Question / Comment - Unbelievers are spiritually 'dead' and cannot believe the gospel or make any moves towards God.
I'm always amazed in how many denominations can say you have to believe on Christ and then you have to receive Christ, or accept Christ. Now it is true that Christ said believe on me and come to me but how can ANYONE do these things when they are spiritual dead as quoted in Eph 2 and other parts of the Bible? Dead as dead can be like "Lazarus" who was physically dead but in essence is a picture of us all before Christ has come to save us. Another ex. in the book of Ezk. where we have the valley of dry bones another example of us all before Christ has saved us, we could go on and on these are just some examples not all. Now please explain to me how can anybody do any of these thing if we are Dead in our trespass and Sins?
 
Reply:
 

Hi, thanks for the question.

I won't write a lot but here are a few thoughts.

It is true that non-believers are 'dead in sin' (Eph 2:1). It is also true that no one can come to Jesus unless the Father enables them to do so. (John 6:37, 44)... But this is God's business, not ours. We do not need to concern ourselves with that which is His domain. We need to concern ourselves with that which the Bible tells us to do. And that is to the preach the gospel to all. Over and over it declares that salvation is available to all who believe. It says nothing whatsoever about the fact that they cannot believe because they are 'dead'. I think we need to be careful to not hold onto beliefs that would deny the simplicity of verses such as John 3:16
'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.'

When the jailer asked the Apostle Paul 'What shall I do to be saved?' he didn't reply 'Believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. But of course, you can't do that because you are dead in your sins.' No, it was a simple 'Believe!' (Acts 16:29-31)

Dave Hunt, in his book 'What Love is this?', quotes A.W Pink (a hyper - Calvinist, the doctrine of which Dave's book is written against) who wrote
"There are some who say the unregenerated are dead, and that ends the matter - they cannot have responsibility... A corpse in the cemetery is no suitable analogy of the natural man. A corpse is incapable of performing evil. A corpse cannot "despise and reject" Christ (Isa 53:3), cannot "resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51), cannot disobey the gospel (2 Thess 1:8); but the natural man can and does these things."

No, even though men are 'dead in sin', 'faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God.' (Rom 10:17). That is our job. It is to preach the gospel, declaring that they need to believe on the Lord Jesus (John 5:24). Let God do what God does best and we should stick to what we are instructed to do. Paul even said that we are to 'persuade' unbelievers, and to 'reason' with them, and this was his practice. (2 Cor 5:11, Acts 18:4, Matt 18:28). Why would Paul write and practice this if people are as dead as Lazarus and incapable of believing or hearing the truth? No, the word of God is a powerful two-edged sword, and coupled with the drawing and conviction of the Holy Spirit, men do believe on the Lord Jesus, receive Him (John 1:12), and gain eternal life.

Hope this helps. All the best.

 
Thanks again for responding, one more thought and then will lay it to rest I chose Lazarus because he is an example of everyone before they are saved "DEAD" not physically but spiritually "DEAD." Remember we have to find the gospel and when Christ spoke he spoke in parables. Mrk 4:33,34. In this passage we can clearly see that Lazarus was DEAD no doubt about it because it was stated four times that he was "dead" and to make it more clearly the bible also says he "stinketh" because he had been in the tomb for four days. Now when Christ came to the tomb where Lazarus was and said Lazarus come forth and he came forth. Now how could Lazarus come forth he couldn't hear the voice of Christ because he was dead. How could Lazarus have faith or how could he believe, he couldn't and what did he contribute to his resurrection or coming forth When the Lord Jesus Christ Called? Nothing because Christ had to do it "ALL, EVERYTHING" Christ had to enter into this tomb to give Lazarus ears to hear, eyes to see and a new resurrected soul to respond and come forth, in other words Christ GAVE Lazarus a new life without any contribution on the part of Lazarus. Besides the Bible states that faith and to believe are works. (1Thess. 1:3, 2Thess. 1:11, John 6:29) thank you for your time and patience.

Hi and thanks for your response.

I understand what you are saying, and the point you're making (I have also used this passage to illustrate the Biblical truth that in salvation, only Jesus can give life to the dead) but I have some problems with what you have written. I'll just add a few points concerning this below.

-  The first point is a very important aspect of Bible interpretation that cannot be ignored. And that is, stories or types should be used to illustrate Biblical doctrine, but not to establish other doctrine or points that aren't found in scripture. This is something that I need to remember all the time because a lot of the studies on my site are taken from Old Testament stories. It is great to use these to illustrate truth, but it is wrong to use them to establish truth that is not found in the normal teaching of Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament. Many have used types in this way before to make the Bible say whatever they want it to say without doctrine to back it up. So from the story of Lazarus being raised, it is fair to point out things which are commonly found in scripture such as that it is only Jesus that can give life to the spiritually dead. Also it would be fair to point out that after someone has been given spiritual life, the Lord commands His disciples to take off the grave clothes which bound Lazarus (ie disciple the new believer so that they can put off that which bound them in the old life and free them so that they can embrace their new life.) But it is wrong to say that there is nothing required of a non-believer, or that there is nothing that they can or have to do, to obtain salvation. The Bible constantly repeats the gospel truth that the unsaved should 'believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and they will be saved' (Acts 16:29-31). It is true that Lazarus didn't have to believe on the Lord Jesus to be raised physically... He didn't even have to see, hear or think anything. The command from the Lord Jesus was enough to impart physical life back into Lazarus. But to say this illustrates salvation in that there is nothing that an unsaved person can do to be saved makes a mockery of the free gift of salvation that God offers humanity. As it is written at the end of the Bible:

"Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." Rev 22:17

- The second point is related to the first, and I just want to ask you whether you would still hold to the belief expressed above in personal evangelism. For example, let's say that an unbeliever at your work came up to you (knowing that you were a Christian) and said 'I've been thinking quite a bit lately about my life, and have even started reading parts of the Bible and was wondering what I need to do to receive salvation?' Would you say to that person that there is nothing what so ever that they can do because like Lazarus they are dead in their sins, and can't even believe or respond to Jesus... and that unless Jesus comes and does EVERYTHING, they will just remain dead? I hope not. And I don't think you actually would do this. I'm sure you would tell them what the Bible says concerning salvation and that they should repent of the sins and believe in the person and work of the Lord Jesus on their behalf.

- I think a better illustration of salvation in the gospel of John is the one that Jesus Himself used. It is in John 3:14-15. 'Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.' It is taken of course from Numbers 21:7-9 where Israel had sinned and had been as a judgment from God, they had been bitten by snakes. He then commanded them to look to a bronze snake raised up on a pole and everyone who looked at the snake was healed! The illustration is very apt. All of humanity are sinners and have been bitten by that venomous snake. But God has provided a way of escape and it is by looking, in faith, to the one who was made sin for us (the bronze snake raised up on the pole) so that, in the words of Jesus, 'everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life!' That's the promise of Jesus and that is what we should be telling the unsaved.

- I don't agree that the Bible teaches that 'faith', 'trust' or 'believe' are considered 'works'. These are clearly seen to be the total opposite of works in such well known passages as Eph 2:8-9, Rom 4:4-5. The 1Thess 1:3,  and 2Thess 1:11 passages that you mentioned above are talking about the 'works of faith' or, as the NIV says for 1 Thes 1:3 'We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love...' It is just saying that there was an practical outworking of their faith, and that they labored hard prompted by their love...' In John 6:29 the disciples thought they had to all sorts of outward works to please God (the normal use of the word 'work'). Jesus said the 'work' that was required was to believe in Him. He used the word 'work' in this passage in a different sense to which it is normally used to correct and ram home a point in the disciples minds I believe.        

Anyway, this is how I see it. I hope you haven't been offended by what I have written because that is certainly not my intent. I just believe that on this issue you were going too far in one direction to the detriment of many other scriptures that would teach something different from what you have mentioned above.

All the best.