What Is Really Being Asked
No one in this debate thinks a sinner can save himself. Calvinists, Arminians, and non-Calvinistic Baptists all say that grace goes first, and that no one would ever come to Christ if God had not moved toward him. The question is narrower than many suppose. When God calls a sinner to Christ, can that sinner finally say no?
The Reformed teaching, also called effectual calling, that the Holy Spirit so works in the elect that they are certainly and willingly brought to faith.
This is the I in TULIP, and many who hold it wish the word were different. R. C. Sproul thought irresistible could mislead and preferred effectual grace, because this grace accomplishes what God intends. Reformed teachers deny that God drags people into His kingdom against their will. If you have heard the doctrine put that way, you have not heard it fairly.
God's call through the Gospel is sincere, gracious, and powerful. The sinner is dead in sin and cannot save himself, but God commands all to believe and enables the response He commands. A sinner can refuse. Those who believe receive new life, and they have earned nothing.
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For Deeper Study
- Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point CalvinismAmazon David L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke, eds.Non-Calvinistic Southern Baptist scholars. Steve Lemke's chapter critiques irresistible grace.
- Salvation by Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling and RegenerationAmazon Matthew BarrettReformed. A full recent case for the view this article answers.
- Chosen by GodAmazon R. C. SproulReformed. A popular explanation of regeneration before faith.
- Grace, Faith, Free WillAmazon Robert E. PicirilliFree Will Baptist (Reformed Arminian). Helpful on resistible grace. We differ on the security of the believer.
- Arminian Theology: Myths and RealitiesAmazon Roger E. OlsonClassical Arminian. Shows that Arminians teach salvation by grace. We differ on prevenient grace and security.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Regeneration
The new birth is the Holy Spirit's work of giving spiritual life to the one who believes, through the Word of God, making him a new creature in Christ.
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