Stuart Olyott's article on the subject of mediate regeneration in the December 2009 issue of the Banner of truth Magazine, sounds a timely warning to those of us who think that our 'performance' is what counts. Onee of the most precious times for me as a preacher is the pre-service prayer meeting where the church presents my weaknesses to God and petitions the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts.
I wonder, however, if in arguing for a distinction between the influence of the Spirit and the influence of the word, he over-exegetes the Greek of Acts 16:14, by writing "in Greek this verse reads like this: 'And a certain woman named Lydia ... was hearing us, whose heart the Lord opened by a single act, with the result that she heeded to the things being spoken by Paul.' I see nothing wrong with it as a possible translation but wonder if Luke intended us to analyse him so closely. He tells us nothing about the opening of her heart, whether it was a single short act or a single long act (she was it would seem a God-fearer) beyond that the Lord did it. I am also reminded that from the beginning God accomplished his work by his word ' By the word of the Lord the heavens were made and all their host by the breath of his mouth.' (Psalm 33.6)>
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