Chpt. 117 - Passive or Active?

Chpt. 117 - Passive or Active?

The fact that men are passive in regeneration and conversion is taught in scripture and in the oldest Calvinistic confessions. The old writers and confessions taught that man was in some respect passive in salvation, but was also, in some respects, active. They acknowledged man to be active in conversion, in his actual turning to the Lord. The fact that the scriptures do not separate or distinguish between regeneration and conversion, as the modern day theologians, forces us to confess that regeneration or conversion has its passive as well as its active aspects.

Let us notice these passages of scripture.

"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." (Eze. 18: 30-32)

"Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked." (Deut. 10: 16)

"Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings." (Jer. 4: 4)

It shows dishonesty and rebellion to these scriptures to deny that they are all speaking of the same experience, to that experience chiefly called, in the New Testament, a being "born of God," or to a "regeneration" and the "renewing of the Holy Ghost" (Titus 3: 5) or to spiritual "transformation."   

It was in response to such passages that Dr. Alvah Hovey wrote:

"The simple fact is, that man is both active and passive in regeneration. The first series of texts brings to view his activity; the second, his passivity. Man is active in thinking upon the truth, in exercising his sensibilities in relation to it, and in giving up his heart to God; he is passive in that he is acted upon by the truth, and also by the Holy Spirit. He both acts and is acted upon."  (See "Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible" By John W. Haley, Alvah Hovey - Here)

Arminians are often not willing to acknowledge the unconditionality or undeserved aspect of the work of God in transforming sinners into the image of Christ.  (Rom. 8: 29)  Hyper Calvinists and Hardshells are unwilling, on the other hand, to acknowledge the conditionality of the transforming experience.  However, by examining all of the above passages of scripture it is clear that the transforming experience described is both what God promises to do, and actually does, by sovereign will and gracious pleasure, through unconditional love and unmerited favor, and also what is the duty and privilege of fallen men.  Circumcision of heart is both unconditional and conditional, though not in the same sense, and is both the result of the will of God and of the sinner.

Is there a real contradiction between God commanding men to make themselves a new heart and spirit and to Circumcise their hearts, and God doing the same thing?

On Ezekiel 18: 30-32 Dr. Gill wrote:

"...not of the first work of internal conversion, which is by the powerful and efficacious grace of God; though, were both exhorted to, it would not prove that these are in the power of men, only show the want and necessity of them, and so be the means of God's bringing his chosen people to them."

On Deuteronomy 10: 16 Gill wrote:

"Content not yourselves with, nor put your confidence in outward circumcision of the flesh, but be concerned for the circumcision of the heart; for removing from that whatever is disagreeable to the Lord, even all carnality, sensuality, hypocrisy, and superfluity of naughtiness, and for having that put there which is well pleasing in his sight; and which though it is the work of God, and he only can do it and has promised it, yet such an exhortation is made to bring men to a sense of their need of it, and of the importance of it, and to show how agreeable it is to the Lord, and so to stir them up to seek unto him for it."

On Jeremiah 4: 4 Gill wrote:

"...this is the true spiritual circumcision; and they that are possessed of it are the circumcision, the only truly circumcised persons; and they are such who have been pricked to the heart, and thoroughly convinced of sin; who have had the hardness of their hearts removed, and the impurity of it laid open to them; which they have beheld with shame and loathing, and have felt an inward pain on account of it; and who have been enabled to deny themselves, to renounce their own righteousness, and put off the body of the sins of the flesh: and though men are exhorted to do this themselves, yet elsewhere the Lord promises to do it for them, ( Deuteronomy 30:6 ) , and indeed it is purely his own work; or otherwise it could not he called, as it is, "circumcision without hands", and "whose praise is not of man, but of God", ( Colossians 2:11 ) ( Romans 2:29 ), and the reason of this exhortation, as before, is to convince those Jews, who were circumcised in the flesh, and rested and gloried in that, that their hearts were not circumcised, and that there was a necessity of it, and they in danger for want of it; as follows: lest my fury come forth like fire;  to which the wrath of God is sometimes compared, ( Nahum 1:6 ) and is sometimes signified by a furnace and lake of fire, even his eternal wrath and vengeance: and burn that none can quench it;  such is the fire of divine wrath; it is unquenchable; it is everlasting, ( Mark 9:43 Mark 9:44 ) ( Matthew 3:12 ) ( 25:41 )."

Dr. A. H. Strong wrote:

"The Scriptural view is that regeneration, so far as it secures an activity of man, is accomplished through the instrumentality of the truth. Although the Holy Spirit does not in any way illuminate the truth, he does illuminate the mind, so that it can perceive the truth. In conjunction with the change of man's inner disposition, there is an appeal to man's rational nature through the truth. Two inferences may be drawn:


(a) Man is not wholly passive at the time of his regeneration. He is passive only with respect to the change of his ruling disposition. With respect to the exercise of this disposition, he is active. Although the efficient power which secures this exercise of the new disposition is the power of God, yet man is not therefore unconscious, nor is he a mere machine worked by God's fingers. On the other hand, his whole moral nature under God's working is alive and active. We reject the "exercise-system," which regards God as the direct author of all man's thoughts, feelings, and volitions, not only in its general tenor, but in its special application to regeneration.


(b) The activity of man's mind in regeneration is activity in view of the truth. God secures the initial exercise of the new disposition which he has wrought in man's heart in connection with the use of truth as a means. Here we perceive the link between the efficiency of God and the activity of man. Only as the sinner's mind is brought into contact with the truth, does God complete his regenerating work. And as the change of inward disposition and the initial exercise of it are never, so far as we know, separated by any interval of time, we can say, in general, that Christian work is successful only as it commends the truth to every man's conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor. 4: 2)."


In Eph. 1:17,18, there is recognized the divine illumination of the mind to behold the truth —" may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling." On truth as a means of regeneration, see Hovey, Outlines, 102, who quotes Cunningham, Historical Theology, 1:617 —"Regeneration may be taken in a limited sense as Including only the first lmpartatlon of spiritual life or It may be taken in a wider sense as comprehending the whole of that process by which he is renewed or made over again in the whole man after theimage of God — i. e., as Including the production of saving faith and union to Christ. Only In the first sense did the Reformers maintain that man in the process was whollypassive and not active; for they did not dispute that, before the process in the second and more enlarged sense was completed, man was spiritually alive and active, and continued so ever after during the whole process of his sanctiflcution."


Dr. Hovey suggests an apt illustration of these two parts of the Holy Spirit's work and their union in regeneration: At the same time that God makes the photographic plate sensitive, he pours in the light of truth whereby the Image of Christ is formed in the soul. Without the "sensitizing" of the plate, it would never fix the rays of light so as to retain the Image. In the process of "sensitizing," the plate is passive; under the influence of light, it is active. In both the "sensitizing" and the taking of the picture, the real agent is not the plate nor the light, but the photographer. The photographer cannot perform both operations at the same moment. God can. He gives the new affection, and at the same Instant be secures Its exercise in view of the truth.


For denial of the instrumentality of truth in regeneration, see Pierce, In Bap. 1,'nar.. Jan., 1872: 52. Per contra, see Anderson, Regeneration, 89-122. H. B. Smith holds middle ground. He says: "In adults it [regeneration] is wrought most frequently by the word of God as the instrument. Believing that Infants may be regenerated, we cannot assert that it is tied to the word of God absolutely." We prefer to say that, if infants are regenerated, they also are regenerated in conjunction with some influence of truth upon the mind, dim as the recognition of it may be. Otherwise we break the Scriptural connection between regeneration and conversion, and open the way for faith in a physical, magical, sacramental salvation. Squier, Autobiog., 368, says well, of the theory of regeneration which makes man purely passive, that it has a benumbing effect upon preaching: "The lack of expectation unnerves the efforts of the preacher; an impression of the fortuitous presence neutralizes his engagedness. This antinomian dependence on the Spirit extracts all vitality from the pulpit and sense of responsibility from the hearer, and makes preaching an opus operatum, like the baptismal regeneration of the formalist."


Squier goes to the opposite extreme of regarding the truth alone as the cause of regeneration. His words are none the less a valuable protest against the view that regeneration is so entirely due to God that in no part of it is man active." (Systematic Theology pg. 455-459, See here)

There is no need to prove that the sinner is in some respect passive in salvation since Greek verbs and participles used to describe it are in the passive voice.  For instance, John says that those who receive (active voice, meaning to accept) Christ are they who were "born of God."  (John 1: 12, 13)  The word "born" is passive voice.  No one births, creates, or resurrects themselves.  People are passive in being born, created, and resurrected. 

But, even in this passage John speaks of being born of God as occurring at the same time that sinners "receive" Christ. 

"He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."  (John 1: 11-13) 

The word "receive" in verse 12 is from the Greek word "lambano."  This word means "to take," "to take with the hand, lay hold of," to "accept" or to "welcome."  It means "to claim or procure for one's self."  It means "to receive what is offered," or "not to refuse or reject."  It also signifies to "seize" or to "grab." It is in the active voice and thus is not a passive acceptance.  This same Greek word, as we shall see, is used in many passages in the New Testament in connection with being saved.  John is saying that those who "received" Christ actively were passively born of God.  John thus shows us that salvation and being born of God has both an active and a passive aspect. 

There is a another Greek word sometimes translated as "receive" and that is the Greek word "dechomai" and which often is in the passive voice, but lambano is very active, particularly when it is strengthened as in paralambano.  If the New Testament writers wanted to affirm that "receiving" salvation was strictly a passive receiving, they would have used "dechomai" in the passive voice.  But, they most often used "lambano" in the active voice. 

The first use of "received" in the above passage is paralambano, the second is lambano. The whole mood of this passage is active. To "receive not" is to reject. This is not passive indifference but violent rejection. The positive is also the case, for "lambano" and its derivatives do not denote passive reception but the active "taking hold of."  These active Greek verbs are sometimes translated as "take" or "take hold of" in addition to "receive." 

"As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him."  (Col. 2: 6) 

"And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement."  (Rom. 5: 11)

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."  (Rom. 8: 15)

"This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"  (Gal. 3: 2)

"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."  (I John 2: 27)

Who can deny that these verses deal with regeneration?  And, that they show that man is not merely passive, in all respects, but active. 

Further, repentance and faith, throughout scripture, are necessary conditions for salvation, and faith and repentance are active voice verbs.

If regeneration is defined in scripture as including the effects as well as the causes, then sinners are both passive and active.