January, 2008
by: Jack Hughes
In previous editions fo the Calvary Review we have been working our way through the mnemonic “T.U.L.I.P” which many have used to define some of the key distinctives of the great reformer John Calvin’s theology. The “T” stands for Total Depravity, the “U” for Unconditional Election, the “L” for Limited Atonement, the “I” for Irresistible Grace, and the “P” for Perseverance of the Saints. In this Calvary Review we want to look at the “I” in the T.U.L.I.P. mnemonic and see if irresistible grace is something taught in the Word of God.
Defining Irresistible Grace
Let us begin by defining what is meant by irresistible grace. Grace, as most believers know, is the unearned, undeserved favor of God. Grace is when God gives us things we do not deserve. Theologians recognize different categories or kinds of grace. There is common grace or as some call it, sufficient grace, which God gives to all men, things like life, health, skills, opportunity to hear the Gospel, etc. and there is special grace or saving grace which is the grace God gives to those He has chosen before the foundation of the world so that they will be saved. Common or sufficient grace can be resisted or rejected. Not all who have the gracious opportunity to hear and believe the Gospel believe. Most reject God’s gracious offer. This is an example of sufficient or common grace. Yet irresistible grace is never rejected because it always produces God’s desired effect, namely the salvation of the soul that receives it.
The term “irresistible” according to Webster describes something that is too powerful to be resisted. Hence irresistible grace describes special or saving grace that is too powerful to resist. It is too powerful to resist because it comes from an all powerful God. In other words, when God chooses to save someone, when He gives them saving grace, they will, in every instance without exception, come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. The reason for this is that the saving grace of God cannot be resisted. It frees up the will, mind, and heart of someone so that they want to believe and be saved.
Some have a problem with the idea of irresistible grace. They do not like the term because it makes saving grace sound mechanical, coercive, as if it forces those who receive it to believe contrary to their will. They prefer to describe irresistible grace as efficacious grace instead. This is how many systematic theologies reference it. Others deny irresistible grace or efficacious grace because they want to have a part in their salvation. They look at their own salvation experience and they think they believed in Christ of their own free will unaided by the grace of God. Of course this isn’t true as we have already learned.
Others look at their own salvation experience and derive their doctrine from that – they sought God, they found Him, they believed, and they were saved. They know they were not forced to believe against their will but came willingly to faith in Jesus Christ. Yet compare what was just said with what Paul tells us in Rom. 8:29-30 where he writes, “For those whom He [God] foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” Notice that the one being saved is totally passive in the salvation process. God is the one who saves sinners, they do not save themselves. If we add our works to God’s grace we nullify grace (Rom. 11:6). Yet, while some of the objections above may be valid in part, they reveal an ignorance of what irresistible grace really is and how it works, especially in relation to the depravity of man.
We have already learned that all men are sinners and totally depraved. We have learned that all men are spiritually dead and unable to respond spiritually to the things of God apart from the grace of God. We have learned that those who are spiritually dead can’t please God, do not come to the light, love darkness, have foolish hearts that are darkened, are futile in their speculations, cannot understand the things of God, nor can they please God in any way (see previous Calvary Review on the “T” in T.U.L.I.P. for a more detailed discussion of this and Scripture references). Men cannot save themselves and this is why salvation is by grace.
What this means is that men do not have a “free will” before being saved, apart from the grace of God, except to sin and rebel against God. They can’t understand the things of God on their own. They can’t please God on their own. They will not seek God on their own. So the obvious question is, “Then how does anyone come to salvation?” And the answer is the gift of God’s saving grace. Keep in mind that God’s irresistible, efficacious or saving grace comes in many forms. Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, repentance, faith, providential encounters with people who share the Gospel, conviction by the Holy Spirit, etc., are forms or means of grace by which God brings those He has chosen to salvation. When God determines to save someone, they are saved and nothing can stop it.
If God didn’t supply saving grace to the elect, they wouldn’t seek God. They wouldn’t understand the Gospel and be saved. Irresistible grace is not as some imagine it to be, the forcing someone to do something against their will, but it is a kindness of God which enables someone to understand the truth so that they want to submit to the will of God. Irresistible grace doesn’t force men to reluctantly repent and believe, it frees them up so they want to repent and believe – of their own will.
The Moody Handbook of Theology says there are eight distinctives concerning efficacious grace: 1) it is not given to everyone, 2) it is never rejected, 3) it does not operate contrary to man’s will, 4) it involves God drawing sinners to Himself, 5) it involves the work of the Holy Spirit, 6) it always involves the Word of God, 7) it is always directed towards individuals, not groups of people, and 8) efficacious or irresistible grace is founded in eternity though its effects are experienced in time.
Yet the most significant question to answer is, “Does the Bible teach that God’s saving grace is efficacious or irresistible?”
Scriptures Which Reveal God’s Irresistible Grace
In Mt. 11:27 Jesus is praying to the Father and says, “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Here we see that Jesus is sovereignly in charge of revealing the Father to people. We might say it this way, people can only know the Father when Jesus extends saving grace to them. When Jesus does extend saving grace to someone they come to know the Father.
In Mt. 13:11 Jesus explains why some can understand the truth of God’s Word, which is necessary for salvation, and why others cannot. He says to the disciples,“To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but to them it has not been granted.” Jesus’ point is clear. God, by His grace, must grant people the ability to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. We know that only believers can know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven (I Cor. 2:10-15). No unbeliever can know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. So, if God grants unbelievers the ability to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, then that grace must also be saving grace as they must be saved to know these things.
Jesus, speaking to the religious leaders in Jn. 6:37, said, “All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” Notice that “all” that are given come, not some. When God the Father gives someone to Jesus Christ to be saved by grace, “all” come to saving faith. Later in vs. 39, Jesus says, “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.” Notice that Jesus loses none who are given to Him to save. All that are given come to salvation. Then in vs. 44 Jesus says, “No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” Here Jesus says something similar to what He says in vs. 37. Some of the same elements are true. In vs. 37 all the Father gives to the Son come to Him. Here in vs. 44 no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws them to Christ and if they are drawn, they come, and are not lost. A few verses later, Jesus repeats himself to stress the irresistible nature of God’s grace in vs. 65, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
When you put the texts we have looked at so far together and begin to synthesize what they teach, you realize that no one can come to know the Father or Son apart from them extending saving grace to the sinner. If saving grace is extended, they will come, they will be saved, and none will be lost. The Bible doesn’t speak of the elect being lost or those chosen to salvation not coming to salvation. When God’s saving grace enters into a person’s life, they come, are drawn, believe, and are saved. Their sin-cursed and sin-loving hearts are transformed so that they want to believe and they do and are saved because the saving grace of God is irresistible.
In Jn. 10:16 Jesus, speaking of those who will be saved says, “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.” Here Jesus makes it clear that those who are chosen will hear His voice, be saved, and be added to His flock.
In Acts 16:14 Luke writes, “And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.” Lydia was a recipient of God’s irresistible grace which brought her to repentance. Lydia herself believed. She exercised her own will, but she was willing to believe because of the grace of God.
Paul in Eph. 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 as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Notice that we are saved by “grace” the unearned, undeserved, favor of God. And we are saved “through faith.” Faith is to believe of one’s own will. And the faith that we exercise to believe is “not of our self.” Some include grace and salvation as they too precede the statement, but it is either all three or just faith which is the nearest antecedent. Saving faith is a gift of God’s grace too. Then to make things perfectly clear he says, “Not as a result of works,” to let us know that men do not save themselves.
In Phil. 1:29 Paul says, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Notice that saving faith is granted to the unbeliever and when it is granted they believe and are saved.
In II Tim. 1:9 Paul, speaking of our salvation, said of God, “who has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” Again, notice who calls – God. Notice what salvation is not – according to our works. Notice what causes us to be saved – God’s purpose, God’s grace. Notice when God’s decision to save some was made – from all eternity. God’s grace is irresistible because God’s purpose cannot be thwarted.
Thus, it can be clearly proven from the Word of God that men are responsible to believe, that they are commanded to believe, that they must exercise their will to believe and that when they do believe it is because of the effects of God’s irresistible grace working behind the scenes to help them do so.