The Gospel and Regeneration
STATEMENT
The Gospel message is something God uses to bring his people to him. It does not save, God alone saves, but he gives his people the joy of participating in the salvation of others by spreading the Gospel. With what I’ve heard from Primitive Baptists, they make it sound like someone could be worshiping the god of stepladders in a Shinto temple and be regenerated without ever having heard anything of Christ up to that point, and possibly live out their lives never hearing the Word. (Anonymous)
RESPONSE
I suspect this reaction is shared by many upon hearing what Primitive Baptists believe the bible to teach. Let’s dive into each statement more closely.
The Gospel message is something God uses to bring his people to him.
I don’t disagree with this, provided one properly defines what is meant by “bringing his people to him” and provided they understand that not all of God’s elect family are “brought” in this manner. First off, “bringing his people to him” does NOT mean regenerating them. Indeed, they must be regenerate in order to receive the gospel message (John 3:3, I Corinthians 2:14, Psalm 10:4). Without faith, the gospel is incapable of revealing the righteousness of God, because the gospel reveals this “from faith TO FAITH.” (Romans 1:17)
That said, it is certain that the gospel does “bring… people to him” in the sense of revealing the righteousness of God (Romans 1:17), teaching them of the perfect intercession of Christ (Romans 8:31-39), and telling them of the gospel mechanics whereby their salvation was won by Christ (I Corinthians 15:3-4, II Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 1:3, 9:12, 10:10-14). So, the gospel is instrumental in instruction, not regeneration, because all gospel instruction presumes a spiritually living subject as its beneficiary. Paul said it best, “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:” (I Timothy 1:10). The gospel is light – it is truth – it is information. It does not bring life and immortality to someone. It brings the LIGHT of that truth to them so that they may find rest and comfort in that affirmation.
It does not save, God alone saves, but he gives his people the joy of participating in the salvation of others by spreading the Gospel.
Man plays absolutely no participatory role in the regeneration of God’s people. We know this is true for the preceding reasons, but also because all gospel ministry is a form of mediation, and there is one mediator between God and men in the matter of eternal salvation, the man Christ Jesus (I Timothy 2:5). If a gospel minster must mediate gospel truth to someone in order for them to be regenerated, then there are TWO mediators between God and man in the critical path to eternal salvation.
We experience the joy of telling God’s sheep about their savior and seeing them come to a knowledge of that truth, but our preaching has NOTHING to do with imparting eternal life to them. Rather it brings life and immortality to LIGHT. (II Timothy 1:10).
With what I’ve heard from Primitive Baptists, they make it sound like someone could be worshiping the god of stepladders (or whatever) in a Shinto temple and be regenerated without ever having heard anything of Christ up to that point, and possibly live out their lives never hearing the Word.
Yes. That is exactly correct. Perhaps putting that in a biblical context would be helpful. One could be Abraham sitting in Ur selling idols when he hears an immediate call from God to leave (Genesis 12). Or be the apostle Paul confronted on the road to Damascus while in a state of abject, murderous rebellion against the church of God (Acts 9). Or one of Rachel’s children, slaughtered by the Roman Army and too young to have any cognitive knowledge of gospel truth, yet able to receive the promises of God based on Christ’s intercession on their behalf (Matthew 2:16-18, Jeremiah 31:15-17). Or one of the innumerable people of every nation who fear God and work righteousness prior to ever hearing a word of Gospel truth spoken to them, who nevertheless “are accepted with Him.” (Acts 10:34-35). Or any of the Old Testament saints who knew nothing of the explicit, New Testament gospel of Jesus Christ as taught in I Corinthians 15:3-4 and II Corinthians 5:21 who had faith (Hebrews 11) and thus were regenerated by God apart from the gospel. There is a LOT of biblical proof for the notion that people are regenerated by God directly (John 5:25) and the gospel plays no role in regeneration. I realize that is contrary to common teaching, and it probably hits like a ton of lead, but when one steps outside of their traditions and presuppositions, and looks directly at the bible, the notion of gospel regeneration vanishes. Even those who want to hold onto gospel regeneration admit that they have to build numerous “exceptions” in order to account for the absence of the gospel in numerous instances. By the way, that is precise what WCF 10.3 does, to cover all the instances where the gospel instrumentality of 10.1 simply does not work. Perhaps that matter is more clear now.
- Elder Daniel Samons