The next point I would like to discuss is the doctrine of Irresistible Grace. It is also referred to as Effectual Calling. The definition of Irresistible Grace is that, as a result of the Holy Spirit's work, all of those whom God elected for salvation will, without exception, become believers in Christ.
Now, there are a couple of things that one must understand. When the Calvinist speaks of IRRESISTIBLE grace, he does not mean that sinners do not ever resist God. In fact, up until a man is regenerated, he, by his very nature, continually resists God. Instead, the doctrine of irresistible grace means that the Holy Spirit sovereignly gives a new heart or new nature through the work of regeneration to those God elected, and that that new heart causes the sinner to cease resisting Christ and to willingly believe in Him instead.
The second thing which we need to explain in order for one to understand this doctrine, is the concept of outward and inward calling. There are two types of CALLS in the New Testament regarding salvation. Outward calling is simply the preaching of the gospel. Through the message which Christians preach, many sinners, both elect and non-elect, are called upon by the gospel to believe in Christ. Jesus spoke of outward calling when He said, "many are called but few are chosen." In this passage our Lord was merely pointing out that, although multitudes of people from many nations have heard the outward call of the gospel to put their faith in Jesus, very few of them, in comparison to the whole, had been elected for eternal life before the foundation of the world. Inward calling is when the Holy Spirit comes to an elect person who is spiritually dead and unconverted and sovereignly calls him out of that state of spiritual death, thus giving him spiritual life (i.e. regeneration, the new birth ) Inward calling is never resisted. The Holy Spirit sovereignly changes the sinner's heart through the new birth, and once the sinner's heart is changed, he has no desire to reject Christ, but rather, gladly and freely comes to Him. In theory, a regenerated person could reject the gospel, since he has the ability to make choices, but the new nature he obtains through regeneration makes him unwilling to do so.
Here are several verses which support the doctrine of Irresistible Grace. Deuteronomy 30:6 says, "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live." Here we see that it is the transformation of the heart wrought by the Spirit that results in the decision of the individual to love and serve God. Ezekiel 36:26 says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and CAUSE YOU TO WALK IN MY STATUTES, and you will keep my judgments, to do them." John 5:21 says, "For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will." Ephesians 2:1 & 5 says, "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins....even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)." In John 6:37 we learn that ALL that the Father gives to Christ WILLcome to Him. This verse leaves no room for exceptions. It says, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." Acts 13:48 says, "Now when the Gentiles heard this (the gospel) they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." Here we see that it was AS MANY as had been appointed to eternal life that believed. No more, no less. Isaiah 55:11 says, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." If it is God's will for a certain person to believe, His Will will be accomplished. His word will not return to Him void. 1st Thessalonians 1:4-5 says, "knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit...." This verse speaks of both types of callings. For those Paul was speaking to, the gospel did not come in word only (the outward calling), but also in power and in the Holy Spirit (the inward, effective calling). To the non-elect, the gospel comes in word only. The preacher calls upon everyone who hears to believe on Christ, but the heart of the sinner remains hard and rebellious and he continues to resist the truth. But in the case of the elect, the outward call is accompanied by a powerful inward call. The Holy Spirit of God calls the dead sinner out of spiritual death into life and gives him a new heart. The result is that there is no will or desire to resist the truth. The newly born again person now gladly embraces the truth of the gospel and believes in Jesus. And finally, we see in John chapter three that, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is (or, so it is with) everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) The sovereign, irresistible work of the Holy Spirit in giving the new birth is compared to the wind. No man can control the wind or the weather. We cannot make the wind blow upon this person and not that person. Only God controls the wind. In the same way the Holy Spirit blows upon whom He will. Also, we cannot see the wind. It blows upon us before we can see it. We cannot see it coming and get out of the way. We cannot even see it when it is upon us, but we can observe its effects. In the same way, the elect sinner has no idea the new birth is coming and he is passive in the process. Most likely he is sitting in church only half listening to the sermon when the Spirit blows upon him and he suddenly begins to realize the truth and the significance of the story of the Saviour. We are altogether unaware of what the Spirit is doing in us in regeneration. Regeneration itself is neither seen or physically felt. However, we can observe the effects of regeneration. Belief in Christ and a desire to live for God is the effect.
Now I would like to deal with several doctrinal reasons which support Irresistible Grace. The first one is the doctrine of predestination. Surely it is plain to see that, if God PREDESTINED certain people to be saved, then they WILL be saved. If something is pre-determined by the Almighty God, then there is no doubt that it will come to pass. Ephesians 1:5 says, "having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will...." God PREDESTINED us to be adopted as his children... and therefore, it is certain to occur. And since it is certain to occur, grace must be "irresistible". Now it is true that if a mere man plans for a certain thing to occur, something might happen which will spoil his plan. But such is not the case with Almighty God. How can something NOT happen if it has been predestined by the Almighty Sovereign God?
The next doctrinal consideration is that Faith is a gift from God. If justification is by faith, and if that faith comes from God as a gift, then obviously, salvation is not the result of the sinner's choice but is instead the result of God's choice. If faith is produced by the sinner, then the sinner can resist believing in Christ. But if God bestows faith as a gift to whomever He pleases, then salvation is not dependent on the sinner's resistance or non-resistance. It is "irresistible". But does the scripture really teach that Faith is a Gift? Most certainly it does. Here is a sampling of verses. Ephesians 2:8-9 says "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and THAT not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Here Paul does not say that the mere OPPORTUNITY of being saved through faith is a gift of God. Rather, actual salvation through faith was given to us by God. Now there are many other verses that teach that faith is a gift. Acts 18:27 says, ..."and when He (Apollos) desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had BELIEVED THROUGH GRACE..." Now the word grace means "unmerited gift from God". We believe in Christ through an unmerited gift of God. In Romans 12:3 the Apostle Paul writes to the Christians at Rome and He says..."For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as GOD HAS DEALT TO EACH ONE A MEASURE OF FAITH." Here we see that God has DEALT to each of His people a measure of FAITH. It might be objected that the verse says that God has given faith TO EACH ONE and that that proves that everyone has been given faith. However, that cannot be true for two reasons. First because Paul was writing to the church at Rome when He said that God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. He was not writing to non-christians. He obviously meant that God had dealt each of His people in His Church at Rome a measure of faith. Secondly, if God deals a measure of faith to all humans on earth then obviously, everyone has faith. Yet in 2 Thessalonians 3:2, Paul says..."Pray for us...that we may be delivered from...wicked men; for not all have faith." So God has not dealt everyone a measure of faith for not all have faith! Next notice Philippians 1:29. It says..."For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Also consider 2 Peter 1:1 which tells us that we obtained our faith, instead of saying that we produced it. We read..."Simon Peter, a servant and Apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ." Notice that we did not produce faith by our willpower. Rather, we obtained it by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The righteous life and sacrificial death of the Saviour obtained faith for us!!! Again, consider 1 Peter 1:3. It says..."Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..." Peter says that God has begotten us again (regenerated us) to a living hope (a living hope in Christ is Faith) through the resurrection (Jesus' work in dying and rising obtained this faith or living hope for us). Again Hebrews 12:2 says... "looking unto Jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith" Jesus not only keeps us in the faith, He is also the author of it. Faith is His gift. Then again, consider John 6:37 "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me" To come to Christ is the same as to believe in Him. Yet Christ makes the sinner's coming to Him the result of having been given to Christ by the Father. If faith is the result of having been given to Christ, then faith is a gift. If God does not choose us and give us to Christ, then we are not his chosen sheep and therefore we cannot believe. Jesus made this plain in John 10:26 when He told some unbelieving Jews..."But you do not believe BECAUSE you are not of MY SHEEP." Here Jesus does not say that they were not His sheep because they did not believe. He says just the opposite. They did not believe because they were not His sheep!! Faith is the Gift of God to His sheep. Again, in John 6:65 Jesus says "No one can come to Me unless it (coming) has been granted to him by My Father..." To come to Jesus is to believe. Yet no man can come (believe) unless it (believing) has been Granted by God. Again in Acts 13:48 we read...."And when the Gentiles heard this (the gospel) they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" Here we see that believing is the result of having been appointed to eternal life by God. Thus, it is not our work but His gift. Finally, not only faith, but even repentance is the gift of God to whomever He wills to give it. 2 Timothy 2:24 says..." and a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance..." It is God who grants faith as a gift and it is God who grants repentance. Now if God gives repentance and faith to whomever He wills then salvation is not something that we are going to resist. How can we resist something and be repentant at the same time? But if God gives repentance to us then we cannot be resisting God because resistance to God is by definition impenitence. Those who are given the gift of believing in Christ and of repentance are not and cannot be resisting. Thus, since repentance and faith are gifts, God's grace to his elect is irresistible.
One objection to the doctrine of Irresistible grace that some might have is Revelation 3:20. It says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me." Some believe this verse is saying that Christ merely knocks on the sinner's heart, and it is up to the the sinner to decide if he wants Christ to come in. If the sinner does, then he opens his own heart and Christ comes in. But in order to understand what this verse is really speaking of, we must look at the context. Now, in this part of Revelation, Jesus is sending letters to different churches in the world. We see in verse 14 of chapter 3, that Jesus is speaking to the Laodicean church. It says, ..."And to the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write..." So He is speaking to the body of Christ...not unconverted pagans. In no place whatsoever does it say that He is talking about the heart of a sinner. He is sending this letter to the Laodicean church, a church which was imperfect and disobedient in many ways, and thus was in need of repentance. And so we have the warning that the Lord would come to them in judgment. However, He also assures any individual in the church that if they will welcome Christ into their midst, they will enjoy fellowship with the Saviour rather than the judgment rendered to the others. Thus, He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." He is saying He is standing at the door of the CHURCH and if anyone hears His voice He will come in to him and dine with him. Notice that the words there are IN TO, not INTO (as in into the sinner's heart). He is not saying he will go INTO the person, but IN TO (in the church and to) the person. It is very important that when we interpret scripture we do not read ideas into it that are not really there. We must look at the context and see what the verse is actually saying. If you want a verse that really speaks of a sinner's heart being opened, look at Acts 16:14. It says, "Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The LORD OPENED her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul." Is it the sinner who opens his own heart, or does the Lord open the heart? Here we see the answer. The Lord opens the heart.
So we can clearly see that all those whom God elected, before the world began, for salvation WILL come to Christ in faith. For Jesus said, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."
If you have any questions about Calvinism, then email me here at RachelRuth@juno.com. =^D
To read the beginning of the article on what Calvinists believe, click here.
What About The History of Calvinism?
Answers to Objections Against Calvinism
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