02.28. Effectual Calling
Chapter 28 Effectual Calling The Application of Redemption accomplished by Christ as Mediatorial King through the Personal Agency of the Holy Ghost.
1. What is the New Testament usage of the words
2nd, of calling forth, to summon authoritatively, Acts 4:18; Acts 24:2;
3rd, of inviting, Matthew 22:3; Matthew 9:13; 1 Timothy 6:12. Many are called, but few chosen.
4th. Of the effectual call of the Spirit.—Romans 8:28-30; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 5:10.
5th. Of an appointment to office.—Hebrews 5:4.
6th. In the sense of naming, Matthew 1:21;
1st. Those appointed to any office.—Romans 1:1.
2nd. Those who receive the external call of the word.—Matthew 20:16.
3rd. The effectually called.—Romans 1:7; Romans 8:28; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 1 Corinthians 1:24; Jude 1:1 :; Revelation 17:14. The very word
2. What is included in the external call?
1st. A declaration of the plan of salvation.
2nd. A declaration of duty on the part of the sinner to repent and believe.
3rd. A declaration of the motives which ought to influence the sinner’s mind, such as fear or hope, remorse or gratitude.
4th. A promise of acceptance in the case of all those who comply with the conditions.—Dr. Hodge.
3. How can it be proved that the external call to salvation is made only through the word of God? The law of God, as impressed upon the moral constitution of man, is natural, and inseparable from man as a moral responsible agent.—Romans 1:19-20; Romans 2:14-15. But the gospel is no part oft that natural law. It is of grace, not of nature, and it can be made known to us only by a special and supernatural revelation. This is further evident, 1st, because the Scriptures declare that a knowledge of the word is essential to salvation, Romans 10:14-17; Romans 2:1-29 d, because they also declare that those who neglect the word, either written or preached, are guilty of the eminent sin of rejecting all possibility of salvation.—Matthew 11:21-22; Hebrews 2:3.
4. 0n what principle is this external call addressed equally to the non–elect as well as to the elect? That it is addressed indiscriminately to both classes is proved—
1st. From the express declaration of Scripture.—Matthew 22:14.
2nd. The command to preach the gospel to every creature.—Mark 16:15.
3rd. The promise to every one who accepts it.—Revelation 22:17.
4th. The awful judgment pronounced upon those who reject it.—John 3:19; John 16:9.
It is addressed to the non–elect equally with the elect, because it is equally their duty and interest to accept the gospel, because the provisions of salvation are equally suited to their case, and abundantly sufficient for all, and because God intends that its benefits shall actually accrue to every one who accepts it.
5. How can it be proved that there is an internal spiritual call distinct from an external one?
1st. From those passages which distinguish the Spirit’s influence from that of the word.—John 6:45; John 6:64-65; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6.
2nd. Those passages which teach that the Spirit’s influence is necessary to the reception of the truth.—Ephesians 1:17.
3rd. Those that refer all good in man to God.—Php 2:13; Ephesians 2:8; 2 Timothy 2:25, e. g., faith and repentance.
4th. The Scripture distinguishes between the two calls; of the subjects of the one it is said, “many are called and few are chosen,” of the subjects of the other it is said, “whom he called, them he also justified.” Of the one he says, “Because I have called, and ye have refused.”—Proverbs 1:24. Of the other he says, “Every man therefore who hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me.”—John 6:45.
5th. There is an absolute necessity for such an internal, spiritual call, man by nature is “blind” and “dead” in trespasses and sins.—1 Corinthians 2:14; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:1.
6. What is the Pelagian view of the internal call?
Pelagians deny original sin, and maintain that right and wrong are qualities attaching only to executive acts of the will. They therefore assert—
1st. The full ability of the freewill of man as much to cease from sin at any time as to continue in its practice.
2nd. That the Holy Spirit produces no inward change in the heart of the subject, except as he is the author of the Scriptures, and as the Scriptures present moral truths and motives, which of their own nature exert a moral influence upon the soul. They deny “grace” altogether in the Scriptural sense.
7. What is the Semipelagian view?
These maintain that grace is necessary to enable a man successfully to return unto God and live. Yet that from the very nature of the human will man must first of himself desire to be free from sin, and to choose God as his chief good, when he may expect God’s aid in carrying his desires into effect. They deny prevenient grace, but admit co–operative grace.
8. What is the Arminian view? The Arminians admit the doctrine of man’s total depravity, and that in consequence thereof man is utterly unable to do any thing aright in the unaided exercise of his natural faculties. Nevertheless, as Christ died equally for every man, sufficient grace, enabling its subject to do all that is required of him, is granted to all. Which sufficient grace becomes efficient only when it is co–operated with and improved by the sinner.—“Apol. Confession Remonstr.,” p. 162, b.; Limborch, “Theo. Christ.,” 4, 12, 8.
9. What is the doctrine on this subject taught by the Symbols of the Lutheran Church?
They agree absolutely with the Reformed or Calvinists—
1st. That all men are by nature spiritually dead, utterly unable either to commence to turn to God, or to co–operate with his grace to that end prior to regeneration.
2nd. That the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit on the human soul is the sole efficient cause which quickens the dead soul to life. Hence—
3rd. The foundation upon which the salvation of believers rests is the eternal, gracious election of God to salvation. They refuse however to take the next step, and acknowledge that the reason unbelievers are not quickened is due to the equally sovereign withholding of regenerating grace. They insist upon attributing it solely to the criminal resistance to the grace, of the initial stages of which all are the subjects. A and B are alike sinners, A believes and B remains a reprobate. The Pelagian says, because A willed to believe and B to reject. The Semipelagian says, because A commenced to strive and was helper, and B made no effort. The Arminian says, because A co–operated with common grace, and B did not The Lutheran says, both were utterly unable to co–operate, but B persistently resisted grace, and A ultimately yielded. The Calvinist says, because A was regenerated by the new creative power of God’s Spirit, and B was not.
10. What is the Synergistic view of this point? The term Synergistic signifies co–operation. The Synergists were Lutheran theologians, who departed from their own system on this one subject, and adopted the position of the Arminians. Melanchthon taught that “there concur three causes of a good action, the word of God, the Holy Spirit, and the human will assenting, not resisting, the word of God.”“Loci Communes,” p. 90.
11. What is the common doctrine of the Reformed Churches as to the internal call? That it is an exercise of the divine power upon the soul, immediate, spiritual, and supernatural, communicating a new spiritual life, and thus marring a new mode of spiritual activity possible. That repentance, faith, trust, hope, love, etc., are purely and simply the sinner’s own acts; but as such are possible to him only in virtue of the change wrought in the moral condition of his faculties by the recreative power of God.—See “Confession of Faith,” Chap. 10., Sections 1 and 2.
Common grace preceding regeneration makes a superficial moral impression upon character and action but is generally resisted. The act of grace which regenerates, operating within the spontaneous energies of the soul and changing their character, can neither be co–operated with nor resisted. But the instant the soul is regenerated it begins to co–operate with and sometimes, alas! also to resist subsequent gracious influences prevenient and co–operative. But upon the whole and in the end grace preserves, overcomes, and saves. Regeneration is styled by the Reformed Theologians Conversio habitualis seu passiva(passive conversion), i. e., the change of character in effecting which the soul is the subject, and not the agent of action. Conversion they style Conversio actualis seu activa(active conversion), i. e., the instantly consequent change of action in which the soul still prompted and aided by grace is the only agent.
12. What diversity of opinion prevails among the Romanists upon this subject? The disciples of Augustine in that church, of whom the Jansenists were the most prominent, are orthodox, but these have been almost universally overthrown, and supplanted by their enemies the Jesuits, who are Semipelagians. The Council of Trent attempted to satisfy both parties.—“Council of Trent,” Sess. 6, Song of Solomon 3:1-11; Song of Solomon 4:1-16. The doctrines of Quesnel, who advocated the truth on this subject, were condemned in the Bull “Unigenitus,” A. D. 1713. Bellarmin taught that the same grace is given to every man, which, by the event only, is proved practically congruous to the nature of one man, and therefore in his case efficacious, and incongruous to the nature of another, and therefore in his case ineffectual.
13. What is meant by “common grace,” and how may it be shown that the Spirit does operate upon the minds of those who are not renewed in heart?
“Common grace” is the restraining and persuading influences of the Holy Spirit acting only through the truth revealed in the gospel, or through the natural light of reason and of conscience, heightening the natural moral effect of such truth upon the understanding, conscience, and heart. It involves no change of heart, but simply an enhancement of the natural powers of the truth, a restraint of the evil passions, and an increase of the natural emotions in view of sin, duty, and sell:interest. That God does so operate upon the hearts of the unregenerate is proved, 1st, from Scripture, Genesis 6:3; Acts 7:51; Hebrews 10:29; Hebrews 2:1-18 d, from universal experience and observation.
14. How does common differ from efficacious grace?
1st. As to its subjects. All men are more or less the subjects of the one; only the elect are subjects of the other.—Romans 8:30; Romans 11:7; 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
2nd. As to its nature. Common grace is only mediate, through the truth, and it is merely moral, heightening the moral influence natural to the truth, and exciting only the natural powers of the soul, both rational and moral. But effective grace is immediate and supernatural, since it is wrought directly in the soul by the immediate energy of the Holy Ghost, and since it implants a new spiritual life, and a capacity for a new mode of exercising the natural faculties.
3rd. As to its effects. The effects of common grace are superficial and transient, modifying the action, but not changing the nature, and its influence is always more or less consciously resisted, as opposed to the prevailing dispositions of the soul. But efficacious grace, since it acts not upon but in the will itself, changing the governing desires, and giving a new direction to the active powers of the soul, is neither resistible nor irresistible, but most free, spontaneous, and yet most certainly effectual.
15. How can it be proved that this efficacious grace is confined to the elect?
1st. The Scriptures represent the elect as the called, and the called as the elect.—Romans 8:28; Romans 8:30; Revelation 17:14.
2nd. This effectual calling is said to be based upon the decree of election, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 2 Timothy 1:9-10.
3rd. Sanctification, justification, and all the temporal and eternal benefits of union with Christ are declared to be the effects of effectual calling.—1 Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 2:5; Romans 8:30.
16. Prove that it is given on account of Christ?
1st. All spiritual blessings are given on account of Christ. Ephesians 1:3; Titus 3:5-6.
2nd. The Scriptures specifically declare that we are called in Christ.—Romans 8:2; Ephesians 2:4-6, 2 Timothy 1:9.
17. What is meant by saying that this divine influence is immediate and supernatural?
It is meant, 1st, to deny, (1) that it consists simply in the moral influence of the truth; (2) that it consists simply in the moral influence of the Spirit, heightening the moral influence of the truth as objectively presented; (3) that it excites the mere natural powers of the soul. It is meant, 2d, to affirm, (1) that the Holy Spirit acts immediately upon the soul from within; (2) that the Holy Spirit, by an exercise of recreative power, implants a new moral nature or principle of action.
18. What arguments go to show that there is an immediate influence of the Spirit on the soul, besides that which is exerted through the truth?
1st. The influence of the Spirit is distinguished from that of the word.—John 6:45; John 6:64-65; Romans 15:13; 1 Corinthians 2:12-15; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6.
2nd. A divine influence is declared to be necessary to the reception of the truth.—Psalms 119:18; Acts 16:14; Ephesians 1:17.
3rd. Such an internal operation on the heart is attributed to God.—Php 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:11; Hebrews 13:21.
4th. The gift of the Spirit is distinguished from the gift of the word.—John 14:16; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 4:30.
5th. The nature of this influence is evidently different from that effected by the truth.—Ephesians 1:19; Ephesians 3:7. And the effect is called a “new creation,”“new birth,” etc., etc.
6th. Man by nature is dead in sin, and needs such a direct intervention of supernatural power.—Turretin, “Theo. Instits.,” 50. 15., Quaestio 4.
19. What are the different reasons assigned for calling this grace EFFICACIOUS?
1st. The Jesuits and the Arminians, holding that all men receive sufficient grace to enable them to obey the gospel if they will, maintain that this grace becomes efficacious when it is co–operated with by the will of the individual, and in any case is proved to be such only by the event.
2nd. Bellarmin, and others, maintain that the same grace given to all is congruous to the moral nature of one man, and n that case efficacious, and incongruous to the nature of another, and in his case ineffectual.
3rd. Some Romanists have maintained what is called the doctrine of cumulative influence. The consent of the soul is secured by the suasive influence of the spirit, rendered effectual by constant repetition and long continuance.
4th. The orthodox doctrine is that the efficacy of this grace is inherent in its very nature, because it is the exercise of the mighty power of God in the execution of his eternal and unchangeable changeable purpose.
20. In what sense is grace irresistible?
It must be remembered that the true Christian is the subject at the same time of those moral and mediate influences of grace upon the will, common to him and to the unconverted, and also of influences of grace within the will, which are certainly efficacious. The first class of influences Christians may, and constantly do resist, through the law of sin remaining in their members. The second class of influences are certainly efficacious, but are neither resistible nor irresistible, because they act from within and carry the will spontaneously with them. It is to be lamented that the term irresistible grace has ever been used, since it suggests the idea of a mechanical and coercive influence upon an unwilling subject, while, in truth, it is the transcendent act of the infinite Creator, making the creature spontaneously willing.
21. How can this grace tee proved to be certainly efficacious?
1st. By the evidence we have given above, as to its nature, as the immediate operation of the mighty power of God.
2nd. By the description of the work of grace. Men by nature are “blind,”“dead,”“slaves,” etc. The change effected is a “new creation,” etc.
3rd. From the promises of God, which are certain. The means which he uses to vindicate his own faithfulness must be efficacious.—Ezekiel 36:26; Ezekiel 11:19; John 6:45.
4th. From the connection asserted by Scripture between calling and election. The called are the elect. As God’s decrees are certain, the call must be efficacious.—See above, Ques. 15.
5th. Faith and repentance are the gifts of God, and he who truly repents and believes is saved. Therefore, the grace which communicates those gifts is effectual.—Ephesians 2:8; Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25.
22. How may it be proved that this influence is congruous with our nature?
While discarding utterly the distinction made by Bellarmin (for which see above, Question 19), we say that efficacious grace is congruous to human nature as such, in the sense that the Spirit of God, while exerting an immediate and recreative influence upon the soul, nevertheless acts in perfect consistency with the integrity of those laws of our free, rational, and moral nature, which he has himself constituted. Even in the miraculous recreation of the new birth, he acts upon our reasons and upon our wills in perfect accordance with the constitution of each. This is certain.
1st. The same God creates and recreates his object is not to destroy, but to restore his own work.
2nd. The Scriptures and our own experience teach that the immediately consequent acts of the soul in the exercise of implanted grace, are pre–eminently rational and free. In fact, the soul never acted normally before.—Psalms 110:3; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Php 2:13.
3rd. This divine influence is described by such terms as “drawing,”
“teaching,”“enlightening.”—John 6:44-45; Ephesians 1:18.
23. What do the Scriptures teach as to the connection of this influence with the truth? In the case of the regeneration of infants the truth, of course, is not used. In tie regeneration of adults the truth is always present. In the act of regeneration the Spirit acts immediately upon the soul, and changes its subjective state, while the truth is the object consciously apprehended, upon which the new faculties of spiritual discernment and the new affections are exercised. The Spirit gives sight, the truth is the light discerned. The Spirit gives feeling, the truth presents the object beloved.—Romans 10:14; Romans 10:17; James 1:18; John 17:17.
24. What reason may be assigned for the belief that the Spirit does not renew those adults to whom the truth is not known?
Negatively. The Bible never leads us to expect such an extension of grace, and neither the Scriptures nor our own experience among the modern heathen ever present us with any examples of such a work.
Positively. The Scriptures always associate all spiritual influence with the truth, and declare the necessity of preaching the truth to the end of saving souls.—Romans 10:14.
25. What are the objections to the Arminian doctrine of sufficient grace?
They hold that God has willed the salvation of all men, and therefore has called all alike, giving to all a grace sufficient, if they will improve it.
We object—
1st. The external call of the gospel has been extended to comparatively few. The heathen are responsible with the light of nature, and under the law of works, yet they have no means of grace.—Romans 1:18-20; Romans 2:12-15.
2nd. This doctrine is inconsistent with God’s purpose of election.—See above, Chapter 11.
3rd. According to the Arminian system it depends upon the free–will of the man to make the sufficient grace of God common to all men efficient in his case. But the Scriptures declare that salvation is altogether of grace, and a gift of God.—Ephesians 2:8; 2 Timothy 2:25; Romans 9:15-16.
4th. The Scriptures expressly declare that not even all who receive the external call have sufficient grace.—Romans 9:16-24; Romans 11:8.
AUTHORITATIVE STATEMENTS OF DOCTRINE.
ROMAN DOCTRINE.—“Conc. Trent,” Sess. 6, c. 1.—“If any one saith that a man can be justified (by justification they mean the removal of sin and infusion of a gracious habit of soul) by his own works, whether done through the teaching of human nature, or that of the law, without the grace of God through Jesus Christ let him be anathema. a. 2.—If any one saith, that the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, is given only for this, that man may be able more easily to live justly, and to merit eternal life, as if, by free–will without grace, he were able to do both, though hardly indeed and with difficulty, let him be anathema. C. 3.—If any one saith, that without prevenient inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and without his help, man can believe, hope, love, or be penitent as he ought, so as that the grace of justification may be bestowed upon him; let him be anathema. a. 4.—If any one says that man’s free–will moved and excited by God, by assenting to God exciting and calling, nowise co–operates towards disposing and preparing itself for obtaining the grace of justification; that it can not refuse its consent, if it would, but that as something inanimate it does nothing whatever, and is merely passive; let him be anathema. Song of Solomon 5:1-16.—If any one saith that since Adam’s sin, the free–will of man is lost and extinguished; or that it is a thing with only a name, yea a name without a reality, a figment in fine introduced into the world by Satan, let him be anathema.”
DOCTRINE OF THE GREEK CHURCH.—“Jerem. in Act. Witem.”—“Even after the fall nothing hinders man from turning away from the bad, and superinduced upon this, doing good and choosing the right, as one who has free–will. . . . From all these it is plain, that it is our part to awake and to obey, and we have ability to choose the good as well as the bad. We need only one thing, i. e., God’s help, in order to succeed in the good and be saved, and without this help we have no strength to finish the work.”
LUTHERAN DOCTRINE.—“Form. Concordiae,” p. 662.—“But before man is enlightened, converted, regenerated, and drawn by the Holy Spirit, he is not able of himself, and by his own natural powers, in things spiritual and (tending to his own conversion and regeneration, to begin, to produce or to co–operate in any thing, any more than is a stone a stock or a clod.”Ib. p. 589.—“ What Doctor Luther wrote—‘That the will of man holds itself purely passive in conversion,’ must be received rightly and fittingly, to wit, with respect to divine grace enkindling the new movements, that is, it ought to be understood concerning that, when the Spirit of God acts upon the will of man by the word heard, or by the use of the sacraments, and produces in man conversion and regeneration. For after the Holy Spirit has wrought this very thing and has by his own divine energy alone changed and renewed the will of man; then, indeed, this new will is an instrument of the Holy Spirit of God, so that it may not only lay hold of grace, but also co–operate with the Holy Spirit in the works following.”
REFORMED DOCTRINE.—“Confession Faith,” ch. 10., § 1.—“All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds, spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God, taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.” sect. 2.—“This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from any thing at all foreseen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.”“Larger Catechism,” Q. 67, “Shorter Catechism,”Q. 31.—“Canons of Synod of Dort,” chs. 3. and 4., “Rejec. Er.,” Error 4.—“(They are renounced) who teach that an unregenerate man is not strictly and totally dead in sins, nor void of all power as to spiritual good, but that he is able to hunger and thirst after righteousness, and to offer the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit, which is accepted of God.” Art. 12.—“(Regeneration) is plainly supernatural, a most powerful and at the same time most gentle operation, wonderful, secret, and inexpressible, not inferior to a creation, nor less than a reviving of the dead; so that all those, in whose hearts God works in this wonderful manner, are surely regenerated infallibly and effectually, and act faith. And then the will, now renewed, is not only acted on and moved by God, but being so moved, also itself acts. Wherefore also man himself is rightly said, through this received grace, to believe and repent. ”
REMONSTRANT DOCTRINE.—“Confession Remonstr.,” 17, 6.—“Therefore we decide that the grace of God is the beginning, progress, and completion of all good, so that the regenerate person himself, is not able to think, will, or do any saving good, without this previous prevenient, exciting, following, and co–operating grace.”
“Apol. Confession Remonstr.,” p. 162, b.—“Grace is called efficacious from the result, which, however can be taken in a twofold sense:First, so that grace may be judged to have, of itself, no power to produce consent in the will, but its entire efficacy may depend upon the human will:or, Secondly, so that grace may be judged to have of itself sufficient power to produce consent in the will, but because this power is partial, it can not go out in act without the co–operation of the free human will and hence, that it may have effect, it depends on free–will. The Remonstrants wish the “second” to be taken as their meaning.”