# Preparatory grace to regeneration?



## fralo4truth (May 18, 2010)

Hi friends. I have a question. I've been doing some studying lately in the _ordo salutis_ of regeneration. Now I'm wanting to research as to whether there is preparatory work to regeneration. What led to this was an exchange of thought with one who claimed that the opening of Lydia's heart was not equivalent to regeneration, but a mere preparation for it. He also stated that Spurgeon felt the same way. I have always thought it was speaking of her regeneration, and her reception of the gospel message was her conversion with essentially no time separating the two.

Could you all refer me to any sources which treat of whether there is preparation to regeneration? Verses of scripture? Books? Articles? If there is preparation, what does this do to the _ordo salutis_? Must new steps be added to it, or possibly rearranged?

Thank you.


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## Kiffin (May 18, 2010)

Schreiner - Does Scripture Teach Prevenient Grace in the Wesleyan Sense

A Response to the Arminian Doctrine of Prevenient Grace


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## rbcbob (May 18, 2010)

Article on Preparationism here

The Notion of Preparatory Grace in the Puritans


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## Semper Fidelis (May 20, 2010)

Kuyper has a excellent treatment of what he refers to as "preparatory grace" in work on the Holy Spirit. It echoes portions of Augustine's confessions.

Kuyper's point, and I agree with him, is that when a person is chosen to be a vessel of mercy it is a choice in eternity and the whole person's life is in the Hands of the Potter. This does not imply a prevenient grace so much as a notion that God Providentially governs a man's life in such a way that He is useful to Him when He eventually converts the person.

I fear the problem that many have with God's actions is that they can only thank God for extraordinary things (miracles, signs, healings, etc) and not for ordinary things that God does. When you read Calvin on Providence, you begin to realize why Romans 1:19 points out that man is ungrateful to His Creator because everything comes from His hand.

For Augustine, then, when you read his Confessions, you'll read him thanking God for the milk in his mother's breasts, the reproof of his schoolmasters, and his academic training. In brief, Augustine thanks God for everything that was used of the Creator in Providence to bring him where he is today. He didn't chalk all that time up as "lost" or outside of the grace of God but as clay in the Potter's hands.

Consequently, as Kuyper refers to Preparatory Grace, the idea is one of God Providentially ordering a person's life, even before conversion, to equip him intellectually and dispositionally for whatever work the Creator has for that Saint at a later time. He restrains some from sin and equips some with incredible intellectual talent.

The Apostle Paul is a perfect example. Trained a Pharisee of the Pharisees, his academic and religious preparation were powerful tools once re-directed by a regenerated mind.


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## Semper Fidelis (May 20, 2010)

Here's the Chapter from Kuyper's _Work of the Holy Spirit_:


> Third Chapter.
> PREPARATORY GRACE.
> 
> 
> ...


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## Wayne (May 20, 2010)

rbcbob said:


> Article on Preparationism here
> 
> The Notion of Preparatory Grace in the Puritans


 
What a co-inkey-dink. I just started reading that article last night. Great minds think alike...


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