This is an excerpt from Ditching the Checklist: Assurance of Salvation for Evangelicals (and Other Sinners) by Mark Mattes (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 5-7.
God isn’t dependent on human consciousness to save us. He works in us even if we are unconscious or if our consciousness is not fully developed. For instance, when Mary visited Elizabeth prior to both John’s and Jesus’s birth, John the Baptist “leaped” in his mother Elizabeth’s womb (Luke 1:41), a reaction to Mary’s greeting Elizabeth. Elizabeth told Mary, “When the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy” (Luke 1:44). But, in the womb, John wasn’t conscious like an adult is conscious. If that is the case, faith is a much bigger matter than consciousness. Even fetuses can exercise faith despite their undeveloped cognitive capacities! God works with the whole person throughout their lifespan, in all its stages of cognitive development and, presumably, mental demise. Hence, faith cannot be reduced to conscious awareness, let alone a decision. It is far too encompassing. It incorporates the believer’s life in all its phases and manifestations.
Ultimately, faith is human receptivity to God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to plant Christ smack dab within our core and orient our entire life to Christ. Surprisingly, children have an advantage over adults concerning such receptivity. Jesus makes it clear that repentance doesn’t entail that children need to become like adults but just the opposite: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). Jesus does not use the standard of adult consciousness as the measure for repentance but instead the receptivity, and humility, of a child. Adults must become like children in God’s kingdom, not vice versa. Deciding for Jesus is a cognitive matter. But, as we noted with John the Baptist in the womb, much of human life, including our relationship to God, transcends cognitive awareness. If that is the case, we should raise some questions about the revivalist tactic of urging sinners to “decide for Jesus.” Obviously, this practice has been widespread for a couple of centuries. But is the practice scriptural? Many take it for granted that it is. But we need to let the scriptures guide our thinking. Addressing the Pharisee Nicodemus, Jesus said, “. . . unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Jesus’ metaphor for conversion as a rebirth doesn’t square with deciding for Jesus. Why? The metaphor of birthing rules out decision-making. No baby chooses to be born. Instead, a baby is pushed out of the womb by the mother. Babies exercise no willpower for their birth. Instead, the womb, of its own accord, on its timeline, pushes the baby out.
For a baby, birth is passive, not active. No one gives birth to themselves. Jesus applies this truth to the new birth (regeneration). God gives new birth just like mothers give birth. God is active, and the sinner is passive. Indeed, the sinner can only be receptive with respect to God. This truth is reinforced by the Greek word anōthen used for the English word “again” in the original text. The English Standard Version notes thatanōthen has more than one meaning. In addition to “again,” it can also mean “from above; the Greek is purposely ambiguous and can mean both again and from Above.” [1] Rendered as “from above,” anōthen’s focus is on God who gives birth and not merely the event of rebirth. What does this all amount to? If we want to be true to Jesus when we speak of a new birth, we need to rule out decision-making. To experience a new birth is not an activity on our part, something we do. Instead, it is a passive event. If someone is “born again,” it is because God has so birthed them.
Ditching the Checklist is Now Available for Order
[1] The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, Illinois: Good News Publishers, 2001), 1070.