What is the Biblical basis against the Calvinist doctrine of Irresistible Grace?
score:5
The argument against irresistable grace is centered in the Biblical teachings that, on the one hand, God desires everyone to be saved and has made his grace available to all people.
This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all.
On the other hand, we are asked to make a choice and salvation is said to be contingent on our response.
Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
But if the wicked turn away from all their sins that they have committed and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, they shall surely live; they shall not die. None of the transgressions that they have committed shall be remembered against them; for the righteousness that they have done they shall live.
But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.
[I}f you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
The flip side of this coin is that if we don't respond or don't follow through, we won't be saved.
Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.
If we can "be disqualified" or fail to "endure to the end", it stands to reason that God's grace can be resisted.
Summary
If:
- God wants everyone to be saved, and
- He has made his grace available to everyone, and
- He asks us to respond to his grace, and
- He promises salvation to those who respond but not to those who fail to respond or fail to follow through, then
it's hard to make the case that God's grace is irresistible.
Upvote:-1
Agapē does not compel ("It does not insist on its own way" – 1 Cor 13:5b ESV)
Irresistible grace insists on its own way.
God's means of loving us is grace.
God's form of love is agapē.
Irresistible grace is not agapē.
That God saves us is his ultimate expression of love.
This expression of love cannot utilize irresistible grace.
Irresistible grace is not how God saves us. □
Upvote:0
I think there is a more accurate hermeneutics approach to the proof texts used for irresistible grace (i.e. John 6). The explanation will be too long here but there are three articles that make the case that you can take the natural meaning of the pertinent biblical passages. In short, they posit that the pertinent passages are referring to Old Testament Believers not New Testament Believers.
I am not an apologist for either position but offer this to contribute to the discussion of these difficult passages.
Upvote:2
Here's a simple one:
II Peter 3:9 KJV:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
So, if the Lord is not willing for any to perish and His grace were truly irresistible, then why hasn't he extended it to all humanity, and why are we not all thereby elect? Could it be because we have the will to choose Christ's grace or reject it?
Additionally
Titus 2:11 states that, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Assuming you are not willing to limit "all people" to mean "just the elect," this verse implies that (a) anyone may be saved and that (b) this salvation comes through God's grace.
With that in mind, is it not contradictory to concurrently believe all the of the following points at face value:
- God's grace is irresistible to man
- By his grace anyone may receive salvation (the Titus verse)
- He wants all to be saved (the II Peter vesre) and He (as good old John 3:16 states) loved the world enough to have sent his Son to die on the cross, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but to have everlasting life.
For how could God want the whole world to be saved, and have sent his son to die for the whole world but ultimately only select certain, elect few by irresistable grace? These three views are incompatable with each other, and I reject the non-Biblical one -- that of irresistable grace.
Aside from rejecting some set of these three views, I can see two other options for making them compatable:
- When the Bible is saying that God does not want for anyone to perish and that He sent his son to die for whoever would believe in Him, it is exclusively refering to the elect. In my mind this would be a distressing misinterpretation of the scripture. Or, alternatively
- God has split-personality disorder. Although he wants everyone to be saved through Christ's freely available grace, his contending personality just can't let that happen and has to choose certain individuals to call, based on his pre-genesis disposition towards in differentating between people whome (at that time) did not yet exist.
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