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By God's grace, still presenting the same old message from the same old Book...

Ephesians 4:18 (KJV) Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Ephesians 4:18 does not define a person that is regenerate. The regenerate are not alienated from the life of God, they do not have blindness of their heart because they have been given a new heart (Ps 119:14, 111; Jer 24:7) and so forth. Here is how I am understanding this. Regeneration results in conversion. The new birth makes one partaker of the divine nature, conversion results direct from regeneration, while finite in understanding the direction of the heart new a result of regeneration, the nature radically different, and as a result things are perceived different, and so conversion results directly a result of regeneration. It should be expected that conversion a result of hearing the preached word will occur subsequent to regeneration and initial conversion, but a gap between regeneration and response to the preached word is not a period the regenerate is dead in trespasses and sins but is a time they are not aware of these things. It should be easy to understand finite understanding, seeing even mature Christians are finite in knowledge. The regenerate will perceive the heavens different, the firmament differently (Ps 19:1-4), but that still does not give understanding of salvation or of the knowledge of Christ, the gospel gives understanding of that, but nevertheless the new creature is alive to God, and every bit alive though ignorant of facts, their heart not blind. Any new born baby is ignorant of facts but nevertheless they are alive. The regenerate is born of God and is alive unto God. With regeneration man is made partaker of the divine nature (2Pet 1:4), and while this is finite in that we are not all we will be one day, we do not know all we will one day, but we are certainly different than prior to regeneration, different in how we think, different in how we respond. When we are regenerated, we are changed, and indwelt evermore by the Holy Spirit. God is not divided, and therefore we have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We have an ongoing walk, our increasing in the knowledge of God. The gospel brings this to the understanding. 

To Be Saved One Must Be Born Of The Spirit (John 3:1-8). We are born of God. God is not divided. Man must be born again. Man is shown to be dead then made alive direct of God. Truth is discovered to bring this new life to light. The Spirit operates on the soul independent of the preached word. Truth is simply what it is, there is no change wrought in the truth (John 17:17); therefore phrases such as ‘to energize the truth’, ‘to intensify the truth’, ‘to illuminate the truth’, ‘the preached word was dead but is made alive’, ‘preached word of God becomes living and powerful when the incarnate word converges with it’, ‘God is breathing into those words power and life’, ‘it [the preached word] becomes living and powerful’, have no proper meaning. The change is not made to the preached word; change is made to man, and man is born again directly of God apart from instrumentality.

It is a joy to serve the Lord. Stay in the word, keep the faith and continue in prayer.

By grace,
Bob Krajcik
Mansfield, Ohio
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Bible Study Letters

A message of comfort from the Scriptures,
that we through patience and comfort
of the scriptures might have hope.

Come and hear, all ye that fear God,
and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
Psalms 66:16

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