Is belief the precondition of repentance or is repentance the precondition of belief? If we view the Gospel's demand of repentance to be simply related to the violation of the Law and the Prophets as recorded by Israel, then we must posit direct evangelism as an immediate pre-requisite of Salvation. Otherwise, of what laws can any individual repent without education?

I am far too Augustinian to allow this to be the case. Repentance is better understood, not as a checklist of one off and recurring sins that one must say “Sorry” for, but as a state of recognition of the sinfulness of sin, a recognition of the evil of being evil. Or, in the case of my previous post, the recognition of the idolatrous state of being which is common to the “not-fully-human”. The Spirit does not need for an individual to have been exposed to the Pentateuch in order to bring them to a recognition of their need for forgiveness. After all, Lao-Tzu wonderfully stated that “It is only when Righteousness is lost that we need to speak of propriety”

The place of evangelism then, is to direct the already repentant towards appropriate belief, which will provide the basis for self and communal identification with Christ in Baptism.

Once more, I betray my Augustinianism by the recognition that the opportunity to have the gospel preached within my experience is a coalescence of God's grace, through the outworking of the Spirit through the obedience and rebellion of the individuals in my life, particularly in the individuals who directly presented me with the gospel message, as well as those that influenced my life through their own idolatry, and as I have matured, the recognition of the influences of my own idolatries.

These perspectives are influenced by Sartre's concept of “Bad Faith”, and the desire to avoid the charge as much as is practicable. At the end of the day, The justice of God within a courtroom metaphor could find the individual condemned for not seeking out the salvation that according to Paul is close to them.

With Crystal, I am a supporter of the concept of the age of accountability, and am not Augustinian enough to demand that all children are baptised in order to escape limbo, and I am neither a proponent of infant baptism, preferring the existential individual response and identification with Christ and His community.

This affirmation of infant salvation opens up the possibility for those who are not existentially aware of the Death and Resurrection of Christ to be saved. Particularly, the Mentally Challenged and the Infant. Others may wish to expand this to those who have not yet heard, but I think that this would make the commission of Christ to be counter-productive. By restricting condemnation to those who actively reject the gospel, we would be better off staying home, so that the unreached could be ushered into Heaven, and ironically creating a possibilty of demonstrating the injustice of God at not allowing ALL people to have the opportunity to be “unreached” by the Gospel and thereby welcomed into Heaven.

Essentially one must come to the question of whether sinners can be saved, and the immediate response must simply be Yes. God ONLY saves sinners. He just doesn't necessarily save all of them. They are the only ones that need saving in the first place.

An extension of my position finds that within the foreknowledge of God, (and the inevitable predestination that occurs within that foreknowledge), the precise times and places of birth, along with the borders of nations which are established and maintained by God (and secondarily outworked through sinful institutions and individuals). The submission to these social constraints, are either to be rejected, or accepted, on the basis of their compatibility with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Creation preaches the qualities of God, including his righteousness and by contrast, our own unrighteousness. Creation then, preaches repentance. The Spirit reveals the Gospel and enables belief and the baptismal response.

Ultimately though, I happen to believe that I am one of God's instruments that He has foreknown and foreordained for the (hopefully positive) communication of the Gospel to the lost in not only my social setting, but in the social settings of others. I am that one that God has sent to those around me, inasmuch as they are the ones that God has sent towards me. Whether or not my outworking of this reality is legitimate outworking of faith through love or idolatrous legalism is existentially another issue. Thankfully, not one that God will hold over the heads of those that I influence towards Christ.

Josh Ballard.