Under pressure one may display a form of outward repentance when faced with the consequences of their sin and even be driven by a fear of Hell, yet remain unregenerate. This is because our ability to repent and believe is impossible unless God initiates the call and enlightens the heart. We enter this world spiritually stillborn and it is only by grace that we can come to repentance.

“We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.”  George Orwell

Our pastor has been going through a series on the five solas of the Reformation. Yesterday, after quoting Orwell he commented that the Reformation was a restatement of the obvious. Obvious, meaning that the doctrines of grace set forth during the Reformation were not new teachings but were merely reclaimed after centuries of being hidden away in a false religious system.

Building on Sola Gratia—salvation by grace alone, he explained how modern evangelicalism has unwittingly promoted a subtle type of works salvation by teaching that God takes 99 steps toward us and it’s up to us to take that one final step toward him.

Under pressure one may display a form of outward repentance when faced with the consequences of their sin and even be driven by a fear of Hell, yet remain unregenerate. This is because our ability to repent and believe is impossible unless God initiates the call and enlightens the heart. We enter this world spiritually stillborn and it is only by grace that we can come to repentance. Repentance is every bit an act of free grace as justification.

The message reminded me of John Gerstner’s book Repent or Perish. Gerstner(1914–1996) was a Presbyterian minister and seminary professor who was asked by John H. White, President of the National Association of Evangelicals to write a treatise on the Biblical doctrine of Hell. This was to be a response to theologians who had denied the doctrine. Says White,

“I asked John Gerstner to respond, especially to John Stott and Philip Hughes in reference to the annihilation doctrine…. His [Gerstner’s] conclusions remind me of the disciples’ response to Jesus’ words in John 6, “This is a hard saying, who can hear it?”

Of those who deny the doctrine of eternal torment Gerstner wrote: “If you are not afraid of hell, you are almost certainly going there. You will then never doubt it again.”

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The source for this document was originally published on theologyforgirls.com – however, the original URL is no longer available.]