Chapter 31 - Hot Shots Returned (6th Volley)

Regeneration - Freed From Sin

"Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being THEN made free from sin, ye BECAME the servants of righteousness." (Romans 6:16-18)

"But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (vs. 22,23)

This too was always a difficult passage of Scripture to deal with when I was an adherent to the Hardshell "Spirit Alone" and "Direct Voice Speaking" theories of "regeneration," where they disconnect the truth and the gospel from that experience and work. "Neo-Orthodox" Hardshell views on the "new birth" experience does not allow for the idea of any gospel truth being used as a means to effect it, nor for any truth being received or understood savingly in it by the sinner, but the above words of Paul absolutely refute such notions of the Hardshells.

Most PB's will say that this being "freed from sin," this being brought out of servitude to Sin and Satan, and being brought to servitude to Christ and his Righteousness, is what takes place in regeneration. They are correct to do so. It is the Baptistic view of this passage and chapter. It certainly fits the "context" to make it deal with eternal salvation and with what it means to "come to Christ." and to "believe on him." Yes, I agree that Arminianism is also refuted in the passage by the more correct reading that says, "into which you were delivered," denoting that the work of bringing us to gospel truth and faith was a work done in us, though by us, for it is, like all our works, that which God works in us by his grace and power. (See Isaiah 26:12, Philippians 2:13, Hebrews 13: 21)

Here is what Dr. Gill wrote in his commentary upon the passage. And, might I note here that this is the same commentary that the Philadelphia Association of Baptists, the oldest, and the mother of, every Baptist Association in America, recommended that every Baptist minister read and become fully familiar.

"...but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. By "the form of doctrine", is meant the Gospel, which is the "doctrine" of the Scriptures, of Christ and his apostles, and is sound and according to godliness...and "into which they were delivered", as it may be rendered, as into a mould; and so received the impression of it, and were evangelized by it: so such are who have a spirit of Gospel liberty, in opposition to a spirit of bondage; who live by faith on Christ, and not by the works of the law; who derive their comfort from him, and not from anything done by them; whose repentance and obedience are influenced by the grace of God, and who are zealous of good works, without any dependence on them. This form of doctrine was "obeyed" by them; by which is meant, not a mere obedience to the ordinances of the Gospel; nor a bare hearing of the doctrines of it, and giving an assent unto them; but an embracing of them by faith for themselves, so as to lay hold on Christ in them, submit to his righteousness therein revealed, and be willing to be saved by him, and him alone, in his own way; and this is the obedience of faith: the reason why faith is expressed by obedience is, because faith receives truth upon the veracity of God, and not upon the dictates of carnal reason; and is always more or less attended with external obedience to the will of God; and that is rightly performed only by faith. And this obedience did not lie in words, or proceed on mercenary views, and in an hypocritical way; but was "from the heart"; and was real and sincere: and good reason there is why a hearty, cheerful, and voluntary obedience should be yielded to t he Gospel; since it is from God; Christ is the substance of it; it is truth, and the word of our salvation."

The Old Baptist, Dr. John Gill, believed what all Baptists believed, as evidenced in their stated Confessions and Articles of Faith, prior to that time in Baptist history that Brother B. H. Carroll, Jr. called "the rise of the Hardshells."

By using the same Hardshell "logic" here, on this passage, that they use elsewhere, we would have to say that the Roman Christians were not "freed from sin" by Christ but by Paul and those who brought them that "form of doctrine"! They have argued that if Paul begat the Corinthians, then God could not have been the one who begat them. They have argued that if Paul saved sinners then Christ did not do it. They have argued that if Peter raises the dead, or Ezekiel, then it was not God who raised them. Really, if they want to be consistent, they must either 1) Make this freedom from sin and sin's bondage a "time salvation," a "conversion" experience (as they define it), and not to "regeneration," or 2) See that it is talking about regeneration, as Dr. Gill and the real Old Baptists, and convert from Hardshellism. Instead of being afraid that you just might save one of the non-elect (as if God needed you in this matter), or that one who is not regenerated may get into the church, why don't you just preach to sinners as did Christ, the apostles, and the truly Old Baptists, men like Leland and Gano, even like many of the first Hardshells, the founding fathers of your denomination, who preached evangelically to sinners? It is my hope and prayer that you will chose to be consistently right rather than consistently wrong, by choosing option #2 above.

I will be having more to say on some of these things further in later chapters.


What Kind Of Salvation Is It?

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep." (I Cor. 15: 1-6)

This passage is probably one of the two leading passages the Hardshells use to prove their theory of "time salvation," the other being I Timothy 2:15. They reason by first affirming that the salvation of the passage clearly is dependent upon those saved "keeping in memory" the gospel of Christ, and then asking the rhetorical question, "how can eternal salvation be dependent upon a man's ability to remember?" They will continue, saying, "That would condemn to hell all those Christians who forgot and lost memory." They will indicate that such an idea is both absurd and silly. They then think that they have opened up the way to say further, "Seeing it would be silly and absured to think the eternal salvation of the elect were in any way dependent upon their ability to remember things, then this salvation must obviously be a salvation in time, from temporal things, and not our eternal salvation from sin and death."

If these verses are in fact talking about our being regenerated, converted, and eternally saved, then Hardshellism is overthrown and shown to be a falsehood and grievous heresy. They know this, and because they refuse to accept what they clearly say, they give a strange or rare usage of the word "saved." They force their interpretations on such verses because their doctrine is contrary to it, that is, if words are taken in their ordinary usage, and in the same manner in which they are understood and defined in other places where those same words are used in the Scriptures. When a man diverts from the common ordinary usage of a New Testament word, and gives to it a rare or uncommon meaning, he better have good reason from the context for so doing. But, who ever said that Hardshell "hermeneutics" were sound?

Dr. Gill commented upon this passage, saying:

"It was the means of their salvation, and had been made the power of God unto salvation to them. Salvation is inseparably connected with true faith in Christ as a Saviour, and with a hearty belief of his resurrection from the dead, which is the earnest and pledge of the resurrection of the saints; and because of the certainty of it in the promise of God, through the obedience and death of Christ, and in the faith and hope of believers, which are sure and certain things, they are said to be saved already. To which the apostle puts in the following provisos and exceptions; the one is,

"if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you"; or rather, "if ye hold fast, or retain"; that is, by faith, the doctrine preached to you, and received by you, particularly the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; for the salvation that is connected with it does not depend upon the strength of the memory, but upon the truth and steadfastness of faith: it is the man that perseveres in the faith and doctrine of Christ that shall be saved; and everyone that has truly believed in Christ, and cordially embraced his Gospel, shall hold on, and out to the end; though the faith of nominal believers may be overthrown by such men, as Hymenaeus and Philetus, who asserted, that the resurrection was past already; but so shall not the faith of real believers, because the foundation on which they are built stands sure, and the Lord has perfect knowledge of them, and will keep and save them. The other exception is,

"unless ye have believed in vain": not that true faith can be in vain; for that is the faith of God's elect, the gift of his grace, the operation of his Spirit; Christ is the author and finisher of it, and will never suffer it to fail; it will certainly issue in everlasting salvation: but then as the word may be heard in vain, as it is by such who are compared to the wayside, and to the thorny and rocky ground; and as the Gospel of the grace of God may be received in vain; so a mere historical faith may be in vain; this a man may have, and not the grace of God, and so be nothing; with this he may believe for a while, and then drop it: and since each of these might possibly be the case of some in this church, the apostle puts in these exceptions, in order to awaken the attention of them all to this important doctrine he was reminding them of."

This is no doubt the correct interpretation, the "reasoning" of the Hardshells notwithstanding.

If we say that Christians are initially saved by believing the gospel and trusting in his redemption alone for salvation, and then say to them that they are thus saved (kept and preserved) "if they keep in memory" the facts that they had burned into their hearts and memories by the power of the Spirit of God in the application of the gospel of Christ, SO WHAT? No one can erase what God writes upon the hearts of his people in regeneration. Impossible! It is written with non-erasable ink! Besides, Jesus positively identified our "keeping memory" his gospel with the work of the the third person in the beloved Godhead, the Holy Spirit, saying, "He shall bring all these things to your remembrance, whatsoever things I have spoken unto you." (John 14:26)


Conditioned Upon Obedience?

"Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." (Hebrews 5:8,9)

Hardshells and other Hyper-Calvinists have gone to extremes in many areas of doctrine. This is true relative to this whole matter of whether "obedience" to God or Christ, in any sense, is a requisite to regeneration, or part and parcel of it, and whether salvation is, in any sense, "conditional." Of the latter question I will have a separate chapter later. Relative to the first question, who can deny that the above passage of inspiration limits "eternal" (not "time salvation") to those who have and do "obey Christ." May I not ask this all important apostolic question - "how shall they obey him who they have not heard?" If one must be described as one who "obeys Christ" to have any promise of eternal life and salvation, then how can it be advocated that many will have eternal life who never obeyed the Lord?

Some Hardshells will attempt to make the "obedience" of the above passage to refer to the "obeying" of one single command, the command, given "on the sub-conscious level," by the "voice of the Son of God," that says, "LIVE!" Or, it might even be three words, "Lazarus, come forth!" Or, it might even be a serious of instructions, as in the case when Saul heard the Lord speak to him on the road to Damascus. Or, it may even be a "speech," (per Cayce). But, this view has all been shown to be an invention of men, and contrary to all scriptural descriptions of that experience of rebirth, regeneration, and conversion, and of what it means to possess the faith of God's elect.

The Sheep continue, as I have shown, to hear the "voice of Christ," continue to live in virtue of it, continue to "follow" and to "obey" the Lord their Shepherd and so their entire lives, after regeneration and conversion, may be honestly described as one of loving obedience and faithful service to him who liberated them from their former master (Sin) and brought them into a union with him that is not severable.

This concludes, for the time being, my series of chapters on "Hot Shots Returned." Needless to say, I could have added many more verses of Scripture to these. But, I think the Hardshell heresy has been sufficiently assaulted and slain and to keep the volleys flying is not needed. If the above verses are denied, why cite more?