Chapter Four
Irresistible Grace

Common Misconceptions About Irresistible Grace

       Irresistible Grace, the fourth point of Calvinism, is so closely related to the first, that in the original Canons of Dordt, the two points were actually combined into one (see Appendix). The Westminster Confession of Faith's explanation of this doctrine cannot be improved upon:

       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 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.⁽¹⁾

       This doctrine is often misunderstood and grossly misrepresented by its opponents to render God a tyrannical usurper of the free will of men. As we have seen previously, Arminians invariably view the God of Reformed theology as an arbitrary monster who created some men for the sole purpose of damning them without regard to their actions, and, likewise, forces the rest to submit to Him whether they are willing to do so or not. One critic of Calvinism denounced Irresistible Grace as "spiritual rape" which "overthrows the whole plan of salvation."⁽²⁾ The comments of Dr. Norman Geisler, an outspoken Arminian writer, are similar:

       If free choices were not considered at all when God made the list of the elect, then irresistible grace on the unwilling follows. Humans would have no say in their salvation. Accordingly, the fact that some (even all) do not choose to love, worship, and serve God will make no difference whatsoever to God. He will simply double-whammy them with his irresistible power and bring them screaming and kicking into his kingdom against their will....
         Irresistible grace (?) on the unwilling is a violation of free choice. For true love is persuasive but never coercive. There can be no shotgun weddings in heaven....
         Irresistible force used by God on his free creatures would be a violation of both the charity of God and the dignity of humans. God is love. True love never forces itself on anyone. Forced love is rape, and God is not a divine rapist!⁽³⁾

       With such a mental picture as this, it is no wonder that the Arminian struggles so vehemently against the doctrine before us. However, Calvinism does not teach that men are dragged "screaming and kicking" into heaven, but that they come willingly: "It is drawing, which denotes not a force upon the will, but a change wrought in the will. A new bias is given to the soul, by which it inclines to God."⁽⁴⁾
         We learn from the Scriptures that God never does anything to violate the will of man. Again, it should be remembered that the will and desires of a man are dictated by his own nature. Men are not forced to sin against their will; they sin, and will continue to do so, because sin is inherent to their fallenness. Likewise, God does not force anyone to come to Christ and believe against their will; the elect come because the ruling principle of their inward nature has been transformed from sinfulness to righteousness. Hence, the former reject Christ because they want to (John 5:40), and the latter accept Him because they also want to (Psalm 110:3): "Man's freedom consists in his being able to act freely in a manner consistent with his will; but fallen man's will is depraved, and from this depravity he can be rescued only by the grace of God."⁽⁵⁾

How Fallen Men Resist the Holy Spirit

       God desires all to be saved, but all are not saved. Jesus longed to gather the Jews as a mother hen gathers her chicks, but they were not willing. God did not want them to resist the Spirit, but they did resist him.... Contrary to Calvin and Augustine, God's will is not always done.⁽⁶⁾

       The logical conclusion of the Arminian belief that man, of his own volition, may choose to receive Christ, is that he may also choose to reject the Holy Spirit's calling unto salvation. However, as a false premise must produce a false conclusion, the Arminian myth of free will in fallen man results in the erroneous idea that God's alleged will to save all men without exception can be thwarted by human unbelief. Passages such as Acts 7:51 are invariably relied upon to dispute Irresistible Grace: "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." Commenting on this verse, Laurence Vance triumphantly stated, "How miserable is the Calvinist tortured by this portion of Scripture!"⁽⁷⁾ However, if this verse is returned to its proper context, it becomes clear that it does not "torture" the doctrine of Irresistible Grace in the slightest. The speaker, Stephen, was rebuking the Jewish leaders for placing him on trial for testifying to the truth. These were the same men with whom Jesus Himself had contended not long before: "Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God....But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you" (John 8:46-47, 10:26).
       The Jews did not believe the words of either Christ or Stephen because, like their forefathers, they had not been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and were therefore "uncircumcised" in their hearts and ears. Though outwardly religious, they were nevertheless "enmity against God," and, according to our Lord's words in Matthew 23:27-28, they were spiritually dead. Of course they resisted the testimony of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. Not having been granted repentance and new life, these reprobates were left to their own wicked nature and therefore could do nothing else: "He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them" (John 12:40; cf. 2 Corinthians 4:4).
       The point of Acts 7:51 is that the Jews were obstinate towards the outward witness of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of His ministers, not that they were resistant to the inward drawing power of God's grace. Though the external call of the Gospel for all men to repent and believe is the same, the internal application of this message so as to affect a saving change within the human heart depends entirely upon a sovereign act of God's grace:

       Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

       No true Christian has ever complained that they have been "spiritually raped" or otherwise violated by God's sovereign choice of them in eternity or by the effectual grace which He bestows upon them in time. Quite the contrary, the heart that understands this truth will be filled with overwhelming gratitude for the abundant mercy of God: "Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in they courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple" (Psalm 65:3-4).

The Secret Will and the Revealed Will of God

       The Calvinist cannot conceive of God desiring something to take place which never does, but God can.... That God has a directive or imperative will that can be rejected by man we now examine further, and consequently see the utter fallacy of the Calvinist position....
       How many Christians from the first century until the present day have either committed fornication or been unthankful? [referring to 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 5:18] How many thousands? Is there a Calvinist who would dare say that fornication and unthankfulness were God's will and part of his decree? Then how else would you account for man ignoring and rejecting God's will other than the idea that sometimes God's will is ideal and commanded yet unrealized and disobeyed?⁽⁸⁾

       In dealing with such an argument as this, the very important distinction should be understood between the secret, eternal will of God, and His revealed, temporal will. That God has an eternal purpose in that which He decreed before time is abundantly clear from Scripture (Ephesians 1:11). It is this will that is said to be immutable and free from contingency (Isaiah 46:10). However, there is also the prescriptive will of God that has been revealed to man in the form of commands, the Ten Commandments being the best example. When God told the Israelites, "Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image.... Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain...." (Deuteronomy 5:7, 8, 11), etc., He was revealing the behavior which is pleasing to Him and that which is not, as well as defining man's duty as His creature to act accordingly. It is obvious that these commandments were not included in that which God "determined before to be done" (Acts 4:28), for the nation of Israel constantly transgressed the statutes of the Mosaic code.
       The Bible likewise tells us that God "commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30). It is therefore the duty of sinful men to respond favorably to the Gospel when it is presented to them, and yet God's eternal election of His people is certainly not frustrated when all do not do so. While the secret will of God in saving only those whom He has chosen is unknown to us and therefore not part of the Gospel message, His revealed will that all must repent is nevertheless preached to everyone without distinction in order that men may be justly punished for their rejection of it. In other words, no man may appeal to God's eternal reprobation of himself as justification for his continued disobedience because such a decree is not known to him. What is known to him is God's demand of obedience from His creatures, and thus, in rebelling against God and despising His Word, the unbeliever is justly condemned by his own sin: "A master requires of his servant to do what he commands, not to accomplish what he intends, which perhaps he never discovered unto him; nay, the commands of superiors are not always signs that the commander will have the things commanded actually performed, but only that they who are subjects to this command shall be obliged to obedience, as far as the sense of it doth extend."⁽⁹⁾

The Arminian Misinterpretation of John 6:44

       No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:44).

       This verse is perhaps the clearest proclamation of Irresistible Grace that anyone could possibly hope to find in the Bible. These words cannot be dismissed as the mere theological speculations of a sixteenth-century Frenchman, for upon them is the very stamp of divine authority. From the lips of the Savior Himself we learn that man is unable to come to Christ in faith unless he is first drawn by the Father.
       The appearance of the Greek verb helkuo in this verse is very significant. Signifying to "compel with irresistible superiority,"⁽¹⁰⁾ or simply "to drag,"⁽¹¹⁾ this same verb is found in John 21:6, 11 ("...they were not able to draw [the net] for the multitude of fishes" and "Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes...."), Acts 16:19 ("...they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers...."), Acts 21:30 ("...and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut"), James 2:6 ("Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?"), and many others. It is very clear in light of the manner in which it is used in the above verses what this word meant to the New Testament writers.
       Admitting that the usual meaning of helkuo is as the Calvinist insists, W.E. Vine nevertheless attempted to offer an alternate, and "less violent" definition for this verb when it is used of God's "drawing" power.⁽¹²⁾ Other Arminians, such as Billy Graham and C.S. Lewis, agree:

       Faith in Christ is... voluntary. A person cannot be coerced, bribed, or tricked into trusting Jesus. God will not force His way into your life. The Holy Spirit will do everything possible to disturb you, draw you, love you — but finally it is your personal decision. God not only gave His Son... He gave the Holy Spirit to draw you to the cross, but even after all this, it is your decision whether to accept God's free pardon or to continue in your lost condition.⁽¹³⁾

         But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of [God's] scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to override a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo.⁽¹⁴⁾

       Bruce Reichenbach asserted that the only power God exercises over men is that of persuasion, and that He therefore "calls, woos, cajoles, remonstrates, inspires and loves."⁽¹⁵⁾ However, Reichenbach failed to explain how all this avoids the natural conclusion that God is at the mercy of the objects of His "wooing" and is thus reduced to a helpless beggar.
       Many Arminians have used Christ's words in John 12:32 to soften the meaning of John 6:44 to a mere "wooing": "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." This is interpreted to mean that no man will desire to come to Christ until the Father first convinces them of His love for them by showing them the cross. Of course, the Arminians believes that all men without exception are the objects of this gentle persuasion, which they, of their own free will, may either accept or reject. Though this "gospel" presentation is most prevalent in modern evangelism and may indeed lure thousands forward in altar calls, it is grossly unbiblical. Notwithstanding our previous discussion of "all men" in its true soteriological sense, the "wooing cross" of Arminianism is nothing more than the altar of a man-centered, and God-dishonoring, message. Perhaps no better example of this can be offered than the following statement by Dr. Robert Schuller:

       Do you know what my only concern is? I don't want to drive them [non-Christians] farther away than they are. And I listen to so many preachers on religious radio stations... and, by golly, if I wasn't a Christian, they'd drive me farther away. I'm so afraid I'm going to drive them farther — I want to attract them....
       If we want to win people to Jesus, we have to understand where they're at.... Just because it's in the Bible, doesn't mean you have to preach it. And if you do, you have to say, "Who's listening to me?"⁽¹⁶⁾

       The Bible certainly does little to alleviate Schuller's fears, for it promises that the preaching of the cross will be offensive to the pride of fallen men because it lays bare the sin they refuse to face in themselves. While the preaching of the cross is a glorious thing to those whom God has chosen, it has been scorned and rejected by the vast majority of mankind throughout history. Can we honestly say then that the unregenerate heart will be attracted by the very thing which exposes his guilt and condemns him?
       In light of the incapacitated state of fallen mankind, it would be accurate to state that, in and of itself, the cross saves no man. Men do not fall on their knees before the cross in repentance because it is within their power to do so, but because they are brought there by God. The "drawing" in John 6:44, therefore, must involve an effectual act of God, for without it, the cross would be worthless.
       As pointed out by Leon Morris, "There is not one instance in the New Testament of the use of this verb [helkuo] where the resistance is successful."⁽¹⁷⁾ Imagine what the Arminian definition of helkuo would do the reading of such passages as the aforementioned Acts 16:19 or John 21:6, 11. Surely, Paul and Silas were not "wooed" into the marketplace to be flogged, but were taken somewhat more forcefully.⁽¹⁸⁾ Even more assuredly, the fish were not "wooed" onto the disciples' boat, but were caught in their nets and dragged aboard. Likewise, spiritually dead sinners are not merely entreated and enticed to come to Christ, but are actually brought to Him by the Father. A.W. Martin wrote, "In the eyes of the Calvinist sinful man stands in need, not of inducements or of assistance to save himself, but precisely of saving. He holds that Jesus Christ has come, not to advise, urge or woo, or to help a man to save himself, but to save him, to save him through the prevalent working of the Holy Spirit."⁽¹⁹⁾

God's Grace and the External Call of the Gospel

       It has been suggested by some scholars that helkuo may be related to haireomai, which means "to take for oneself, to prefer, [or] to choose."⁽²⁰⁾ This claim is shown to be plausible by 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14: "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." There are several components in this passage that require our attention. The first is God's act of choosing for Himself those whom He loved. The fact that this action is described in the aorist tense and is coupled with the phrase "from the beginning" (ap archais; compare John 1:1), is a clear indication that it is not merely a response to temporal conditions that must be met by its objects (such as the exercise of faith), but is an unconditional choice that God made in eternity to save some, but not others. This salvation is realized through the primary means of "sanctification of the Spirit," and through the secondary means of "belief of the truth." However, it is important to also notice that antecedent to both of these is the call of the Gospel. Thus, we see the Reformed doctrine of salvation by grace in its four necessary stages: (1) predestination, (2) the call of the Gospel, (3) the regenerating work, or "drawing," of the Spirit, and finally, (4) conversion.
       Though the Gospel message of Christ's payment of the debt of sin is to be preached to all men indiscriminately, the effect of the message upon the hearer is determined by whether he is of God's elect or not. To the non-elect, indeed "them that perish," the message of the cross is regarded as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18). To the man whom God has chosen, however, the Gospel is a welcome remedy for the heavy burden of guilt and sin. Though all are equally spiritually dead in sin, and though the message that enters the ears of each man is the same, by it one heart is made alive and receptive while another remains lifeless and inactive (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5).
       Jesus' parable of the "Great Banquet" in Luke 14:16-24 is an allegorical picture of this truth. In verses 16-17, we read, "A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready." One by one, the invited guests excused themselves from participation in the feast (verses 18-20). The servant was then instructed by his master to "bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind" (verse 21), and to go "into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled" (verse 23). Finally, the master of the feast concluded, "For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper" (verse 24).
       The characters in this parable are easily identified. God the Father, who is represented by the "master," sends His "servant," the Holy Spirit, to invite all men to the "great supper" of the forgiveness of sin and everlasting life in Christ Jesus (Acts 17:30). Unregenerate men, however, excuse themselves and thereby demonstrate that they do not really want what God offers and that they are content with their own earthly possessions and pleasures (John 3:19). In contrast are "the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind" — those who cannot afford to clothe themselves in the proper attire befitting such a social occasion (Matthew 9:13), and who can neither see the way to the supper (John 3:3) nor get to it without being carried (John 6:65). To these people (God's elect) the Holy Spirit is sent, not merely to invite, but to bring them and compel them to come to Him. This is the true meaning of John 6:44.
       Clearly, then, it is the sovereign application of the Word of God by the Holy Spirit to the hearts of men which differentiates between those who are saved and those who are lost; without this work of the Spirit, the invitation of the Gospel will always be refused. The Lord Jesus said, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37) and "[M]any are called, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14). Simply put, those "sheep" who belong to Christ will hear and respond to the call of their Shepherd; those who do not belong to Him will not.

The Regenerating Power of the Holy Spirit

       In Ephesians 1:19, the Apostle wrote of "the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe," and in the following verse he compared the regenerating work of the Spirit upon the hearts of the elect to that which was "wrought in Christ" when He was raised from the dead. The point of interest in this latter verse is the Greek verb energo (worked, or exerted), which means "to be effectual," or "to work effectually in."⁽²¹⁾ In fact, this verb, from which we get our English verb to energize, is never used in the Scriptures to describe work that is undergone in vain or that which is not completed.
       As in Ephesians 1:19-20, energo is found in some instances to be connected to God's "power that worketh in us" (Ephesians 3:20; cf: Colossians 1:29), and in other places it is associated with His "good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13; Ephesians 1:11). Thus, we must conclude that the work which God the Holy Spirit accomplishes in the hearts of the elect is both omnipotent and sovereign:

       And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:1-9).

       Just as the Devil, here referred to as "the prince of the power of the air," is effectually working in those who belong to him, thus producing hatred for God and behavior deserving of His wrath, so does the Holy Spirit effectually work within the elect to produce faith in God and a life which is pleasing to Him (Galatians 5:19-24). This is not the pathetic "wooing" of Arminianism, but the complete transformation of God-hating sinners into God-fearing saints. To teach that a man may frustrate a true work of God's grace through the Holy Spirit is an arrogant lie as the following Scripture proves: "And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" (Daniel 4:35).

The New Birth Typified By Resurrection From the Dead

       We have seen how God "hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." It may help to further illustrate this point with a familiar event in the earthly ministry of Christ: the raising of Lazarus from the dead. In John 11:3-4, Jesus was informed that His dear friend had become bedridden with a very serious illness, and yet He did not begin the long journey to the village of Bethany until two days later. By the time He arrived at the home of Mary and Martha, Lazarus' two sisters, the man had been dead for four days and his body had already commenced the natural process of decomposition (verse 39). Notwithstanding the inevitable stench of death, Jesus commanded that the stone to the tomb be moved aside, and then, speaking with the authority of the Son of God, He said, "Lazarus, come forth!" (verse 43) Immediately, the dead man awoke and walked out of the grave.
       Though primarily demonstrating God's power to resurrect a man from physical death, this incident also may be used to illustrate the sovereign power of God in raising men from the deadness of sin. As we have seen, there is no greater difficulty for fallen man than to accept the fact that he is not merely spiritually sick, but completely dead. Indeed, the religions of the world are nothing more than man's attempt to improve himself or to better his inner condition by external religious works.
       God's Word, on the other hand, declares that man is "four days dead" — he is a spiritual corpse that lies stinking and rotting in the darkness of the tomb of his own sin (Ephesians 2:1-2). His dead mind cannot think of life, his dead eyes cannot see life, and his dead limbs cannot raise his body from its resting place. Just as did Jesus so long ago, God also waits before He saves a man until his sins have clung to him like grave clothes and the stone of his own guilt has sealed him in the tomb of despair (James 1:13-15). It is at this point of absolute helplessness that God commands the stone to be removed through the propitiation of His Son's sacrifice (Romans 5:6), and then He floods the filthy chamber with the light of the Gospel (Ephesians 1:18). However, knowing that fresh air and sunlight (a mere outward exposure to a religious environment or to the preaching of the Word) cannot rejuvenate a corpse, God then breathes new life into the dead man and calls him from the grave (2 Corinthians 5:17). Hating the stench of his former prison, the resurrected man gladly and immediately comes forth, and presents himself to his Redeemer a willing and grateful servant (Romans 7:24-25). Although the grave clothes (symbolizing his old nature) initially still cling to his body, these God commands to be removed through the continuing sanctification of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:26-27), replacing them with the fine linen of imputed righteousness (Revelation 19:7-8).
       Thus, salvation does not depend upon "him that willeth, nor of him that runneth" — dead men can do neither — but on God "that sheweth mercy" (Romans 9:16). Sadly, the average Arminian church today is filled with spiritual corpses that have been exhumed from their graves by human means, arrayed in cheap linen, granted a seat at the very Communion table of Christ, and yet show no evidence of life. There is no true circulation of the Word in their hearts, and so, just as the decomposition of a dead body will accelerate when it is exposed to the elements, so the outward association these people maintain with Christianity merely serves to increase their guilt before God.

The Conversion Experience of Saul of Tarsus

       For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.... (1 Corinthians 15:9)

       Such were the words of Paul, the mighty "apostle to the Gentiles" (Romans 11:13), which stand as a powerful testimony to the irresistible grace of God. He certainly did not see his calling and salvation as the result of his own choice, but knew that he had been "called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God" (1 Corinthians 1:1).
       Paul's conversion experience is far and above the most dramatic display in the Scriptures of God's salvific power towards His elect. In Acts 9:1-2, we are told that Paul (formerly known as Saul of Tarsus) was not only "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," but that he was even taking them to Jerusalem to be tried and executed (cf. Acts 22:4-5). Though he led an impeccable life according to the man-made standards of the Pharisees (Philippians 3:6), these violent actions were certainly not characteristic of a man who earnestly desired to believe in Christ and submit himself to His Gospel. This was a man whose heart had become blinded and hardened by his own self-righteousness to such an extent that he had become a murderer in order to maintain the facade.
       Saul of Tarsus would not have been a likely candidate for a modern "gospel" presentation. His only response to an emotional appeal to "accept Jesus" or to "try God" would have been to drag the hapless evangelist away in chains. No tear of repentance was to be found upon his cheek, no quiver of grief over sin on his lips, and yet it was to him that the Lord Jesus appeared in saving glory. The account is as follows:

       And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus (Acts 9:3-8).

       No "wooings" are here described; no invitations offered; no regard for Saul's "free will" given. The Spirit of Christ simply acted upon the sinful heart of the man, and he was instantly regenerated. Having been knocked into the dust a wretched sinner, he rose to his feed a born-again child of God, demonstrating his inward change by rightly addressing Christ as "Lord" and obeying His command without question. Arminians such as Norman Geisler would complain that such were the "coercive" actions of a "divine rapist," but Paul clearly viewed this incident in his life as the unmerited bestowal of God's gracious love upon a miserable and lost human being:

       And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (1 Timothy 1:13-15).

       In 1 Corinthians 1:25b, Paul wrote, "[T]he weakness of God is stronger than men." Clearly, the helpless "wooing" god of Arminianism was completely unknown to the Apostle, for his concept of God as the Almighty Sovereign was drawn, not only from his knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures, but also from having personally witnessed how He could transform the "chief of sinners" into an Apostle of Christ — one who, though he once murdered Christians, would later lay down his own life in service to his Lord. The declarations of God's grace that would eventually flow from Paul's pen to comprise large portions of the New Testament bear little, if any, resemblance to the fleshly tripe that ever spews forth from Arminian pulpits as sinful men refuse to relinquish their persistent grasp on an imaginary autonomy.
       The following observation of John Owen is interesting: "How do they... exclaim upon poor Calvin, for sometimes using the hard word 'compulsion,' describing the effectual, powerful working of the providence of God in the actions of men; but they can fasten the same term on the will of God, and no harm done!"⁽²²⁾ The revulsion to this doctrine that the Arminian feels, and often voices with tenacity, is conclusive evidence of the raw humanism that lies at the foundation of his theology. Man must have his "free will" at any cost, and that without divine restraints or control. And yet, no hesitation accompanies the notion that God's will is both restrained and controlled by the whimsical belief or unbelief of His own creatures. It is amazing, indeed, that the Arminian would gnash his teeth and accuse the Calvinist of blasphemy, when his own doctrines are so akin to atheism: "[Arminianism] compels us to misunderstand the significance of the gracious invitations of Christ in the gospel... for we now have to read them, not as expressions of the tender patience of a mighty sovereign, but as the pathetic pleadings of impotent desire; and so the enthroned Lord is suddenly metamorphosed into a weak, futile figure tapping forlornly at the door of the human heart, which He is powerless to open."⁽²³⁾

Endnotes

1. Westminster Confession of Faith, Section X:1.

2. Vance, Other Side of Calvinism, page 307.

3. Dr. Norman Geisler, essay: "God Knows All Things," in Randall Basinger and David Basinger (editors), Predestination and Free Will (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1986), pages 68-69. The question that immediately comes to mind is, Since when is rape properly defined as "forced love"? Rape is a brutal act of dominance over another man or woman and has nothing at all to do with love. This is why the Mosaic law prescribed the death penalty for the convicted rapist (Deuteronomy 22:25). Geisler's remark is an insensitive insult to anyone who has been victimized by this terrible crime.

4. Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1961), page 1540.

5. Calvin, quoted by Vance, Other Side of Calvinism, page 280.

6. Pinnock, essay: "Response to John Feinburg," in Basinger and Basinger, Predestination and Free Will, page 58.

7. Vance, Other Side of Calvinism, page 299.

8. Vance, ibid., pages 306-307.

9. John Owen, A Display of Arminianism (Dahlonega, Georgia: Crown Rights Book Company, [1644] 1997), page 46.

10. R.C. Sproul, Chosen By God (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1986), page 69.

11. James Strong, A Greek Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1981), page 27.

12. Vine, Expository Dictionary, page 338.

13. Graham, How to Be Born Again, pages 193-194.

14. C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (New York: The Macmillan Company, Inc., 1961), page 38.

15. Bruce Reichenbach, essay: "God Limits His Power," in Basinger and Basinger, Predestination and Free Will, page 117.

16. Robert Schuller, interviewed on The White Horse Inn, KKLA FM (Los Angeles, California), 31 October 1992. Amazingly, Schuller later identified himself in the same interview as a "five-point Calvinist."

17. Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdman's Publishing Company, 1971), page 371 (footnote).

18. The alert Arminian would no doubt point out this scenario as a contradiction to the Calvinists' claim that God does not in fact drag men to Himself against their will. In response, however, it should be noted that though the outcome of the arrest of Paul and Silas was not to their physical benefit, it was beneficial to their spiritual growth in that they thereby learned that God was faithful to deliver them from the hands of His enemies. It was not therefore likely that they accompanied their captors "screaming and kicking," but they went willingly, having submitted themselves to the will of their Lord and Master.

19. A.W. Martin, The Practical Implications of Calvinism (Edinburgh, Scotland: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1979), page 13.

20. Strong, Greek Dictionary, page 8.

21. Strong, ibid., page 28.

22. Owen, Display of Arminianism, page 16.

23. Packer, "Introductory Essay," page 20.