Irresistible Grace - The Spirit's Effective Call

There are a couple of theological terms that must be discussed as I begin to unpack the fourth letter in our TULIP acronym. One such term is known as Monergistic Regeneration. Monergism indicates that something operates by itself or works alone. It accomplishes its work apart from any other outside influence. When we apply the word regeneration to it, it refers to God’s work on a person separate or distinctly apart from man’s effort or cooperation. This is known as God’s operative grace in contrast to cooperative grace which teaches that man must cooperate with God’s work of regenerating the heart of man in order for it to be effective. But reformed theology rejects cooperative grace because it suggests that man does have the moral ability to choose God. The key to the five points of Calvinism lies back here in our view on man’s total depravity or, as most reformed theologians prefer the term, his radical corruption. It has been said that if one embraces the “T” in our TULIP acrostic the rest follows by resistless logic. “One cannot embrace the T and reject any of the other four letters with any degree of consistency.”1 So to suggest that we do have the moral ability to choose the things of God is simply to deny original sin; and I don’t think we want to go that far because then things get a little messy with me having to deal with other things I don’t have time for just now. Reformed theology expresses man's moral inability to choose the things of God. If we admit that we are sinners whose sin has separated us from God and His Christ then we could ask the question how we got this sin nature in the first place? We would then have to go back as far as we could remember and admit that sin was still with us. I know for me it gets very real in watching my children grow up. Once they begin to realize that they have a will, that is; the moment they realize that they can express their displeasure in something being asked of them and consequently express their opinion to the contrary, the original nature they always had (but which remained in hiding) begins to manifest itself. They cannot change this nature. They follow it and my job is to correct bad behavior brought about by a nature that requires God’s ultimate intervention and redemption. I can steer them into making proper choices. I can baptize them as infants signifying that my children are apart of the same covenant that has rescued me from sin and death and I can remind them of these things regularity. But until the time comes for the Spirit’s call in their lives, I must continually deal with their stubborn, unyielding will that seeks after its own pleasure.

There is a lot I could say here and there is a lot the Arminian would say in defense. But one point Sproul makes brings us to the very point. He says, in effect, that what the sinner needs is regeneration in order to come to faith. This statement is very important; others have, in the reformed camp oft repeated it. The idea is that regeneration precedes faith. Think about this statement for a moment. I have been taught the opposite growing up. Here is an example: suppose my life is a mess – I am taking drugs, drinking heavily and consequently find myself out on the streets after being kicked out by my wife. I then meet some street preacher who attempts to convert me by giving me the four spiritual laws. He says to me that all I need to do is repeat the sinner’s prayer and God will save me. So I do, but nothing happens. Or I reject his message and he points me to the scripture passages that explain the ominous destiny of those who refuse to accept Jesus. Here this street preacher has overlooked the fact that no amount of coaxing is going to change my heart. But now the situation changes: The street preacher presents the Gospel of Christ and says “all who have ears let him heed my words”. No four spiritual laws or other persuasive means in order for men to make a decision for Christ. The preacher is committed to letting the Holy Spirit do His work in regenerating the heart of a man in order for faith to be fashioned there. It is not unregenerate man somehow finding that he has enough faith to believe (I cannot change my children's hearts and make them receptive to the things of God - they still operate from their passions). It is God shedding His light into the deepest dark recesses of our hearts and fashioning faith to believe that He exists and loves men. The Arminian has really gotten it backwards. No amount of emotional hype; no amount of persuasive rhetoric has ever changed a dead man to live again. If any man has been brought to life it had nothing whatsoever to do with his own decision to “make the right choice”, but it had everything to do with God’s grace and mercy that regenerates the heart of man in order that he might be able to believe! Taken from another angle – if man had the power to choose life then what advantage does a man have who knows of God’s grace? Put it this way: “If the flesh can, by itself, incline itself to grace, where is the need of grace? If the grace of regeneration is merely offered and its efficacy (its usefulness or effectiveness) depends on the sinner’s response, what does grace accomplish that is not already present in the flesh?” Good question Mr. Sproul! God does not merely offer to change my heart. He does not merely offer regeneration if I would just believe. He regenerates. Meaning he does change hearts and he does so both unilaterally and monergistically for us what we are unable to do for ourselves2.

Reformed theologians speak about an “order of salvation”. It goes like this: Regeneration precedes faith (this we just discussed), and faith precedes justification. This is purely a logical priority not in order of importance but how salvation comes about. A person must be regenerated in order to have saving faith and similarly in order to be justified a person must have faith that was given when he was regenerated. Each one depends on the thing preceding it. Arminians reject this order by saying that regeneration is a result of faith and dependent on it. This implies that an unregenerate person has the ability to exercise saving faith which reminds us of the “T” in the TULIP acronym – the contradiction of believing that man is fallen or born in sin but yet has the moral ability to choose the Holy, Pure and Righteous. I end with a final quote from Sproul’s book:

“Regeneration is a supernatural work, a monergistic work, a work that effects what God intends. It is the supernatural work of recreation by which the dead are raised and brought to a state of fides viva, a living faith, through which they are saved and adopted into the family of God.”3

-Joe



1. Sproul, R.C, Grace Unknown – The Heart of Reformed Theology, Baker Books, 1997, p. 128.
2. ibid, p. 188.
3. ibid, p. 196.