The Resistible Grace of the Holy Spirit

The Resistible Grace of the Holy Spirit

Traditional Calvinism relies upon what it labels “Irresistible Grace” to cause the salvation of the lost. In its view, God’s election of a person to salvation is manifested when the Holy Spirit moves on the corrupted heart to give them the power to be saved.  This movement cannot not be resisted. In Calvinism, if God has chosen you to be saved, you will be saved no matter what.

Resistable grace?

Resistable grace?

In what is becoming the accepted position in many churches of Christ regarding the Spirit’s work, the direct application of the Spirit’s grace upon the heart of the lost is an essential element. In that way, this position mirrors the Calvinistic view of the Holy Spirit.  However, proponents of this view make one clear distinction between their view and Calvinism.  In their view, the individual upon whom the grace of the Spirit is working still has the ability to reject and the obligation to accept this movement of grace.

Under this view of indwelling, the process of conversion occurs something like this:

  • The lost person’s heart has been corrupted through a lifetime of bad choices – sins (Romans 1:21).
  • Those “darkened heart”s need help in understanding and obeying the word.
  • When confronted with the preached word, the Holy Spirit works “in conjunction with,” “along-side,” “in addition to,” or “beyond” (the specific language I have heard varies) the word to assist the darkened heart (Acts 16:14 is a favorite verse to which an appeal is made to establish an example of this in Scripture. Interestingly, the Spirit is not mentioned in Acts 16:14, nor at any point in the context of Paul’s visit to Philippi).
  • The lost person chooses to accept or reject the Spirit’s influence and the offer of the word.
  • If the lost person chooses to accept it, he is baptized for the remission of sins.
  • In that baptism, he receives the Holy Spirit.
  • The Holy Spirit’s work continues by circumcising the new convert’s heart and healing the corruption that had been upon it (Colossians 2:11-12 – Interestingly, again any mention of the Spirit seems to be missing from these verses as well).
  • At this point, the new convert is a new creation able to serve God in newness of life; however, the Holy Spirit is still present with him and needed to provide additional power to serve God completely.

Admittedly, the preceding description is an amalgamation of several of my own exposures to this teaching.  It may not fully represent any one person’s view by point and/or degree.  However, all the above statements are currently being taught. I have heard each one. It is my conviction that several of those points need to be examined more fully.

However, the most critical element that purportedly separates this view from Calvinism is the idea of the resistible grace of the Spirit. It is my conviction that Scripture does not allow this view’s version of the Spirit’s grace to be resistible.  I believe that point is established in 1 Corinthians 2.  In that text, Paul describes both the person that would and the reason for their resisting the Spirit’s influence. When those reasons are placed beside the conversion process listed above – there is no room left for a doctrine of resistible grace beyond the preached gospel.

The critical verse in the context is 1 Corinthians 2:14: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

It affirms the following:

  • The natural man does accept the things of the Spirit.
  • The natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit.
  • The natural man lacks the spiritual discernment (“he is not able”) to understand the things of the Spirit.

Identification of the natural man is essential in this passage.

For the Calvinist, the natural man is the unregenerate, depraved man.  He cannot accept the things of the Spirit, so he needs the Holy Spirit to use His “irresistible grace” to cause him to be able to accept the gospel.  For them, the Holy Spirit “force feeds” faith into the depraved heart. While the doctrine is wrong, it is at least consistent with itself.

For the current view of indwelling permeating the churches of Christ, identification of this man is more problematic.  They refuse (rightly so) to go so far as to suggest that the corruption of the heart is so thorough that one cannot hear and understand the gospel in total.  Nonetheless, the doctrine requires that the preached gospel alone is insufficient to save the lost.  There must exist some middle ground beyond “the word alone” and short of Calvinism for the Spirit’s direct influence to aid in saving the lost.

Herein is the problem – one I believe to be fatal to this view. The natural man is not the depraved man; nor, can he be a man that is saved simply by the influence of preaching. The man of this view requires two influences: He needs the Spirit and the word.  Those influences work in conjunction but they are not the same. The Spirit does not save apart from the word.  The word does not save apart from the Spirit. However, 1 Corinthians 2:14 does not allow for that process to exist.

Who again is the “natural man?”  The most common answer I have heard from advocates of the view under consideration mirrors the NIV’s translation of this verse: “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”  The natural man is “the person without the Spirit.”

So then, who is the “person without the Spirit?”  This view is unwaveringly consistent in identifying that man.  He is the lost man.  In this view, all Christians have the Holy Spirit; only Christians have the Holy Spirit; and no person in the world has the Holy Spirit.  If that line is ever crossed, this view simply cannot be sustained.  This man must also, then, be identified with the man in the flesh of Romans 8:8-9.

Paul’s testimony about this man without the Spirit is that he “is not able” (ESV) or “cannot” (NIV) understand the “things of the Spirit.” In Romans 8 this man in the flesh without the Spirit of God in him “does not” and “cannot” submit to God’s law.  Stop and consider this language carefully.  Paul leaves no possibility for this man to accept, by his own will and choice, the things of the Spirit.  “Cannot” and “is not able” describe a man devoid of his own will and power to accept the things of the Spirit.

We are being told in churches of Christ there are two influences at work in the conversion process: The grace of the Holy Spirit and the word of God. Definitionally, grace applied directly to the human heart by the Holy Spirit is a “thing of the Spirit.” The word given by inspiration of the Spirit must also be a “thing of the Spirit.” Every influence ostensibly applied to the human heart in conversion is applied directly or mediately from the Holy Spirit. Yet, that is the very influence Paul has just affirmed that the “person without the Spirit” is not able to receive.  But he cannot be converted without (as we are now told) receiving both of these separate influences from the Holy Spirit.

At this point Calvinism provides an answer that is not available to preachers in churches of Christ (yet). Calvinists turn to the “irresistible grace” of the Holy Spirit. Within their theology, Calvinists have a perfectly consistent mechanism to address the problem of people who cannot receive the things of the Spirit. They simply assert that the Spirit overrides the depravity of the human condition and forces salvation upon them. Centuries ago, John Calvin “solved” this problem the only way possible. In time, our preachers will also come to the same conclusion. From where they stand now, without turning back, Calvin’s conclusion is inescapable.

Among us, we have no such clear and simply answer.  The prevailing view of the Spirit’s work in conversion lacks an operative mechanism for the Spirit’s work on the heart of a lost person, who by his own power, “does not have the ability” to accept the things of the Spirit.

To illustrate this point, consider Acts 16:14: “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” In this verse we are told both influences were active.  The preached word came from “what was said by Paul.”  The Spirit’s direct influence is expressed in the statement that “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention. . .”  Several questions must be answered with that understanding:

  • Prior to hearing the words of Paul was Lydia a “person with the Spirit” or a “person without the Spirit?”
    • If Lydia were a “person without the Spirit” how did she acquire the ability to spiritually discern the things of the Spirit without the Spirit?
    • If Lydia were a “person with the Spirit” prior to her baptism, how did she receive the Spirit while still outside of Christ?
  • Did Lydia receive the Holy Spirit as her gift in baptism? If so, per Romans 8:8-9, was she “in the flesh” or “in the Spirit” prior to her conversion?
    • If she were “in the flesh” prior to her baptism, how did she submit herself to the law of God when Paul states that those in the flesh “cannot” please God (Romans 8:8-9)?
    • If she were “in the Spirit” prior to her baptism, how did she “belong to Him” prior to baptism (Romans 8:9)?
  • Is it possible for a person without the Spirit to cease being a “natural man” or a man “in the flesh” without the direct influence of the Spirit expressed in Acts 16:14?
  • If the grace of the Spirit is resistible, and the person without the Spirit does not have the ability to accept and/or understand the things of the Spirit, how did the Lord open Lydia’s heart by the grace of the Spirit without overriding her volition?
  • If God did interfere with Lydia’s volition, does that not make the Spirit’s grace irresistible?

I do not believe those questions can be answered consistently without weakening the “cannot” words of Paul in 1 Corinthians and Romans or by making an appeal to ambiguity or mysticism. Neither approach is satisfactory.

The current view of the Spirit’s influence in conversion needs a space between the influence of the preached word and the idea of the Calvinistic influence of the Spirit.  Yet, given how this view defines itself, that needed room simply does not exists.  If the natural man is defined as a “person without the Spirit,” only some direct action by God can overcome the corruption of that man’s heart. According to Paul, that man simply lacks the ability to accept the influence of the Spirit of his own volition. However, it is my contention that no other definition for the natural man (short of fully accepting Calvinism) can be argued under this view.

In effect, this view’s understanding of man needs three kinds of people:  1) Natural people who reject the things of the Spirit; 2) Natural people who receive the things of the Spirit; 3) Spiritual people who have received the things of the Spirit.  The simple problem is that Person #2 in the list above does not exist in 1 Corinthians 2 or Romans 8. Paul only describes two kinds of people. Unless that third kind of person can be found, the “resistible grace” being taught among must eventually yield to the “irresistible grace” of Calvinism. It does not take a prophet to know that is where we are heading.

The simple answer to this dilemma is to understand the spiritual influence of the Holy Spirit in conversion is exercised through the Spirit-inspired word alone.  What determines the effect of that message on the heart is whether that heart is good soil (spiritual) or bad soil (natural).  It is the person that determines the quality of his soil.  Remember, the good soil is good before the seed ever falls upon it (Matthew 13:8). This understanding is a simple one.  It works in describing both those in and out of God’s covenant.  Good, spiritual soil exists both within and without the church.  Bad, fleshly soil is found both in and out as well. This is a view of humanity that has been preached among us for generations.  However, it is also one that stands in contrast to the directly Spirit-aided gospel now being preached among us.  We have not moved our position for the better.

 

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Is God Your Co-pilot?

Let God Drive

A few years ago there was a popular bumper sticker that many placed upon their vehicles.  It said, “God is my co-pilot.”  While I appreciate the sentiment of people desiring for God to be in their lives, the concept is flawed.  The idea of a co-pilot is someone who is there in case the pilot needs help.  He steps in when the pilot is not in control.  The Bible, however, is telling us that God needs to be our pilot—not our co-pilot—because God needs to be in control of our lives at all times!

Is God the pilot of your life or co-pilot?

Is God the pilot of your life or co-pilot?

Think about what Jesus said in the garden of Gethsemane.  He prayed for the cup of suffering to pass from Him, but in the end He stated, “not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39) and “not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).  If this was Jesus’ attitude in the face of the cross, it should be our attitude at every moment of our life.  God calls us to be “living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1).  This means that we put God in the pilot’s seat, and let Him drive.

Here’s the great thing about this.  Life is so much better when God is driving!  We can never be fulfilled seeking our own agenda because we really don’t know what is good for us (Jeremiah 17:9), but God knows what is best for us at every moment!  That is awesome because by following him, every second of the day is an opportunity for Him to bless me and for me to be fulfilled living for Him.  God is so great, and He is the greatest giver (James 1:17). He won’t send us showers, but thunderstorms of blessings.  It will take your breath away, it will be so beautiful!  Praise Him for his wonderful love and blessings in His Son Jesus!  God bless you, and I love you.

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A Devout Christian

Walking in Hope

There are many ways to describe what it takes to be a devout Christian, but perhaps one of the most succinct answers is supplied by the apostle Paul, who wrote, “Now there remains faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Are you devout in your Christian walk?

Are you devout in your Christian walk?

While Paul reminds us that the greatest of the three characteristics is Love, he does so to stress the importance of Love, not to downplay the importance of either faith and hope. When we consider that without faith it is not just difficult, but downright impossible to be pleasing to God, we may begin to understand just how grand love must truly be (cf. Hebrew 11:6).

However, while Faith certainly gets a lot of favorable press, and Love is most certainly admired, it is frequently true that we tend to hear less spoken concerningthe vital part Hope has to play in the Christian scheme of things.

The goal of the Scriptures, we are told, is to point the world to Hope. “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” (Romans 15:4; NKJV) This Hope spoken of by God in His word is not some nebulous, unspecified aspiration or dream. Rather, it is quite a specific Hope, so that we read that there is “one Hope of our calling” (Ephesians 4:4).

When the Bible talks about a Christian’s Hope, it is referring to concrete ideas and specific promises, which God, who cannot lie, promised to His children. (cf. Titus 1:2) Chief among these promises God has made is the promise of eternal life through Christ Jesus His Son, and the closely related promise concerning the resurrection of the dead. This is the Hope which anchors the Christian soul, an anchor sure and steadfast. (cf. Hebrews 6:18-19) Just as Jesus was risen from the dead, so too those who have put on Christ in baptism, dying to their old self, have the concrete Hope that they too will share in the resurrection of the righteous (cf. Romans 6:3-5).

True Hope, likewise, is not without concrete consequences. Just as true Faith demands that a person act in accordance with their Faith, if that faith is to have value (cf. James 2:14-26), and just as true love demands that a person act in accordance with their professed love, with kindness (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:4-6), so too does true, scriptural Hope make certain demands upon a person.

Christian Hope precludes worldly sorrow and worry (cf. Matthew 6:32-33; 1 Thessalonians 4:13). If we truly believe in the promises of God, we continue forward doggedly in our faith, certain that God will work things to our good, confident that the “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18; NKJV) It is this Hope that gives Christians the confidence which knows that in all things, even peril and distress, they are more than conquerors in Christ. (cf. Romans 8:37)

Christian Hope encourages boldness in our speech and Christian confession. (2 Corinthians 3:12) With worry precluded, we do not fear what man might do to us when we speak (cf. Matthew 10:27-28) Likewise, because of the awesome nature of the message, we are stirred to boldness. We have the gift of eternal life, and it is promised to any and all who will obey the Gospel of Christ! If we are eager to share good news about such mundane matters as births, weddings, and sport-related-victories, should we not be much more excited to talk about the fact that we can be raised from the dead.

Christian Hope encourages faithfulness and self-sacrifice. Understanding what is offered, we are willing to count all things loss for Christ, so that we might know Him, if by any means we might obtain to the resurrection of the dead (cf. Philippians 3:7-11). When the going gets tough, it is Hope that keeps us going, steadfastly putting one spiritual foot in front of the other, in our service to the Lord.

Christians are to walk in faith, living loving lives… but those lives should also be lives full of Hope. Lives of joyful optimism, trusting unwaveringly in the promises of God. Lives which fail to contain this Hope are lives which are failing to truly follow the road Christ walked. Let us rejoice in Faith. Let us rejoice in Love. But let us also, always, rejoice in Hope.

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Look at the Soul

What Do You See?

There was that day when Samuel learned a lesson so many of us never learn. The prophet had been sent by God to the house of Jesse to anoint the new king who was to replace Saul. When Samuel looked at the sons of Jesse, he immediately decided that the new king would be Eliab, the firstborn son, but he was so wrong. One by one, each of the sons came before Samuel and each was rejected. Why? God told Samuel, “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). The heart that God sees is the inward soul of a person. The body is simply the house of clay where that soul resides for a few years.

What do you see?

What do you see?

Jesus Saw Souls

When God became flesh, He did not look at the outward appearance of men. He saw their souls! He chose twelve of the most unlikely individuals to be those who would continue the work He began. He chose ignorant and unlearned fisherman (Acts 4:13); He chose a despised tax collector; He chose a Zealot, the “terrorists” of the first century. Why? Because our Lord looks at the heart.

Paul Saw Souls

On the day of Paul’s salvation, he could have so easily learned the lesson about how readily godly men fail to see the heart and look at the outward appearance. God’s message to Ananias was clearly understandable, but this disciple was so hesitant to go. Why? Because he only saw Paul as an enemy of God, but God looked at the same man’s soul and saw him as the great apostle.

Look at the rest of Paul’s life. Though opposed and often beaten, he continued to enter the synagogues for occasionally there were a few who might become believers. He never stopped “touching the hot stove” of the synagogues for he saw souls in them.

When he was brought before Felix, Festus and Agrippa, he saw the souls of these ungodly, immoral rulers. This is why he openly taught them about Christ. He saw them not as an enemy, those who would not obey the Lord. He saw their souls!

Who Do You See?

God help us to learn this lesson so many righteous men have struggled to learn. God has not spoken to us directly as He did to Ananias, but He has directly spoken to us with the great commission. He first gave it to the apostles, and they have by their works given this same commission to us—go preach the gospel to every creature. Opportunities abound for us to teach are all around us.

God help us all to look and see the souls of others!

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The Holy Spirit on Pentecost

The Holy Spirit on Pentecost

Here are the first nine times Luke refers to the work of the Holy Spirit after the resurrection of Jesus.

Consider the scriptures regarding the work of the Holy Spirit

Consider the scriptures regarding the work of the Holy Spirit

It does not require an expositional savant to understand that all nine references point to the prophetic, inspiring, and/or miraculous power of the Spirit.  Just read the following list:

Luke 24:49 – And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Acts 1:2 – [U]ntil the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

Acts 1:5 – [F]or John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Acts 1:8 – But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Acts 1:16 – Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.

Acts 2:4 – And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Acts 2:17 -And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams . . .

Acts 2:18 – [E]ven on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

Acts 2:33 – Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

Under normal expositional principles when 9 references are all the same, one should expect for the 10th to have the same meaning.  It would require some incredible textual changes to insert a new meaning into the passage. Surely, there would be some emphatic statement from God to let the inquiring Bible student to know that the 10th reference was not only different than the preceding nine, but that going forward the phrase used in the 10th reference would positively and completely exclude the author’s established meaning from the first nine.  If Luke were going pivot so strongly in the middle of a continuous context, he owes his reader some explanation. By the way, he does not provide any such notice.

For the record, here is the 10th reference from Luke after the resurrection, which I am told has and cannot have any connection to the first nine:

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38)

 

 

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