Gospel Means and Synergism
STATEMENT
I believe you Primitive Baptists confuse the preaching of the gospel as a synergistic offer of salvation and the efficacious proclamation of the gospel that carries the power to create faith. The first is will-worship heresy. But to believe that the gospel preaching is the instrument by which God brings faith does not necessitate believing in synergism. The gospel is “the power of God unto salvation,” (Romans 1:16) meaning the message carries with it the power to give life/faith to dead sinners. The hearer is either intended to believe or not according to election. To some it is life unto life and to others death unto death.
RESPONSE
My commentary on your statement follows:
“I believe you confuse the preaching of the gospel as a synergistic offer of salvation and the efficacious proclamation of the gospel that carries the power to create faith.”
In all candor, I don’t think that Primitive Baptists confuse these two issues. We just flatly deny that the preaching of the gospel carries “the power to create faith” as you put it. The bible teaches that the gospel reveals the righteousness of God “from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17). In other words, one must have the capacity of faith born of regeneration (the ears to hear if you will) in order to receive gospel truth. The Lord Jesus Christ taught this when He said, “He who is of God heareth God’s words.” (John 8:47) In that statement, the Lord is reiterating the Nicodemian Precept, “except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) He is teaching that God’s immediate, sovereign, life-giving act of regeneration precedes the exercise of faith or any other spiritual capacity on the part of man.
“The first is will-worship heresy.”
Primitive Baptists regard all forms of well-meant offerism (WMO) as perversions of the gospel. By WMO I mean any teaching that regards the gospel as a sincere offer of eternal life that is extended to all of humanity. We know this cannot be the case because Christ did not die for all of humanity (John 10:11,26). It follows that offering eternal life to those for whom there is no possibility of salvation casts God as a house set against himself. The WMO is a grave error that leads to a host of others like it. I doubt there’s any dispute between us in that regard.
“To believe that the gospel is to be preached as the instrument by which God brings faith does not necessitate believing in synergism.”
Our objection is not primarily based on synergism, but rather on the bible’s testimony that a natural (unregenerate) man is incapable of receiving gospel truth. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14). If the gospel is, in fact, the very means whereby man’s inability is overcome, then Paul’s statement is irrelevant. What’s more, to insist that the gospel is instrumental in regeneration is to believe, “except a man see the kingdom of God, he cannot be born again.” This is precisely the opposite of what the Lord Jesus Christ taught and that should give any Christian with a high regard for the word of God an occasion to reconsider their beliefs. It’s been well said that, “What is often taught is often wrong.”
“The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, meaning the message carries with it the power to give life/faith to dead sinners.”
What you seem to imply by “the gospel is the power of God unto salvation” is that it means “the gospel is the instrument of God unto regeneration.” We flatly reject that idea. The gospel is not a life-giving instrument. It is a light giving instrument, a revelation to those who have the ears to hear (i.e., the regenerate). It is “the power of God unto salvation” in that it testifies of God’s power in accomplishing the eternal salvation of His chosen people by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ according to the scriptures (I Corinthians 15:3-4).
“The hearer is either intended to believe or not. All according to election”
Our beliefs are probably more similar in this regard, so I won’t belabor the possible differences here, but will simply state that we believe, based on the doctrine of total depravity, that belief of the gospel message is utterly impossible, apart from God’s preceding, eternal-life-giving act of regeneration. At the end of the day, we stand firm on the notion that regeneration precedes the exercise of evangelical faith in time. That’s because man’s abject depravity makes it such that gospel reception via the capacity of faith is impossible until after regeneration has occurred, thus by the time anyone has the faith to have the righteousness of God revealed to them in the gospel (Romans 1:17), they have already passed from death unto life (John 5:24). Thus, whatever else might be said of their gospel reception, it was too late to the party to ever account for one’s vital salvation in time.
“To some we are life unto life and to others death unto death.”
Correct. Some hear it and believe it because they are already alive and have the ears to hear. Others lack this capacity.
SECOND STATEMENT
Please correct my understanding of your position. I believe i hear you saying individuals are regenerated in a "vacuum" by the direct supernatural imparting of life apart from any ordained means. To which faith may or may not come?
RESPONSE
Let’s take start with your first statement:
“I believe i hear you saying individuals are regenerated in a ‘vacuum’ by the direct supernatural imparting of life apart from any ordained means “
Not exactly. I don’t believe that anyone is regenerated in a “spiritual vacuum.” Indeed, it is impossible to even prove the existence of a “spiritual vacuum” without denying the omni-presence of God. The domain of regeneration is defined in scripture by the Lord Jesus Christ when he said, “the wind bloweth where it listeth.” (John 3:8) Jesus is making the case that God is utterly free to impart his Spirit to whomever he wills without regard to any limitations in this world whatsoever. Indeed, would God be sovereign in salvation if such limitations existed? "Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save." (Isaiah 59:1) Given the omnipresence of God, I would assert that there is therefore no such thing in our world as a “spiritual vacuum” and thus all regeneration occurs within the domain of God’s presence.
It is true that we believe that regeneration is “direct” or without mediation (i.e., without the use of means such as gospel preaching, sacraments, baptism, etc.). In other words neither gospel preaching, nor bibles, nor churches, nor any other instrumental means are required for God to mediate the grace of regeneration to one of his chosen people. The testimony of scripture is absolutely filled with Old Testament examples of such that are too numerous to recount (Seth, Enoch, Job, Abraham, etc.).
“To which faith may or may not come?”
Faith is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and thus all of God’s regenerate people have the God given capacity of faith, just as the Old Testament saints did. All God-given faith is, in fact, faith in Christ. But we do not believe that all of God’s people in this world encounter the gospel of Jesus Christ in their lifetimes such that they have the opportunity to exercise evangelical faith and experience the joy and comfort that attends a proper understanding of precisely how Jesus saved his people from their sins (Matt 1:21). Job said, “I know it is so of a truth but HOW should man be just with God?” (Job 9:2) Had he known the explicit New Testament gospel (I Corinthians 15:3-4) he would have known the answer to that question.
- Elder Daniel Samons