# "Awakened Sinner"



## thbslawson (Feb 26, 2012)

I grew up in a Reformed-ish Baptist church that used the phrase "Awakened Sinner" frequently to refer to those who appeared to have the workings of the Spirit going on. People in this condition were said to be under "Holy Spirit Conviction", some for many many years, seeking and pleading with God to save them. 

I've been apart from that ministry going on 15 years now, but notice it in Puritan literature from time to time. It seems that the term is a little hard to define from person to person, and for some it even means different things. For instance, when I was growing up it was seemingly almost assumed that an "Awakened Sinner" would eventually get "saved". 

So, I have several questions.

1. What do you understand the phrase "Awakened Sinner" to mean?

2. Is it Biblical?

3. Is it consistent with Calvinism? For instance, how can a person who is "dead in trespasses and sin" be "awakened" yet still not "alive in Christ"?

Thanks


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## ThyWord IsTruth (Feb 26, 2012)

I can't say that I have heard that phrase used regularly but by the way you explain it's use, I would liken it to the parable of "The Sower" in Mark 4. So in that sense I would say it can be used as a Biblical term. I do not believe that it is Biblical to say that we can judge on who will or will not be eventually saved or left dead in their sinful nature, so to say that an "Awakened Sinner" will be eventually saved is not Biblical nor Calvinistic in nature. 
Can a sinner see that they are in chains and enslaved to sin and know that they can be freed? I believe so, but if they are not regenerated by the Holy Spirit then they will not know that they are already "dead" in their sins and need a savior. They may keep on thinking they can free themselves and that is the delusion of the "free-will" thinkers.


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## earl40 (Feb 26, 2012)

I am not familiar how the puritans would have used "awakened sinner" but I do know that if one uses "dead in trespasses and sin" while "awakened" at the same time today as if one can be born again and not believe then one is believing in an unbiblical doctrine.


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## Pilgrim (Feb 27, 2012)

I know a little about the ministry in question, assuming it's the same one you mentioned in another thread. But I'm not familiar with this doctrine. As practiced by them it seems to be an extreme form of what has been called "preparationism" especially if they taught that this was a normative state through which all of the elect must pass. 

Now, I do think one can be what some call "under conviction" of sin without ultimately being saved. It seems that Herod, who liked to listen to John the Baptist, may have been such a one.


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## Alan D. Strange (Feb 27, 2012)

Thomas:

You know from both an online comment and a couple of PMs that I was a part of the same ministry that you were, and I believe that Chris is right: it is an extreme form of preparationism, a malady that afflicted some of the Puritans (Thomas Shepherd, perhaps). Hyper-Calvinists of a certain sort, interestingly, can fall into this. You find something of this, for example, in John Gill. And also in a group like the Netherland Reformed, whence Joel Beeke came.

As I reflect on it, and came to think while a part of it (leading, partly, to my departure), such preparationism seems to fly in the face of the reality that if we are dead in trespasses and sin, we are not "awakened," and if we are "awakened" we must have been renewed, made alive in Christ, even though we may lack assurance. I do agree also with Chris that the unregenerate can experience by the common operation of the Spirit something that may be referred to as "conviction of sin" and remain unconverted. I think that that ministry might have taken an excessive dose of that, reified it, and come up with a whole new category between "believer," and "unbeliever:" "awakened sinner."

Peace,
Alan


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## Jerusalem Blade (Feb 27, 2012)

Alan,

Apropos your mention of Thomas Shepherd in relation to "preparationism", I just took his _The Parable of the Ten Virgins_ off my bookshelf to start going through it. Ought I, in your opinion, be on guard against this tendency in him in that work? Thanks in advance for any counsel you may give.


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## Alan D. Strange (Feb 27, 2012)

Steve:

I think that _The Parable of the Ten Virgins_ is definitely a work worth perusing and profiting from. Edwards certainly did in _Religious Affections_, having reference to it a good bit.

Peace,
Alan


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## Pilgrim (Feb 27, 2012)

Several times in recent years Dr. Jay Adams has on his blog accused Joseph Alleine's _Alarm to the Unconverted_ as being an example of preparationism. Adams states that Alliene never directs the sinner to repent and believe. I have Alleine's book but haven't read it unfortunately. So I can't evaluate the claim. 

I have sometimes wondered if Spurgeon was not suffering under some kind of preparationist influence or idea prior to his conversion. From Dallimore's biography I've thought that Spurgeon might have read enough from his grandfather's library to have a M.Div by today's standards by the age of 16. Yet he was not converted until providentially stumbling into that Primitive Methodist chapel on that Lord's Day where the barely literate lay preacher directed him to "Look and Live!"


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