Prevenient Grace (14)

"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."

"Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me." (John 6: 37; 43-45 nkjv)

In John chapter six we have this order for the salvation process: 1) Father speaks to sinners, 2) Father teaches sinners, 3) Father draws sinners, 4) those spoken to, taught, and drawn by the Father, come to Jesus, and it is when the sinner comes to Jesus that he is united to Christ, then justified, forgiven, born again, regenerated, saved, washed, sanctified, etc.

If this order is correct, then items one through three occur before salvation and are therefore preparations or means for salvation, or instances of prevenient grace. Those Calvinists who deny any kind of prevenient grace or preparatory experiences prior to "regeneration," and who push regeneration back to the very first thing the Spirit does in effecting regeneration, are forced to say that the "drawing" of the Father in John 6: 44 is regeneration. In doing this they must say that "coming to Christ" is not regeneration, but is rather a post regeneration experience denoting evangelical conversion consisting of repentance and faith. By this paradigm they create several insurmountable difficulties.

Those Calvinists who deny in toto prevenient grace or preparatory working of God leading to regeneration will say that regeneration takes place prior to coming to Jesus, in the drawing and hearing and teaching of the Father, but that is a mistake. The workings of the Father prior to a sinner's coming to Christ are works that lead to regeneration, salvation, or new birth. It is highly unbiblical to say that a sinner is spiritually alive before he comes to Jesus or prior to his being joined to Christ by faith. "Coming to Jesus" is synonymous with believing in and receiving of Christ and is when a sinner is united to Christ, what Paul called being "joined to the Lord" (I Cor. 6: 17). There can be no spiritual life without union with Christ and this union is by faith. So testified the apostle John, who wrote: "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (I John 5: 12 nkjv)

One cannot "have" the Son until he "receives" the Son by faith. The word in the Greek for "receive" (lambano) means to actively take hold of, to embrace, to accept a gift that is given. Faith is the hand that receives the gift of eternal life. Some Calvinists say that sinners passively receive spiritual life, but the Greek word for receive never means a passive receiving but an active receiving, being a verb in the active voice.

All this being true, then the drawing, teaching, and learning of the Father is what precedes obtaining spiritual life. These then are things that are preparatory to regeneration and examples of prevenient grace. Jesus himself said to those who rejected him: "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life." (John 5: 40 nkjv) Coming to Jesus is in order to receive spiritual life. Such Hyper Calvinists must have the text to rather say - "you do not come to me because you do not have spiritual life."

So, in the above teaching of Jesus, we have the divine order. First we have the work of the Father in teaching and drawing, then the coming to Christ by faith as a result of that work, and then union with Christ and receiving spiritual or eternal life.

Is Coming to Jesus Regeneration?

John Gill wrote the following in his commentary on John 5: 40, and the words of Jesus to the unregenerate sinners who opposed him - "you will not come to me that you might have life":

"...but a spiritual coming to Christ, or a coming to him by faith is here meant; in which sense the phrase is frequently used in this Gospel, especially in the next chapter; see John 6:35; and those who come aright to Christ, come to him as the alone, able, suitable, and sufficient Saviour; and in themselves as sinners, and ready to perish; and as such they are received by him with a welcome...that ye might have life; that is, eternal life...and all that come to Christ by faith may, and shall have it: this is the will of the Father, the end of his giving of Christ, and of his mission and coming into the world, and is inseparably connected with believing in him."

When anything is drawn it is drawn away from something and to something else. A thing cannot be said to have been drawn to something if it has not reached the point to which it is being drawn. You cannot therefore say that a sinner has been drawn until he has come to Christ. It is like the word "called." We can see two ways to interpret the word "called." If I call a person on the telephone, I can say that I called that person whether the person answered the call. On the other hand, by saying that we called a person may mean we called a person and that person answered our call. Can we say the same about God's drawing? Can we say that a sinner has been drawn when he has yet not been drawn away from point A and to point B? So, if the Father is drawing a sinner away from self and to Christ, can you say that the sinner has been drawn before he has come to Jesus? 

Surely the drawn person of the text is NOT someone who has been drawn or pulled by the Father to Christ but who has not come to Christ. The drawing is the cause and the effect is coming to Christ or believing in him. Many Calvinists wrongly equate the "drawing" of the text strictly with the action of the Father to the exclusion of the effect on the sinner (coming to Christ) and call that "regeneration." This is an error because "regeneration" (or its cognates quickening, rebirth, etc.) is not defined in the bible as strictly denoting the exertion of divine power (cause) but includes, or focuses upon, the effect upon sinners as a result of that drawing. In this post (here) I cited from Dr. Archibald Alexander (1772-1851), professor at Princeton Theological Seminary who addressed this very point. I cite from that post:

"Curious inquiries respecting the way in which the word is instrumental in the production of this change are not for edification. Sometimes regeneration is considered distinctly from the acts and exercises of the mind which proceed from it, but in the Holy Scriptures the cause and effect are included; and we shall therefore treat the subject in this practical and popular form. The instrumentality of the word can never derogate from the efficient agency of the Spirit in this work. The Spirit operates by and through the word. The word derives all its power and penetrating energy from the Spirit. Without the omnipotence of God the word would be as inefficient as clay and spittle, to restore sight to the blind."

If the scriptures teach that coming to Christ or believing in Christ is that action by which spiritual life is obtained (regeneration), then the doctrine of prevenient grace is established, for hearing and learning from the Father, and being drawn by him, precede a sinner's coming to Christ. Many Calvinists, such as I (contrary to what so many falsely say, i.e that "faith precedes regeneration") believe that faith precedes regeneration, and this was the view of Calvin himself, along with a host of other Calvinists we could cite. It is the Hyper Calvinist or semi Hyper Calvinist who says that regeneration precedes faith, that one has spiritual life before he has come to Christ. My Old Baptist Test, Baptist Gadfly, and Ordo Salutis Debate blogs are filled with citations from Calvinists who agreed with Calvin that sinners are born again by faith. If that position is true, and it surely is, then again we say that prevenient grace is proven, for it is evident, as before stated, that the teaching and drawing of the Father precede salvation. 

This of course does not mean that the Calvinistic idea of prevenient grace is the same as John Wesley's or as the Arminians. The Arminian view includes the idea that sinners are born with a depraved nature and with the guilt of original sin (generally the Calvinist view) and therefore lack the ability to repent, believe, convert, etc. In their paradigm of prevenient grace the chief idea is that God is "enables" the sinner who hears the gospel to positively respond to it if he wills. Such prevenient grace alleviates enough of the inability of the inherited depravity as to make it possible for sinners to believe and be converted. These are called "Classical Arminians." They would agree with my thesis that says that God, through various means, does things in the hearts and minds and lives of sinners prior to being saved and that they are instances of prevenient grace, but they add the tenet about negating depravity or inability enough through prevenient grace to make it possible for sinners to repent and believe and be saved. 

My view, and that of other Calvinists, sees the Wesleyan view to be a non-biblical concept of common or prevenient grace. We have addressed that point previously, stating rather that the power to believe for salvation attends the word of God and is not some power or ability given previously to hearing and believing the word or gospel of God. I cited from several Calvinistic sources that said that there is no power to believe in sinners prior to believing. When Jesus said to the man with the paralyzed and impotent arm to "stretch forth thine hand" (Matt. 12: 13, etc.) the power attended the word spoken so that the man was able to stretch forth his hand. When a sinner is saved by the gospel message it is because the word came not "in word only but in power and in the Holy Spirit." (I Thess. 1: 5)

Will All Be Drawn? How?

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." (John 12: 32 kjv)

This is another text that is often debated between Arminians and Calvinists. There are several questions that must be asked and answered in regard to it. First, who is meant by "all men"? Second, how does the Savior draw all men? Third, why is Jesus the one doing the drawing when in John 6: 44 it is the Father who does the drawing? Fourth, does the verse imply that no one was drawn prior to Christ being "lifted up"? Fifth, is everyone who is called by the Lord through the gospel drawn by the Lord? And vice versa? Sixth, when Christ says that he "will" or "shall" draw all men, does he mean that he will draw even those who do not come to Christ, or does he mean that all who he draws will in fact be drawn to Christ and saved? Recall what we said about calling a person on the telephone. Seventh, is this drawing of either the Father or the Son irresistible? Eighth, what makes the drawing successful? 

First, I don't think that many bible students will affirm that infants and idiots are included in the "all men" of the text. Second, I also don't think that many bible believers will deny that old testament believers were drawn by either the Father or Christ and saved thereby. Third, I think that most Arminians and Calvinists alike will say that the drawing by the Father or the Son is done through the Spirit's use of the gospel or word of God. That being so, "all men" would be limited to those people who have heard the gospel and would not include any who lived and died without hearing the word of God. A person who is called to salvation is called by grace and by the gospel and this calling involves the drawing. The question - "are all drawn by the Father (via the gospel)?" is essentially the same question as "are all called by the Father (via the gospel)?" 

In answer to question number three above we think that the Father had been doing the drawing and the teaching that leads to salvation during the old testament period, but that since then the Father has been doing the drawing through the Son. Now let us return to these verses:

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me."

Calvinists generally teach that only the elect, those chosen by the Father before the world began and given by the Father to Christ as a covenant gift, will be the only ones drawn and that all who are drawn will be successfully drawn, and that this drawing cannot be successfully resisted. Arminians, however, teach that God draws all men by the Gospel but it more often than not fails to succeed, the success of the drawing being dependent upon the "free will" of the lost sinner. What therefore can we deduce from the above passages that will help us decide who is right on this question? 

Jesus plainly says in John 6: 37 (cited at the head of this chapter) that "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me." Notice that he did not say "all that the Father draws will come to me." What we can be certain about is that all who are given by the Father to Christ (generally believed to be those who the Father chose to salvation before the world began) will be drawn successfully by the gospel. That can be true and yet it also be true that those not chosen are also drawn though not successfully. 

If we equate the "drawing" of the Father with the speaking and teaching of the Father then it seems that all who are drawn will in fact be drawn to Christ, will come to Christ in faith and repentance. This is because Christ said "EVERYONE who has heard and learned of the Father comes unto me" and will be "raised up at the last day." However, that may not be the case if we recall what we said about calling a person on the telephone. A person may be said to have been called when another person has called that person but got no answer from the person called, as well as to those who actually answered the call. Likewise, by the words "everyone who has heard and learned of the Father" may refer to those who have actually and savingly heard and learned, rather than referring to those who have heard but failed to learn. "Those who have heard and learned" are words similar to the words "those who have been called on the telephone." 

The next question to consider is whether the word "draw" means to drag irresistibly. In the bible the word draw is used of drawing water, drawing fish nets, drawing a sword, drawing or dragging criminals to jail. In all these cases there is no failure to successfully draw a thing when the power exerted in drawing exceeds the resistance. Drawing involves pulling and attracting. Magnets draw metals. If the metal is large and the magnet small, the magnet will be unable to successfully draw the metal though it is pulling it. So, as we have said in previous chapters, in the case of the elect God exerts greater power in drawing them to Christ. In thinking about how drawing is like an attraction, we observe that people are often attracted to something spontaneously and successfully or irresistibly. Beautiful things have this power of attraction. 

Salvation is in coming to Christ via faith and repentance and being thereby united to him. This being true, the speaking, teaching, and drawing of the Father are preparatory means or instances of prevenient grace and so the view of some Calvinists that the drawing is regeneration even before one has come to Christ is a serious error that has adverse consequences. Those given by the Father to Christ (the elect) will all be effectually drawn to Christ.