Beckett examines how salvation operates entirely through God's grace in the believer's union with Christ, drawing on Ephesians 1:3, 1 Corinthians 1:30, and 2 Corinthians 5:17 to demonstrate that all spiritual blessings—wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, and eternal life—are received only through incorporation into Christ. Using the metaphor of grafting a wild branch onto a cultivated root, the author explains that regeneration is God's sovereign work of imparting Christ's new nature to spiritually dead sinners, enabling them to perceive and respond to the Gospel through an effectual, irresistible divine call that cannot be declined. This monergistic understanding of salvation emphasizes that God alone accomplishes regeneration, calling, justification, and glorification (Romans 8:30) through the wonder of His irresistible grace.
What does the Bible say about grace in salvation?
The Bible teaches that all of our salvation is by grace, God's favor upon His undeserving people, as seen in Ephesians 1:3.
Ephesians 1:3, 1 Corinthians 1:30
How do we know regeneration is true?
Regeneration is confirmed in Scripture as the act of God that transforms us into new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
2 Corinthians 5:17
Why is being united with Christ important for Christians?
Being united with Christ is crucial as it grants access to all spiritual blessings and our salvation (Ephesians 1:3).
Ephesians 1:3, 1 Corinthians 1:30
United, Regenerated & Called
Chapters 4-5-6
All of our salvation is by Grace, God’s favor upon His undeserving flock! Awhile back I studied for a time about our vital union in Christ and in this book HH discusses this in the chapter titled “United with Christ by Grace” showing us that this grace operates upon us from God through Jesus Christ in the totality of our salvation. We have all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3) and they are in Christ Himself. To receive those blessings we must be united with Him, we must be incorporated in Him. We need all these spiritual blessings to become and to remain children of God.
Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1 Cor 1:30). Christ is our peace (Eph 2:14), in Him is our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin, (1 Col 1:19; 2:9) and in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3). Jesus tells us that He is the bread of life and those in Him shall never hunger (John 6:35, 48) and that if we eat of this bread, we shall live forever (John 6:51). He is also the water of life, the light of the world and He is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6). These are some of the spiritual blessings we receive by Grace when we are united with Christ.
HH uses the analogy of the tree, the root and the branches to bring forth the truth of regeneration by Grace. When we are united with Christ he says we are a “branch of the wild tree of the guilty and corrupt human race. We have a wild nature and bring forth wild and corrupt fruit. And Christ is that new, cultivated trunk, the root of a new tree. When that dead and wild sinner is united with, ingrafted into Christ, the very first result of that union is that the new nature of and life of Christ is imparted to that corrupt sinner” - HH
In regeneration we become principally renewed and spiritually another man as the Scripture tells us: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new” –II Corinthians 5:17
Regeneration is the believer’s first resurrection, when we are raised from spiritual death to spiritual life and is in no respect dependent upon man, it is ALL a work of God. Being spiritually dead we have no eye to see, no ear to hear, no mind to discern, no will to long and to choose the light and we cannot hunger and thirst for righteousness.
“Regeneration is that change in man which empowers him to see and to seek the kingdom of God” –HH
He calls us by His Grace and it is through this call that we, as regenerated believers, come to hear the Gospel, the power of God unto salvation. It is then that we hear with the ears to hear, we hear the voice of our Shepherd. It is when we see with the eyes to see and are no longer blind. He enlightens our mind so that we discern and understand the things of the Kingdom of God and this calling is all of work of God through Christ. It is a divine call with authority and power for it is not a call or invitation that we can accept or decline at the whim of our wills, it is always effectual.
“The elect hear the voice of Jesus say to them personally, “Come unto me, and I will give you rest!” And they come to Him and do find rest. They hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and know that they are of His sheep. And they follow Him, and He gives them eternal life’ and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of His hand. For the gifts of God and the calling are without repentance. For “whom he did predestinate, then he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Romans 8:30) - HH
We are called by irresistible grace, O the wonder of it!
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