Response To Jason Brown On
Regeneration Without Gospel Conversion

By Curt Wildy

In response to my series on whether all of the elect will hear the Gospel, Jason Brown wrote the following on his Primitive Baptist Apologist blog:

The point is, however, that NT believers had the historical Jesus Christ as the object of their faith, OT believers had Jehovah as the object of their faith. This difference in the degree of content is enough to prove that true faith, which was had by OT believers, did not have the explicitly revealed Christ as it’s object.

The point of noting the difference is that Paul’s use of justifying faith in Romans 4:16 must apply in a common sense to all of the elect across the ages. Surely one can see the consistency of inferring a “measure of faith” that is common to all the seed on a fundamental level from this text. This same “measure of faith” is given to the elect in regeneration to the infant as well as the educated man, and immediately applies the righteousness of Christ to them. This fundamental “measure of faith” is a principle of grace (this principle undergirds and manifests itself in evangelical faith) that is God’s means of preserving the elect unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time (1 Peter 1:5).

This text clearly denies a standard of knowledge for justifying faith as taught by Calvinism, as all the seed are incapable of passing that standard, and that the revelation of knowledge is properly conceived as belonging to conversion to those intellectually capable and exposed to such revelation.

Regarding the statement “The point is, however, that NT believers had the historical Jesus Christ as the object of their faith, OT believers had Jehovah as the object of their faith. This difference in the degree of content is enough to prove that true faith, which was had by OT believers, did not have the explicitly revealed Christ as its object,” I want to make two points.

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. Consider:

Isaiah 43:10Ye [are] my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I [am] he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.2  11 I, [even] I, [am] the LORD [H3068; יהוה; Yᵉhovah; yeh-ho-vaw’];  and beside me [there is] no saviour.

Isaiah 45:21 Tell ye, and bring [them] near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? [who] hath told it from that time? [have] not I the LORD [H3068; יהוה; Yᵉhovah; yeh-ho-vaw’]? and [there is] no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; [there is] none beside me. 22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else.

Secondly, the Old Testament believers, the Old Testament Christians, most certainly knew of Christ. They knew of Him as their coming Messiah. Christ (Christos) is simply the Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah (Mashiyach) — both of which mean Anointed. Consider the following sampling of passages and let the Bible respond to Mr. Brown’s assertions; let the Bible dictate what Old Testament believers knew of Christ.

Adam and Eve

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Job

Job 19:25 For I know [that] my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth: 26 And [though] after my skin [worms] destroy this [body], yet in my flesh shall I see God.

Abraham

John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw [it], and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I Am.

Moses

Hebrews 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 

Acts 7:37  This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. 

John 5:46  For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

David

Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Luke 20:41  And he said unto them, How say they that Christ is David’s son? 42  And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 43  Till I make thine enemies thy footstool. 44  David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?

Isaiah

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were [our] faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 

Isaiah 54:5 For thy Maker [is] thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called… 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

Isaiah 59:20  And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.

Daniel

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, [that] from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince [shall be] seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.14 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Habakkuk

Habakkuk 3:13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed [Messiah – H4899]; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck.

The Entire bible

John 5:39  Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Summary

Although Old Testament believers did not know the full details of Christ and His atonement, the passages above and many others evidence the fact that they knew of a coming Messiah, the LORD (JEHOVAH) THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS, who would be their Substitute, their Redeemer, their Deliverer, and their Saviour. The Samaritan woman at the well declared in John 4:25 “…I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” Luke 2:25-31 reveals to us Simeon who was waiting for the Christ, the consolation of Israel. The Holy Ghost was upon him and He revealed unto him that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. These Old Testament believers in Jesus’ day believed the same thing their forefathers believed. They believed in salvation brought about by another, that other being the Lord their Righteousness, Messiah the Prince, who we now know as the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah Jehovah Elohim).

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. 

To God be the glory.