What is decisional regeneration / decision theology?
Answered from the commentary of Numerical Bible Notes, J. Wilson Smith, A. J. Pollock and 5 others
Decisional regeneration or decision theology makes a decision of the sinner’s will the determining cause of salvation and new birth. These passages reject that teaching: new birth is God’s sovereign work, wrought by the Holy Spirit through the Word; it is not produced by human will, effort, or decision. Faith receives Christ and His finished work, but it has no merit and does not make the sinner the source of new life.
The passages differ in how they describe the relation between new birth and faith. Some say new birth precedes faith; others describe receiving Christ and being born of God together, or say their order cannot be separated by argument. They agree that salvation is of God, while faith is the sinner’s real reception of Christ and that salvation must be received.
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What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
Regeneration is not a change of the old nature, but the introduction of a new; it is the implantation of the nature or life of the Second Adam, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, founded upon the accomplished redemption of Christ, and in full keeping with the sovereign will or counsel of God. The moment a sinner believes in his heart, and confesses with his mouth, the Lord Jesus, he becomes the possessor of a new life, and that life is Christ. He is born of God, is a child of God, is a son of the free-woman. (See Rom. 10:9; Col. 3:4; 1 John 3:1-2; Gal. 3:26; Gal. 4:31)
No doubt there are usually many exercises of soul that accompany conversion, and these may be spread over weeks or years. But I believe there is a definite moment when the exercises reach their climax, when the soul puts its confidence, once for all, in the Saviour and His precious blood, and is pardoned and cleansed. It is not a long process; it is the act of a moment.
From the foregoing remarks our readers may be saying, well all this seems to portray salvation rather as a process than an instantaneous act. If such are your thoughts, my friend, let me assure you once for all that the matter of your salvation, your passing out of nature's darkness into God's wonderful light is absolutely instantaneous. In the history ofevery soul that becomes a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is a moment when the line of decision is crossed and that moment means a change...
Repentance is a change of mind, a complete reversal of one's inward attitude towards self, towards sin, to wards God, towards Christ and towards the Gospel. It is to give up one's own mind and opinion and to accept God's mind as revealed in the Gospel. One may think that he is a Christian because he has tried to live a good life, belongs to a church, has been baptized and does religious works. Yet none of these and kindred other things will ever make one a born-again Christian, so there must be a change of mind about all this. One must come to God as a repentant sinner and believe on Christ as his Savior to become a Christian.
More than a quarter of a century ago, two young men were standing late one night near a street lamp, speaking to each other in low, earnest tones. Now and then a Bible was opened, and a short passage of scripture read by the light of the friendly lamp. What was the subject that so detained them? It was salvation, the “Salvation of God, offered as a free gift,” without money and without price, to all who believe on the Lord Jesus. One of the young men had not very long before accepted Christ as his personal Saviour, and a joy he longed to share with others was filling his heart. The other, though an anxious soul, had not fully decided to be on the Lord’s side, and his friend was seeking to point him to God’s way of peace. “Decide for Christ tonight, Edward, you will never regret it.” That night another soul was won for Christ; “saved to serve” became the motto of his new life. Our friend has often told the story of his conversion to young people in various parts of England and Scotland, adding “Did I regret it? No, never! Knowing and trusting Christ has brought the very peace of God into my soul, and filled my life with “such joy as the world never knew.” You will never regret decision for Christ: then why should you linger to regret wasted years and lost opportunities?
What I want now is decision. Redemption is accomplished, the blood has been shed, and the claims of God have all been met by the cross. That which the sinner needs has been wrought out for him by Jesus; and now it is for you to accept the Gospel message, for you in the truthful integrity of your soul to say, "Come what may, I am going to be Christ's." You may have some time to wait ere you see the Lord Jesus face to face; the desert may be long in crossing, but one sight of Him will more than make up for all the toil or trouble of the way.
Remember, decision is the great thing, that is needed. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
And you, my dear friend, if you have never decided for the Lord before, be decided tonight. If you have not been a Christian before, may the simple tale of my conversion lead you to decision, and set you on your way seeking to serve the Lord. He is coming back, and we shall soon see Him face to face. May we each heed His word, "Be thou faithful to death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Rev. 2:10).
We do not deny that a person might, under the same preaching of the Word, come under the operation of the Spirit and turn in repentance towards God — "know his own sore and his own grief and spread forth his hands" (2 Chr. 6:29), in supplication to God, and also put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The person, who from the heart believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, and confesses Him as Lord, experiences an inward change. This is very evident, and the change cannot but be seen by those who come into contact with such. That is the meaning of the word, conversion, that inward change, that takes place when “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21) have wrought their blessed work in the soul.