Calvinism Defended:
Wrong and Right Thinking About Irresistible Grace
By
This is the eleventh section of the e-mail exchange I had with Bill, an individual who objected to Calvinism. Click here to go back to the table of contents, or here to go to the full 88 page exchange.
In this part of the exchange, Bill makes it rather clear that he really does not quite understand the position he is critiquing. He tries to refute irresistible grace, but his objections have nothing to do with what irresistible grace actually teaches.
Bill's Response: If grace is irresistible then why do you sin? Each day? Every day? You resist the Spirit of Grace Himself. So how can you say grace is irresistible? Unless God is withholding grace from you because you are not one of the elect?
My
Response: Your statements are based on a classic misunderstanding of what
is meant by irresistible grace (another reason why the acronym is more trouble
than it’s worth, and another reason why I encouraged you earlier, and will
encourage throughout this, to actually learn
the position you are critiquing). Irresistible
grace is about the regenerating power of God’s Spirit, as Paul says in Eph
2:1, “but you He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sin,” and what
Jesus called being born again of the Spirit (John 3:3).
Sinful man always resists the Holy Spirit—that’s the whole
point—what is needed is conquering
grace, and what God does in regeneration is that He overcomes our resistance,
hence, it is this grace that is said to be irresistible.
If a person is dead, they do not resist being brought back to life.
The raising of Lazarus serves as an illustration.
Lazarus was dead, in the tomb for some 4 days.
Jesus called out his name and told him to come forth.
This calling forth by Jesus was effectual, in that it was accompanied by
the very power of the omnipotent creator of heaven and earth.
The only thing Lazarus could do at the command of the God-Man to come
forth (i.e., live) was…live! Lazarus
couldn’t make a “freewill” choice to reject being brought back to life.
Now, spiritually, the same thing is similar.
We are described as dead in our trespasses and sin.
Jesus describes those that are outside of Him as dead (Matt 8:22). One who is dead in this sense, does not, and cannot, come to
Christ. When Jesus approached
Lazarus’ tomb, all of the pleading and wooing in the world would not have
caused Lazarus to come to Jesus because…he was dead.
He had to first be raised to life. This
is the same spiritually for us. No
amount of “wooing” or pleading will work with a dead sinner, because they
are deaf and blind to the things of the Spirit. They are dead to the things of the Spirit.
We must first be made alive, raised from spiritual death to spiritual
life, regenerated, born again, before we will ever do anything related to the
ultimate spiritual good. All irresistible grace teaches is that at the moment God, in
His own time, decides to regenerate an individual, or make an individual
spiritually alive, He never fails to accomplish it. Even those who disagree with the Reformed conclusion must
still hold to some form of irresistible grace, because even non-Reformed
theologies maintain that regeneration is something that never fails to take
place. In their case, every person
who places saving faith in Christ is then regenerated.
Like it or not, that is irresistible grace. The only real difference is how regeneration takes place.
The Reformed maintain that it is all of grace, and that the means God
uses to raise His people is primarily the Word of God, the Gospel of Christ, for
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17).
For the non-Reformed, a person first receives Christ, then upon that
reception they are necessarily born again.
It is some of grace, and some of man.
It is faith first, then regeneration.
But, as I believe I have demonstrated throughout, that order is simply
impossible. Jesus said, “All that
the Father gives to Me will come to Me…” Please
note Jesus’ words carefully:
1. Who is it that comes to Jesus? Answer: All that
the Father gives to Him. Just in
that one statement we have one of the clearest statements on predestination to
be found anywhere in the Bible.
2. Please note
that Jesus does not say that those given to Him by the Father “might” come
to Him. Rather, He says that they
“will” come to Him. They cannot
fail to come to Jesus. That is all
“irresistible” grace is teaching.
As for why we still sin in our Christian lives, you are
confusing categories. Regeneration
is one thing, sanctification is another. Irresistible
grace has absolutely nothing to do with sanctification; it pertains solely to
regeneration, not
sanctification. I would greatly encourage you to carefully
read Reformed teachers if you want to both understand what is taught, and then
not misrepresent (as you have here) what is taught. With this in mind, I would recommend the following:
Putting Amazing Back Into Grace
by Michael Horton – This is by far the best presentation I have seen.
Though you may disagree profoundly with the conclusions, I think you will
at least appreciate the spirit in which he writes, and you will have one of the
most accessible statements on the doctrines of grace to be found anywhere.
You may even find some things worthwhile. J
Amazing Grace DVD – An extremely well done DVD series that
clearly presents the doctrines of grace and interacts with some of the more
common objections. Again, though
you may disagree with the conclusions, I really believe that overall, you will
find this series to be quite enjoyable and money well spent.
The Doctrines of Grace by James Montgomery Boice and Philip Ryken.
Very well written and worth your time.
The Potters Freedom by James White – This is a book written in response to
Norman Geisler’s book Chosen But Free. Overall,
I like the book, however, it is a polemical work, so some of White’s
commentary may sound confrontational. The
benefit of this book for you will be that you will be able to see some of the
most common arguments against Calvinism, and then see a scholarly response.
White also has a critique of Chosen But Free on line that you can listen
to, where he spent about 8 radio programs working through it all:
http://www.straitgate.com/geisler/
TULIP: The
Pursuit of God’s Glory In Salvation
by John Piper - This is a series of audio lectures. Piper deals methodically with the issues and objections.
Very helpful:
http://www.desiringgodstore.org/store/index.cgi?cmd=view_item&parent=8-49&id=548