If it were so natural we’d need to be told not to do it why did it take you so many words to show why we should do something Scripture never tells us to do?
In the New Covenant it is explicitly stated that the "seal" is the Holy Spirit. 2 Cor 1:22, Eph 1:13, 4:30. Since no one has the filling of the Holy Spirit unless they have been regenerated, then it takes regeneration to be sealed into the New Covenant (though water baptism is a "sign", but I haven't seen anyone meld these two facts into their argument).
How would you prove from scripture that no one has the filling of the Holy Spirit unless they have been regenerated? If that were true, why would Hebrews warn about outraging the Spirit of grace and trampling underfoot the blood of the covenant?
Wow, there are so many verses that tie the two together. 1 Cor 2:14, 3:16, 6;11. Galatians 3:2 & 3:14 works good also because one only has "faith" if he has been regenerated. Of course Eph 1:13 mentioned in the first comment is clear "after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise". 1 John 3:24, "And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." (so the Spirit is the proof that Christ is abiding in you). I don't claim to understand the full meaning of Hebrews 6:4-6, but do understand that all men have been affected by the Holy Spirit; it is what keeps the world sane, God's suppression of their evil hearts (common grace). But that is not the same thing as the infilling of the Holy Spirit that only comes at regeneration. It is the seal/earnest that we have been regenerated, that we are elect and that we will see God and be resurrected and fully sanctified.
Eph 1:13 refutes your argument, rather than proving it. The Ephesians received the Spirit _after_ believing. But they only believed because they were first regenerated. So being regenerated and receiving the Spirit cannot be the same thing.
Very good, this is. Long ago in my Reformed Baptist days, the supposedly obvious universalism and individualism of the New Covenant (Jer 31:31-34) was the primary basis upon which I was persuaded to tenaciously hold my Baptist (non-covenantal) view. In our Father's good time He helped me to see Jeremiah 31 in the familial/covenantal light you have elucidated here, but your explanation is by far the best and most thorough I've encountered.
This was fantastic. I have tried to point out the beginning of Jeremiah 31 and Jeremiah 32 to Baptists before, but I was never able to do it as articulately as you did. Fine work Bnonn thank you sir.
If it were so natural we’d need to be told not to do it why did it take you so many words to show why we should do something Scripture never tells us to do?
Because it takes time to reestablish the framework that we have unnaturally discarded. Did you have an actual argument?
In the New Covenant it is explicitly stated that the "seal" is the Holy Spirit. 2 Cor 1:22, Eph 1:13, 4:30. Since no one has the filling of the Holy Spirit unless they have been regenerated, then it takes regeneration to be sealed into the New Covenant (though water baptism is a "sign", but I haven't seen anyone meld these two facts into their argument).
How would you prove from scripture that no one has the filling of the Holy Spirit unless they have been regenerated? If that were true, why would Hebrews warn about outraging the Spirit of grace and trampling underfoot the blood of the covenant?
Wow, there are so many verses that tie the two together. 1 Cor 2:14, 3:16, 6;11. Galatians 3:2 & 3:14 works good also because one only has "faith" if he has been regenerated. Of course Eph 1:13 mentioned in the first comment is clear "after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise". 1 John 3:24, "And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." (so the Spirit is the proof that Christ is abiding in you). I don't claim to understand the full meaning of Hebrews 6:4-6, but do understand that all men have been affected by the Holy Spirit; it is what keeps the world sane, God's suppression of their evil hearts (common grace). But that is not the same thing as the infilling of the Holy Spirit that only comes at regeneration. It is the seal/earnest that we have been regenerated, that we are elect and that we will see God and be resurrected and fully sanctified.
Eph 1:13 refutes your argument, rather than proving it. The Ephesians received the Spirit _after_ believing. But they only believed because they were first regenerated. So being regenerated and receiving the Spirit cannot be the same thing.
Very good, this is. Long ago in my Reformed Baptist days, the supposedly obvious universalism and individualism of the New Covenant (Jer 31:31-34) was the primary basis upon which I was persuaded to tenaciously hold my Baptist (non-covenantal) view. In our Father's good time He helped me to see Jeremiah 31 in the familial/covenantal light you have elucidated here, but your explanation is by far the best and most thorough I've encountered.
This was fantastic. I have tried to point out the beginning of Jeremiah 31 and Jeremiah 32 to Baptists before, but I was never able to do it as articulately as you did. Fine work Bnonn thank you sir.