Andrew Hall
Puritan Board Freshman
The following statements in the 1689 LBCF (& WCF) struck me as contradictory, and along with the further questions I had about Acts 17:30, I'm hoping for some help.
10:3 (WCF 10:3) - "Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit; who works when, and where, and how he pleases; so also are all other elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word." This appears to contradict the following:
10:4 (WCF 10:4) - "... Much less can men that do not receive the Christian religion be saved; be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the religion they do profess." This goes along with 20:2 (no parallel in WCF): "This promise of Christ, and salvation by him, is revealed only by the Word of God; neither do the works of creation or providence, with the light of nature, make discovery of Christ, or of grace by him, so much as in a general or obscure way; much less that men destitute of that revelation of him by the promise or gospel, should be enabled thereby to attain saving faith or repentance."
While generally I think most Reformed folk would say that "elect infants" are those who belong to believers (cf. Canons of Dort 1:17), these elect infants and others are incapable of being outwardly called by the gospel. (Note it does not say they cannot make a profession because they're mute, or that they cannot comprehend the gospel. It says they cannot be called outwardly.) So what makes unreached peoples--past, present, or future--any different? Why do we conclude God has elected some to life apart from hearing and responding to the gospel, but that this doesn't apply in regards to unreached people groups "who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word."
Acts 17:30-31 says (Paul speaking to the Athenians), "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (1) In what way did God "overlook" the Gentiles' godlessness in the past? Romans 1-2 says the wayward Gentiles have been storing up wrath for themselves and are without excuse. (2) Does this verse teach that if people had no saving revelation of Christ or of the covenant of grace, that their sins would be overlooked by God? (3) If the "now" was the resurrection of Christ, it would still take time to spread the gospel to all peoples. Are people now suddenly damned because they lived after the resurrection but before the gospel reached them? [Please know that I believe everyone in history is sinful in Adam and so justly - to God, not my own comprehension - deserves death.]
10:3 (WCF 10:3) - "Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit; who works when, and where, and how he pleases; so also are all other elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word." This appears to contradict the following:
10:4 (WCF 10:4) - "... Much less can men that do not receive the Christian religion be saved; be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the religion they do profess." This goes along with 20:2 (no parallel in WCF): "This promise of Christ, and salvation by him, is revealed only by the Word of God; neither do the works of creation or providence, with the light of nature, make discovery of Christ, or of grace by him, so much as in a general or obscure way; much less that men destitute of that revelation of him by the promise or gospel, should be enabled thereby to attain saving faith or repentance."
While generally I think most Reformed folk would say that "elect infants" are those who belong to believers (cf. Canons of Dort 1:17), these elect infants and others are incapable of being outwardly called by the gospel. (Note it does not say they cannot make a profession because they're mute, or that they cannot comprehend the gospel. It says they cannot be called outwardly.) So what makes unreached peoples--past, present, or future--any different? Why do we conclude God has elected some to life apart from hearing and responding to the gospel, but that this doesn't apply in regards to unreached people groups "who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word."
Acts 17:30-31 says (Paul speaking to the Athenians), "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (1) In what way did God "overlook" the Gentiles' godlessness in the past? Romans 1-2 says the wayward Gentiles have been storing up wrath for themselves and are without excuse. (2) Does this verse teach that if people had no saving revelation of Christ or of the covenant of grace, that their sins would be overlooked by God? (3) If the "now" was the resurrection of Christ, it would still take time to spread the gospel to all peoples. Are people now suddenly damned because they lived after the resurrection but before the gospel reached them? [Please know that I believe everyone in history is sinful in Adam and so justly - to God, not my own comprehension - deserves death.]