Dear
Brother Nuer,
Greetings
from us in Kayel. Pray that every step we take is a measured one and pleasing
in the sight of our great Lord, the only Savior Jesus Christ!
As we are clearing hurdles to a better understanding of the subject of phases of salvation, Wifey and I often come to grapple with certain points that need assistance. We thank God for Bro Sing and his ever willingness to help us.
Wifey, the other day asked as she picked a point from Tom Hagler Jr's 'Rightly Dividing the Truth'.
It sounded like this: Can children of God never be converted and come to faith in their lifetime and yet be saved eternally? Meaning that these people live very ungodly lives till their last breath. Is this just a hypothesis or is there truth? I have yet to read the book.
We
would appreciate it if you could help us here.
Thank
you
In
His Mercy
Ehsan
==========
February
27, 2011, 8:22 PM
Dear Brother Ehsan,
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you and sister Poh King! I pray that you are both in good health and rejoicing in the Lord's goodness to us!
When I mentioned your letter to Brother Jonathan he wanted me to especially pass on his commendations to Sister Wifey for asking about the subject of "unconverted elect". It is a topic which has a variety of meanings and implications which must be carefully defined from Scripture. As I mentioned in my previous email, I am familiar with Brother Tom Hagler from 30 years ago. He is a member of a Primitive Baptist church, and as you are aware, they hold to much the same position on the phases of salvation as we do. But there can be significant differences as well, as I hope to show.
I will attempt to explain our understanding of this topic with the Scriptures that support it. Please read through to the end to obtain a complete picture. I have confidence that as you both love the Scriptures that you will find what they say to be both adequate and a blessing.
First, let us understand that the salvation of Jesus Christ is without any human works involved whatsoever. Numerous passages could be used to prove this point. The first chapter of Ephesians, verses 3-12 are some of my favorites to point to the will, purpose and actions of God as the sole source and foundation for our salvation to heaven & eternal glory. The fact that a man's ability to come to Jesus is only because he was given to Him by the Father is elegantly stated by our Lord in John 6:37-40, 44-47. The inability of man to come to Jesus without being given the ability to see and hear spiritual matters is plainly taught in John 8:42-47. The bottom line is that salvation of the elect is wholly and completely the work of the Godhead and dependent on no works of man.
Think back to the Calvinistic scheme of salvation for a moment. It depends on the salvation of Jesus Christ on the cross to be communicated to the elect and the elect to respond to it in faith in order for that salvation to be real & actual, correct? Yet the Scriptures clearly point out that belief in Jesus is a work (John 6:28-29). James goes further to say that faith that does not have works is a dead thing that cannot profit (James 2:17-20)! And this same system, Calvinism, has to come up with a separate system of salvation for certain classes of people, those incapable of rational thought (infants dying in infancy and mentally handicapped individuals). This scheme must have multiple means of salvation, some dependent on God alone while the larger portion are dependent on many men (the sinner to believe, the minister or witness to present the gospel, etc.)
One of the problems of Calvinism is that it is confused on the terms used in Scripture. Regeneration and conversion (at least in the Presbyterian group I was raised in) are said to be different aspects of the same thing. This makes the new birth dependent on hearing & believing the Gospel. Other high Calvinists understand the terms represent different events and say that there can be some gap in timing between the regeneration and conversion of an individual. Yet they say that both events, regeneration and conversion, will of necessity occur to ALL of the elect at some point in their life. (This position retains the difficulties with infants dying in infancy and the mentally handicapped, not to mention the men & women who have never heard the Gospel at all.)
Now, consider 1Corinthians 10:1-5. Here we have Paul's account of the nation of Israel that came out of Egypt with Moses. His purpose in chapter nine has been to instruct the brethren at Corinth on the importance of living a dedicated, holy life in serving the LORD. He now points to their Jewish fathers as an example of men who did not do that and were severely punished by God for their sins. These men heard God's message of blessing preached to them repeatedly, and their doubting of the LORD caused them to miss going into the promised land of blessing. They ended up wandering in the desert for 40 years until all of them died except for two faithful men, Joshua and Caleb. Notice carefully the wording Paul uses in verses 3 & 4: "And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." They were partakers of Jesus Christ, yet their carcasses dropped in the desert because of their unbelief. These were unconverted elect. They were partakers of Jesus Christ spiritually, but they were not converted and obedient to God's commandments.
Another example is a portion of the Jewish nation at the time of the apostles' ministry in establishing the New Testament church. Romans 11:28 says of them, "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes." Here we have Jews, like Paul before the Lord blinded him on the road to Damascus. They are open enemies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet Paul tells us that they are elect and beloved. This is an instance of God allowing a portion of His elect children at that time to remain in blindness of the truth of the Gospel. This is a second major example of unconverted elect that we see in Scripture.
Beyond this, there are numerous examples of elect children of God whose conversion, their belief and obedience to the commandments of God, was spotty and incomplete.
Consider Lot. The Old Testament Scriptures leave him in a sad state in Genesis 19. His married children laughed at his exhortation to leave Sodom and Gomorrah and were destroyed in the fire of God that fell upon that wicked place. His wife didn't obey the angels' instructions and was turned into a pillar of salt. We last see him in a cave with his two unmarried daughters getting him drunk so they can bear children by him. And those children would become thorns in the sides of God's covenant people all their days, Moab and Ammon. If it weren't for Peter's testimony that he was a just man (2Peter 2:7), what would we have considered him? How much perseverance did he demonstrate?
Consider Samson. The Spirit of God would come upon him to do mighty deeds. But throughout his life, he only sought pagan women in clear violation of God's commands. And at the end, it cost him his eyesight and his life in the temple of the Philistines. Yet he made it to the hall of faith (Hebrews 11:32).
Consider the Corinthians. Because of their abuse of the Lord's supper, many of them were weak, many were sick, and many had died (1Corinthians 11:30). Yet Paul addressed this body as "them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus" (1Corinthians 1:2).
Consider the Whore of Rome. We see in the prophecy of Mystery Babylon the Great the Roman Catholic Church and its persecution of God's saints under the power of Satan in Revelation 17. Yet during her fall, a voice calls from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4). This indicates that there are some blinded children of God even in the midst of papal Rome.
From these passages and more that could be brought to bear, we see that there can be elect children of God who are unconverted or whose conversion is partial & incomplete, sometimes grossly so. This testifies to the fact that the Lord is sovereign in ALL aspects of our salvation, including our deliverance from error, which conversion is. We must be grateful to Him for the fact that we have seen and believed His glorious Gospel of peace! From that standpoint we and many of the Primitive Baptists such as Brother Tom Hagler are in agreement.
BUT this is not all that Scripture has to say on the matter. The fact is that Jesus Christ and His apostles, including our beloved apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, never used this fact as some Primitive Baptists do. Everywhere that Paul and the other apostles preached, they commanded men to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and follow His commandments. The only way by which a man can know if he is elect of God is by his belief in the Gospel and continuance therein.
What kind of nature does the Scripture indicate that we receive at the New Birth, in regeneration? It is a nature like Jesus Christ, correct? It is a new man, a holy man (Eph 4:24), made in the image of the Holy God of heaven (Col 3:10). As such, it desires to walk in holiness, even as He walked (1Peter 1:15-16). Whereas the old man was hateful and hating others (Titus 3:3), the new man loves and walks in love (Eph 5:1-2). There is a change in desire and action from carnal to spiritual, a new orientation from earthly to heavenly. And whether Paul or Peter, the message of God's ministers exhorts that all of the godly character traits should be actively made a part of the believer's life (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10-14; 2Peter 1:5-10) and that he grows in all of those traits.
The growth in grace, the active putting on of the personality traits of Jesus Christ, is the proof of election (1Thessalonians 1:4-10; 2Peter 1:10). Good works do not make a you a child of God. But they give evidence to others and assurance to your own soul that you are a child of God. And the design of God is that there is no fine line between the elect & the damned. There is a night and day difference between the two.
So,
while we declare that God is TOTALLY sovereign in the salvation of the soul and
the examples of unconverted or partially converted elect testify to God's grace
in salvation, we just as boldly proclaim that God's children who are blessed to
hear the Gospel preached are under divine obligation to believe, profess and
obey that Gospel in holy lives. Those
who hear the Gospel and refuse to obey it we do NOT say "are unconverted
elect". They give evidence of being
children of the devil, bound for the lake of fire. The only way ANYONE WHOSE NAME IS NOT
SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED IN SCRIPTURE knows that they are an elect, blood-washed,
heaven-bound child of God is to the degree that he loves God and keeps God's
commandments.
Dear brother, I hope that this is concise but adequate enough and addresses your question. If not, please let me know and I will be happy to go into more detail on any particular point. I would also suggest that you look at this outline entitled "No Fine Line" which can be found here: http://www.letgodbetrue.com/sermons/pdf/no-fine-line.pdf It deals with the assurance of eternal life and shows from Scripture in great detail, what I have given only a small tithe to, concerning gospel obedience as the proof of election. In particular, it shows that there is a great difference between the life of a child of God and that of a worldling.
One of the joys of this for me is the reconciliation of God's sovereignty & man's responsibility. I will be in heaven because of the purpose, plan and work of God ALONE with NO addition or cooperation from me or any other man. God and Jesus Christ will obtain ALL the glory for my salvation! But the only way that you, I or any other man can KNOW that I am one of God's children is by me diligently following His commandments and living a holy, loving life as He defines it. The more godly I live, the more assurance I have that I am one of His elect. It is a system of doctrine where God gets the maximum glory and we have the highest incentive to lead holy lives!
Thank
you, dear brother, for the opportunity to share this blessed truth with
you. Please let me know if there is more
that I can do to assist your understanding of God's precious word. My prayers are with Brother Sing as he opens
God's precious word before you to rightly divide the word of truth, and that
you and the brethren in KL, like the noble Bereans, search the Scriptures to
confirm the truth and then hold fast to that which is true!
Your brother in Christ, Neur
