What is "Decisional Regeneration"?
Everyone
wants to be reborn, or have a new life, or some version of the two. This
is Biblical and
should be commended. However, since the beginning of the
world, man has deemed himself able to perform his own rebirth.
Since the inception of the church, man has been giving himself new life in Christ (he thinks) by external means. We call this "legalism" but it could be anything. It could be licentious or demonic rites merely transformed with Christian buzz words: (sex, drugs, rock-in-role).
But when we look at the buzz phrase "born again," it means "born from above" and must proceed wholly from God Himself. If man can regenerate himself, then the New Testament is in error. John 1:13 says that those who are born of God do not receive this by the will of man. Paul is even more bold (Romans 9:16). If the term "baptismal regeneration" means that the process of water baptism gives new life to a person, then "decisional regeneration" means just making a decision does the same. Both are in error.
Decisional regeneration differs from baptismal regeneration only by degree and details. This doctrine, like the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, sees the new birth as the result of a mechanical process that can be performed by man. Baptismal regeneration teaches that the new birth is conveyed by the waters of baptism. The sacrament is performed by man and is in his control. C. H. Spurgeon, (1836-1892), one of our greatest modern preachers, published in 1864 more tracts against baptismal regeneration than of any of his other sermons. The practice of "Decisional Regeneration" in the Church suggests that men are saved as a result of making a decision.
As Spurgeon denounced baptismal regeneration, we must expose decisional regeneration for what it is. We must save men from the damning delusion that because they have "decided for Christ" or signed a card, they are going to heaven and are no longer under the wrath of God.
Perhaps the reader is still a little vague on the details of decisional regeneration. Perhaps he is unfamiliar with modern evangelism courses and spiritual counseling courses being taught by many churches and para-church ministries. They call them "Soul Winning" and such like. In these courses, counselors and coaches are instructed that successful evangelizing must conclude with an individual's absolute assurance of salvation. Counselors are often instructed to assure an individual that his salvation is certain because he has prayed the prescribed prayer, and he has said "yes" to all the right questions.
For example, for many years now there has been a tract (pamphlet) that prescribes the ABC’s of salvation, or the "Three simple steps" to become a child of God. A: acknowledge your sin. B: believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for your sins. C: claim your promise. This third step goes something like this: "The third step is so final that to take it will make me a Christian. .I must come to Christ and claim my personal share in what He did for everybody.
This all-decisive third step rests with me; Christ waits patiently until I open the door. Then He will come in. Once I have done this I may immediately know I have eternal life." It adds, "Tell somebody today what you have done." Regeneration has thereby been reduced to a procedure which man performs.
Procedural, mechanical and hypothetical. In order to explain away the obvious lack of interest in Christ in these so-called converts, it is frequently argued that these are "carnal Christians" who need instruction in holiness; or, if they show great enthusiasm at first but then lose interest, we are supposed to attribute this to lack of "follow-up," or prayer, or some other deficiency on the part of the church. The possibility that these marks of worldliness and falling away are due to the absence of a saving experience at the outset is rarely considered; if this point were faced, then the whole system of appeals, decisions and counseling would collapse. But instead of facing this, our modern pastors protest that to doubt a man’s salvation who has "accepted Christ" is tantamount to doubting the Word of God.
The counseling of "Decisional Regeneration" produces statistics that would encourage any Christian until he follows up the so-called converts. Some of them may believe their eternal destinies were determined by their decisions, which is a fatal confidence if no change was wrought in their hearts and lives. They have "decided for Christ," but you cannot tell what it was they decided. Many of them, failing to feel or see any promised change in themselves, have become convinced that
Christianity is a fake and that those who hold it are either self-deluded fanatics or miserable hypocrites. Sinclair Lewis, who wrote "Elmer Gantry," would give a hearty Amen! to that (if he weren’t dead).
One theologian from the nineteenth century, Robert Dabney, describes the disillusionment some people feel after they have been pressed for a decision. Some of these individuals, he said, feel that a cruel trick has been played upon their inexperience by thrusting them, in the hour of their confusion, into false positions, whose duties they do not and cannot perform, and into sacred professions which they have been compelled shamefully to repudiate. They are conscious that they were thoroughly in earnest in their religious anxieties and resolves at the time, and that they felt strange and profound exercises of their souls. Yet bitter and mortifying experience has taught them that their new birth... was a delusion. They say "the only difference between myself and these earnest Christians is, that they have not yet detected the cheat as I have. I know there was no change in my soul; I do not believe that there is in theirs." Such is the fatal process of thought through which thousands have passed; until the country is sprinkled all over with infidels, who have been made such by their own experience of spurious religious excitements.
One may study the history of the Christian Church without finding a single reference to the "altar call" before the 19th century. Most people would be surprised to learn that before the time of Charles G. Finney (1792-1875), there was no focus on this type of "invitation." Mr. Finney introduced the practice of urging men and women to make a physical movement at the conclusion of a meeting, a novelty at the time. One of his contemporaries, Dr. Albert B. Dod, professor of theology at Princeton Seminary, pointed out the newness of the practice and showed that this method was without historical precedent. As Dr. Dod pointed out, before this time, the gospel was preached in hope that men would come to Christ, not in hope that they would decide at the end of the sermon to "come forward."
Did Peter have to give an "altar call" at the end of the church’s first sermon? He concluded his appeal with,"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Was that an altar call? "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’"(Acts 2:36-37). Peter told them to repent and be baptized. (If you think that he was preaching "baptismal regeneration," then you have not really been listening. That subject is covered in another article somewhere on this site). There were no slick psychological appeals to decide. They were presented with awesome truth and found themselves facing a decision without little prompts to do so.
In today’s evangelism, the altar call, or saying the "sinner’s prayer," has become the climax and culmination of the entire presentation. After the sinner has been led through the four spiritual laws, or the ABC’s, or the counseling after the altar call, the clear impression is given that his eternal destiny hangs on his quick response to the question, "Are you ready to receive Christ?" Although those who use the altar call may protest and say they are careful not to equate this with coming to Christ, they nevertheless depend upon the impression it gives to that effect. Many people have said they were actually obstructed from seeking Christ, what with the clever appeals, the ultimatum to walk the aisle, the "holy peer pressure," and the rest of the gimmicks. They feel that seeking Christ must be more than a momentary decision during an emotional juncture..
There are many highly-regarded ministers who teach that one's eternal destiny may be determined by the impulse of an unguarded moment. This is usually true only when a person is reacting in a fashion that leads to perdition. There is a method or a way that appeals to a man in crisis, but it usually leads to death. In actual practice, the kind of evangelism that tries to creep up on sinners results for the most part in bringing people to religion, not to Christ. True preaching is not a clever device of man, but a demonstration of the Spirit of God as the truth of God is proclaimed.
"Decisional Regeneration" does not bring men to Christ any more than does Baptismal Regeneration. It is true that some are converted under such preaching, but this is in spite of the false methods used, not because of them. ... Nor are we saying that preachers should not urge, yea, plead with men to repent and believe. Any preaching which merely rehearses the facts of the gospel without calling men to repentance and faith in Christ as a merciful and mighty Saviour of sinners is not biblical preaching.
The apostles taught that God saves His elect through the foolishness of preaching. All new methods devised by man can only fall far short of this ordained means of converting the sinner. The Church must forsake its carnal inventions and once again be guided by the teaching of Scripture if it is to expect God to bless its efforts and multiply its harvest. The Scriptural means of evangelizing is to "preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:23-24).
There are always certain presuppositions that underlie the methods used in evangelism. What kind of presuppositions, then, have caused the churches to depart from historic Christianity and to take up these new devices? The new birth according to our Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign work of the Spirit of God in the heart of man (John 3:8). The great theological difference between popular evangelism and biblical evangelism is basically whether God is at work or man. At best, the doctrine of decisional regeneration attributes the new birth partly to man and partly to God.
This is the great heresy of Rome, along with all her daughters. One of the greatest American theologians, Charles Hodge (1797-1878), points out the danger of this teaching. "No more soul-destroying doctrine could well be devised than the doctrine that sinners can regenerate themselves, and repent and believe just when they please. As it is, a truth both of Scripture and of experience that the un-renewed man can do nothing of himself to secure his salvation, it is essential that he should be brought to a practical conviction of that truth. When thus convicted, and not before, he seeks help from the only source whence it can be obtained."
Can a man be born again by answering yes to a certain group of questions? Can a man be born from above by walking to the front of a building? Can a man become a true Christian by responding to an invitation as a result of being manipulated? Our answers to these questions will be determined by our view of man's spiritual condition. So, what do we believe about unregenerate man's spiritual state? Man is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and cannot please God (Eph. 2:1; Rom. 8:8). Our Saviour Himself portrayed man's condition as one of utter helplessness "No man can come to me except the Father who has sent me draw him; No man can come to me except it were given to him of my Father" (John 6:44, 65).
Our bondage to sin and its resulting death cannot be changed by making a one-time decision or by walking an aisle. A man may be able to make himself a Christian in outward appearance, but only the Spirit of God can do the work necessary to convert the inner man. God in His grace gives men new hearts. Only then can they willingly repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. God Himself has stated this truth by saying "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." (Ezek. 36:26-27). Jesus also said, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he wishes" (John 5:21).
What must we do?
It is not a time to be silent; it is time to speak out. We have kept quiet too long, somehow feeling that if we opposed these unbiblical practices we might be hindering the good work of evangelism, believing that among the multitudes of "decisions" there are some genuine conversions. But with every passing week thousands are being counseled into a false hope! Men are directed to walk aisles when they should be pointed to Christ alone. The high calling of preaching has degenerated into a series of gimmicks and tricks. These false practices have resulted from the perversion of biblical doctrine. In the midst of this darkness let us pray that God may be pleased to revive His Church again. This revival can come only through Christ. Men must turn afresh to His directions for counseling, to His free invitations to sinners and to the preaching of His gospel. Only then will our labors bring glory to God; and if God grants, many sinners will be converted for His glory.
Adapted from "Decisional Regeneration" by James Adams.
- Chris Simonson
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