Book Review: Decisional Regeneration vs. Divine Regeneration

I recently received the book Decisional Regeneration vs. Divine Regenration by James E. Adams as a gift from one of the members of our church who spends his winters in Arizona. While there, he attends the church pastured by Adams. I was excited to receive it as I had been very impressed with the other book by Adams which I had read: War Psalms of the Prince of Peace. I found this second work by Adams (which is actually an updated version of his work from almost 40 years ago) quite helpful as well.

This short, very readable book is not a theological treatise on the level of Calvin's Institutes, but then it is not intended to be. It is very purposefully accessible to all audiences and is very neatly organized into concise, to the point chapters. Adams lays out a clear, biblical argument against the concept of decisional regeneration, beginning with the observation that “the ‘Christian’ segment of our society seems to be much more a reflection of our culture than a light to it.” He suggests that what lies behind this is the fact that many who may call themselves "Christians" have nonetheless never actually experienced the new birth.

What lies even deeper at the heart of this issue is an understanding of how exactly one comes to be born again. Adams speaks against the idea of “Decisional Regeneration,” that is that human beings bring about the new birth through a decision to follow Christ. Instead, he argues, such a decision could never even be made without the regenerating work of God already having taken place in their heart.

Adams does a good job of displaying that this is not just some unimportant theological argument that has no real practical implications. He does this, examining the impact of a theology of decisional regeneration on such areas as our worship, our preaching and our evangelism.

Some of the quotes in the book (especially those of Dr. Martyn Llloyd-Jones) are pure gold and throughout, Adams is tethered to the Gospel of Grace. He reminds us, “The brilliance of God’s power in saving sinners can be appreciated only against the gloomy backdrop of people’s desperate condition, their inability to please God.”

In light of such, he concludes with these words from John 1:12-13: “Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”