“Decisional regeneration is a lie from the pit of hell!”. This rather jarring statement in a recent sermon prompted an internet search, which led me to this blog post by Tim Challies:
https://www.challies.com/articles/decisional-regeneration/
I forwarded it to my “blue-collar” preacher-son with this comment:
“I guess this is what the pastor was referring to. What struck me was the way he ended the post, after condemning “decisions” for Christ, he encourages readers to “turn to Christ, to repent of their sins and to beg Him for mercy“, which all, to my mind at least, imply a decision. As the line from one of my favorite hymns puts it, ‘I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew…'”
This was my son’s response:
“Decisional regeneration is poor terminology to me, because regeneration and the expression of repentance and faith are bound up together (this is where your hymn comes in).
The believers confidence in the present can’t come from their past decision, but only on the past work of Christ. So that kind of “decisional regeneration” is a problem (especially in the South).
Personally I think the more the lingo moves away from repentance and faith, the more it gets muddied. True repentance/faith is a posture of the heart that may or may not be articulated in a prayer card or a walked aisle—-but it certainly can be! (emphasis mine). So in that case I could be on board with the “decisional regenerationists” (though I still think your hymn is explaining what’s really going on behind the scenes).
