Hi C.M.H,

Your questions are certainly clear and reasonable. I think I just need to fine tune my previous answer a bit.

If God were to present Himself to you without first "working in you" (regeneration/born again), you would never accept Him.

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Joh 3:3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Tit 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit . . .

Php 2:12 . . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Php 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Act 16:14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

Act 18:27 (speaking of Apollos) . . . When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed . . .

Even faith and repentance are given to the elect by God's grace This was true even in the Old Testament.

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Deu 29:4 But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

Deu 30:6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Act 11:18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."

Php 1:29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake . . .

2Ti 2:24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,
2Ti 2:25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth . . .


I think if we're willing to let Scripture speak to us, we can see that it is God's work alone to open our hearts, give us eyes to see and ears to hear, faith to believe and even repentance. Since it is God who grants these things *monergistically, none of them can be seen as a good work on our part. I hope this helps.

*Monergism in Christian theology is the theory that the Holy Spirit alone can act to bring about the conversion of people. - Wikipedia

Jim

Jud 1:3 . . . contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.