The Canons of Dort Part 10: Irresistible Grace

Today I’ll give you my thoughts on the Canons of Dort fourth main point of doctrine. The subject: irresistible grace (for a summary of the fourth main point, see my previous post).

The Gospel Call

When Scripture and theologian’s speak of a “call,” there are two types of calls to be considered. The first is an external call. This external call is the general proclamation of the Gospel to all people, a call for people to repent and believe in Jesus Christ (which the Canons say we should do to everyone!). The second is an internal call. The internal call (aka “effective call”) is an act of God by which “he summons people to himself in such a way that they respond in saving faith” (Grudem, 693). This is taken from Romans 8:30: “and those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified…”

The Canons here, again, are speaking of the external call.  The point is, and this is important for critics of those who believe in election, the gospel must be proclaimed to each and every individual on the face of the earth!!  We have a redemptive mandate from Christ that compels us to do so.  To be theologically correct, we must faithfully proclaim the gospel externally but we take no credit for those who respond and take no blame for those who do not.  The internal call is a work of God.

So, good Calvinists must be good evangelists.  Good Calvinists must proclaim Jesus Christ to the lost at all times!

Conversion

I really like the Canons’ description of conversion at this point.  Let me see if I can explain it: There are two types of freedom that can be discussed: free-will and free-choice.  Free-choice is actually a sub-set of free-will, because it is our will that enables us to make a choice.  So the key to “choosing” is the orientation of our will.  Here is what the Canons are saying:

• The sinful human will is oriented away from God and by its own power cannot return to God.  This does not deny free-choice.  Sinful humans have free-choice.  But, because their choices are attached to a sinful will, they can never “choose” God.
• In salvation, God reorients the will toward himself (notice how the Canons describe the Holy Spirit’s work toward the will: “infuses new qualities…making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing…he activates and strengthens…”).  This enables a person to “choose” God.  Notice that God does not “choose” for us.  Each and every individual has the responsibility of repenting and believing in Christ for themselves, but this can only be done when God first works on the will!

One of my professors at Calvin Theological Seminary, Dr. Lyle Bierma, uses this analogy: “the sinful will is a train going to hell.  You have choices on that train, you can go in a lot of different directions, but you are still bound on a train going in one direction to hell!”  Conversely, the regenerated will is on a train to the new heavens and new earth…you have choices on that train…but you will end up in the right place!

Dr. Bierma has a couple of other helpful illustrations:

• The Calvinist view of salvation is that it is 100% God and 100% man, it is just that man’s 100% depends upon God’s 100%.
• Salvation is like walking through a door.  When you enter it you read a sign above that says “whosoever will believe.”  When you walk through and look back at the door, you see another sign that says “I chose you.”

In other words, from the human perspective, we actually do something in salvation.  We are involved!  From God’s perspective we learn that he is the one working behind the scenes to make it all happen.

What makes this distinct from Arminians is that the Canons of Dort believes that 1) God only reorients the wills of the elect and 2) everyone who has their will reoriented will choose God.

Perhaps if Dr. Wittmer ever reads this he can shed some insight on this issue.  This is the best I can do.

Faith

Even though we are involved in our salvation, faith is rightly considered to be a “gift” from God, because our faith is absolutely impossible without God’s regeneration of our will.  The Canons speak of faith being “infused” into us by God.

The Result of God’s Grace in Conversion

Salvation must lead to gratitude.  In fact, this highlights the structure of another great Reformed confession, The Heidelberg Catechism.  The Heidelberg Catechism can be divided into three sections: Misery, Deliverance, Gratitude.  It is gratitude that always follows deliverance!

But another response to salvation is prayer for the lost.  It is interesting that this portion of the Canons only mentions prayer for the lost but not active evangelism of the lost.  This is not an oversight because, as we have seen earlier, the Canons regularly exhort Christians to proclaim their faith to the lost.  However, here it emphasizes prayer for the lost since salvation is ultimately God’s work.

More on Regeneration

One of the final articles in this section addresses an important concern: if all this is true then God basically drags us to salvation, even if we go kicking and screaming.  In other words, God coerces the elect to faith!  But the Canons do not allow this kind of thinking.  Rather, they believe that just as the fall did not “dehumanize” people, so salvation does not “dehumanize” people.  God does not coerce or act against a person’s will, rather, God reorients the will back to their original, created form.  Notice the words the Canons use: “spiritually revives, heals, reforms, and - in a manner at once pleasing and powerful - bends it back.”

In my opinion this is a beautiful description of the work of God that is grounded in creation.  God is not a cosmic bully.  God is a divine physician who heals his creation.

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• The Canons of Dort, Part 4: Unconditional Election