The Root Issues
Erickson believes
conversion as man’s respond towards the universal calling of God whereas Grudem
believes conversion as the regeneration work of God for man to be ready to
receive believe in God. The idea of conversion as the first step derived from
the Arminian view of conditional election and man’s free will. Regeneration as
the first step derived from the Calvinist view of unconditional election. The
two positions view from different ankle such as Arminian from the choice of man
and Calvinist from the choice of God. Erickson’s order of salvation[1] is
1. Effectual Calling 2.Conversion (faith and repentance) and 3. Regeneration.
Whereas Grudem’s list[2]
seem to be much longer and more explicit such as 1. Election (God’s choice
of people to be saved) 2. The gospel call (proclaiming the message of the
gospel) 3. Regeneration (being born again) 4. Conversion (faith and
repentance) 5. Justification (right legal standing) 6. Adoption
(membership in God’s family) 7. Sanctification (right conduct of life) 8. Perseverance
(remaining a Christian) 9. Death (going to be with the Lord)
10. Glorification (receiving a resurrection body). The understanding of the decree of God and
the freedom of man diverted the two positions noticeably. Understanding the
role of God in one’s life has been essential part of understanding the order of
salvation. According to Erickson, God has a definite plan for the entire
history and it is firmly supported by the Bible.[3] He
proposed that the word “foreordain” bears a broader term and the word
“predestinate” refers to a narrower term having to do with election or
reprobation or both.[4] On
the other hand, Grudem define election as “Election
is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved,
not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign
good pleasure.”[5] The
paper will further discuss the nature of God’s plan or decree for salvation and
man’s part in the order of salvation.
God’s plan in General
According to Erickson there
are at least nine factors of God’s decree in General and the following are
parts of it; 1. God’s decree is from all eternity (Psalm 139:16, Isaiah 22:11,
Ephesians 1:4; 3:11; 2 Tim. 1:9; 2 Tim. 1:10). God’s started His plan even
before the foundation of the world, from the beginning of the time. 2. God’s
plan and the decisions contained therein are free on God’s part: Isaiah
40:13-14; Rom 11:34; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 2:7.[6]
From the beginning of time, God’s decreed out of His own free will according to
His wisdom. God does not need human wisdom to make any of His decree. God
freely chose to create for His purpose, with His love. 3. In the ultimate
sense, the purpose of God’s plan is for His glory Col. 1:16; Eph. 1:5–6; Rev. 4:11; Isa. 48:11;
Ezek. 20:9[7].
From the beginning of the call of Abraham to the invitation of Jesus Christ for
salvation, everything is for the glory of Himself. According to His eternal
decree, God provided the means of salvation in order to fulfill His love for
Human and their welfare. However, salvation is not the ultimate end but the
beginning of proclaiming the glory of God to the entire world. 4. God’s decree
is efficacious means all His decrees from eternity will surely come to pass
(Isa. 14:24, 27).[8] “But the plans of the LORD stand firm
forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations” (Ps. 33:11). 5.
God’s decree relates primarily to what God himself does in terms of creating,
preserving, directing, and redeeming.[9]
God is the primary source and center of the cosmos. God’s decrees always have
relationship with His creation. God always involved in the life of human and
even in the natural changes of the World. On the other hand, Grudem’s
interpretation of God’s decree for man can be understood as unconditional
election. For Grudem, God exercises sovereign choice over everything, He
destined the elect to be His sons (Eph. 1:5). He said, “God chose us simply because he decided to bestow his love upon us. It
was not because of any foreseen faith or foreseen merit in us.[10] Grudem
argues that, “It is unconditional because
it is not conditioned upon anything that God sees in us that makes us worthy of
his choosing us.[11]
Therefore, Grudem define the
Regeneration work as,
“It Comes Before Saving Faith
Using the verses quoted above,
we have defined regeneration
to be the act of God awakening spiritual life
within us, bringing us from
spiritual death to spiritual life. On this definition,
it is natural to understand
that regeneration comes before saving faith. It is in
fact this work of God that
gives us the spiritual ability to respond to God in faith.
However, when we say that it
comes “before” saving faith, it is important to
remember that they usually
come so close together that it will ordinarily seem
to us that they are happening
at the same time.”[12]
Grudem’s proposal of order of
salvation solely builds upon the unconditional election of God whereas Erickson
based his proposal on conditional election of God. For Erickson unconditional
election contradict the freedom of man. Erickson said, “Logically prior to the Bible’s teaching that God has specially chosen
some to have eternal life is its vivid picture of the natural lostness,
blindness, and inability of humans to respond in faith to the opportunity for
salvation.[13]
Therefore, Erickson made a conclusion that conversion is the first in the order
of salvation.
Conclusion
First, both Conversion and
Regeneration cannot be solely the work of either God or man. God always
actively involved in creation, sustaining, redemption throughout the whole
Bible. On the other hand, human freedom could never be independent from God
according to Biblical understanding of salvation. Though, God do not need to depending on human respond in
making decision but human freedom to make decision cannot be separated from the
salvation planning of God. Second, if the fall of man is solely the result of
man’s wrong decision and action than there must be some part for man to play in
the general invitation of God for salvation. Third, in Romans 12 start with the
word “therefore” in which Paul encourage believers who are already saved to
transform more like Jesus Christ. In the first 11 chapters of Romans Paul
persuaded the readers about the inability to do good works to save themselves
and the way for salvation for both Jews and Gentiles likewise in Ephesians
chapter two. The regeneration work of God and even adoption of God instantly
begin with conversion. Ephesians 2:10
said, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Therefore, both conversion and
regeneration are continues work rather than one after another. I disagree with
Grudem in the area of regeneration as solely the work of God. Both Matthew
7:21-27 and Romans 12:1-3 demonstrate God’s ability to transform us and man’s
responsibility to be active in obedience to God in the process of regeneration
and conversion. However, regeneration always seems to be the unspoken
expectation from conversion. For example in Romans 12 Paul said
“therefore…present your body etc…” Since the Bible clearly promise salvation for
whoever believes in Jesus, faith becomes the essential part of both conversion
and regeneration. With faith alone one received salvation and also with faith
alone one becomes obedient to God. If both Erickson and Grudem agreed on
conversion as the combination of faith and repentance. I will propose that both
Conversion and Regeneration are the two sides of the result of faith in the
grace of God.
[2] Grudem, Wayne (2009-05-18). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Kindle
Locations 17122-17127). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
[5]Grudem, Wayne (2009-05-18). Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Kindle
Locations 17140-17142). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
