S.T.Ranger said:
So I would present my position as agreeing with "regeneration before faith," but not regeneration before believing.
The two statements mean the exact same thing.
I diagree: just because someone believes doesn't mean they exercise faith, nor does it mean that they are exercising belief in The Faith which was not available to men under the Law, or in any Age prior to the formalized Law.
Devils do not have faith.
Faith is a result of belief, and while I dogmatically assert that no man can believe in their natural condition I equally assert that no man can believe until God enlightens their mind.
And it is within that sphere of ministry of God (the Comforter in this Age) that men do in fact make a decision as to whether they will exercise faith in The Faith.
Throughout the Gospels and Epistles men are charged with the task of believing. That cannot be erased from Scripture.
Regeneration is bestowed on those that believe. Belief precedes Regeneration.
And Regeneration is the result of the Work of Christ, and to impose that into the Old Testament is simply a mistake, because Scripture denies that teaching:
Hebrews 9:12-17 King James Version
12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
As I said before (and I know you'll be very interested to hear this again), when men today debate whether men are justified by faith alone or justified by faith and works, they substitute justification with Eternal Redemption.
There is a big difference.
So then we see that in a temporal context it equally true that men are justified by faith alone and by faith and works. No contradiction arises in Scripture because when we are speaking in an eternal context God has made it very clear that Eternal Redemption was obtained by Jesus Christ and specifically through His Blood (Death).
Ephesians 2:8-10 King James Version
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
It is unfortunate that most make the mistake of seeking to justify the doctrine of salvation by faith through grace, when God has made it clear that men will only ever be saved by His Grace.
That is, we are saved by grace through faith, not saved by faith through grace.
The distinction seems nominal, but I assure you they are not.
God bless.