“When God calls his elect into salvation, they
cannot resist. God offers to all people the gospel message. This is called the
external call. But to the elect, God extends an internal call, and it cannot be
resisted. This call is by the Holy Spirit who works in the hearts and minds of
the elect to bring them to repentance and regeneration whereby they willingly
and freely come to God. Some of the verses used in support of this teaching are
Rom. 9:16 where it says that 'it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs,
but of God who has mercy'; Phil. 2:12-13 where God is said to be the one
working salvation in the individual; John 6:28-29 where faith is declared to be
the work of God; Acts 13:48 where God appoints people to eternal life; and John
1:12-13 where being born again is not by man's will but by God's” (Matt Slick,
“What is Calvinism?,” The Calvinist
Corner [2012], <https://carm.org/calvinism>).
A
Biblical Response:
In John
6:44 Jesus says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father
who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (NKJV). Does this teach
unconditional election and irresistible grace? By reading the passage in its
context, it is clear how a person is drawn to Christ by the Father. One comes
to the Lord when he/she is taught and
hears and learns divine instruction (v. 45) and then responds in faith (vv. 29, 35, 40, 47). When
Jesus goes on to say in v. 65, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can
come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father,” this must be
understood in light of the foregoing. The Father permits only those who listen
and learn and respond in faith to come to Jesus, though not everyone is willing
to listen and learn and respond in faith (vv. 36, 64, 66).
In Acts 13:48 the Gentiles who favorably responded to the word of the
Lord “had been appointed [tassō] to eternal life.”
Contextually they are contrasted with the Jews who had just rejected the word
of God, thereby judging themselves “unworthy of everlasting life” (v. 46). Note
the dismissive temperament of the unreceptive Jews compared to the eager receptivity
of these Gentiles. Accordingly, the word tassō does not necessarily imply
that their free will was overridden but rather they were “disposed” or “inclined” to
eternal life. In fact, the next time this word is employed in the Acts
narrative, it refers to a willful decision: the Antioch brethren “determined [tassō]
that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem …”
(15:2). The same word is also used in 1 Cor. 16:15 with reference to the
household of Stephanus who voluntarily “devoted [tassō]
themselves to the ministry of the saints.”
The
directive in Phil. 2:12-13 is written to people who are already saved (1:1) and
is descriptive of a cooperative endeavor with both divine and human contributions.
In John 6:29 Jesus affirms faith as “the work of God” because faith is
something required by God (v. 40), answering the question, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of
God?” (v. 28). In John 1:12-13, while the “will of man” is not the innovator or
instigator or standard in being born of God, neither is the human will totally discounted
in the process (cf. v. 12; 3:3-5, 22-23; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:22-23).
Seeing that God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34; Rom. 2:11), his grace is available
to everyone (Titus 2:11) because he desires all to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4) and is
not willing that any should perish (2 Pet. 3:9). At the same time, a voluntary,
free-will response (obedient faith) to the Lord’s gracious offer is required (cf.
Matt. 7:21; 23:37; Acts 7:51; Rom. 6:16-18; etc.).
--Kevin
L. Moore
Related Posts: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Perseverance of the Saints
Related articles: Dave Miller, Flaws in Calvinism
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