November 2007 - Protestant Reformed Churches in America

Protestant Reformed Theological Journal
salvation. Such obstacles may not be placed before believers who
grew up in the church, who were taught to pray on their mother’s
knee, who were catechized and who therefore do not know a time
when they did not believe in Jesus Christ. To demand of such that
they describe a dramatic conversion experience before they are
allowed to confess their faith is to grieve Christ’s little ones. Nor
may it be demanded on the mission field. It is enough when a
person simply believes in Christ and shows evidence of that in a
godly walk. To insist that every soul comes to Christ by means of
a long and arduous process of conviction of sin (which is supposedly
due to preparatory grace) is not biblical. It leads to doubting
and lack of assurance. It makes true believers afraid to make confession
of faith and come to the Lord’s Supper. True conversion
is a lifelong process, where the child of God daily turns from sin
to God (repentance and faith) and experiences forgiveness at the
foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. This is the Reformed doctrine of
conversion as set forth in the Heidelberg Catechism (Lord’s Day
33).
Finally, we call attention to the fact that the Presbyterian tradition
ought to reject preparationism on the basis of their own
Confession. It is surprising that the notion of preparatory grace
became so popular among the Puritans, since many of them helped
frame the Westminster Confession, which teaches that “natural
man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is
not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare
himself thereunto” (10:3). ●
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Vol. 41, No. 1