Preaching Repentance & Faith

Elder John M. Watson, who wrote "The Old Baptist Test" (1866), was a founding father of the "Primitive Baptist" denomination but he would not fellowship today's Hardshells who have gone to extremes and deny that hearing the gospel and faith in Christ are means of being eternally saved. These he called "Antinomians," "ulraists," and "modern innovators." He also chided these Hardshell brethren with having "violated" the great commission. He wrote:

"Their connection with each other involves, in the plainest manner, the duty of preaching to every creature "repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." The Lord has ordained this way; our violation of it in the 19th century will not cause it to fail; others will do the work; it needs must be done; and this may be the cause why so few are coming into our churches! We have violated our commission. "Let us search and try our ways, and turn to the Lord."" (Pgs. 520)

Notice that Watson confesses that the "Primitive Baptists" had violated the great commission.  He also says that this violation was "the cause why so few are coming into our churches!"  It is sad that the Hardshells did not listen to Elder Watson and repent. 

Watson wrote:

"Let us learn our duty as ministers, examine our commission, and see how fully it authorizes us, in faith, to exhort the sinner to repent, believing that the Lord can give him repentance; so as to believe, believing that the Lord can give faith." (Pg. 329)

How did the first Baptist preach? "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." To whom were these words addressed? to the pentitent or impenitent? To the impenitent of course. Who gave repentance? The Lord. How did Christ? "Repent ye and believe the gospel." How did the twelve? "They went out and preached that men shoud repent." (Pg. 517, 518)

"Were all of John's hearers converted before he said, "repent ye"? Were those (already-SG) repenting and believing to who Christ preached repentance and faith? Were those addressed by the twelve? Were the Athenians? What was Simon's state? Were those "quickened" who were bidden and refused to come to the feast? These questions, when properly answered, show most conclusively that we should preach repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, "to every creature"--to "all men everywhere." If we say our preaching is to the (already-SG) called of the Lord, and to them only, and make no distinction between the many called and the few chosen, we will involve the tenet of universalism."

"For if we preach only to the "quickened," all must be in that state, as our commission and work embraces "every creature." The commission includes those who believe not, as subjects of our address, as plainly as those who believe. Mark 16:16" (Pg. 519) (Mark 6: 12)

These are words of condemnation for the Hardshells, coming from one who helped to form the denomination.  Again, it is sad that the Hardshells did not heed the words of Watson.  Notice how Watson warned the Hardshells about becoming involved in the "tenet of universalism," a common occurrence among the Hardshells in their history.  Watson condemns the modern Hardshell notion that the gospel was only to be preached to those already saved. 

Before we look at some additional things stated by Elder Watson, let us notice some scripture on the subject of preaching to the lost.

"And they went out, and preached that men should repent."

This was not just preached to some men, but to all men, without distinction. 

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5: 32)

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent..." (Acts 17: 30)

Notice that Jesus refers to "calling" sinners.  Sinners are "called" to Christ and salvation, called to faith and repentance.  All the elect are predestined to be "called."  (Rom. 8: 29, 30)  This calling is "by the gospel."  (II Thess. 2: 14)  Jesus did this "calling" of sinners himself through his own preaching of the gospel.  But, he now calls sinners through his sent ministers.  Paul says that "God now commands all men everywhere," but he did this through the preaching of the apostle.  Paul's commanding and calling of sinners to repentance was God's commanding and calling. 

The Hardshells are forced into the position of affirming that it is the "righteous" who are called by the gospel, for they believe that the gospel is only addressed to those who are already born again and saved, already justified and made righteous.  But, Jesus said that it is the unrighteous, the sinner, the uncalled, who are "called" by preaching.

Sometimes the Hardshells will affirm that "repentance" is a grace "given in regeneration," but deny that is is given through the medium of preaching.  They will therefore teach "two kinds of repentance," one evangelical and one not.  They are infamous for saying there are "two kinds" of things, such as "two kinds of saving faith," and "two kinds of salvation," etc. 

They will affirm that the repentance that results from hearing the gospel call is not that repentance which is said to be "given" by God, affirming that evangelical repentance is not "given" as the non-evangelical and necessary kind of repentance. 

"I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13: 3, 5)

Jesus announces the fate of those who do not heed the gospel call and repent.  They shall perish.  The typical Hardshell twist on this passage is to insist that the "perishing" is temporal, and they say that the word "likewise" proves it.  The perishing that Christ alluded to, they say, was a temporal perishing, was a strictly physical death and destruction.  Of course, the Universalists also argue the same way.

But, consider how their view is the untenable view.  Is Christ saying - "except you repent, you shall die physically"?  Will they not die physically even if they repent?  Such nonsense! If they say that it is not physical death, per se, but a calamitous death, such as occurred to those upon whom the tower fell and who were butchered by Pilate, this still does not help them in their denial that the perishing is eternal.  Is Christ saying - "except you repent, you shall suffer a temporal destruction like those on whom the tower fell"?  But, this is not true of all those who fail to repent!  They do not all suffer such a calamitous death.

Now, it is true that many Jews, in 70 A.D., did suffer a calamitous fate similar to those mentioned by Christ.  But, Christ is not hear addressing the Jewish nation, but individuals, some of whom no doubt died prior to 70 A.D.  Further, the statement is no less true after A.D. 70 than before it.  Will the Hardshells say that the warning about perishing for failure to repent was only true for Jews prior to A.D. 70?

Who can deny that the terrible and horrible death of those mentioned is "like" to the destruction of Hell? 

"And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke 24: 27)

These were the words of Jesus in his commissioning of disciples to preach the gospel.  What does Christ want his disciples to proclaim and announce?  Announce repentance and remission, two things that are linked together, and which cannot be divided.  Where there is no repentance there is no remission.  Notice how Peter fulfilled these commission orders on the Day of Pentecost and after it.

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2: 38)

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts 3: 19)

 What was the end in view, the outcome and result, of repentance?  "The remission of sins."  Do Hardshells tell sinners to "repent for the remission of sins"? 

"Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20: 21)

Again, this is not what was testified to only some Jews and Greeks, but "to" all Jews and Greeks.  But, the Hardshells do not so testify to all men.

"But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." (Acts 26: 20)

Again, there is no limitation in these words of exhortation.  It is not some Jews and some Gentiles, but all Jews and Gentiles.  Notice also that the command is both to "repent" and to "turn to God," things which are necessary for salvation. 

"And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13: 39)

If all that believe are justified, then those who do not believe are not justified.  This proclamation was so that men would know the way of salvation. 

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (II Peter 3: 9)

Whether by "any" and "all" are meant "all men" or "all the elect," the Hardshells have a problem either way.  Of course, they all affirm that the reference is to "all the elect."  And, they affirm that this "will" of God is determinate, being what has been predestined.  Thus, they will say that all the elect will "come to repentance."  The problem is, they do not believe that this repentance is the same repentance commanded of men, but is a repentance that is non-evangelical, a repentance that even idol worshipping pagans possess.  But, they have no scripture that describes a "repentance" that does not involve a changing of the mind regarding God and Christ.  Further, their statements that "regeneration produces no ideas" or produces no conviction, and that it is "non-cognitive," goes against the very meaning of the word, which denotes a change of mind.

Since God has willed that all the elect come to repentance, and repentance is always evangelical and cognitive, in scripture, then they must acknowledge that God's willing that all come to repentance is the same as saying that all will come to hear and believe the gospel.

"And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." (II Tim. 2: 24-26)

This text, like the one in II Peter 3: 9, gives the Hardshells great difficulty.  Most Hardshells have traditionally applied this to the experience of regeneration, making it the result of effectual calling, or what is certain to be given to all the elect when they are regenerated.  But, notice how this "repentance" is the result of gospel instruction and entails "acknowledging of the truth."  Thus, it is clearly an evangelical repentance.  This has led some of them to affirm that this "repentance" is indeed evangelical, but is not what is necessary for eternal salvation, but to a "time salvation," one that is conditioned upon the already regenerated person choosing, after the Arminian fashion, to repent.  The problem here is in the fact that this repentance is said to be "given," and they, as Calvinists, have traditionally argued that God's "giving" faith and repentance denotes what is effectually given.  Thus, when they debate Arminians and argue that the divine "giving" that is connected with regeneration denotes what is effectual and irresisitible, all the Arminian has to do is to say - "well you don't believe that God's giving repentance in II Tim. 2: 24-26 means that it is given effectually." 

Elder Watson wrote:

"What said the prophet? "O ye dry bones, hear ye the word of the Lord." I would just state here, at once, that I have no idea that sinners, dead in tresspasses and sins, will ever believe through the exhortations of the Lord's ministers, any more than that the dry bones would have lived through the prophesying of the prophet, apart from what the Lord did for them. But that fact does not nullify the commission to preach to them, but on the contrary greatly strengthens it. The divine assurance that God's word will prosper in the thing whereunto He hath sent it, affords great encouragement to preach to sinners. If it be said by the objector that they are deaf and cannot hear it, faith replies God can open their ears; if said they are dead, faith again says God will give them life; and thus faith can meet all the objections which can be urged against preaching to the very chief of sinners, and at the same time exclude that Arminianism which some affect to see in a course of this kind. Where is the Arminianism, I would ask, in doing what the Lord has expressly commanded us to do? unless, however, it be by doing these things without faith. It seems to me that two very opposite errors may be indicated here:

1. The Arminian takes the means out of the hands of God, in toto, or in part, and uses them according to His own strength, and they then degenerate into Arminian powers.

2. The Antinomian will not regard any thing in the light of means, and in his doctrine will not allow even the Lord to employ them, says that the Lord is not dependent on means, and can do all His work without them. Now, the truth is, had it been the will or the way of the Lord, He could have breathed upon the dry bones as well without the prophesying of the prophet as with it, and could have given repentance to John's converts, or to Paul's, without their preaching; but their preaching to such, even to those dead in tresspasses and sins, had been included in the divine plan, and it needs must be done, let it be termed means, the will or way of the Lord, as you please." ("Old Baptist Test," pages 327, 328)

"Some of our ultraists are occasionally heard to say, in our pulpits, that they have no authority to preach to sinners, and they seem to glory in their fancied exemption. Nothing appears to give them greater offence, or savors more of Arminianism with them, than for sinners to be exhorted to repent!" ("Old Baptist Test," pages 327, 328)

"Our not exhorting sinners to repent and believe, is a gross deviation from the gospel rule, and a palpable perversion of the great commission under which we preach. Let us pursue the revealed method of God, and not the assumed one which we now follow. If ultraist, in their blindness, call us Arminians, let us bear it for the truth's sake. We had better suffer ourselves than deviate from our commission. I know I shall have to dispute every inch of ground here; that many are ready to catch at my words, and dispute all I may write; therefore I appeal to "the law and to the testimony."
(ibid)

"This violation of our commission has engendered a spirit of coldness and indifference about those yet unbrought; by some they are not cared for, prayed for, nor preached unto; this spirit in like manner extends to the "babes" in Christ, the sheep, and the sheep only, are fed. Let us examine our commission again, and search out the things therein included." (Pg. 521)

"These deviations, great, grievous and palpable as they are, do not..." (Pg. 522, 523)

"The very commission itself assures us that some would not believe, and yet includes them in the gospel address. It is in this and similar ways that the spirit of exhortation has been grieved and lost in our pulpits. This shows the great propriety of rightly dividing the word of God, and not shunning to declare all of it--to feed the lambs, to feed the sheep, to exhort all, every creature to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ...If our Old Baptist system be right, it will be found in agreement with every text, and if we have to alter or abridge the commission to preach the gospel, it is plain evidence of an error among us." (Pg. 535)

"The Lord has plainly revealed the great truth, that all christians are saved by grace, but in our predestinarian ultraisms we are too little inclined to study the Lord's way of saving His people; His plan as connected with earthly things, signs, means, methods, or what you please to term them. The Antinomian affects to despise them because the Arminian perverts them. Both are wrong. If it be the Lord's method to have us say to sinners dead in tresspasses and sins, repent and believe, we should practice it. Our exhorting sinners to repent and believe, is according to the Lord's plan, and how can we reject it, or neglect it, without the very consequences which have followed. Our commission, alas! brethren, has been narrowed down to the words "feed my sheep."

To exhort sinners to repent does not conflict with the doctrine that God alone can give life and repentance; or to believe does not conflict with the truth that faith is the gift of God; nor do the exhortations, warnings and threatenings oppose the doctrine that the believer is kept by the power of God; no more indeed than if it were now said that the leper's cure was not of God, because he bathed in Jordan; that the bringing forth of fruits meet for repentance was not of God, because John exhorted them to repent. Our ultraists would then have said, why bathe in Jordan, as God only can cure the leprosy?" (Pg. 536)

"We call on sinners to awake from the sleep of death by faith, believing that God will give them life; to repent because he has promised to give repentance; to believe because He gives faith, to persevere because He is the finisher of our faith. Shall we give up this part of the work of the ministry because it has been Armianized, and call all Arminians who carry it out? Faith divests all these things of Arminianism; faith which has regard to what the Lord will do, and not a false trust in what we may do ourselves." (Pg. 537)

"Our system should not only embrace the doctrine of salvation by grace, but also the method or way of grace. The way of grace is to call on sinners to live as well as to give life, to exhort them to repent, as well as to give repentance, to exhort unbelievers to believe as well as to give faith. It both leads by the spirit, and exhorts by the word." (Pg. 537)

"But alas! Where are our exhorters? They are characters almost unknown among us. Where is the preacher who stops in his ultra doctrinal course to exhort either saint or sinner? Some particular dogma must be proved by a perversion of revealed truth; the sincere milk of the word is withheld, strong meats are poisoned, and the great spiritual interest of the congregation is disregarded--all this, and even more, the peace and well being of the household of faith is broken up, if necessary, to establish some ultra tenet." (Pg. 537)

"But to return: after all that has been preached and written on the subject of means, the whole doctrine resolves itself into this truth, that means are nothing more or less than the ways or methods of the Lord in doing the things which He has purposed. He could do the same things by any other methods or ways were he disposed so to act, or without any means at all; at least without such as involve human acts." (Pg. 537, 538)

"We believe the Lord can save sinners without our preaching to them, but that does not excuse us from saying to them, repent ye and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; that He can save them without water baptism or the Lord's supper, but that He does not authorize us to dispense with them. But verily we have deviated so far from the Bible in our views and feeling, if one were to call on sinners to repent, in the earnest, warm and emphatic way, which Christ and His disciples did, he would be regarded as an Arminian." (Pg. 538)

"But until the spirit of exhortation shall revive, and cease to be vexed, grieved and quenched, as it has been for a long time, we need not expect much reformation in our mode of preaching. There are, however, a few who have eyes to see, and hearts to deplore the things now under consideration. The errors of preachers are not private ones, but are disseminated from the pulpit among the brethren, and produce among them contentions, divisions, coldness and barrenness; they act on their minds as doth a canker on the body." (Pg. 538, 539) See this posting for further citations from Watson.

http://baptistgadfly.blogspot.com/2008/05/chpt-76-great-commission-xi.html

Thus, we see that today's Hardshells are against the scriptures and that they are not really "primitive" or "old" Baptists on this important subject.