WERE THE DISCIPLES REGENERATE BEFORE THEY BELIEVED IN THE RESURRECTION OF MESSIAH ?
BASIS OF THE QUESTION
The question arises out of the vital issues of salvation and the gospel as it is presented to us in the New Testament. One of the purposes of the coming of Messiah is that He should preach the gospel. As Luke puts it;
Lu 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, etc...
In quoting from the prophecy of Isaiah and applying it to Himself Messiah was declaring in no uncertain terms both who He was and why He came. He was the anointed of God who came specifically to preach the gospel, the good news of salvation, which would be the means whereby God would call out His elect from darkness and bring them to salvation. In short, it is by the preaching, hearing, understanding, believing and living out of the gospel that men are saved and apart from the gospel of God no one can make any true Biblical claim that he is a Christian.
At the end of His earthly ministry Jesus Christ said this to His disciples;
Mr 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned.
Here Jesus Christ declares plainly that the entire human race will ultimately be divided into two categories with two separate destinies. On the one hand there are those who will be saved, while on the other there are those who will be damned. The deciding factor is whether or not one hears and believes the gospel. The issue of baptizm need not concern us as it is not directly relevant to the topic. Folks can be saved who have never been baptized but no one is saved who does not believe the gospel and that is the vital point being made here. Many other NT passages support what Christ is here teaching but for the purpose of this paper I will reference just one.
1Cor. 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I
preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures:
This passage clearly identifies several major doctrines that comprise the message of the gospel. First, notice in verse 2 that Paul says that this is the gospel "By which also ye are saved". At the risk of sounding oversimplistic Paul is saying here that if anyone ever expects to find himself among the company of saved human beings belief in *this* gospel is the only way that that will happen. If we now refer back to the words of Christ in Mark 16 and ask 'what is the gospel that He commanded His disciples to preach which would determine whether or not a person is saved?' we may find the answer to that question right here in 1Cor. 15. For the purpose of this paper I shall highlight the three main doctrines that are immediately evident from the passage.
1; The Atonement.
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
2; The Entombment.
And that he was buried, [according to the scriptures]
3; The Resurrection.
And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
These are not the only Biblical doctrines that comprise the message of the gospel but they are central and give us more than enough with which to engage in the Biblical practice set forth in such places as 1John 4 where we are told;
1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether
they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in
the world.
How do we 'try the spirits' in order to discern who is and who is not of God? By applying the doctrines of the gospel and observing how people regard them. If they reject them then we may conclude that such people are not of God. This is called judging all things by the gospel. This works out practically in the following way;
*The Arminian, in maintaining his false notion that Christ died for everybody, rejects the Biblical doctrine of the Atonement. He violates verse 3 of 1Cor 15 and therefore we judge the Arminian to be still lost.
*The Russelite [jehovah's witness] rejects the bodily resurrection of Messiah from the dead. He violates verse 4 of 1Cor 15 and we thereby judge him to be still lost.
*The 'Educated Arminian', one who believes in the doctrines of grace and calls himself 'reformed' rejects the Biblical gospel as the *only* gospel and says that Arminians, who believe in another gospel of universal atonement are also saved. He violates verse 2 of 1Cor 15 as well as Galatians 1:7 and we thereby judge him to be still lost.
In a nutshell, any violation of the three elements of doctrine as noted in 1Cor 15 is an occasion for judging a person as lost. This is so because any of these three elements may be said to 'be the gospel'. Thus, the Atonement is the gospel. Anyone therefore who does not believe in the Atonement according to the Scriptures does not believe the gospel and Jesus said he who does not believe the gospel shall be damned. And so it might be said that all those who do not believe the gospel are still lost. Such a statement would include any of the doctrines that comprise the gospel. This brings us to the point of this paper. It can be incontrovertably demonstrated from the NT that the disciples of Jesus Christ were all in violation of verse 4 of 1Cor 15. Not only did they not believe in the physical resurrection of Messiah from the dead, but whenever Jesus Christ mentioned this truth as prophecied in the OT they hadn't the foggiest glimmer of a clue of what He was talking about. Several places in the NT clearly domonstrate this fact.
Mt 16:21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
And what does Peter do? He says... Oh No Lord; this shall never be! Peter strongly objects as to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ which included the resurrection. Such an objection was of Satan, it was so bad. More;
Mr 9:9 And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them
that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of
man were risen from the dead.
10 And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning
one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
James; Wha-- whadde say? Hey Pete, can you tune me in to what
the Lord just said? What is this 'risen from the dead' He's talking about?
Peter; I dunno Jim. He said something like that back in Matt 16 and
when I tried to rebuke Him He called me Satan! Go ask John; he's the theologian
in this crew.
Mr 9:31 For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of
man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after
that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
Mr 9:32 But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask
him.
It seems that the disciples were all a bunch of Russelites who had no clue of the doctrine of the resurrection of Messiah. These passages are damaging enough but now read the next one in Luke and note further detail as to how utterly clueless the disciples were to Jesus' clear teaching.
Luke 18:31 Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets
concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.
32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be
mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:
33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the
third day he shall rise again.
34 And they understood none of these things: and this saying
was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.
Notice verse 34 carefully. Not only did they not know or even understand what Jesus was talking about but this central doctrine of Messiah's resurrection was HID from them, so that it was impossible for them to know it!
And it gets even worse. Christ's disciples did not believe in the resurrection even *after* He arose.
Mark 16: 11 And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and
had been seen of her, believed not.
12 After that he appeared in another form unto two of them,
as they walked, and went into the country.
13 And they went and told [it] unto the residue: neither
believed they them.
Luke 24:6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake
unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of
sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things
unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of
James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto
the apostles.
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they *believed
them not.*
And as if this is not enough we have Thomas who *absolutely refused*
to believe that Christ was alive unless...
ou mh pisteusw
The Greek indicates that Thomas used a *double negative* to express
his absolute refusal to believe that Messiah had risen from the dead and
was now alive.
Clearly the Scriptures teach that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the gospel. That's what was preached all over the book of Acts and Paul says belief in the resurrection is central to salvation in Romans 10:9,10. And yet when we read the gospels we discover that not only did Christ's disciples not understand it, they rejected it and refused to believe it.
Does all this testimony mean that the disciples were all unregenerate?
Let's see.
We begin with Peter...
Question;
Is the confession that 'Jesus Christ is the Son of God' a confession
of salvation?
Joh 20:31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
1Jo 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, [even] in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
Answer;
Yes. To confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God is the same as
to confess the gospel. It means he who makes such a confession has
eternal life, which is to say, he is saved. To believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God is to believe the gospel.
1Jo 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
To believe that Jesus is the Christ is to believe that He is the Son of God and whoever believes that is born of God. He's saved. Of course he must believe in the true Christ of Scripture and if he does the Bible says he's saved.
Can a person confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and be lost? Possibly. After all, the demons believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and they certainly are lost. Mk 5:7
But can a person make such a confession by way of direct revelation from God and be lost? I don't think so.
Matt 16: 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God.
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but
my Father which is in heaven.
A person might possibly confess the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in his flesh and still be in a lost state. But Peter's confession was not of his flesh, as Christ clearly told him. Rather it was the result of direct revelation from God. Why would God directly reveal the truth of the gospel, which is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God... to a lost man and the result is that he is *still lost* after he just confessed the gospel under the powerful influence of God? And why would God leave such a person in a lost condition for many years to come? I have spoken to people who believe Peter was lost all the way up until the book of Galatians where he was confessing a false gospel of justification by works!
Further, eternal life comes by way of the gospel and the gospel is revealed by God in propositional truth which is conveyed to us by words. So Christ says;
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the*words* that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.
And Peter confesses that His words were they which give eternal life...
Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
So Peter knew that the words Jesus Christ spoke were the words of eternal life. And Peter was certainly giving heed to the words of life given by Christ and that is indicative of salvation for Christ tells us...
Joh 5:34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
Again what Christ *says* is eternal life and Peter [and the other disciples] certainly were hearing and believing what Jesus Christ was saying. Thus they were saved.
It gets gooder !
What true believer would ever call a lost person his 'brother'?
Especially if he knew for absolute certainty that the person was not saved.
We have seen enough steam on the internet by now to know that anybody who
regards a lost person as his 'brother' is denying the gospel; right folks?
And as I said, if one knew with absolute certainty that a person was lost
and still called him 'brother' then we even regard *that* person to be
lost as well. Right? Further, no one has absolute knowledge as to the condition
of another man's state before God... right ? Except maybe...
Jesus Christ Himself!
And would Jesus Christ Himself, who knows all men absolutely, ever
call a lost man his BROTHER? Behold................
Mt 28:10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell ***my brethren*** that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.
And this was *before* they believed that Christ had risen from the dead. Here we have a pronouncement by the Son of God Himself, that the disciples, who did not believe in the gospel doctrine of the resurrection of the Son of God from the dead... were His *brethren*!
And it gets even gooder-er.
There are so many passages showing that Jesus Christ's disciples had the testimony of salvation. The best passages are those where Jesus Christ Himself clearly testifies that they were indeed saved. I just showed you one and here is another,
Mt 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, [even] Christ; and all ye are brethren.
If Christ was their Master and they were all brethren... sure sounds like they were all saved to me.
Objection; Judas, who went to Hell, was one of the disciples whom Jesus calls 'brethren' in Matt 23:8
Answer; Judas is no where mentioned in that passage. Further verse 9 says;
9 And call no [man] your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
Are we prepared to say that the Father in heaven was the Father of Judas... who was possessed of Satan? Is God Father to the reprobate?
But now, what I think is the best passage; and it is powerful. John 17...
6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and... *** they have kept thy word.*** !!!!!!!!!!
Remember, The "word" of Jesus Christ is eternal life and here Christ says that the disciples have kept that word. That means... they were saved.
7 Now *they have known* that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
How did they know this? By the revelation of God of course.
8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received [them], and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
The words "send", and "sent" are used by Jesus Christ almost 50 times in the book of John. He keeps telling people He is sent of God. Even the Arminian vs, 3:16 says God so loved... that He 'sent'. I often wondered why Christ kept emphasizing that fact all throughout the gospel of John. Now I know. To believe that Jesus Christ is sent by God is to believe that He is the Messiah; that He is the Christ. And to believe that is to believe the gospel.
Verse 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, *whom thou hast sent*.
Verse 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world, and I
come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one, as we [are].
Christ prayed that the Father would *keep* those who received His words. This is the doctrine of preservation which is a blessing of saved people. There is no way Jesus Christ would ever pray for His Father to "keep" people who were lost. These disciples whom Jesus Christ was praying for were all saved. The next verse is absolute proof folks. Here it is;
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name; I guarded those whom You gave to Me, and ***not one of them was lost,*** except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. LITV
Jesus Christ Himself clearly tells us that ~while He was with then in the world~ not a one of those disciples who he prays for were lost. That means what? That they were all saved. Except of course Judas who was the son of perdition and that is clear that Christ is talking about salvation here and nothing else. And all this was before He went to the cross and rose again.
Objection; You failed to recognize the sovereignty of Christ (again)
in John 17 where he was praying for his future sheep and the ones
he knew were going to be born again which he was already calling 'brethren'.
[This is an actual objection that someone addressed to me.]
Answer; Jesus Christ plainly said;
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy
name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost,
**but the son of perdition;** that the scripture might be fulfilled.
First of all Jesus Christ was plainly talking about those whom He was ~with while He was in the world~ so that cannot possibly be a reference to "his future sheep and the ones he knew were going to be born again which he was already calling 'bretheren'." Secondly, the "son of perdition" was Judas so that means Jesus was speaking of the Apostles. It is true that He also prays for all those who would believe in the future but not until verse;
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
When He says "Neither pray I for ~these alone~" He is clearly referring to His Apostles and/or disciples who were with Him throughout His earthly ministry. He is putting a difference between them and those who would, in the future believe on Him. The objector fails to recognize that difference and ends up in an incorrect understanding of the words of Jesus Christ.
So you see folks, the Bible is clear on this one all important question as to whether or not the disciples were saved before they believed in the doctrine of the resurrection. They most definitely were. This being the case then that means that it is possible for saved people to not believe in one of the truths of the gospel and still be saved.
Now, does this mean that people can walk all over God's green earth and claim to be Christians while they deny the clear teaching of the Bible on the resurrection, or election, or the Atonement, especially the Atonement, or any other doctrine that is vital to the gospel? Absolutely No. The Bible is clear that true believers will abide in the truth. Yet they may not necessarily know all the doctrines at once. So a person may for example be under heavy conviction of sin by the Holy Ghost and he knows that he's on his way to Hell because he deserves to go there, and does not know how to escape such a condition, and then he hears a gospel message that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is the Messiah who came to bring in salvation and has conquered death itself and is alive... and all who believe this are saved... and he believes that message, is he saved? The speaker left out election and the fact that Christ only died for His sheep. Is he saved?
Ro 1:4 And declared [to be] the Son of God with power, according to
the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
Ro 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved.
Based on this confession alone, that he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He is alive, we should have no problem regarding such a one as saved... unless and until he clearly rejects other gospel truths as he is brought into the knowledge of them by his reading of the Scriptures and listening to other believers teach, preach and testify of the gospel. To say that we must wait until such a person comes to the point where he believes all the doctrines before we can judge him saved is to go beyond the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who called people who denied the gospel doctrine of the resurrection, His brothers and said that none of them were lost.
You say you're not convinced...
If the words of Jesus Christ Himself do not convince you then nothing else will. Here's one I left out. It's stunning.
John 20: 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet
ascended to my
Father: but go to ~my brethren,~ and say
unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and ***your*** Father;
and [to] my God, and ***your*** God.
Jesus Christ here again called those who did not believe in the resurrection...
His brethren. Further He said that His Father ***was
their Father too*** !!! and that His God ***was their God too***!!!
Don't you just love the word of God? It is absolutely impossible that the
Son of God was talking about unregenerate lost people here!
Matt 13: 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest
thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given
unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it
is not given.
Imagine God giving the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven to... lost people? I doubt that. Here's what that great baptist commentator John Gill says of this passage.
By the "kingdom of heaven", is meant the Gospel, which treats of the
kingdom of heaven, and of things pertaining to it; of the saints' meetness
for it, which is the regenerating and sanctifying grace of the Spirit;
and of their right to it, which lies in the justifying righteousness of
Christ. The "mysteries" of it intend the sublime doctrines thereof; such
as relate to the Trinity of persons in the Godhead, to the incarnation
of Christ, and the union of the two natures, human and divine, in him,
eternal predestination, redemption by Christ, satisfaction by his sacrifice,
justification by his righteousness, and pardon through his blood, the resurrection
from the dead, &c. things, though clearly revealed, yet may have difficulties
attending them, and which are not very easily solved: now to know and understand
the great truths of the Gospel, spiritually, savingly, and experimentally,
is not from nature, or to be acquired by men's industry, but is the gift
of God's grace, flowing from his sovereign will and pleasure; a favour
which the disciples of Christ, as a chosen people, receive from the Lord,
and which is denied others.
John Gill
So Christ's disciples whom He was with while on the earth were not a bunch of unregenerate, unborn again lost sinners who blindly followed Him. No; they were people to whom were given to know and understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, which is the Gospel and they freely confessed that Jesus Christ was indeed the Son of the Living God and that by the power of the Holy Ghost. They knew and confessed that Jesus Christ had the words of eternal life. They were saved.
John 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
A lost person "in whom is no guile"? I doubt it.
John 1:49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.