WERE THE O.T. SAINTS REGENERATED?
And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be TURNED INTO ANOTHER MAN. 1 Sam. 10:6
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were BORN. . . OF GOD. – John 1:11 - 13
. . . Except a man be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is BORN of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye MUST BE BORN again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?-- John 3:5-10
Now WE, brethren, AS ISAAC WAS,ARE the children of promise, But AS THEN he that was BORN AFTER the FLESHpersecuted him that was BORN AFTER THE SPIRIT, EVEN SO IT IS NOW. -- Gal. 4:28, 29
It would be an act of futility to try to prove that the Holy Spirit was not active in the O.T. and even in the O.T. economy during the gospels. The fact that the Holy Spirit was upon, fell on, was within certain O.T. saints (for whatever reason) and even filled these saints can be discovered with a simple run of references. Still, the Comforter had not yet come or had been received until John 20, in a permanent way, as far as indwelling and sealing. Perhaps, this was probably due to the fact that Jesus Christ had not yet died and been resurrected and the O.T. saints must temporarily reside in a temporary paradise, which some call Abraham’s bosom., and the way into the holiest was not yet available to them. But the question whether the question of whether the O.T. and gospel saints were regenerated or not is a bit more thorny. Still, if they were saved in the gospels and their names were written in heaven, we might well ponder this question in light of the above passages. Why was Nicodemus told that he MUST be born again if it was not possible at that time? Why was he scolded for not knowing about the birth of the Spirit?
Dispensationalism
We admit that it might be nice to be able to handle all the difficult passages of the Bible by "dispensating" them away with dispensational pat answers. Such less than honest solutions to problem texts, however, leave many of us old timers with a severe nagging in the inner man.Dispensationalism rightly distinguishes several outstanding methods in which God deals with man as He progressively accomplishes His will and makes His will known to man by progressive revelation, making men responsible to whatever He has revealed to them. Unlike covenant theology, dispensationalism does not confuse Israel, her ordinances, orher covenants with the Church of Jesus Christ. However correct dispensationalism is in comparison to non-dispensationalism, it does NOTdemand several plans of salvation because of its several dispensations.
While God's progressive revelations to man differ throughout the Bible, there is only ONE PLAN of salvation, and that salvation is always "of the Lord," by His grace, and throughFAITH. That salvation always has ONE and only ONE BASIS, whatever the Testament, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, whether known or unknown, declared or not declared, revealed or not revealed. God’s plan of salvation, over time, involved incomplete revelation, unfulfilled events, and several different circumstances in which God operates.
Someone has said that the Baptists would have been better off, if they had never heard the word "dispensationalism."Certainly, the variations among dispensationalists are myriad, and the formula for rightly dividing the word might be more elusive than the long sought alchemist's formula for making gold. While we do not demand that our particular dispensational view be followed by dotted I’s and crossed T's, we do expect to call attention to the current tendency to "too sharply divide the word," resulting in "wrongly dividing the word of truth." Admittedly, God’s salvation plan has been progressively been modified and updated. The details of God’s salvation plan vary and differ from dispensation to dispensation in the way that men understand and receive it. Nevertheless, faith always receives it, in whatever form and in whatever revelation God gives men at any particular given time, and men are responsible to that revelation.
Whosoever received Christ in whatever measure Christ was revealed to them, was BORN OF GOD (John 1:13; 1 John 5:2) before or after the cross, whether they trusted in the gospel illustrating sacrifices (types) of the Old Testament, the Promised Seed, the announced Messiah/ Lamb of God, or the declared death, burial, and resurrection of Christ for our sins. The believer's faith was counted for righteousness, regardless of whether Christ's death, burial, and resurrection were declared or past, present, or future. Faith saves in the Old Testament, the Gospels, the Book of Acts, the Epistles, andNOW!The time element may have been different, the circumstances may have been different, the revelation may have been different or incomplete, and the dispensation may have been different, but there HAS ALWAYS been a remnant ACCORDING TO THE ELECTION OF GRACE EVEN AS NOW (Rom. 11:4, 5). Righteousness was and is imputed to Jew and Gentile alike (Rom. 4:6-9), and justification of Jew and Gentile alike (in respect to salvation) is ALWAYS by faith–without the deeds of the law (Rom. 3:28-30). The Old Testament saints were somehow joined to the Lord (Isa. 56:6; Jer. 50:5).
The O.T. Change of Heart and Behavior
Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was INthem did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. – 1 Pet 1:11
The Spirit of Christ was even in the O.T. saints somehow to perform certain works It is difficult to understand how anyone could read the Book of Psalms and deny that the "clean heart" (Ps. 51:10), the "pure heart" (Ps. 24:4; Matt. 5:8), and the "upright heart" (Ps. 7:10) could only be produced and be effected by "grace" and "regeneration" of some kind. Otherwise, the Pharisees should not have been expected to make the inside of the cup "clean" as well as the outside, which they were careful to maintain.References from the Psalms and the biblical accounts of the Old Testament SAINTS show their faith, God's grace, and their changed lives and secures for them a place in God's Hall of Fame (Heb. 11). The Old Testament believer was a "SAINT" (Ps. 97:10), a child of God (Ps. 82:6), and he could say "THY WORD HATH QUICKENED ME (Ps. 119:50).
As our text demands, we are children of promise JUST LIKE Isaac, who was “BORN AFTER THE SPIRIT . . ." One may quibble over the prepositions used in these expressions, but the text demands, "EVEN SO IT IS NOW" (Gal. 4:28,29).It is not merely that "grace" came by Jesus Christ (John 1:7) nor that "truth" came by Jesus Christ but that "grace AND truth" combined came by Jesus Christ, the ultimate combined Revelation of God. Grace is clearly on the mind of God from the Book of Genesis onward - in every blood sacrifice, type, and object lesson. Neither grace nor law is removed from each other's dispensation nor any dispensation for that matter. Conscience was not removed from subsequent dispensations. No one has ever been saved by Human Government in that dispensation. Noah found "GRACE" in the eyes of the Lord before he ever built the ark (Gen. 6:8,9). Abraham believed in the Lord and the Lord counted it to him for righteousness (Gen. 15:6; Romans 4:3). Lot's salvation cannot be explained by anything but "grace" (2 Peter 2:7). The outstanding title that characterizes a dispensation does not demand that such outstanding characteristics be removed from later dispensations nor that the outstanding characteristics from later dispensations be absent from prior dispensations.
-- by Herb Evans