Reference: http://lookuntothelord.com/2012/04/30/response-to-jason-brown-on-regeneration-without-gospel-conversion/
Brother Wildy stated:
"Firstly, the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah; He is Jehovah the Anointed Saviour. This precept is known and believed by all true Christians; therefore, Mr. Brown’s distinction is a false one."
Curt Wildy is certainly right to say that Christ is Yahweh, and that the faith given to Old Testament saints embraced as it's object the person of Christ. My point has always been that the person of Christ embraced immediately upon regeneration when the elect are justified is the same for all the elect per Romans 4:16. If you want to consider this as direct "gospel" revelation to the heart at regeneration, I, and most Primitive Baptists, would agree, as Elder David Pyles states in "Extent of the Gospel":
"We allow that God has every right and all ability to preach the gospel himself without the aid of man. According to Galations 3:8, God preached the gospel to Abraham long before there ever was an apostle, elder, or missionary. It is presumptuous for us to take any position asserting that only man can preach the gospel. Now, there will be different opinions about how much information is conveyed by direct revelation from God, or as to how this revelation will manifest itself in the lives of those affected, and it is certain that God directly reveals more to some than to others; however, I believe I speak for all Primitive Baptists by saying that God will reveal Himself, in His own chosen way and degree, to all of His elect people here in time. In this sense it could be said that the gospel will reach all of the elect."
The revelation available to the regenerate to further inform the root perception of Christ of regeneration has been variable as to the clarity of propositional truth, as in Old Testament times. Brother Wildy's emphasis of the Old Testament saints embracing the revelation of Christ in the Old Testament is fully consistent with this, not opposed.
I have never argued, and will not argue that it is at all consistent with this to conceive of the elect of God that might exist in unevangelized lands, in times past or present, worshiping idols, involved with human sacrifices, and worshiping God as a four-footed beast or creeping thing - like the clearly damned unevangelized of Romans 1 to whom the wrath of God is revealed, but that they are nevertheless justfied in the sight of God because they have been justified by him through faith in the person of Christ. Such a conclusion is abominable to the holy character of God indicated by the law, and certainly does not follow logically from the idea that they have not been preached to by man, as the direct preaching from the Father would be as inconsistent with heathen idolatry as a man preached gospel.
I will not argue with certainty about the final state of all the heathen, as their salvation entirely rests on the direct revelation of God, except to say that I find it inconsistent to suppose that God withholds revelation from those that "waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19)." It is also true that the regenerate are out of every kindred, tongue, and people, and if there were unevangelized (by men) but regenerate people that lived to adulthood in heathen lands, the direct revelation of God would have made them peculiar indeed.
Brother Wildy stated:
"So in response to Mr. Brown, I would continue to maintain that all Christians knew, and know, the Gospel. They all knew and know that salvation rested solely in the Messiah, solely in Christ their LORD. If a man does not know this, they know not God. Moreover, if anyone in our day claims to be a child of God (or if we claim that anyone out there is a child of God) who is ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially now that we have this more sure word of prophecy (2 Peter 1:19), we know that they have no understanding of what it means to be one of God’s children. No one is saved without a knowledge of, and belief in, the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel."
We can agree that all of the elect know the gospel in a fundamental sense, as they directly perceive Him spiritually, as he reigns within (1 John 4:4), but they do not know it equally in terms of the degree of knowledge about the historical Christ. The gradation of the degree of clarity between the Old Testament and the New Testament is enough to prove that all special revelation is built upon the direct perception of Jesus Christ in the new birth.
I do not think the Bible clearly indicate more than this, or that God gives uniform clarity of special revelation to all of the elect, as O.T. saints prove. Does God give a certain amount of clarity and special revelation to all the elect concurrent with regeneration? If we mean by 'special revelation' some spiritual knowledge, revealed by his spirit (1 Cor. 2:9,10) that is the object of faith, then the answer is certainly yes, but in this form it is not propositional but a perceptual belief formed by the experience of spiritual perception of Christ that would be fully consistent with propositions of the true gospel as delivered by men.
For years Abraham had only Genesis 3:15 as far as propositional truth. How clear was this prophecy? It asserts that the seed of the woman would destroy the serpent. This is not much propositional revelation, and Abraham only had this to reflect on for years (that we know for sure). Now, perhaps God revealed more about this prophecy to him than we know, as John 8:56 might intimate. However, John 8:56 and 58 may refer to simply that it was Christ who spoke with Abraham at Mamre, so that Abraham literally saw Christ's day, which does not refer to the New Testament era, but the fact that Christ is the eternal God (vs. 58). All of this is some degree of speculation.
The only point we can insist on for certain is that the revelation of God directly to man in regeneration is a spiritual perception of the person of Christ, which is fully consistent with all of the truth of God's revelation. So, if Brother Wildy wants to insist that the elect across the ages, even the infant, embraced propositional revelation beyond this, I will agree that it is possible, but we have no way to know for certain what propositional revelation is revealed, as that is wholly dependent on God. I don't think it makes much sense to suppose that infants embrace propositional knowledge, as they do not evidence cognitive function sufficient for it, but that is not to say that their faith is incapable of embracing the spiritual perception of Christ, as John the Baptist did when coming "womb to womb" with the Son of God, and that their unintelligible sounds are not ordained praise of God (Matt. 21:15,16).
Therefore, an understanding of Romans 4:16 should reflect the fundamental trust in the person of Christ that all the elect will have upon regeneration when they are justified by the faith that God imparts by His spirit to preserve them unto eternal salvation. Insisting on a sense of faith that is limited to faith in propositional truth about Christ cannot be advocated with certainty for all the elect from this text.
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