1 Peter 1:3 and the rejection of total depravity — God causes regeneration, but faith is not causal

Winger affirms human depravity (all have sinned, none can earn salvation) but rejects Calvinist total depravity, which holds that fallen humans always reject the gospel unless God first regenerates them (regeneration precedes faith). In Calvinism the order is: regeneration → faith → justification. Winger rejects this sequence. His reading of 1 Pet 1:3 ("he has caused us to be born again") is that God indeed causes regeneration — but faith is required, not causal. When a person says "yes" to the gospel, that act of faith does not cause their new birth; God does. Faith is the condition, not the efficient cause. This distinguishes him from Arminian prevenient grace as well — he simply does not see total depravity as requiring either solution.