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Originally Posted by Grymir  Thats a good question. Making alive is the same as regeneration. As to the causal/temporal relationship, in that passage, actually in the next verse, it talks about nailing them to His cross. So I would assume that the forgiveness of sins in that verse is temporally tied to the cross. But the sticky part is that we were chosen before the foundation of the world. But regenerated when we exist. This then turns into the order of salvation question (ordo Salutis). In the Reformed camp, the ordo salutis is 1) election, 2) predestination, 3) gospel call 4) inward call 5) regeneration, 6) conversion (faith & repentance), 7) justification, 8) sanctification, and 9) glorification. (Rom 8:29-30)
I won't even mention the arminian (Heretical) camp. I hope this helps and not confuses you. God Bless P.s. the order is logical and not necessarily temporal |
Right. I was aware of the Ordo.
For further clarification, however, it seems in this passage that being dead in sins is in relation to our guilt of sin, and thus to be "made alive" is caused by the forgiveness. It appears that our deadness or our non-deadness, in this passage, is related to how we stand as guilty or not guilty in terms of our "sins." Thus, if thats the case, "being alive" means not guilty of your sins. This, however, does not seem to be the normal understanding of being "born from above." That is, when one talks about regeneration it usually carries the connotation of receiving a "divine nature" new "desires," the "Spirit," and the like; however here, it appears that being dead or alive is contingent only on our relation judicially to our sins - which leads to my original question of why we should or should not view this as speaking directly to "regeneration" (with its theological nuances).