[Music] [Music] hello again thank you for listening to ask Pastor John the game show where we try to stomp John a friend to confuse silenced seven years in and it hasn't happened yet I'm your host Tony raki trying to do it Pastor John today's question well of course prompt a lot of thoughts for you namely about the distinction between Calvinism in arminianism when it comes to the power of God's grace as listeners may know you are hoping to finish up this summer writing a big new book on God's providence so I know these questions about
God's sovereignty or on the front of your mind already here's the email hello Pastor John I'm a 26 year old man in full-time ministry working primarily with collegiate golfers in a recent Bible study one of the older men in our group brought up the topic of praveen Ian grace the idea that the Holy Spirit enables everyone to potentially believe if they choose to cooperate I was unprepared in the moment to respond I am reformed and believe wholly in the sovereignty of God in salvation I believe we are saved by grace through faith and this faith
is not our own doing but is rather a gift of God coming to the elect from outside of us all according to Ephesians 2:8 but I was really unprepared to respond in that moment I'd love to hear your answer how do you address prevenient grace there are two very different views of how God's grace functions in bringing people from spiritual darkness and deadness and unbelief into the light and life and faith which we call salvation and union with Christ and if it helps you can call the one view Arminianism because one of its early and
foremost advocates was Jacob Arminius and you can call the other view on the one I'm gonna argue for Calvinism because one of its foremost advocates was John Calvin but the names Arminianism and Calvinism are not important in comparison to what's really at stake and that's is one of them more biblical is one of them more biblical than the other now both of these views agree that until the grace of God is active and powerful in the human heart there is only deadness and rebellion and unbelief with no possibility of man bringing about the changes in
his own heart that are necessary for salvation we need get that clear so sometimes Calvinists don't describe Arminianism correctly their historic Arminianism agrees with Calvinism that fallen man apart from special grace cannot give himself life or produce his own faith the difference lies in what this divine grace does in the human heart and how it relates to the will of man so previant grace which is what we're being asked about previant grace is a phrase used by Armenians usually to describe the work of God's grace prior to faith hence the word praveen yet coming before
and without which faith would not be possible that's what an Armenian would would say so let me read some words from a prominent Armenian theologian Roger Olson from his book against Calvinism to make sure that I expressed the view fairly I want you to hear the very words of dr. Olson as a historic faithful insightful Armenian and here's here's what he says everything I say now is going to be a quote until I tell you otherwise if anyone comes to Christ with repentance and faith it is only because they are enabled by God's prevenient grace
to do so page 66 another quote our minion ism has always insisted that the initiative in salvation is God's it is called praveen yet Grace and is enabling but resistible page 169 another quote Wesley affirmed original sin including total depravity in the sense of spiritual helplessness but he also affirmed God's Universal gift so everybody gets this Universal gift of prevenient or enabling grace that restores freedom of the will page 129 another quote classical Armenian theology attributes the sinners ability to respond to the gospel with repentance and faith to prevenient grace now let me insert a
comment here just to be clear he says the ability to respond is given with prevenient grace but it's a it's an ability to believe or not to believe and he'll make that really plain in just a minute continuing the quote now the illuminating convicting calling enabling power of the Holy Spirit working in in the sinner soul makes them free to choose saving grace or reject it page 67 so pervy niat grace brings one out of bondage to the point where you can receive or reject the work of God in your heart another quote so in
our minion theology a partial regeneration now this is his phrase I I didn't know this phrase - let her read this a partial regeneration does precede conversion but it's not a complete regeneration is an awakening and enabling but not an irresistible force prevenient grace is God's powerful attracting and persuading power that actually imparts free will to be saved or not page 171 now that's the end of my quotation so that you could hear how a historic Armenian would describe their own understanding of prevenient grace those are all all quotations and the question is whether that
understanding of how grace works to bring about our faith is biblical or whether the Calvinist view is biblical which says God's grace doesn't just bring us up to a point in a quote partial regeneration that's his term and then stop and leave the outcome to our ultimate self determination that's my term ultimate self determination Olson doesn't use that I think it's fair and I think it's right and trying to get across the fact that man not God does the final and the ultimately decisive act and I know that the word decisive is a little slippery
and I'm trying to be clear and and fair ultimately decisive the air the very final act that brings me into Christ is that decisive moment in conversion is one that I perform not God let me continue Calvinism says that God does more in our conversion namely he overcomes all of our resistance and opens the eyes of our hearts to make christ so real and so beautiful and so compelling that our will gladly embraces Christ as our Savior and Lord and treasure so the question is which of those is the biblical view of how God's grace
brings us to faith and salvation does it make us free to choose grace or reject it or does it overcome our rebellion and blindness so that we are drawn triumphantly by the beauty of Christ to embrace what is true and real now as as you ponder which of these two views is biblical and you search the scriptures I would just point to one passage and we could point to others but just to save time I'll point to one passage of Scripture that I think shows the complete saving effectiveness of God's grace and that God provides
more than a partial regeneration in order to bring us to faith in that passage is Ephesians 2 verses 4 through 7 let me read it God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses and now comes to verbs of what God being rich in mercy does number 1 made us alive together with Christ that's what he does for dead sinners he made us alive with Christ not just alive to reject Christ but alive with Christ and then he adds this parenthetical phrase
by grace you have been saved in order to show I think what what grace actually it makes us alive with with Christ and then here's the second verb and raised us up with him he'd made us alive together with Christ and he raised us up so he he brings us alive out of the grave of our of our fallenness and he raises us up with Christ seats us in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus
I don't think that text can be fairly interpreted to mean that there is a split in regeneration or a split in making alive and he does part of it and then he waits to see what we will do with the rest of it if we will finish the the making alive and bringing ourselves into union with Christ I don't think that will work and so the difference between me and I think I speak for virtually all Calvinists on this point and Armenians is not that one believes in total depravity and the other doesn't no that's
not it and it's not the difference is not that one believes that grace must precede faith and the other doesn't no no that's not the difference either rather that I believe what God's saving grace does is not merely restore a kind of free will that can accept or reject Christ but rather opens our blind eyes grants us to see the compelling truth and beauty and worth of Jesus in such a way that we find him irresistible and so gladly and willingly embrace him as our Savior and Lord and treasure he he brings us all the
way to the point of conversion so that we give him all the glory for our receiving of Jesus a man made alive in Christ made a life to Christ and all too the glory of his Sovereign Grace thank you Pastor John for outlining one of the key differences here and if this is all rather new to you and you want a better understand Calvinism in general see pastor John's book titled five points you can download the one hundred page book free of charge right now go to desiring God a doric /of books and look for
the title five points spelled out fi ve five points and you'll find it there you
