What do you guys think of Author Pinks handling of "Duty Faith"?

[Alan Gross]

"Duty Faith" by A.W. Pink

I know DaveXR350 will love seeing this!

This quote is what he says he Strongly Opposes:

"We deny duty-faith and duty-repentance—these terms signifying that it is every man’s duty to spiritually and savingly repent and believe.

(Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Matt. 15:19;
Jer. 17:9; John 6:44, 65).

We deny also that there is any capability in man by nature to any spiritual good whatever.

So that we reject the doctrine that men in a state of nature should be exhorted to believe in or turn to God.

(John 12:29, 40; Eph. 2:8; Rom. 8:7, 8; 1 Cor. 4:7).

Therefore, that for ministers in the present day to address unconverted persons, or indiscriminately all in a mixed congregation, calling upon them to savingly repent, believe, and receive Christ, or perform any other acts dependent upon the new creative power of the Holy Spirit, is, on the one hand, to imply creature power, and, on the other, to deny the doctrine of special redemption."

 

[Martin Marprelate]

You are entirely misreading Pink's articles. In the extract you have given he is quoting from the rticles of the 'Gospel Standard' churches. Pink left two such churches because they objected to him making open appeals to sinners to come to Christ.
Just look at his first sentence!

 

[Marooncat79]

He pastor a church near where I grew up in KY, they ran him off for some reason

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

He pastor a church near where I grew up in KY, they ran him off for some reason

Seems for good reason!

 

[Martin Marprelate]

"Duty Faith" by A.W. Pink

I know DaveXR350 will love seeing this!

This quote is what he says he Strongly Opposes:

"We deny duty-faith and duty-repentance—these terms signifying that it is every man’s duty to spiritually and savingly repent and believe.

(Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Matt. 15:19;
Jer. 17:9; John 6:44, 65).

We deny also that there is any capability in man by nature to any spiritual good whatever.

So that we reject the doctrine that men in a state of nature should be exhorted to believe in or turn to God.

(John 12:29, 40; Eph. 2:8; Rom. 8:7, 8; 1 Cor. 4:7).

Therefore, that for ministers in the present day to address unconverted persons, or indiscriminately all in a mixed congregation, calling upon them to savingly repent, believe, and receive Christ, or perform any other acts dependent upon the new creative power of the Holy Spirit, is, on the one hand, to imply creature power, and, on the other, to deny the doctrine of special redemption."

My apologies. I think I may have misread your O.P. Younare right that Pink strongly opposed those who restricted the open preahing of the Gospel. Pink believed in 'duty faith,' and rightly so.

 

[Van]

Why worry about what this Pastor or that Pastor preaches, what does the Bible teach should be our concern. Then we should check those preacher's sermons to see if they match what scripture says.

No one "savingly" believes or repents or receives! It is God alone who credits or not our faith as righteousness, which is by His grace because all of our works of righteousness are as filthy rags to God.

It is true that every person's opportunity to seek salvation occurs when they hear and understand the gospel, and so for Pastor's to ask the lost to commit to Christ is perfectly valid. It is also true that some cannot respond, those who are like the first soil of Matthew 13. And it is true, some will respond such that God will not credit their "faith" as "righteous faith." But, some do and therefore evangelism in the "fields white for harvest" needs more laborers.

 

[37818]

All self evident truths need to be believed. Truths are the reasons for faith.

 

[Van]

I agree, no one should put their faith in falsehood!!!

OTOH, why not embrace Colossians 1:5?

 

[Van]

All self evident truths need to be believed. Truths are the reasons for faith.

I agree, no one should put their faith in falsehoods!!

OTOH, we should stick with Colossians 1:5 and 2 Thessalonians 2:13 and put our faith in the truth.
Col 1:5
because of the hope reserved for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel

2Th 2:13
But we ought to thank God always for you, siblings loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification (being set apart) by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

 

[Brightfame52]

"Duty Faith" by A.W. Pink

I know DaveXR350 will love seeing this!

This quote is what he says he Strongly Opposes:

"We deny duty-faith and duty-repentance—these terms signifying that it is every man’s duty to spiritually and savingly repent and believe.

(Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Matt. 15:19;
Jer. 17:9; John 6:44, 65).

We deny also that there is any capability in man by nature to any spiritual good whatever.

So that we reject the doctrine that men in a state of nature should be exhorted to believe in or turn to God.

(John 12:29, 40; Eph. 2:8; Rom. 8:7, 8; 1 Cor. 4:7).

Therefore, that for ministers in the present day to address unconverted persons, or indiscriminately all in a mixed congregation, calling upon them to savingly repent, believe, and receive Christ, or perform any other acts dependent upon the new creative power of the Holy Spirit, is, on the one hand, to imply creature power, and, on the other, to deny the doctrine of special redemption."

I agree 100% with Mr Pink on those comments.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

by A.W. Pink



It is the bounden duty of all who hear the Gospel to savingly trust in Christ, otherwise their rejection of Him would be no sin.

Pink continues:
The commission He has given His servants is to preach the Gospel to every creature, and they certainly have not fully obeyed until they bid their hearers “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). Whom God quickens, is His own affair; ours is to faithfully warn the unsaved, to show wherein their sins consists (enmity against God), to bid them to throw down the weapons of their warfare against Him, to call upon them to repent (Acts 17:30), to proclaim the One who receives all who come to Him in faith.


Amen!

 

[DaveXR650]

I know DaveXR350 will love seeing this!

Thanks Alan. I haven't read very much Pink and was a little surprised to hear his take on it. You have to be careful reading him because he gives so much space to quoting the other side you can get mixed up as to who is saying what.

(By the way, it's XR650, not 350. Everyone in my opinion, at some time in their life, should have a dirt bike that can go over 100 mph. It gives you a good understanding of total depravity.)

 

[Brightfame52]

Those people whom Christ didnt die for, unfortunately they are still married to the Law, and the only way they can be saved is to keep the Law perfectly, no sin in word, thought or action, which is impossible

 

[DaveXR650]

Wow. A big argument on here is that since you're dead in sins and trespasses you can't respond to the gospel because you are like a dead person in the grave. In the last paragraph of that paper Pink says that comparison is not correct which really surprises me. He does not say that it means you can actually be saved by your own free will, but he does say there is enough ability there to refuse Christ and choose sin. Thus you can truly be held accountable for not believing. I was rather surprised by that.

 

[Alan Gross]

Wow. A big argument on here is that since you're dead in sins and trespasses you can't respond to the gospel because you are like a dead person in the grave. In the last paragraph of that paper Pink says that comparison is not correct which really surprises me. He does not say that it means you can actually be saved by your own free will, but he does say there is enough ability there to refuse Christ and choose sin. Thus you can truly be held accountable for not believing. I was rather surprised by that.

Chapter 8
II. THE ENLIGHTENMENT
OF THE UNSAVED.

The Bible clearly teaches that unregenerate men are spiritually blind (I Corinthians 1: 18, 2:11-14, Ephesians 4:17-18).

Their eyes are closed to the glory of Christ and the nature of salvation.

This, however is not to say that they are without any knowledge in the moral realm.

God is pleased in His work of common grace to impart some knowledge unto the unregenerate.

A. While unsaved men hate the knowledge of God, yet they never succeed in erasing it from their minds (Romans 1:23, 28).

In every nation men admit the existence of Deity. Atheism has never been natural to man.

All this is because God has been pleased to give a universal manifestation of His existence. (Romans 1:19-20).

B. Another manifestation of common grace is the impartation to men of the knowledge of right and wrong.

The natural man hates God's law (Romans 8:7), yet he can never erase its precepts.

This is because the Holy Spirit has written them in his conscience (Romans 2:14-16).

This Scripture proves that any mortality on the part of the unregenerate must be attributed to God.

One should notice here that both the saved and the unsaved have the law of God written in their hearts (Romans 2:14-15, Hebrews 8:10).

The difference is that the saved not only have a much fuller and more spiritual revelation of God's law, but they are also enabled to love it Romans 7:22).

The unsaved have a contracted view, of God's law which produces guilt and mere restraint rather than joyful obedience.

 

[Silverhair]

by A.W. Pink



It is the bounden duty of all who hear the Gospel to savingly trust in Christ, otherwise their rejection of Him would be no sin.

Pink continues:
The commission He has given His servants is to preach the Gospel to every creature, and they certainly have not fully obeyed until they bid their hearers “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). Whom God quickens, is His own affair; ours is to faithfully warn the unsaved, to show wherein their sins consists (enmity against God), to bid them to throw down the weapons of their warfare against Him, to call upon them to repent (Acts 17:30), to proclaim the One who receives all who come to Him in faith.


Amen!

So your saying that Pink believe in free will.
"ours is to faithfully warn the unsaved, to show wherein their sins consists (enmity against God), to bid them to throw down the weapons of their warfare against Him, to call upon them to repent "

 

[DaveXR650]

The unsaved have a contracted view, of God's law which produces guilt and mere restraint rather than joyful obedience.

I was listening to Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermon on John 3:1-8 on being born again. (He has about 3 sermons on that passage) He said the same thing, that your natural conscience gives you a restraining influence against some wrong things you might do but that really WANTING to obey God because you now find his word and law attractive is a sign of being born again, a supernatural work.

 

[Silverhair]

Those people whom Christ didnt die for, unfortunately they are still married to the Law, and the only way they can be saved is to keep the Law perfectly, no sin in word, thought or action, which is impossible

Whom did Christ Jesus not die for?

Romans 5:6 - For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

1 John 2:2 - and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

1 Timothy 2:5-6 - For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

1 Timothy 4:10 - For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Christ Jesus is the propitiation for the sins for the whole world of ungodly sinners and because He paid their ransom He is able to be the Savior of all men. Does this mean that men will be saved, no. But it does mean that all men that freely trust in Him will be saved.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

So your saying that Pink believe in free will.
"ours is to faithfully warn the unsaved, to show wherein their sins consists (enmity against God), to bid them to throw down the weapons of their warfare against Him, to call upon them to repent "

Yes, as do I and as does the 1689 Confession.. I have been posting extensively on that subject.

 

[Brightfame52]

Chapter 8
II. THE ENLIGHTENMENT
OF THE UNSAVED.

The Bible clearly teaches that unregenerate men are spiritually blind (I Corinthians 1: 18, 2:11-14, Ephesians 4:17-18).

Their eyes are closed to the glory of Christ and the nature of salvation.

This, however is not to say that they are without any knowledge in the moral realm.

God is pleased in His work of common grace to impart some knowledge unto the unregenerate.

A. While unsaved men hate the knowledge of God, yet they never succeed in erasing it from their minds (Romans 1:23, 28).

In every nation men admit the existence of Deity. Atheism has never been natural to man.

All this is because God has been pleased to give a universal manifestation of His existence. (Romans 1:19-20).

B. Another manifestation of common grace is the impartation to men of the knowledge of right and wrong.

The natural man hates God's law (Romans 8:7), yet he can never erase its precepts.

This is because the Holy Spirit has written them in his conscience (Romans 2:14-16).

This Scripture proves that any mortality on the part of the unregenerate must be attributed to God.

One should notice here that both the saved and the unsaved have the law of God written in their hearts (Romans 2:14-15, Hebrews 8:10).

The difference is that the saved not only have a much fuller and more spiritual revelation of God's law, but they are also enabled to love it Romans 7:22).

The unsaved have a contracted view, of God's law which produces guilt and mere restraint rather than joyful obedience.

Much of what you stated here is agreeable, however there is nothing common about Gods Grace since its grounded in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jn 1:17

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Rom 5:21

That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now even though the non elect experience a benign providence in their life from God, its far from being of Grace, and natural conscience is seared[to spiritual matters] even though it can be guided by morality.