RBF: 4. These direct [actions of God in] justification, calling and regeneration are necessary for the sake of the elects who died in infancy, and those who have no opportunity to hear the gospel, and those who are mentally retarded. God would justify them and call and regenerate them directly. God has only one method of saving the elects and not two. God does not on one hand save the first group by requiring them to respond to the gospel and have faith in Christ, and saving the second group directly. So, the norm is that God saves all the elect directly by His sovereign grace and none of the elect would be lost.
SL: This justification applied at effectual calling is necessary because that is the revealed way God works sovereignly to save His people. It is necessary not because of the elects who died in infancy. That idea is a figment of your own imagination. The truth is: this direct and immediate effectual call – thus securing justification, regeneration and adoption - applies to every single elect whom God has predestinated to life, without the slightest exception, so there is only one divine way of bringing His elect to eternal salvation. The phrase ‘those whom God has predestinated unto life’ (1689.10.1) embraces the whole and complete number of God’s elect – whether infants or adults, sound mind or mentally retarded, those who hear or don’t hear the gospel call. Read the Confession of Faith carefully. Don’t impose your own ideas upon it. You plainly contradicted the biblical teaching as summarized by the 1689 Confession.
Please note the unbroken chain of the four statements that head the 1689.10-13: “Those whom God hath predestinated unto life… He is pleased… effectually to call… Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth… All those that are justified, God vouchsafed… to make partakers of the grace of adoption…Those who are united to Christ, effectually called, and regenerated… are further sanctified…”
Please note carefully that sound minded Particular Baptists forefathers clearly distinguished the effectual call and regeneration; they are two separate and distinct divine acts of God. It is a common ‘standard reformed’ error to confused the two. Regeneration is part and parcel of adoption, an elect is made a partaker of the grace of adoption through regeneration. Regeneration theologically, biblically and logically follows justification.
Chapter 14 speaks of saving faith as the beginning of the process of ‘further sanctification.’ ‘Further sanctification’ is only possible because of the prior definitive sanctification unto eternal life at effectual calling. The gospel call is the means to begin the life-long process of ‘further sanctification.’ Only those who are already united to Christ at effectual calling – justification, regeneration and adoption -can be further sanctified through the ministry of the word.
You plainly contradict the Confession by making 1689.10.1 to speak only of those sentient elect. 1689.10.1 embraces the whole and complete number of God’s elect. One is free to disagree with the Confession. But to misrepresent the Confession destroys one’s credibility. In my ignorance before, I believed the ‘standard reformed position.’ Such position, I now realize, is plainly contrary to what the Confession has summarized the Scriptures’ teaching, and what the early Particular Baptists have believed. I now believe the teaching of Scriptures as summarized by the Particular Baptist forefathers, and have rejected the ‘standard reformed position’ (i.e., as espoused and defended by the RBF).
Let me outline here the logical order and the relationship of the 4 paragraphs:
Para 1: describes the effectual calling of ALL the elect. All the elect are effectually called to eternal life in exactly the same manner at God’s appointed and accepted time – whether they are infants or adults, sound mind or idiots, capable or incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word.
Para 2: describes all those effectually called elect in Para 1 who do have the outward gospel call. [i.e. the outward gospel call comes to these elect.]
Para 3: describes all those effectually called elect in Para 1 who do not have the outward gospel call. [i.e. the outward gospel call fails to come to these elect.] For various reasons, they are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word.
Para 4: describes all those not in Para 1, i.e., those who are not predestinated to eternal life, but who do get the outward gospel call.
The Venn diagram below summarizes the chapter 10 of the 1689 CoF:
M = the whole mankind; E = all the elect, and consists of those who are capable as well as those who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word; G = those of the non-elect who are outwardly called by the ministry of the word. .
It is a fundamental and serious error to think that paragraph 1 speaks of effectual calling through the instrumentality of the preached word, and paragraph 3 speaks of effectual calling without the instrumentality of the preached word, and therefore is an exception to what paragraph 1 is saying. If you want to make paragraph 1 to mean that effectual calling is through the preached word, then you must be consistent and say that ALL and EVERY single elect of God is effectually called through the instrumentality of the preached word. Paragraph 1 embraces the whole and complete number of God’s elect, including those in paragraph 3. Then to remain consistent, you must make paragraph 3 a plain contradiction of paragraph 1. One moment you insist EVERY elect is effectually called through the instrumentality of the preached word, the next moment you say there are some who are not. This would make the framers of the Confession appears as morons – making paragraph 3 to contradict what they have just declared in paragraph 1. But they were not muddled head like their modern stepchildren. They were clear-minded and logical and consistent, as shown in the outline above. Paragraph 3 is not an exception. It describes those who are equally effectually called unto eternal life in exactly the same way but who are not called by the gospel through man. Gospel call plays no part whatsoever in the effectual call unto eternal life.
The clause ‘all elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word’ has reference to those effectually called elect who are able to hear and believe but do not have the gospel preached to them. It is a common error to think that these refer to the mentally retarded people. This is plainly illogical. This is because the ministry of the word has reference to those who are able to hear and understand. The ministry of the word is irrelevant to those who have no capacity to hear and understand, e.g. the mentally handicapped. Apostle Paul asked, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” The gospel fails to get to those effectually called elect.
Paragraph 2 states in the plainest manner possible that the effectual call unto eternal life is to enable an elect to answer to the gospel call. Let me just repeat here that it is irrational, complete nonsensical, to say that the effectual call is to enable an elect to answer to the effectual call. Some folks of the RBF insisted that the effectual call is to enable an elect to answer to the effectual call. Please don’t confuse the effectual call leading to justification, regeneration, and adoption as the gospel call blessed and made effectual by the Spirit of Christ leading to conversion, i.e., to faith in Christ.
Please note carefully the parallel between the phrases ‘by His Word and Spirit’ in paragraph 1 and ‘by Christ through His Spirit’ in paragraph 3. Paragraph 1 speaks of the effectual calling unto eternal life of all the elect, therefore including those mentioned in paragraph 3, by or through ‘His Word and Spirit.’ Paragraph 3 speaks of the effectual call unto eternal life by ‘Christ through His Spirit.’ The context of these two phrases is exactly the same – effectual calling unto eternal life. This is conclusive proof that ‘by His Word and Spirit’ and ‘by Christ through His Spirit’ refer to the same persons of the Godhead. All the elect, whether they are capable or incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word (gospel call) they are all effectually called - justified, regenerated and adopted – in exactly the same manner. Those who are incapable of being outwardly called are justified and regenerated and adopted in exactly the same manner as those who are capable of being outwardly called. If justification is conditioned upon the response of faith at gospel call, then all God’s elect who are incapable of being outwardly called will remain forever in their condemned state, without hope of ever being justified. Perhaps the ‘standard reformed’ folks will think of another exception for justification! But thanks be unto our great and wise God… He justifies by free grace, without faith. Faith is an effect of justification by grace. Read more of this biblical truth in Section VII.
