Deep Dive into The True Light, Human Blindness, and the Grace of Adoption (John 1:9–12)

The core relationship between receiving Christ and being born of God's will defines between receiving Christ and being born of God's will defines the nature of conversion as involving both a necessary human response and an exclusive divine cause.

Receiving Christ and believing in his name constitutes the human response, which is the commanded condition for salvation. To receive him is to personally welcome the Son as the True Light and Savior, embracing his claims and work, and resting one’s confidence on his identity as the Son of God. This response is not based on bare agreement with facts, but on personal reliance and the soul's embrace of the Son as set forth in the gospel. The consequence of this reception is immense: Christ grants the believer the right to become a child of God. This new status is a gift of sheer generosity, resulting in adoption, a new legal standing, and deliverance from wrath.

However, the ability to perform this act of faith is ultimately grounded in God’s prior work, known as the new birth or regeneration. Being born of God’s will is the internal, hidden cause that grants spiritual life. The source of this new birth is entirely and exclusively God Himself; it is a divine act and God’s work from start to finish, achieved by the sovereign will of the Lord.

The new birth systematically denies all human means of achieving salvation. It is not achieved by physical descent (blood), moral effort (the will of the flesh), or the action of another human (the will of man, such as a priestly rite or parental choice).

The relationship is one of cause and effect: Regeneration is the divine work that produces faith. The human decision to receive Christ is the fruit of God's prior work, not the trigger. This theological synthesis affirms that the ability to become a child of God rests entirely on divine sovereignty, ensuring that the believer’s adoption is a gift and not a human achievement. True conversion thus requires both the human act of receiving Christ and the divine act of being born of God.

Reformed Theologian GPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-XXwzX1gnv-reformed-theologian

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