Converted
QUOTE
If a person professes faith in Christ and yet falls away or makes no progress in godliness, it does not mean that he has lost his salvation. It reveals that he was never truly converted. (Paul Washer)
RESPONSE
I was recently tasked with responding to this quote from Paul Washer posted in a facebook theology group. To do so requires great care in understanding how the terminology he uses is defined. Lordship Salvation Calvinists such as Washer often use CONVERTED as a synonym for REGENERATED. Perhaps more accurately, they insist that there is no REGENERATION without CONVERSION. Stated another way, the implication is, “If someone is not CONVERTED then they are not REGENERATED.” If Washer is using these terms in that way, then his statement is categorically false.
REGENERATION (the new birth) is the immediate impartation of spiritual life / eternal salvation to man (John 5:25). Man has no participatory involvement in that event as it is a work of God alone (Ephesians 2:1). The REGENERATE are in possession of eternal life based on God's sovereign mercy and not based on anything they have ever done.
CONVERSION is the proper motion of the REGENERATE under gospel instruction. It is a matter of absolute biblical certainty that a man can be REGENERATE and yet UNCONVERTED. Peter was a regenerate man as affirmed by Jesus Christ in Matthew 16:16-17 (per John's affirmation in I John 5:1). Yet he stood in need of CONVERSION in some respects per the Lord's own testimony (Matthew 16:21-23, Luke 22:31-32).
If we employ the proper definitions of REGENERATION and CONVERSION above, rather than improperly conjoining them, then Washer's statement is true. When CONVERSION is properly defined, this statement is affirming:
"If a person professes faith in Christ and yet falls away or makes no progress in godliness, it does not mean that he has lost his salvation, it reveals that he is wrong and stands in need of the correction of James 2, because he is not living in a way that is consistent with his profession of faith.”
That is a correct statement. It is precisely what James has in mind when he speaks of "dead" faith (James 2:14ff). Notice, he is addressing "brethren" (v14) and his subject is the "showing" of faith (v18). He is speaking of an external manifestation of one’s belief that arises from their actions. He does not suggest that those who are "without works" have no faith. Indeed a man who has no faith certainly does not have dead faith. Rather this dead faith condition intends the state of living in hypocrisy by acting in a way that is inconsistent with one’s profession. This dead faith designs a failure to utilize God-given faith such that one’s life is not profitable to the kingdom of God (v14).
Many Washerite zealots press an improper understanding of it upon the naive who do not have a firm grasp of James’s dead-faith lesson. It takes the form of telling the brethren, "You're not REALLY eternally saved." Ironically, when pressing this accusation upon others, Washer proves himself to be unconverted with respect to this truth. Were he to apply his doctrine to his own error, it would find him NEVER TRULY converted, and raise the question: “Is Washer eternally saved?” When Christians play the UNCONVERTED = NOT ETERNALLY SAVED game, the fact of remaining sin will reveal many ways that we each stand in need of CONVERSION, and thus none of us are eternally saved. But when our terms are correctly defined, we see that eternal salvation is not a function of our personal performance in righteousness, but rather is based entirely on the work of Christ. Nevertheless, we all stand in need of conversion in many ways and this is part and parcel of the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ.
May God bless our studies and understanding of his word.
- Elder Daniel Samons