"The instrumentality employed is the gospel — the truth of God. This a controverted point. Some (Hardshells and Hyperists - SG) argue that God renews the soul without the intervention of means. I think differently. Observe the following passages: "In Christ Jesus have I begotten you through the gospel." "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." "The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." It seems to me that the first three of these Scriptures prove positively the instrumentality of divine truth in regeneration, and the last passage indirectly establishes the same point; for if the Word of God is the instrument which the Spirit employs, why does he not employ it in regeneration?
[p. 167] Can any one assign a good reason? There is a sense in which we are born of the Spirit of God, and also a sense in which we are born of the Word of God. The agency of the Spirit and the instrumentality of the Word, are indicated by the two forms of expression. God uses means in the natural world, and why should He act on a different principle in the moral? He does not. The gift of the Bible, and the institution of the gospel ministry, prove that he does not. I suppose the Spirit of God, in regenerating the heart, makes use of truth previously lodged in the understanding. The Word of God presents the motives which the same Agent employs in influencing the heart. The Spirit alone can render the means effectual. What can means do without an agent to use them?"
[From J. M. Pendleton, Short Sermons on Important Subjects, 1859. This book is from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary Library, Wake Forest, NC via ILL through Boone County Public Library, Burlington, KY. - Jim Duvall]
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