“But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!” (Luke 16:30).
This is a well-known parable in which a rich man is suffering torment in Hades. He asks Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers, stating “If someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!”
Federal Visionists love this verse because they think that the rich man is concerned about the salvation of his five brothers. Notice how they make repentance a metonym or even synonym for conversion. However, this does violence to the gospel of our modern Reformation.
The Reformed faith has always insisted that justification is the heart of the gospel. This justification is received by faith alone, which means that works such as repentance have no part in justification. Rather, repentance is part of sanctification.
Obviously, the rich man is not concerned about the salvation of his five brothers because he does not mention justification or faith alone. Thus, they must already be believers; otherwise, the rich man would have said, “If someone goes to them from the dead, they will have faith alone.”
Instead, the rich man says, “They will repent.” Thus, he is concerned about their sanctification, but not their justification. The rich man wants Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers so that they will be sanctified.
