith to the unbelieving. Satan works to remove the word from
the hearer’s heart to prevent him from believing (Luke 8:12). We
believe by the word (John 17:20). John penned his account of the Lord’s
life “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).
People cannot believe unless they hear (Romans 10:14). “So then faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
The
gospel is completely able to save the lost. The gospel “is the power of
God to salvation for everyone who believes...” (Romans 1:16). The
“implanted word ... is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). If it takes a
supernatural, direct, inward operation of the Holy Spirit upon the heart of
the sinner to enable him to believe, then the gospel lacks the power to save
sinners.
The New Birth
Salvation
is a new birth (John 3:3). One must be “born of water and the
Spirit.” (John 3:5) The Spirit works in the new birth through the
incorruptible seed of the word (1 Peter 1:22-23). “Now this is the word
which by the gospel was preached to you.” (1 Peter 1:25) This is
because the Holy Spirit by inspiration gave the words of the gospel (1
Corinthians 2:6-16). As the apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians, “For
though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have
many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the
gospel.” (1 Corinthians
4:15)
Passages Misused to teach Direct
Operation of Holy Spirit
Matthew 11:25-27
The
Son reveals the Father to sinners (Matthew 11:25-27) through the Word of the
apostles (1 Corinthians 2:7-13; Ephesians 3:1-11).
1 Corinthians 2:14-16
Beginning
in 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul contrasts human and divine wisdom.
Divine
wisdom comes from the Holy Spirit through the inspired Word (1 Corinthians
2:6-13). The “natural man” is guided by human wisdom (including
theology and denominational creeds), whereas the
“spiritual man” is guided by the Word of God (verses 14-16). The
“natural” man is “carnal.”
(3:1-3) Some saints are carnal. Did they resist the
Holy Spirit? This passage certainly does not teach that the unregenerate
cannot understand the gospel.
2 Corinthians 4:6
2
Corinthians 4:6 speaks of the revelation given by the Holy Spirit to the
apostles and inspired evangelists to enable them preach Christ (2 Corinthians
1:19; 3:5-6; 4:1-5). Then revelation was in “earthen vessels,”
i.e.,
inspired men (2 Corinthians 4:7). Now it is in an inspired Book.
Ephesians 1:15-18
We
should pray for the Lord to give people “the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:15-18). If this
denotes miraculous work of the Holy Spirit on the sinner’s heart, there
is no need to preach the gospel, for the Holy Spirit would miraculously
impart both knowledge and wisdom. Miraculous wisdom and knowledge were
spiritual gifts given to Christians and ceased when the New Testament
revelation was complete (1 Corinthians 12:7-8; 13:8-13). If the
“spirit” of Ephesians 1:18 is the Holy Spirit, why did Paul pray
for those “faithful in Christ Jesus”
(Ephesians
1:1) to receive Him? The “spirit” of this verse is an attitude
conducive to receiving wisdom and knowledge. God can and does impart such a
spirit through His Word and providence.
Philippians 1:29
The
fact God granted the Philippians faith (Philippians 1:29) neither states nor
implies miraculous regeneration. The Lord sent inspired preachers to them
(Acts 16:6-12). Their preaching led the Philippians to believe (Acts
16:13-14, 25-34). The Lord opened Lydia’s heart by directing
preachers of the Gospel to her (Acts 16:6-12). The Holy Spirit operated
directly, not on the hearts of sinners, but upon inspired preachers.
Conclusion
Far
from being “a dead letter,” “the word of God is living and powerful....”
(Hebrews 4:12) The word of God is spiritual food for spiritually starving
souls (Matthew 4:4). It is light to guide those astray out of the darkness of
sin (Psalm 119:130). It is life producing seed (Luke 8:11). The man God made
is capable of understanding the word God gave.
For
as the rain comes down,
and
the snow from heaven,
And
do not return there,
But
water the earth,
And
make it bring forth and bud,
That
it may give seed to the sower
And
bread to the eater,
So shall
My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But
it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for
which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
And
the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say,
‘Come!
’
And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let
him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)
Works Cited
Lane,
Eric, I Want to Be Baptised (Lane is a British
Baptist).
Steele,
David N. and Curtis C. Thomas, The Five Points of Calvinism (Steele and
Thomas were Presbyterian scholars).
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