Leighton Flowers, the Quran, the Bible, and Necessary Grace

Leading Provisionist Leighton Flowers of Soteriology 101 created a duststorm on Twitter/X recently with comments about the nature of the Quran and the Bible. Dr. Sean Cole interacts with the Provisionism view of the nature of the gospel appeal and the written Scriptures. They believe the gospel appeal is the supernatural, miraculous intervention that is alone sufficient to enable a positive response to Christ. Instead, the Reformed view understands the need for both Word AND Spirit in regeneration. We distinguish between the efficient cause of regeneration and the instrumental cause. What is the efficient cause? The Holy Spirit. What is the instrumental cause? The Word. The Provisionist perspective does not differentiate between the efficient and instrumental causes of regeneration. It perceives the Word solely as the instrumental cause and does not recognize the need for the Spirit to perform an internal work, which is ultimately the efficient cause of the new birth and the granting of saving faith. The Reformed view maintains that external preaching of the Word of God is necessary so that sinners can hear the gospel. However, this alone is not sufficient. Alongside the external Word, the Holy Spirit must carry out an internal, supernatural work on the dead heart, mind, and will to overcome moral and spiritual inability and bring a person to life. You can purchase Sean’s two books here:   40 Days in Philippians: Finding Joy in Jesus:   https://g3min.org/shop/books/g3press/40-days-in-philippians-finding-joy-in-jesus-sean-cole/   Your Identity in the Trinity: Discovering God’s Grace in the Gospel:  https://rb.gy/yoa223     VISIT OUR WEBSITE:   www.seancole.net     FOLLOW on:   Apple:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/understanding-christianity/id979729949   Spotify:   https://open.spotify.com/show/5F5IniTefWZPu2DjaazxPc?si=c37f71675a6e4321     FOLLOW US ON OUR SOCIALS:   YouTube:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hPVQVCYNLw   Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/sean.cole.16144   Twitter/X:   https://x.com/sdcole