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I presented a version on this on Satire Und Theology, Sunday. I have added material...
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Repentance
Our pastor spoke well, on repentance on Sunday.
From my Reformed perspective, God causes regeneration in the chosen person (s), in Christ (Ephesians 1, 2, Romans 8-9).
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Ephesians 1
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before [d]Him. In love 5 [e]He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the [f]kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7 In [g]Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He [h]lavished on [i]us.
Ephesians 2 later...
Romans 8
28 And we know that [k]God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.
Romans 9 14
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[f] 16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
God causes this regeneration as primary cause and it is embraced by those in Christ as a secondary cause. The divine, primary cause alone actually saves a person. Secondary cause here means a human being embraces the work of the primary cause as opposed to by force or coercion. This compatibilistic approach therefore features soft and not hard determinism.
Non-exhaustive examples of God regenerating:
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Titus 3:5-7 5
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs [a]according to the hope of eternal life.
John 3 3
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these [a]signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born [b]again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Within my Reformed theology, in the salvation process, regeneration would include (non-exhaustively) God providing grace, faith, (legal) justification, sanctification and repentance to persons. Atonement is multifaceted with many aspects, but a key is that God the Son, Jesus Christ, within the triune Godhead, provides these to human beings by divine power alone.
God enlightening someone, now in Christ, to repent is as an aspect of human salvation by grace through faith alone. The person in Christ, embracing repentance or any aspect of salvation, does not technically save that person, but this is the person embracing this aspect his/her salvation, which is the atoning and resurrection work of God the Son, Jesus Christ applied.
I acknowledge there are other examples in the New Testament such as James that state:
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
James 2:24 24
You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.
Ephesians 2: 8-10 8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and [h]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
The justification discussed in James is a justification of works, as in a sign on true regeneration and faith is works. Someone that is not regenerated will not have the works mentioned in both James 2 and Ephesians 2: 10.
Barclay reasons that Paul and James are not in disagreement. (79). Faith and deeds are not opposites, they are inseparable. (79). Someone must be moved to faith by God, and that faith will demonstrate works for God.
Lexicon
παλιγγενεσία
Root word From πάλιν (G3825) and γένεσις (G1078)
new birth, reproduction, renewal, recreation, regeneration
Lexicon
γεννάω
From a variation of γένος (G1085) γεννάω gennáō, ghen-nah'-o; from a variation of G1085
to procreate (properly, of the father, but by extension of the mother); figuratively, to regenerate:—bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered of, gender, make, spring.
Lexicon
ἄνωθεν
Root word From ἄνω (G507) ἄνωθεν ánōthen, an'-o-then; from G507
from above; by analogy, from the first; by implication, anew:—from above, again, from the beginning (very first), the top.
BARCLAY, WILLIAM (1976) The Letters of James and Peter, Philadelphia, The Westminster Press.
STRONG, J. (1890)(1986) Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Burlington, Welch Publishing Company.
