Calvinism Defended:
Irresistible Grace
By
This is the fifth section of the e-mail exchange I had with Bill, an individual who objected against Calvinism. Click here to go back to the contents, or here to go to the full 88 page exchange.
In this part of the exchange, I continue with the exposition of key texts related to each of the 5 points of TULIP. Having addressed Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, and Limited Atonement, and I am now addressing Irresistible Grace. Please note, I did not include every passage that could have been included, nor did I address any of the counter-texts used by Arminians (e.g., Matt 23:37-39, John 12:32, 1 Tim 2:1-7; 2 Pet 3:9, 1 John 2:2). My concern was to provide a positive presentation of what we believe and why we believe it. All of the so-called "problem texts" have been dealt with many times over by many well respected Reformed teachers who have provided in-depth exegetical analysis of the texts in question. The same simply cannot be said of the other side concerning the texts provided by Calvinists.
My second e-mail response continued:
Irresistible Grace (Effectual Grace/Calling): By these words we mean that the gospel extends a call to repent to everyone who hears its message (Acts 17:30), and it promises salvation to all who repent and believe (Rom 10:9). Yet, because men are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1), men do not respond to the gospel call. Men, of themselves, are both unwilling and unable savingly to respond to the gospel call (1 Cor 2:14). No amount of external pleading, bargaining, threatening, or promising can cause blind, dead, deaf, rebellious sinners to bow the knee to Christ. Such an act is totally contrary to man’s nature, which is radically corrupted by sin (Rom 3:10-18; John 6:37). There is, for the elect, an inward call by the Holy Spirit attached to the outward call of the gospel (Rom 8:28-34; Acts 13:48). This is sometimes called regeneration, being “born again from above," "a new creation," etc. (John 1:12-13, 3:3; 2 Cor 5:17), For the purpose of our acrostic it is called “irresistible grace.” It is irresistible in the sense that when God sovereignly determines to bring a spiritually dead sinner to spiritual life, He never fails.
Verses:
Isaiah 42:7 “To open the blind
eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness
out of the prison house.”
-- “To open blind eyes…” – Can a blind man
“synergistically” work to have his sight restored?
No. The eyes must be
“monergistically” acted upon by a physician capable of providing sight to
the blind person. Just as
the physically blind person is absolutely passive in the event of being
made to see, so too the spiritually dead person is absolutely passive in the
event of being made to see…it is only those that have been born again that can
“see” the kingdom of God (John 3:3).
“To bring out prisoners from
prison…” – How is one that is incapacitated for some reason brought
out “synergistically” anywhere?
If a fireman rescues a person from a burning building who has been
knocked unconscious due to smoke inhalation, the fireman must carry the person
to safety. In this passage, it is a
prisoner that must be set free. A
prisoner cannot come out from prison, for a very simple reason:
they are in chains and/or behind bars.
In order to bring a prisoner out of prison, the guards of the prison must
open the cell door, take hold of the prison, and loosen and remove the chains in
order to bring him out of the prison. The prisoner is completely passive—he is
being acted upon by one who has absolute power over him, and by the only one who
can free him from his chains. No
amount of “free will” will ever set the prisoner free—he must be set
free. This is precisely the state
of affairs spiritually. We are prisoners in sin, shackled and bound hand and
foot, and placed in a room that has no escape.
As a matter of fact, this passage describes the fact that we are sitting
in darkness. I don’t know if you
have ever been in a room that is pitch black; if you have, then you know that in
a room like that, you are as good as blind.
You can’t see anything. Thus,
not only is there no escape for us due to being in this prison, but we are in
darkness, which means we cannot even see. Here we are, in this desperate
condition, and the real kicker is, we do not even want to escape!
We actually desire to be in this prison, thus, no amount of “free
will” will ever set us free, because 1. No
amount of “willing” can free a prisoner., 2.
We aren’t even willing. We
must be brought out of the prison, and this is precisely what God’s grace,
based upon the perfect works and atonement of Christ, does.
Ezekiel 36:25
“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within
you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart
of flesh.”
-- Where is “synergy” here? When
a patient has a heart transplant, does the patient “cooperate” with the
doctor? We can no more perform open
heart surgery on ourselves than we can give ourselves a new “spiritual”
heart. This is the work of God and
His grace alone. Also, please note,
there are only 2 “kinds” of heart: a
heart of flesh, and a heart of stone. The
heart of stone is what we all have prior to regeneration. The heart of stone does not desire, nor can it produce within
itself, a desire to come to Christ (John 6:37). One must first have the stony heart removed, and replaced
with a heart of flesh before he will ever come to Christ. He must first be born of the Spirit in order to exercise
those things directly related to the Spirit:
repentance and saving faith (which things are themselves gifts given to
us by God). Apart from the Lord
taking out our heart of stone and giving us a heart of flesh and putting a new
spirit within us, we will never come to Christ.
This is wholly the work of God and His grace. Salvation is all of the
Lord and all of grace.
John
8:42-47 Jesus said to them, “If
God were your Father, you would love Me; for I proceeded forth and have come
from God, for I have no even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why
do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My
word. You are of your father
the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature;
for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth,
you do not believe Me. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I
speak truth, why do you not believe Me?
He who is of God hears the words of God for this reason you do not hear them,
because you are not of God.”
-- Two groups of people: the
children of the devil, and the children of God.
Each group “hears” the things of their father.
Jesus here tells us plainly that the reason why those He was addressing
did not believe Him was because: 1. They were not of God. 2.
They were of their father the devil.
And please note, it is not merely that they did
not listen and believe, it is “because [they] cannot hear” the
Word of Christ. All of the
“synergy” in the world is utterly useless here, because from their (our) side of
the “synergistic” equation, they have no power to perform the task in
question, and therefore cannot, i.e., they are unable to come to Christ.
Here is a further breakdown of the passage:
“If God were your Father, you would
love Me” – At issue is love for Christ. Why don’t those whom Christ is addressing love Him?
Answer: if God were their
Father, they would. If that is
true, how is it that I can get God to be my Father?
Well, the answer is that we must go through the Mediator, Jesus Christ,
for, as Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to
the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6).
So, if the only way to love Jesus is by having God as our Father, and the
only way to the Father is through Jesus, then we have quite a problem, don’t
we? This verse clearly demonstrates
then that salvation is dependent upon something outside of man, namely, the
sovereign grace of God. The only way a person can have God as his Father is if God
Himself chooses to be that person’s Father, and then sovereignly makes that
individual one of His children. This
is precisely what the New Testament repeatedly teaches (John 6:37; Acts 13:48;
Rom 8:28-34; Rom 9; Rom 11:5-6; Eph 1:3-11; 2 Thess 2:13; 2 Tim 1:9, etc., etc.,
etc…).
“Why
do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My
word.” Jesus
asks the question to which He provides the answer.
The reason they don’t
understand is because they can’t hear (hearing and
understanding here being metaphors for assenting to the truth of the Gospel and
trusting in Christ). Once again
we see the truth of the total inability of man to incline himself to the
spiritual good, and once again we see the incredible power of sin.
Here was the God-Man standing before them; they clearly knew that He was
indeed the Messiah, yet, they continued to reject, and would eventually murder,
Christ. The words of Jonathan
Edwards come to my mind, when he said (to paraphrase), “we
would kill God if we could get our hands on Him.”
That is the only thing our will “freely” wants to do. By the way, with the will in mind, how can one maintain that
they have a “free will” in the sense you wish to maintain, if that will has
an absolute restriction placed on it, i.e., if one cannot hear the Word of
Christ, then obviously their free will is not free in the most important thing
that it really needs to be free for (coming to Christ). They will not “will” to come to Christ, because their
“will” cannot “will” to do so. This
does not describe a will that is free, Bill, but one that is in bondage.
Hence the words of Christ, “If the Son makes you free, you shall be
free indeed.” (John 8:36). I could continue with the rest of the passage, but it is
basically saying the same thing. Yes,
we must “will,” but at issue is how we, who do not and cannot will to come
to Christ, are made willing. The
answer is that Christ set us free, and gives us new desires, and we then act on
those desires. Amazing grace how
sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind but now I see.
Luke
24:45 “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.”
-- If their minds had to be opened to understand the Scriptures, then
that means that they obviously were closed prior to that point. Where is “synergy” here?
If ones mind has to be opened before they can understand, then synergy is
simply not an option. If you open
something, the thing you are opening does not “cooperate” or work with you.
For synergism to be true, this verse would have to read, “Then He
worked with them and helped them to understand as they yielded to His help.”
The Scripture never talks this away about unregenerate sinners.
Acts 2:39 (NKJV) “For the promise is to you and
to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God
will call.” Salvation
is always dependent upon the Lord, and the Lord is always the determinative
cause of the whole of our salvation. Salvation
begins with election (“as many as
the Lord will call…”), is perfectly accomplished by Christ redemptive work
(both His active and passive obedience), and is applied to us by the Spirit
(“as many as the Lord our God will call…) The
calling spoken of is not the general/outward call of the Gospel that goes to
every creature, but the inward call of regeneration that is given only to the
“as many as’s…”, i.e., God’s elect.
Acts 18:27 “And when he was
disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to
receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed
through grace:”
-- How
does saving faith come about? This
verse answers the question: through
grace. It is not that grace helps
us to get so far, and then it is up to us to make good on the grace (i.e.,
synergism). Rather, it is that the
very act of belief occurs only through grace.
Paul echoes this thought in 1 Cor 1:30, “But of Him
you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness
and sanctification, and redemption.” Prior
to this, Paul has told us that it is God who has made the sovereign choice of
some and not others, and all of this is so that “no flesh should glory in His
presence.” If free will theology
is true, then all those who make the right “choice” have room for boasting,
for they made the right choice while still in their flesh (i.e., their old
nature). Once again we see a
critical difference between Reformed and non-Reformed thought:
The Reformed ascribes every ounce of glory in salvation to the grace and
power of God alone. The non-Reformed, though they may say they do
the same, in actuality do not because they leave the most fundamental point
(coming to Christ) to their own power.
Quotes:
Augustine:
“For so much is the will of the saints inflamed by the Holy Spirit,
that they are able, because they are willing; and willing, because God worketh
in them so to will.” –
John Calvin:
“Conversion of the
will is the effect of Divine grace inwardly bestowed.”
“Faith does not
proceed from ourselves, but is the fruit of spiritual regeneration.”
“A man is not saved
against his will, but he is made willing by the operation of the Holy Ghost. A
mighty grace which he does not wish to resist enters into the man, disarms him,
makes a new creature of him, and he is saved.”
A.W. Pink:
“It is not a question
of the sinners willingness or unwillingness, for by nature all are unwilling.
Willingness to come to Christ is the finished product of Divine power
operating in the human heart and will in overcoming man’s inherent and chronic
enmity.”
Dr. James White:
“Divine birth can
have only one origin: God.”