Sword & Trowel 2015: Issue 1
REGENERATION AND GOSPEL PERSUASION
– The Editor –
The Lord said to Nicodemus – ‘Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit’ (John 3.7-8).
of the ordo salutis (order of salvation), but we dare not be too precise and dogmatic because the Lord’s words to Nicodemus warn us we are on mysterious ground.
W The use of persuasion
We begin with Paul disputing with people at Athens (Acts 17), meaning that he laid out his case to convince people of their need of Christ. He presented arguments and reasoned with them. At Corinth also he rea- soned and persuaded constantly (Acts 18.4), eventually being charged with persuading people to worship God (Acts 18.13). Apollos also mightily con- vinced people (lit: with well-stretched arguments, utterly proving his case). In Acts 19.8-9 there are two
references to disputing and one to persuading, showing the degree of reasoned convincing and remonstrat- ing carried out by Paul at Ephesus. Before Felix, Paul famously ‘rea- soned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come’, until Felix trembled (Acts 24.25). This was typi- cal apostolic preaching. Even when a
E HAVE sufficient infor- mation in the Scriptures to have a fairly good idea
prisoner, Paul turned the dock into a pulpit and persuaded his hearers. At the very close of Acts (28.23),
Paul was still persuading and reason- ing – to the very end. Are we preach- ers? Have we cultivated our skill in reasoning? Paul goes so far as to say – ‘Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men’ (2 Corinthians 5.11).
‘But Paul,’ we may say, ‘were you not wasting your time trying to change people’s minds? Did you not know your persuasion was useless? Why not confine yourself to pro- nouncing the basic elements of the Gospel, because salvation is surely entirely of the Lord, and people are completely passive in it?’ Two well-known writers in recent times, on either side of the Atlantic, and both admirable men, have virtu- ally said this in print. One says it is a total waste of time trying to persuade or convince people about the Gos- pel, because they are incapable of understanding it. Hopefully, as they listen to the Word, God will just re- generate them and they will be fully converted immediately. The other says much the same in (of all things) an evangelistic booklet. Having told
Regeneration and Gospel Persuasion page 9
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