Dispensationalism and the Doctrine of Election
Refutation of Calvinism, Arminianism, and Covenant Theology
Chapter Three The Unfolding Nature of “the Regeneration” in the Plan of God
Dispensationalism is about new beginnings. Dispensationalism is also about Remnant Theology; i.e. God retaining a remnant of faithful believers down through the history of the world. Each new dispensation begins with a faithful remnant. Each new dispensation begins with a new set of governing principles for the remnant intent upon preserving the remnant in Truth and to aid the remnant in their responsibility of the preservation and transposition of the Truth down through their generations.
This faithful remnant is the elect of God. However, they are not saved because they are the elect. They are the elect because they get saved. God makes this group of believers the depository of Truth at the beginning of each new dispensation with the responsibility to preserve that Truth in a jot and tittle degree and disseminate that Truth on the widest possible scale of their abilities. The fact of the matter is that historically each dispensation ends with the failure of the remnant in their preservation of Truth and with the remnant becoming a dwindling number of faithful believers because they have failed in the dissemination and transposition of the Truth in the lives of generations succeeding from them, often their own descendants. Dispensationalism is the history of the failure of believers in their stewardship responsibilities and God’s successes in maintaining a faithful remnant. Dispensationalism is also a testimony to God’s longsuffering with each new beginning.
There are seven distinct new beginnings in the history of the world ending in the final New Genesis of a New Heaven and New Earth (Rev. 21:1-5). The creation of this New Heaven and New Earth is the consummate act of God in what Christ refers to in Matthew 19:28 as “the regeneration.”
As we follow God’s election dispensationally through the Scriptures, we see various groups elected for the purposes of God. These groups all began with a remnant of believers from the end of the previous dispensation chosen by God at the beginning of each new dispensation. The complications in understanding all of this exists because these remnants change transitionally in the historical paradigms of God’s unfolding of “the regeneration” dispensationally. God retains a remnant of faithful believers through each dispensation to be the continuum for the depository of His Gospel in the Promised One and for preserving His progressive revelation and Scriptural history of the world and through which new revelation would come. Election is about the preservation of this remnant.
We tend to see things chronologically according to the revelation of Scripture. Therefore, we see God electing/choosing Abraham to be the father of the nation of Israel. From the descendants of Abraham, God’s primary elect group changes in the unfolding of “the regeneration” through the next three dispensations. Election, in the preservation of a remnant through which Messiah (the Promised One) would be born, begins with Israel in Abraham. It moves to Israel in Jacob. It then moves to the “firstborn” in Israel and then to the “firstborn” in the Priesthood of Aaron replacing the “firstborn” in Israel. Then it moves to Christ upon His death, burial, and resurrection as the “firstborn” of “the regeneration” and a new High Priest of a new (but previously prophesied) Priesthood of all believers (the “church of the firstborn;” all Church Age saints). Finally, and ultimately, to final fold of “the regeneration” in the New Heaven/Earth where all the glorified Redeemed will dwell with their New Federal Head; i.e. the LORD Jesus Christ.
As we begin to apply all of the principles of interpretation to the Word of God, we bring them all to Genesis 1:1. Here we see that the Bible does not begin with creation. The Bible begins with God. “In the beginning God. . .” Before there was ever time, space or a material existence, there was a Tri-unity of the Godhead and His existence apart from anything else. We would describe God as being both self-existent and self-existing. From further study of God’s revelation, we come to understand that God’s existence was outside of time, space and matter. God did not need anything to complete Himself or fulfill Himself. God is both self-sufficient and eternal.
All of God’s attributes revealed through Scripture existed before the creation of time, space or matter. Creation added nothing to God. These attributes define Who and What God is completely apart from the creation of time, space or matter. These attributes are merely exhibited through creation and in creation.
Therefore, when we consider that Biblical revelation begins with God existing outside of time, space or matter, we come to understand that creation did not happen extemporaneously. Creation begins with God’s omniscience. Creation begins with God planning history through His foreknowledge of everything that would happen actually or possibly within the time, space, and matter of creation.
In the Plan of God and the preservation of a remnant of faithful believers according to foreknowledge, God’s plan actually begins chronologically with “the regeneration” before generation (the original creation within time). In dealing with the issue of God’s foreknowledge (omniscience of past, present, and future events as all having already happened), we must carefully distinguish between positional issues with God and actual historical realities, or what we might call actualities. God foreknows all future events. As far as God is concerned, all future events are already positionally sure even though they have not yet actually happened in time (actually). God’s plan of the ages does not begin in time, but outside of time in eternity. All that God planned for Jesus to do in time was positionally complete in eternity before time ever came into existence by God’s creation.
In other words, God’s plan begins with Jesus “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) before time, space, or matter were ever created. The eternal, self-existing Son of God, the second person of the triune Godhead, was
elected to become the Messiah/Redeemer/Christ of God and, one day in history (actuality), to be born into humanity and the human predicament of sin to become the new Federal Head of “the regeneration.”
Herein lays the foundation of truth necessary to understand the doctrine of election. The fact is, the Word of God redundantly refers to the Son of God as the Messiah in this way as the “elect.” The word “elect” is frequently used of God to refer to the Promised One of Genesis 3:15.
“Behold my servant {referring to the Promised One}, whom I uphold; mine elect {referring to the Promised One}, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:1).
“And I will bring forth a seed {referring to the Promised One} out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect {referring to the Promised One} shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there” (Isaiah 65:9).
“Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect {referring to the Promised One}, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded” (I Peter 2:6).
What Bible scholars refer to as Dispensationalism is the detailed explanation of “the regeneration” in the historical unfolding plan of God for the purpose of preserving a faithful remnant of believers. Yet, the Bible is not anthropocentric. The Bible is Theocentric and Christocentric. An inductive study of the Word of God will result in our understanding that the Bible begins with the Godhead planning the reconciliation of fallen mankind due to the loss of Adamic dominion (Federal Headship) given to Adam after the completion of the original Creation. God’s plan of redemption in the Promised One was in existence before that loss of Adamic dominion ever actually happened in the unfolding of history. The eternal Son of God was elected to become a man in order to restore the lost Adamic dominion and to provide an avenue of escape from the fallen creation into the historically unfolding regeneration “in Christ” where Jesus is the eternal Federal Head. This is where we must begin our study of the doctrine of election. We must begin with “the regeneration . . .in Christ” before the foundation of the world. The ultimate elect group is all those foreknown by God (the remnant of faithful believers) that are “in Christ” (i.e., the new Federal Head of the “the regeneration” or the New Creation) as opposed to those that are in Adam (the fallen creation).
“23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? 26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. 27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? 28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. 30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first” (Matthew 19:23-30).
The word “regeneration” is only used twice in the New Testament books (Matt. 19:28 and Titus 3:5). “Regeneration” is translated from the Greek word paliggenesia (pal-ing-ghen-es-ee'-ah). The word actually means again genesis. It refers to both the new birth and the New Creation. Rebirth is merely a part of “the regeneration.” It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit where He breathes His life (Himself) into the believing sinner and the believing sinner becomes a “living soul” and is made part of the New Genesis “in Christ.”
The New Creation (“the regeneration”) actually will happen in reverse from the first creation. In the first creation, man was created last. In the New Creation, believers are re-created first. The New Heaven/Earth is the last part of the New Creation. The word “new” regarding the New Heaven/Earth does not mean new of the same kind. It means new of a different kind. The “born again” believer is literally part of a completely different kind of creation in “the regeneration.”
“1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things
new” (Revelation 21:1-5).
God’s plan of redemption was not a reaction to the fall of the first creation. God’s plan of redemption was proactive to the fall of the first creation. Each use of the word “new” in the five verses of Revelation 21:1-5 is translated from the Greek word kainos (kahee-nos’). This word signifies that this is not merely a re-creation, but a new creation. This is not the purification of the old, fallen creation. This is the dissolution of the old, fallen creation and a completely New Creation of a completely different kind. An inductive study of a number of Scripture verses reveals this reality to us.
“17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. 24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 65:17-25).
“22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. 24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh” (Isaiah 66:22-24).
“9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (II Peter 3:9-13).
The doctrine of regeneration is almost always viewed as synonymous with salvation. Although salvation is the beginning point of “the regeneration” in any individual’s life, regeneration is not the same as salvation. Salvation is synchronous with regeneration in a believer’s life, but salvation is not synonymous with regeneration. “The regeneration’ is a process that unfolds in time eschatologically in God’s historical paradigms. The various historical folds of “the regeneration” are revealed to us through prophecy and we can see them actually happening as history unfolds through progressive revelation in Scripture. John L. Nuelsen1 makes further comments on regeneration.
“Although a clear distinction is not always maintained between regeneration and other experiences of the spiritual life, we may summarize our belief in the following theses:
(1) Regeneration implies not merely an addition of certain gifts or graces, a strengthening of certain innate good qualities, but a radical change, which revolutionizes our whole being, contradicts and overcomes our old fallen nature, and places our spiritual center of gravity wholly outside of our own powers in the realm of God’s causation.
(2) It is the will of God that all men be made partakers of this new life (1Ti 2:4) and, as it is clearly stated that some fall short of it (Joh 5:40), it is plain that the fault thereof lies with man. God requires all men to repent and turn unto Him (Ac 17:30) before He will or can effect regeneration. Conversion, consisting in repentance and faith in Christ, is therefore the human response to the offer of salvation which God makes. This response gives occasion to and is synchronous with the divine act of renewal (regeneration). The Spirit of God enters into union with the believing, accepting spirit of man. This is fellowship with Christ (Ro 8:10; 1Co 6:17; 2Co 5:17; Col 3:3).”
“The regeneration” (again genesis) is the progressive unfolding dispensationally of the New Creation “in Christ.” For a believer, salvation (being “born again”) is the first fold of “the regeneration” actually. Glorification is the second fold actually. However, actually in the progressive unfolding of the fulfillment of eschatological events, the conception of Jesus, his sinless life, his death, burial and resurrection all encapsulate the first fold in “the regeneration.” The Son of God needed to become a man and to be successful where Adam failed in order for salvation and “the regeneration” to become an actuality (in time) based on God’s promise of a possibility (before time) as God fulfilled His promise.
Secondly, for mankind to be recovered from the fallen original creation and the domain of spiritual darkness and death, God’s death sentence upon the Adamic nature (the “old man,” or Sin Nature) needed to be satisfied. The propitiation of God and the justification of men were essentials before any sinner could actually enter into “the regeneration” or before salvation could actually take place. The incarnation, death, burial and resurrection of Christ would be the “door” (John 10:7-16) from the fallen original creation into “the regeneration” provided by God’s grace (the means) through man’s faith (the medium). In the saved sinner’s glorification, he/she is finally separated from his/her cursed Sin Nature in that the Sin Nature was “crucified with Christ” (Rom. 6:6).
The fact that the actual regeneration of a sinner could not happen until after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ is the central argument against Calvinism’s teaching known as Monergism. Monergism teaches that the regeneration of an individual must precede salvation because God must give life to those “dead in trespasses and sin” in order for them to be able to believe. If Monergism is correct and regeneration cannot actually take place until after the death, burial, resurrection, glorification of Christ and, the coming of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, no Old Testament believer could be saved because they could not be regenerated so as to be enabled to believe (regeneration before faith and effecting faith).
The eisegetical argument is that Total Depravity means Total Inability and that dead men cannot believe. The argument seems logical, but it is not exegetical. Exegesis shows the argument to be actually illogical. The actual regeneration (when the believer is actually removed from the cursed fallen Adamic dominion into the New Genesis “in Christ” through the New Birth; John 3:3, 7 and I Peter 1:20-23) of an individual happens when the believer is baptized into the “body of Christ” (I Corinthians 12:13) and the believer is indwelled by the Spirit of God. Chronologically, these two works of the Spirit of God did not happen in the unfolding dispensations of God until the Day of Pentecost. Therefore, no believer prior to Pentecost could have been actually regenerated. Therefore, no one prior to Pentecost could have been regenerated in order to believe (Monergism). Although the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is obviously a dispensational transitional issue from the Dispensation of the Law (Mosaic Covenant) to the Dispensation of Grace (the Church Age), most Calvinists will (must) argue for the Holy Spirit’s indwelling in the Old Testament because, according to Monergism, that is the only way Old Testament believers could be saved. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit as a dispensational transition is what Christ referred to in John 14.
“15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it m not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:15-20).
The regeneration of individuals could not actually happen until God breathed into them the “breath of life” (Gen. 2:7). This “breath of life” is the Holy Spirit of God and is what the Word of God refers to as having “the Son.” This indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the impartation of the Divine Nature. This did not happen actually (in time) until the Day of Pentecost.
“11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:11-13).
“1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (II Peter 1:1-4).
Christ is the “firstfruits” into the first fold of “the regeneration” in His resurrection and glorification. The believers of the Church Age are the second fold (resurrection/translation of the Church) and, the martyred saints of the tribulation are the third fold (“this is the first resurrection,” Rev. 20:5). Then we have the sealing of the 144,000 Jews during the Tribulation that will become the “firstfruits” (the Millennial remnant of faithful believers) of “the regeneration” into the Kingdom Age. The saved that died from the time of Adam forward to the time of the Day of Pentecost will most probably be resurrected with the Tribulation martyrs. Then, the second resurrection/translation will take place at the end of the Millennial Kingdom where living believers from the Kingdom Age will be translated/glorified and the lost “dead” will be Judged. The saved will be glorified and the lost will experience the “second death.” The last historical paradigm is the creation of the new Heaven/Earth where the redeemed/glorified saints dwell with the Lord (“in my Father’s house,” John 14:1-3). As we will see later in these studies, the term “firstfruits” is critical to understanding the doctrine of election.
“20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:20-26).
“1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb” (Revelation 14:1-4).
Therefore, we must come to understand that “the regeneration” began in the Plan of God before “the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8; before the original Creation). Before Adam and Eve were ever actually created, God foreknew their fall and initiated a plan for their redemption and “whosoever” of their progeny that wanted to be redeemed (positionally saved and regenerated) through a simple act of faith.
“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
“The regeneration” progressively unfolds in time (progressive revelation) throughout the Scriptures. “The regeneration” is a provision of the grace of God to “whosoever will.” A person enters into “the regeneration” (the New Genesis) through faith in the work of Christ that propitiates God and justifies the believing sinner whereby God breathes into that believing sinner “the breath of life” (the indwelling of the Spirit of God) and that individual becomes a “living soul,” is “born again” of the Spirit of God, is immersed into the “body of Christ” (I Cor. 12:13) and enters the first fold of “the regeneration.” This is called salvation.
What I mean by enters “the regeneration” is the historic period (dispensation) that one actually enters. Different things become reality as “the regeneration” unfolds eschatologically and dispensationally. For instance, in the Church Age (beginning on the Day of Pentecost) the Spirit of God now actually indwells the believer and has baptized the believer into the “body of Christ” (the New Covenant fold of “the regeneration”). The unfolding nature of the New Genesis cannot be understood apart from a dispensational perspective of Scripture (hence Covenant and Reformed Theology’s difficulty in grasping its truth).
One enters “the regeneration” (New Genesis) through an act of faith by trusting in the “gospel” revelation as it unfolds eschatologically. Adam and Eve trusted in Genesis 3:15. It is not that the “gospel” changes through progressive revelation, but that more details are revealed progressively.
The unfolding nature of “the regeneration” deals with historical paradigms. For instance, the last historical paradigm was the incarnation, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ followed by the outpouring of the Spirit of God baptizing all believers into the “body of Christ.” Christ (Son of God/Son of man) is “the firstborn” of the New Genesis and its Federal Head. The next historical paradigm in the New Genesis is the resurrection/translation of the new Priesthood of Israel (the Church; glorification), followed by the return of Christ to the earth.
The Church will rule with Christ as Kings/Priests for 1000 years, and all believers from all dispensations will be resurrected/translated (glorified) to enter the New Heaven/Earth (the final historical paradigm), which is the final fold of the New Genesis. Therefore, the Word of God, in its progressive revelation, begins with “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” positionally in eternity and ends with Christ as the actual New Federal Head of the New Genesis. This is what defines “the regeneration” dispensationally.
“The regeneration” ultimately refers to the New Heaven/Earth where the glorified believer will dwell with God (Rev. 21 and 22). This “regeneration” began in the plan of God before the original creation of Genesis chapter one (Rev. 13:8). “The regeneration” is unfolding dispensationally and historically through the Scriptures. As it unfolds, different aspects are completed (actually) just as the original creation came forth over six days. The first Genesis began with the creation of time/space and the material world ending with the creation of man. The New Genesis begins with the regeneration of man (salvation) and unfolds to the creation of a new material Heaven/Earth in eternity (timeless existence).
[[1] Comment by John L. Nuelsen : Public Domain Version; International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1913) ; James Orr, M.A., D.D., General Editor, John L. Nuelsen, D.D., LL.D., Edgar Y. Mullins, D.D., LL.D., Assistant Editors; Morris O. Evans, D.D., PhD., Managing Editor with over a hundred contributors
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