John 1:13
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
In other words, we do not born ourselves again. When we receive Christ, God makes us Born Again, and gives us the Holy Spirit to indwell and regenerate us. So becoming Born Again is God’s doing, but Calvinists go even further, by inferring that receiving Christ is also God’s doing, and not just by God purchasing redemption and presenting it as an offer, but also by making the choice to receive Christ an automatic and unconscious result of an alleged, Irresistible Grace. In this way, Calvinists allege that “we are not saved by our will, but of God,” via Irresistible Grace. So again, for Calvinists, this passage is not just about New Birth being God’s doing, but about receiving Christ being God’s doing, and the way that Irresistible Grace works, is that one must be specially elect, in order to be designated as a recipient for being made preemptively Born Again, which induces the Irresistible Grace to then receive Christ. So for Calvinists, it’s not about receiving Christ and then being made Born Again, but about secretly being made Born Again, and then irresistibly receiving Christ.
Question: What does it mean to “receive” Christ?
Answer: It means to be “believe in His name.”
Question: What does it mean that God gave the “right” to become the children of God?
Answer: We may speak of our Constitutional rights, but when we believe in Jesus, according to John 3:16, we receive the Divine right to new birth as His child.
Question: What does it mean to be born “of God”?
Answer: It means that it is God who is the One who performs the act of Regeneration. This is contrasted by the other things named, such as “blood,” “flesh” and “man,” in terms of being born of humanly origin. Therefore, when we believe in Christ, we receive from Him, the right to a heavenly birth, “of God,” which is something not of this world.
Calvinists take the nature of the new birth, “of God” and render it the cause of believing. However, believing in Christ results in receiving the right of being made Born Again. Ephesians 1:13 states: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Thus, John 1:12-13 agrees with Ephesians 1:13 that receiving Christ results in being given the divine right to be sealed in Christ for new birth.
When you are sealed in Christ, through faith in Christ (Ephesians 1:13), your are transformed in a new birth from the old creature to the new, receiving a new heart and a new spirit. (Ezekiel 36:26; 2nd Corinthians 5:17) However, Calvinism absolutely requires that a person must become preemptively in Christ in order to access what is there, namely, the new heart, so that by that new heart, their decision for Christ may become rendered irresistible, as in Irresistible Grace. However, the problem for Calvinism is that you cannot become sealed in Christ, until after you have first believed in the Gospel. This is made clear by Ephesians 1:13. Therefore, you cannot become preemptively born again, because becoming born again is only available in Christ. You must receive Christ in order to become sealed in Christ, in order to receive the right to new birth in Christ. However, fallen man is spiritually blind. He requires sight to see the Gospel’s light, which the Holy Spirit performs through the Gospel which produces faith. (Romans 10:17)
John Calvin: “For the evangelist says that no one can believe except he who is born of God. Therefore faith is a heavenly gift. Moreover, faith is not cold and bare knowledge, for no one can believe unless he is born again by the Spirit of God.” (John: The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.24, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “So faith flows from its source: new birth.” (John: The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.24, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “When the Lord breathes faith in us, he gives us new birth in a hidden and secret way that is unknown to us. But when faith has been given, we grasp with a living awareness not only the grace of adoption but also newness of life and the other gifts of the Holy Spirit.” (John: The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.24, emphasis mine)
Rather, faith flows from this source: “hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), and we are made born again by the imperishable living seed of the Word of God. (1st Peter 1:23)
Therefore, let’s paraphrase this:
Calvinistic paraphrase: “But as many as [were already born of God] received him, to them [who were already born of God] gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them [who were already born of God] that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
However, there’s more. Just like with Ephesians 1:4, Calvinists may read one thing, but see another. Here, they will read “of” God, but see “because.”
One Calvinist states: “Please notice that the power is given...and it is not given because of mans will.”
John Calvin: “…a general doctrine can be learned from this verse: we are reckoned the children of God not on account of our own nature, nor from our initiative, but because ‘he chose to give us birth’ (James 1:18), from undeserved love. Hence, it follows, first, that faith is not produced by us but is the fruit of spiritual new birth.” (John: The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.24, emphasis mine)
Calvinist, John Piper: “In other words, God causes us to be born again with new spiritual life, and the simultaneous effect is that we see and receive Jesus for who he is and trust him with our lives.” (The Free Will of the Wind, emphasis mine)
However, John 1:12-13 specifically says that the right to become the children of God is given because we receive His Son in faith, the benefit of which, is a heavenly birth, hence “of God.” It is the negative portion of the verse which addresses what we are not born of, that the Calvinist uses to infer what we are not born by.
So let’s modify the Calvinistic paraphrase accordingly:
Modified Calvinistic paraphrase: “But as many as [were already born of God] received him, to them [who were already born of God] gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them [who were already born of God] that believe on his name: Which were born, not [because] of blood, nor [because] of the will of the flesh, nor [because] of the will of man, but [because] of God.”
Calvinists take the portion of the passage which speaks of the nature of our new birth, and infer it as the means to come to Christ. The problem is that regeneration is in Christ, and we do not become sealed in Him until after we believe, as per Ephesians 1:13. Thus, Calvinism is out of order.
Norman Geisler: “God is the source by which the new birth is given (v.13), but free will is the means by which it is ‘received’ (v.12). It is ‘by’ grace but ‘through’ (Greek: dia) faith that we are saved (Eph. 2:8).” (Chosen But Free, p.60)
Born from Above.
Not born of blood, nor born of the will of the flesh, nor born of the will of man, but...
