Faith Is The Result of The New Birth

THE CHANNEL or conduit IN WHICH GOD USES TO BRING ABOUT THE CHANGE IN THE HEART: TO AWAKENED THE MIND TO THE REALITY OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. AT THAT MOMENT IT’S LIKE YOU PUT YOUR FINGER IN AN ELECTRIC OUTLET. THERE IS AN IMMEDITATED REACTION. CHARITY AND I TOUCHED LIP’S SUNDAY AND THE ELECTRIC SHOCK WE FELTED KNOCK US BACK FROM EACH OTHER IN THE INSTANCE WE FELT THE SHOCK. 1 John 5:1

God’s Begetting Causes Our Believing

John says this plainly in 1 John 5:1. This is the clearest text in the New Testament on the relationship between faith and the new birth. Watch the verbs closely as I read 1 John 5:1, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.”

Here is what John Stott says on this verse, and I agree totally:

• The combination of present tense (believes) and perfect tense [has been born] is important. It shows clearly that believing is the consequence, not the cause, of the new birth. Our present, continuing activity of believing is the result, and therefore, the evidence, of our past experience of new birth by which we became and remain God’s children. (The Letters of John, 175)
  
  
  

The Divine Power of God in and through the preaching/teaching of the Gospel when connected with the spiritual deadness of man’s heart and at that moment is awakened to the reality of Jesus Christ. Believing happens; faith is activated when the New Birth occurs.