What Is Irresistible Grace
Theologians often talk about two different expressions of the grace of God. One of those is sometimes called “effectual grace.” In discussions of TULIP (or Calvinism or the doctrines of grace) the term is usually called “irresistible grace.” Here are some excerpts form a very helpful article by Desiring God on the doctrines of grace:
The doctrine of irresistible grace does not mean that every influence of the Holy Spirit cannot be resisted. It means that the Holy Spirit can overcome all resistance and make his influence irresistible….
More specifically irresistible grace refers to the sovereign work of God to overcome the rebellion of our heart and bring us to faith in Christ so that we can be saved. If our doctrine of total depravity is true, there can be no salvation without the reality of irresistible grace. If we are dead in our sins, totally unable to submit to God, then we will never believe in Christ unless God overcomes our rebellion….
In John 6:44 Jesus says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” This drawing is the sovereign work of grace without which no one can be saved from their rebellion against God. Again some say, “He draws all men, not just some.” But this simply evades the clear implication of the context that the Father’s “drawing” is why some believe and not others.
Specifically, John 6:64-65 says, “‘But there are some of you that do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that should betray him. And he said, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.’”
Notice two things.
First, notice that coming to Jesus is called a gift. It is not just an opportunity. Coming to Jesus is “given” to some and not to others.
Second, notice that the reason Jesus says this, is to explain why “there are some who do not believe.” We could paraphrase it like this: Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas would not believe on him in spite of all the teaching and invitations he received. And because he knew this, he explains it with the words, No one comes to me unless it is given to him by my Father. Judas was not given to Jesus. There were many influences on his life for good. But the decisive, irresistible gift of grace was not given.
What Are We Missing
The question I’ve been asking throughout this series has been this: What concepts get screened out in our thinking by the use of the language of TULIP?
So it is right to ask now, What are we missing by speaking of “irresistible grace”? And I think the answer comes in two parts. But before I get to those, let me just say that this point in TULIP is probably not the greatest offender when it comes to terministic screens (i.e., language that screens out other concepts). We usually do a good job of balancing this truth with its counterparts.
First, if we are screening out some other concepts, one may obviously be the genuineness of human choice. It’s easy in any discussion of the sovereignty of God–not least of all this one–to forget that while man’s will may indeed be a slave to sin, we nevertheless make genuine choices.
This is not to imply libertarian free will, which I believe is untenable biblically. It is, however, to insist that the choices we make as humans are genuine.
Again, genuine does not mean uninfluenced. All of our choices are influenced. In the doctrine of irresistible grace, we are emphasizing God’s influence on a particular choice. Let’s not make that mean that the choice itself is not genuine.
That is one possible danger.
Second, if we forget something because of our emphasis on God’s irresistible grace, then it may be the common grace which he pours out on all mankind.
Common grace is also spoken of as God’s providence. He makes the sun shine, the rain fall; he gives health to regenerate and unregenerate alike.
We may risk de-emphasizing this providential, common grace of God in our attempts to emphasize the irresistible saving grace of God.
Like I said, though, I don’t think this is the one that causes us the greatest problems, but the dangers are there, so I want to remind us of what we’re leaving out if we only speak of irresistible grace.
