Which Comes First, Faith, or Repentance?

For Spurgeon the question is needless, because the new life necessarily contains both – like the spokes on a wheel, they move at the same time. Yet this is not always apparent to the individual who is converted. An individual may be so downcast in true repentance that he is not even conscious that he has faith. Spurgeon, preaching on true repentance, can tell his hearers: 

Repentance is the result of an unperceived faith. When a man repents of sin he does inwardly believe, in a measure, although he may not think so. There is such a thing as latent faith: although it yields a man no conscious comfort, it may be working in him truthfulness of heart, purity of spirit, and abhorrence of evil. No true repentance is quite apart from faith . . . It is clear that no man can repent towards God unless he believes in God. He could never feel grief at having offended God, if he did not believe that God is good. To the dark cloud of repentance there is a silver lining of faith; yet at first, the awakened soul does not know this, and therefore laments that he cannot believe; whereas his very repentance is grounded on a measure of faith. [Charles Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 35:130. Read sermon online: Two Essential Things.]    Continue at Thirsty Theologian

Evangelicalism Really is Divided

The year was 1950, and evangelicalism was at a crossroads. For the previous 50 years evangelicals had fought to create an identity. Having separated from the main-line denominations, evangelicals now were an mish-mashed group lacking identity. The former generation of evangelicals was tired, having fought battles for the purity and proliferation of the movement. Feeling that the gospel’s integrity was at stake, they had worked to raise up a younger generation of like-minded evangelicals.

This new generation realized that their movement lacked identity. They also noticed that the previous generation had fought battles, some of which appeared to be little more than shadow-boxing as the former enemies had receded for the time being. As this new generation looked across the evangelical landscape, they saw a blank canvass. This new generation labored to create an identity for their group. Ian Murray, in Evangelicalism Divided, shows the struggles that ensued during the battle for the identity of this second generation.

This is one of those books that every American Christian needs to read. In fact, I bet many readers of our blog have already read it, and the rest probably own it. If you have not cracked it, then dust it off and break it out. Before I moved to Viriginia, the elders at Grace Church spent much of the year reading this book together. It was stunning how much of Murray’s details related directly to present controversy in evangelicalism.   Continue at Jesse Johnson