Comments on: Union with Christ and Regeneration

By: admin

admin — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:56:16 +0000

In reply to Ben H.. I recovered the comment. There's no need to repost. Thanks for alerting us to the issue. We greatly appreciate edifying comments.

By: Ben H.

Ben H. — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 18:59:36 +0000

In reply to admin. Thank you. I certainly am not using profanity. I'll try to re post.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 13:25:24 +0000

Ben, for some reason the spam filter caught your comments. I’ve marked them “not spam.” Are you posting nefariously elsewhere to get this reputation? 🙂

By: Ben H.

Ben H. — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:29:17 +0000

I just posted a comment, but its not showing up. Could this be issues related to my name or email address?

By: Ben H.

Ben H. — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:43:32 +0000

I think we should want a more Trinitarian construct in our association between regeneration and the resurrection of Christ. Dr. Tipton equates the utterly passive position of the believer at the moment of regeneration with the passive state of Jesus dead body at the moment of His resurrection when God the Father raised Him from the dead (Eph. 2: 4-5). While this seems to be what Paul is saying in Ephesians, the overall biblical emphasis affirms that all the members of the Godhead are involved monergistically in salvation (I think Dr. Tipton would agree with this). Similarly, all the the members of the Godhead were involved in the resurrection of Christ. God the Son was not a passive agent in His physical resurrection, but very much active. Although Jesus’ human nature was laying lifeless in the grave, His divine nature was at the same time united with His dead body and invigorated His body into resurrection life (See John 2:19). Scripture also shows God the Holy Spirit involved in the resurrection of Christ in Romans 1:3.

If we explain the resurrection as a sole act of any one member of the Trinity, I think we are causing a major disruption in our covenant theology, particularly in the covenant of redemption, which is a pact within the Godhead that God the Father sends the Son, the Son accomplishes the work of redemption, and the Holy Spirit applies that salvation to all those who are brought into that union with Christ. And to properly parallel the resurrection of Christ to the regeneration of the believer, we would say that God in His Triune Nature (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) gives life to the sinner, who is dead in trespasses, just as He, in His Triune nature, raised Jesus from the dead, thereby accomplishing the covenant of redemption.
I thought I’d post this because Dr. Tipton’s explanation about union with Christ at regeneration seemed to disrupt covenant theology to a certain extent. What do you guys think?

By: Out And About 11/20/2011 » All Things Expounded

Out And About 11/20/2011 » All Things Expounded — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 22:51:32 +0000

[…] great series! I’ve listened to A Biblical Overview of Union with Christ by Richard Gaffin and Union With Christ and Regeneration by Lane Tipton. You can find all 8 messages at […]