Lesson 6
Does faith come before or after new birth?
The Position
Faith precedes new birth. You believe, then you are born again. The sequence is clear in John's own Gospel and in Paul's letters. Regeneration does not produce faith. Faith receives new birth.
John 1:12
“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.”
Receiving and believing are the condition. Becoming sons of God is the result. John's own hand places faith before the new birth status. Believing comes first. Sonship follows.
Supporting Verses
Ephesians 1:13
“after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.”
After believing. The believing precedes the sealing. The sequence is explicit.
Acts 16:31
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
A command to believe, with salvation following. Faith is the condition. Life is the result.
What They Will Say
“1 John 5:1 says everyone who believes has been born of God. The perfect tense shows regeneration came first.”
What You Say Back
John's purpose in 1 John 5:1 is not to establish a sequence. He is showing how you know someone is born of God. The believing is the evidence. He does the same thing in 2:29 and 4:7: everyone who does righteousness has been born of God, everyone who loves has been born of God. Is he saying righteousness and love are caused by regeneration in sequence, or that they are the mark of someone born of God? The latter. The passage is diagnostic, not sequential. And John 1:12 is in the same book, by the same author, and it runs the other direction.
The One Line to Remember
“John 1:12 is in the same corpus, by the same author, and it runs the other direction.”