II. A Formal Theological Paper

II. A Formal Theological Paper Issued by The ‘Reformed Baptist Fraternal’ (RBF)



On Sep 17, 2004, Elder Lam Chin Kaw, representing the RBF issued the following Theological Paper stating their doctrinal position on the various matters related to salvation. I am pleased that such a formal and official paper has been issued. The Paper spells out in black and white what they do actually believe. This way there is no mistaking what these brethren and their churches do believe.


A Carefully Considered Theological Document

[Open Quote] “On behalf of those who met during the recent meeting in KL, I hereby send an attachment for your information. Those who did not attend the meeting have been informed re the response. The reason why we took a longer time to respond to your position is simply because we value your fellowship and friendship. Since the discussions started, we have always wanted to be sure that we have really understood your point of view clearly so as to avoid misrepresenting you. We have to find out the reasons why we differ from one another when we both claim to be upholding the 1689 Confession. We have to find out from one another that we really understand the issue and wait for one another to read through the draft before we send it out. We recognize that the issue at hand is about doctrinal differences and not anything personal, so let us just focus on the doctrinal issue alone. Thank you. Ck” [End quote]

It is obvious that the Paper constitutes a carefully considered confessional theological statement. This is a wonderful thing. The sentence “We have to find out from one another that we really understand the issue and wait for one another to read through the draft before we send it out” confirmed such observation. It is a Theological Paper stating the carefully considered judgment and understanding of the members of the Reformed Baptist Fraternal. The theological paper has been proofread and approved by the members of the RBF. That is how the Paper wanted to be viewed. It can’t be any more official than that. Therefore I exhort each reader to read this theological paper carefully and be informed of the doctrinal positions embraced by these brethren and their respective churches. Here is a carefully considered expression of the standard reformed views on various doctrinal matters on salvation. This is an excellent opportunity for the members of these churches to find out exactly what their church leaders do believe. You are hearing these views from the horses’ own mouths. So study and understand the theological convictions espoused and defended by these esteemed brothers and their churches. Now, you ought to be aware of what your church leaders believe, and claimed that their churches believe the same.

As far as I know, up till the GMF’s AGM held on 25th Jan 2005, no one in the RBF has expressed any disagreement with what Elder Lam has stated in this theological paper. I therefore assume that all are still in hearty agreement with the views expressed, as explicitly claimed in the Theological Paper.

Here is the Theological Paper issued by Elder Lam Chin Kaw of Melaka Reformed Baptist Church, the theological spokesman for the RBF.

[Open quote, verbatim, all emphasis original]
A Response to a Theological Challenge Put Forward By Pr Lau from Sungai Dua Church.

Why a response? Since last year, Pr Lau has engaged the fraternal with some theological issues for discussion. We met for three sessions and subsequently continued to discuss through e-mails, but we only found ourselves disagreeing with one another at many points and could not come to an acceptable conclusion. Meanwhile some of our church members were informed about the discussion and expressed their concerns and wanted to know about our stand on the issues. In view of that, we now issue a common response to the challenge put forward by Pr Lau.

We shall begin by considering what all this discussion is about. It is about the “order of salvation” and related issues. How did Pr Lau express himself in the “order of salvation”? Following is a summary of what has been expressed by him through verbal discussions and e-mails.

1. God is sovereign and He has the power to save and He alone will save without human aid. Man is sinful and totally deprived from being able to do anything for himself with regards to salvation.

2. God has in His eternal council elected those whom He might save. How are they saved? They are saved in the sense that they are justified or the right to life is imputed to them. They are not justified by their faith in Christ (because they have no faith yet and faith will be given only at regeneration), but by the faithfulness of Christ to die on the cross for the elect.

3. He has issued an effectual calling directly (not through the preaching of the gospel or the ministry of the Word) to all the elects who are justified. The Holy Spirit then regenerated them and imparted to them new life or eternal life (Imputing the right to life must precede the actual imparting of life). Those who are justified and regenerated would remain in the state of sins and trespasses as long as the gospel is not preached to them and when there is no application of faith on their part.

4. These direct 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 elect 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.

5. Where does the preaching of the gospel, the hearing of the gospel and the believing response, come into play? These would only come into the scene after the elect have been justified by the faithfulness of Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
a. The purpose of preaching of the gospel is not to save lost souls but merely to gather the lost sheep that have been justified by Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
b. The hearing of the gospel call is a call to conversion (which is a synonym of sanctification).
c. The application of faith in Christ is not in order to obtain salvation or to be justified since they have been saved and justified. Thus the application of faith in Christ is merely evidence that the person has been justified and regenerated.

Our immediate response is that we disagree with an order of salvation that differs from the one that is revealed in the scripture and which is held by the 1689 Confession. We cannot agree also with a doctrine that dichotomized the effectual call of God and regeneration from the ministry of the Word or the preaching of the gospel. We, too, cannot accept a doctrine that separates believers’ faith in Christ from regeneration and justification. The following are the reasons why we cannot agree with Pr Lau’s new position:

1. What is the order of salvation? It is also known as the order of application of redemption. It is clear that there are several aspects in the application of redemption, namely, calling, regeneration, conversion, faith, repentance, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. It is true that all of them are about redemption, but all are distinct, and therefore we must not confuse the one for the other. We believe that the application of redemption takes place in a certain order, and that order has been established by divine appointment, wisdom, and grace. The divine order would indicate which application is prior and also provide a context for each one’s definition. When the order is ignored, then the definition of each application of redemption would be confused. We have in Romans 8.29-30 the order as “foreknowledge, predestination, God’s calling, justification, and glorification”, and the Confession follows the same order (10. Effectual calling & 11. Justification).

2. What is effectual call? It is God’s effective and irresistible call. It is effectual because it ushers men into the state of salvation. It actually summons men to repent and return to the God who is holy and just through faith in Christ. It specifically calls men to come to Christ. No one could respond to that call unless Christ is clearly preached. So it is natural to understand that the call is enshrined in the apostolic gospel. The apostles indeed understood that the elect were called by the gospel (2 The.2.13-14). Effectual call is specifically addressed to the elect as the Confession puts it; “Those whom God has predestined to life, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time to effectually call by His Word and Spirit, out of the state of sin and death which they are in by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ.

3. What is regeneration? God had issued the effectual call to man, but he is dead in sins and trespasses and whose mind is enmity against God and therefore will not respond to the call with love and a believing heart. A radical change must take place in his mind, heart and will before he can respond to the call. The effectual call “carries with it the operative grace whereby the person called is enabled to answer the call and to embrace Jesus Christ as he is freely offered in the gospel.” (Murray, John: Redemption Accomplished And Applied, p.96; Ezk.36.26; Jn.3.8; James 1.18; 1 Pet.1.23). In this way, regeneration is given a context by the call. This context is the Word or the truth of the gospel. When regeneration is taken out from this context it will lose its reality and meaning. The Confession anticipated that, when it pointed out that “He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time to effectually call by His Word and Spirit.” The application of regeneration is implied by the operative grace of the effectual call (see Confession 13.1 “They who are effectually called and regenerated”). The call also provides regeneration a purpose. The end of regeneration is the conversion of the heart. When a person is regenerated he will respond to the call and turn to God. God would not regenerate a person and leave him to continue in the state of sins and trespasses. This is not the biblical concept of renewed life. Renewed life is defined by a life in Christ. Take for instance, according to John’s gospel, a person is to be born again in order to see and enter the kingdom of God (3.3-8). The apostle Paul’s teaching states that the saints are made alive together with Christ (Eph.2.1-5). 1 John 2.29 states that the one who practices righteousness is born of God. God would regenerate a person so that he would believe the kingdom of God is in Christ and therefore enter it; or that he believes that Christ has been made alive and therefore he is now sharing the same life with Christ; or he believes that Christ is worthy of a righteous life and so he practices it. These are simply the examples of faith that was given by the Holy Spirit.

4. What is justification? Now that regeneration has removed the pollution of sin in man, but the guilt of sin still remains. By regeneration, man’s attitude towards God has been renewed but not God’s attitude towards man. God’s wrath and condemnation is still against man even though he has been born anew. The application of redemption must involve a change in God’s judicial relation to us. God must deliver us from condemnation, and accepting us as righteous in His sight receives us into his favour and fellowship (Is.12.1-2). It is the actual justification we are referring to. The Confession says “From all eternity God decreed to justify all the elect, and Christ, in the fullness of time, died for their sins, and rose again for their justification. Nevertheless, they are not personally justified until the Holy Spirit, in due time, actually applies Christ to them” (13.4). Justification, in other words, is not the eternal decree of God with respect to us, nor is it the finished work of Christ for us, when once-for-all he reconciled us to God by his death; nor is it the regenerative work of God in us, nor is it any activity on our part in response to and embrace of the gospel, but it is an act of God, accomplished in time wherein God passes judgment with respect to us as individuals. (Murray: Collected Works; vol.2, p.203) By this act, God has credited His righteousness to the sinner, has removed guilt and condemnation from him, and has declared him righteous! On what ground does God justify sinners? God justifies sinners on the ground of His righteousness and the obedience of Christ or the blood of Christ (Phil.3.8-9; Rom.3.24-25; 5.9; 6.7; 8.33,34; 2 Cor.5.18-21).

5. By what instrument does God justify sinners on the ground of righteousness? Before we can answer this question, we have to be clear about two things. Firstly, when we are dealing with the eternal decree of God to justify, then the question of instrument is irrelevant. Secondly, if justification is understood as the virtual synonym of reconciliation (Rom.5.9), then the question of instrument is not applicable here. But we are now dealing with the actual justification. With reference to such justification the scripture undoubtedly states that we are justified by faith, from faith, through faith, and upon faith (see Rom.1.17; 3.22,26,28,30; 5.1; Gal.2.16; 3.24; Phil.3.9; Murray: Redemption Accomplished and Applied, p.85). Faith is simply the instrument whereby justification is appropriated. The Confession teaches, “Faith which receives Christ’s righteousness and depends on Him is the sole instrument of justification.” (11.2) If we believe that the operative grace of God by the Holy Spirit has brought about faith in a sinner when God issued the call, there is no good reason why we have to throw faith out when we are dealing with justification. If we do that, we have to throw out the whole lot of evidence of salvation that was brought about by the application of regeneration by the Holy Spirit (Confession 11.2). The faith in view is not faith in justification but faith in Christ, the faith directed to him and commitment to him for salvation. The reason why faith is appointed as the instrument is simply because of its nature and function that tends to rest completely upon another, that is Christ (Murray: Collected Works, vol.2, p.215-217).

The brief study on the order of salvation as mentioned above shows that reformed teaching on the order of salvation is neither in any way “inconsistent and deficient”, nor does it contradict the teaching of the 1689 Confession. In fact, with Reformed teaching on the subject, we can preach the gospel with confidence, that it is the power of God for salvation for those who believe. We can actually appeal to the lost souls to repent and believe in Christ Jesus that they might be saved. We can also preach that sinners are justified by faith alone with no hesitation and assure the believers that there will be no more condemnation when they are justified.

The Reformed Baptist Fraternal

[End quote]

"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion,
and only one person were of the contrary opinion,
mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person,
than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
John Stuart Mill"