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- The Priority Of Regeneration Part 2
The Priority of Regeneration Part 2
John Murray
John Murray (1898–1975). Born on October 14, 1898, in Badbea, Scotland, John Murray was a Presbyterian theologian and preacher renowned for his Reformed theology. Raised in a devout Free Presbyterian home, he served in World War I with the Black Watch, losing an eye at Arras in 1917. He studied at the University of Glasgow (MA, 1923) and Princeton Theological Seminary (ThB, ThM, 1927), later earning a ThM from New College, Edinburgh. Ordained in 1927, he briefly ministered in Scotland before joining Princeton’s faculty in 1929, then Westminster Theological Seminary in 1930, where he taught systematic theology until 1966. His preaching, marked by precision and reverence, was secondary to his scholarship, though he pastored congregations like First Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Murray authored Redemption Accomplished and Applied and The Imputation of Adam’s Sin, shaping Reformed thought with clarity on justification and covenant theology. Married to Valerie Knowlton in 1937, he had no children and retired to Scotland, dying on May 8, 1975, in Dornoch. He said, “The fear of God is the soul of godliness.”
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In this sermon, the speaker discusses the relationship between regeneration and responsibility in the context of the preaching of the word of God. The speaker emphasizes that our belief or knowledge of being regenerated should not be the basis for our actions, but rather the rule of God should guide our actions. The speaker also highlights that regeneration and responsibility are not mutually exclusive, and that we should not delay repentance and belief until we are regenerated. The sermon emphasizes the importance of understanding regeneration in both a restrictive and inclusive sense, as outlined in specific passages of the Bible.
Sermon Transcription
Today's theme will be a subject in page 118 of how he uses a fairly different verb, and a verb that is not used anywhere else in this connection in the Apocryphal. In all instances, you have the instrumentality of the word, and therefore the thought is that the consciousness of the person concerned is intelligently and receptively and faithfully engaged with the word in that which is expressed by Apocryphal in James 118 So regeneration in these instances is the concept of regeneration which is not the same as that which we have. How are we to resolve this discrepancy? Well, the solution must be two distinct senses, but in two distinct senses. First, in the more restrictive sense, which is certainly the more preponderant in the script, and which is, however, more exceptional and occurs expressly only in 118-123, and when used, it includes the activity of our consciousness in saving response. And does that include conversion? At least, that's what we call it. Now this double usage of the language of regeneration, this double usage of it, this double connotation, for this reason that regeneration in the restricted sense, John 1.13, John 1.2, et al., must never be conceived of outside of its context. Regeneration in the restricted sense has no meaning of relevance apart from the truth of the possible at rest to and engaging our consciousness. But in the restricted sense there's no meaning of relevance apart from we must remember that regeneration takes a call and the effectual call comes to us. As I said earlier, regeneration is brought to us in the bosom of the effectual call, and it is that subjective what that of the Holy Spirit brought in us. And furthermore, regeneration always pushes itself into consciousness in the responses of faith and repentance. As we found in our study of 1 John 5.1 particularly, 1 John 5.4, 1 John 5.1 and 4, faith is the invariable concomitant of regeneration, the invariable concomitant. And faith is always the word. So regeneration in the restricted sense has no meaning except as it is concomitant with those other aspects of the order salutis. Regeneration in the restricted sense has no relevance except as it is concomitant with these other aspects of the order salutis, effectual calling, faith, repentance. Now review of that. It's perfectly natural, perfectly natural for biblical writers on occasion to take that broader context into account and bring it within the very purview of regeneration, the very concept of regeneration. And that is what we find in the Greek and the Ephesian and the Ephosphean. Well, that's my attempt to identify a little outside of the context. But faith in a certain context has no meaning at all. Regeneration in the restricted sense expresses a full operation in order that the word of the truth... Now I come to that regeneration causally. Regeneration and conversion. A regenerate person can live in sin. Regeneration can... The moral priority of regeneration is no excuse for our unbelief and no other. For people to argue that we should not repent and believe until we are regenerated, until we are regenerated, is to introduce confusion. We never know that. We have known. The gospel of God's responsiveness in the demand for repentance and faith. It doesn't address in the demand for regeneration, but in the demand for that which just as the unknown has run off the rule of our founder. ...for the grounds upon which we are ashed. So the instinct for the ground of our... ...is never the ground... ...first acts of faith... ...and third we generate... ...the priority of man in a liberty that naturally... ...are we able to release his... ...are we able to release it. We generate the interposition of supernatural... ...supernatural... ...to ensure the release of that... ...release of that... ...to the end... ...to do for us... ...the world. We generate... ...regeneration... ...things... ...in his... ...work of vitality... ...mysterious... ...exposes... ...statement... ...graphy... ...graphy... ...belong to the... ...so... ...ability of... ...in... ...of... ...front... ...recognizing that it is... ...sure... ...powerly to relate... ...all that has been said... ...respecting... ...region... ...especially when we take into account... ...the context... ...we generate... ...falling... ...now in the nature of the king... ...the little infant... ...is the incapable... ...and intelligent... ...must define things... ...aim... ...and that measure of understanding... ...but when regeneration... ...takes place... ...in infants... ...we must not think... ...just as taking... ...but when regeneration... ...we must not think... ...for that little infant... ...by being regenerated... ...the kingdom... ...of God... ...think of that little infant... ...accept as a child of God... ...think of that little infant... ...condemnation of sin... ...resilience... ...worship... ...membership in the kingdom of God... ...implies justification... ...is a doctrine... ...for the family of God... ...and although we likewise define... ...effectual calling... ...terms that are... ...must likewise be... ...be conceived of... ...as call... ...into the fellowship of Christ... ...just as... ...surely... ...assured... ...angel... ...keeping you at all times... ...generation... ...becomes a fact... ...in the case... ...we are bound to say... ...that in this sense... ...there is implanted... ...what is the germ... ...not because... ...capable... ...of exercising that... ...intelligence... ...we define for you... ...but simply because... ...we live in the mind... ...and the heart... ...of the little infant... ...that which impurities... ...the developing system... ...will issue... ...in intelligence... ...it is impossible for us... ...impossible... ...for us to determine... ...how this... ...whole complex... ...of new relationship... ...must be... ...to become God's will... ...a fact... ...and we cannot... ...the more we have known... ...for our own selves... ...this we must say... ...that this regeneration... ...together with the total... ...call... ...just... ...we must make... ...indictment... ...against... ...in terms of depravity... ...for example... ...they go astray... ...now... ...we must say... ...the regenerated... ...in essence... ...the regenerated infant... ...is no longer... ...a child of God... ...and therefore... ...develops... ...in the nature... ...of the Lord... ...the Lord... ...Himself... ...in Christ... ...develops... ...in the nature... ...of the Lord... ...it will take... ...years... ...perhaps... ...for that infant... ...to become... ...explicitly conscious... ...of that relationship... ...which had been... ...constituted... ...in infancy... ...by the grace of God... ...but we must not... ...conceive of... ...we must not... ...conceive of such an infant... ...as regenerated in infancy... ...and converted... ...when it comes to the years... ...of understanding... ...converted... ...in this way... ...may occurs... ...something which... ...in the rudimentary... ...response to conversion... ...that little infant... ...and that little infant... ...develops... ...under the sanctifying... ...influence... ...of this indwelling... ...controlling... ...and directing... ...Holy Spirit... ...that which is born... ...of the Spirit... ...is Spirit... ...that which is born... ...of the Spirit... ...is Spirit... ...born... ...expanding experience... ...and increasing knowledge... ...that... ...some infant... ...regenerated in infancy... ...that to their... ...temporal conversion... ...some day may reach... ...this experience... ...in infancy... ...but in many other cases... ...in many, many... ...there has been no... ...no such for many... ...intelligent... ...never remember... ...never remember... ...experience has been quite... ...gradual... ...and more or less... ...you were not... ...much... ...many, many... ...revelatory deeds of furnished... ...worship... ...outside of the context...
The Priority of Regeneration Part 2
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John Murray (1898–1975). Born on October 14, 1898, in Badbea, Scotland, John Murray was a Presbyterian theologian and preacher renowned for his Reformed theology. Raised in a devout Free Presbyterian home, he served in World War I with the Black Watch, losing an eye at Arras in 1917. He studied at the University of Glasgow (MA, 1923) and Princeton Theological Seminary (ThB, ThM, 1927), later earning a ThM from New College, Edinburgh. Ordained in 1927, he briefly ministered in Scotland before joining Princeton’s faculty in 1929, then Westminster Theological Seminary in 1930, where he taught systematic theology until 1966. His preaching, marked by precision and reverence, was secondary to his scholarship, though he pastored congregations like First Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Murray authored Redemption Accomplished and Applied and The Imputation of Adam’s Sin, shaping Reformed thought with clarity on justification and covenant theology. Married to Valerie Knowlton in 1937, he had no children and retired to Scotland, dying on May 8, 1975, in Dornoch. He said, “The fear of God is the soul of godliness.”