I’m getting ready to start up my series on the Calvinist view of the atonement soon. One of the objections which has already arisen in the comments on part 1, is the idea that Calvinists believe God somehow forces unbelievers to believe the Gospel. Faith is not a gift from God, it is claimed, but rather something the lost must do. They are offered life upon the condition of faith, and while God may help them believe, He will not “force” them.
What I find amusing in this objection is how the same people who hold that view find no problems with the following verse.
Philippians 2:13, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
This verse teaches clearly that in the lives of believers, God works in them both providing the will and doing the works in and through them. This is why Paul says:
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” (1 Cor. 15:10)
Christians have no problem affirming that God works in the very hearts and minds of believers. God empowers them for every good work (1 Cor. 12:6, 1 Pet. 4:11). He equips us with everything we need to do what is right. But He does more than that, He works in us the very things that please Him:
Heb 13:20-21 Now may the God of peace… equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
In doing all of this, is God forcing believers to please Him? Doesn’t God’s work negate the goodness of the works we believers produce? On the one hand, the good works of believers testify to them and others that we are truly justified and actually regenerate. They provide assurance that we are God’s children. But God is the one producing these works. God requires this of us, but then He works in us to do what He requires.
I think most of us agree with this and find no problems. What is the difference then when it comes to unbelievers? Do they have to give God the key to their hearts before He’ll work in them to believe? Is God’s work in believers okay because we sanctioned it, but not okay in unbelievers because they haven’t? If God works in unbelievers to will to receive Christ as Lord, is this forcing them to do something against their will?
For my part, I don’t see how we can draw a line between believers and unbelievers which limits God’s ability or right to work in hearts. I see the teaching of Scripture that God works in us to will as fitting nicely with the passages which teach that faith and repentance are gifts (see Acts 11:18, 15:9, 18:27; Rom. 12:3; Phil. 1:29; Eph. 2:8-9; 2 Tim. 2:24-26; 2 Pet. 1:1; 1 Tim. 1:14; Acts 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:21).
I have further support in this idea of there being no hard and fast line which limits God from working in unbelievers like He does in believers. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul starts out by thanking God for the believers growing faith. He doesn’t point to the believers as the source of the growth in faith, but thanks God (1:3). Then later in the epistle, Paul goes on in the same vein:
“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” (2 Thess. 2:13)
Paul thanks God for choosing them to be saved. God accomplished that through His Spirit’s work, and by providing belief in them.
So I conlude we should praise God for working in us to trust Him, and to grow in His grace to the degree that we have. Praise God for mercifully energizing my heart and giving me a desire to live for Him!
Hey Bob. If your detractors have been Arminian, then you can also answer them on their own terms. Arminianism affirms total depravity, and it is orthodox Arminian doctrine that man, apart from prevenient grace, would never come to God. This grace is what allows man to come to God in the first place; it softens his will and restores his libertarian freedom. Thus, man does not and cannot cooperate with God’s giving of prevenient grace. He cannot resist it, or its effects. So the question to Arminians becomes:
Since man does not want prevenient grace, in what way is God’s monergistically and irresistibly giving it different from him monergistically and irresistibly giving faith under the Calvinist scheme? In both cases, a change is performed upon man which man himself does not and would not cooperate with. So it seems very plainly to be special pleading for the Arminian to object to the Calvinist’s view of irresistible grace on the grounds that it is irresistible, when in fact he has his own doctrine of irresistible grace as well.
Furthermore, the Arminian is faced with explaining what exactly it is which causes one man to respond to prevenient grace, and another to not. Since all prevenient grace does is restore the will to a state of libertarian freedom, so that man can choose God, what is it that then determines whether any given man will choose God? This seems to me to be a very difficult question for the Arminian.
Hope this helps,
regards,
Bnonn
Great stuff, Bnonn. Many of the commenters around here don’t like to peg themselves as part of any “-ism”. I would think though that they would have to agree with the idea of prevenient grace, however, even if they don’t use the term.
Thanks for dropping by, this reminds me I need to finish reading your series on the atonement as well.
Blessings in Christ,
Bob
This topic falls under that category of questions, like, Calvinists wondering how Arminians can think what they think, and vice versa, or like, how did more primitive civilizations get along without television, computers and cell phones, anyway?
When it comes to passages like Phil. 2:13, etc., Arminians simply must not be able to connect those dots until after they get over the offense of an all-sovereign God who alone determines all things, let alone the salvation of the elect, according to his will alone, to his glory alone. The recurring nature of acknowledgements of God’s sovereignty that Calvinists can see all over Scripture aren’t noticed by Arminians until after the scales fall off, I guess.
Ouch!! Do I feel a pointy stick here, Bob?
Actually, I think I am more in line with the idea (shared, as you infer, by many Arminians) that a person CANNOT come to faith without the intervention of the Holy Spirit in conviction. The difference is that many Arminians believe that God is amazed and perplexed with the refusal of grace and unbelief of those to whom to gospel is preached (again I reference the passages where Jesus is said to be surprised or perplexed by unbelief). The real stumbling block is “How can God fault anyone for refusing His gift if they really are pre-ordained to NOT receive it?
What I find very appealing about the reformed outlook today is that it doesn’t take the stance that believers can just sit in church and wait for the elect to show up. The preaching I hear on sites like sermonaudio-dot-com is that evidence of righteousness in a person’s life is expected from true believers; or the Elect if you will.
My biggest problem with Arminianism is the problem of unbelief regarding God’s preserving His true sheep in the faith. The “if” passages are seen as qualifiers rather than indicators, which I am leaning toward believing is the wrong approach. The opposite end of this is the perversion of Perseverance into “Once Saved Always Saved” in the sense that converts are taught they cannot lose their salvation no matter what they do. The problem with this teaching is that it ignores Peter’s admontion to “make your calling and election sure” and Paul’s appeal to “test yourselves to see whether you are in the faith”.
Nothing is more grievous to me than a “Christian” who is afraid to die! And this is what we see with many Arminian “believers”. So, while I am not sure I see everything Calvin’s way, I am beginning to believe he may very well have been more right than wrong in many areas. At least I see much more adherence to the “old gospel” and expositional preaching in the Reformed camps. That I admire a lot. I just don’t know enough of these folk personally to say I have seen it walked as well as it’s talked yet.
JDC
“… after they get over the offense of an all-sovereign God who alone determines all things…”
Sound like a discussion with a 13 year old…What’s more offensive…that God is sovereign, or that He planned such a hokey life for you? I don’t think my kids have gotten over the hokey life speech yet…
A couple clarifying points here:
I’m not trying to slam non-Calvinists at all. I think I can understand where they’re coming from. I just have a hard time seeing how they allow God’s intervention in believers all the way down to the level of the will, but for unbelievers, they don’t.
I realize there are a hodge podge of non-Calvinists objecting on these posts, some are more classical Arminian, others not, so I don’t want to just use the term Arminian.
Prodigal,
I don’t know if you’ve read my post on Once Saved, Always Saved, or not. It’s one of my better posts, and I think you and I agree on this point.
I’m leery though of anything which makes God sound surprised at the lost’s response to the salvation message. Is God fully omniscient or not? Was Jesus fully God or not? My pastor (John Piper), just preached on Jn. 2:24 and how Jesus knows what is in man, and he knows every man. In Jn. 6, Jesus says he knew one of the 12 was a devil, and from the beginning he knew who would believe and who wouldn’t. I think his surprise is a knowing outrage or anger, or surprise intended to communicate something to the hearers, not an expression of sure bewonderment at a new scenario he did not foresee. This borders on Open Theism to me.
Stay with me in this series, I hope to explain where non-Calvinists are arguing from, and I hope to deal with objections.
Blessings to all,
Bob Hayton
I plan to stick around, the Lord willing, Bob!
As for Open Theism, I’d be very interested in whether you think God has already lived His future? Another topic, another time perhaps?
I applaud your answer ” his surprise is a knowing outrage or anger, or surprise intended to communicate something to the hearers”. That makes more sense to me than that He actually was taken by surprise.
Prodigal,
That is a topic for another day! But consider this passage which speaks to this point:
Isaiah 46:8-11
Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
Blessings to you brother,
Bob
Nancy,
The “hokiest” of lives is the sheer mercy of God, and far preferable when compared to the life I deserve (or, perhaps I should say, “the death I deserve”).
Am I following your point, Nancy?
John…are you sure you weren’t sitting in on the lecture?
The whole discussion really goes back to our understanding (or disagreement with) Total Depravity, doesn’t it? Are there any Romans 8:7-8 people walking around today? Are there any people who are like the Philippians when they were unregenerate – dead in their sins and trespasses? If there are, they have no “desire” to choose God and no “ability,” either. Their will dictates what they choose to do and that will – being “dead” – cannot “choose” anything, can it?
I have a young friend who is a new Wesleyan minister. We were talking about things biblical one day and he had no response for the Calvinist view of John 6:37-40. We talked about the teaching that every person is no longer unable to respond – no longer “dead in sin” – and he said, “What’s that called?” I said, “Prevenient grace.” he said, “Yeah, that’s it. The problem is I can’t find that teaching anywhere in the Bible.” Exactly. Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Many thanks for the post. It’s a humbling reminder of how desperately we need the Lord working in our lives—whether He uses tender kindness or outright force, whether He uses other believers or non-believers to accomplish what He has determined—it is He who began a good work in us and He will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. And so may we acknowledge Him in all our ways… it is He who makes our paths straight. Preach it, Bro. Bob!
“The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.†Deuteronomy 30:6
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27
“But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD. Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.” Jonah 1:3-4
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’? Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ Or to his mother, ‘What have you brought to birth?’ “This is what the LORD says— the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts. I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty.” Isaiah 45:9-13
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Bob,
Exzcellent sctipure reference, but it just confirms what I believe:
God creates the future, He has the power and knowledge to make things work out the way He intends. He knows the future because all He purposes will occur because no one and nothing can prevent it. But, it still doesn’t prove He experientially knows the future other than that it will be what He has decided.
OldButWeary – that scripture is one that believers consider a promise, is it not? So how can it be conditional if God has purposed it? That is very liberating theology! Methodism and prevenient grace can’t answer it otherwise. I am learning, through you folks, to take God at His word rather than figure out verses that seem to imply something contrary. God cannot lie, so a promise outweighs something that appears “iffy” I would think.
Ignacio – that really does say it all, “apart from me you can do nothing”! Thanks!!