How Do Calvinists RESIST FREE GRACE? A look at the unexpected AVERSION to Grace, Free Grace, & Gift!

TULIP and Reformed Theology: Irresistible Grace
R.C. Sproul

In historic Reformation thought, the notion is this: regeneration precedes faith. We also believe that regeneration is monergistic. Now that's a three-dollar word. It means essentially that the divine operation called rebirth or regeneration is the work of God alone. An erg is a unit of labor, a unit of work. The word energy comes from that idea. The prefix mono- means "one." So monergism means "one working." It means that the work of regeneration in the human heart is something that God does by His power alone—not by 50 percent His power and 50 percent man's power, or even 99 percent His power and 1 percent man's power. It is 100 percent the work of God. He, and He alone, has the power to change the disposition of the soul and the human heart to bring us to faith.

In addition, when He exercises this grace in the soul, He brings about the effect that He intends to bring about. When God created you, He brought you into existence. You didn't help Him. It was His sovereign work that brought you to life biologically. Likewise, it is His work, and His alone, that brings you into the state of rebirth and of renewed creation. Hence, we call this irresistible grace. It's grace that works. It's grace that brings about what God wants it to bring about. If, indeed, we are dead in sins and trespasses, if, indeed, our wills are held captive by the lusts of our flesh and we need to be liberated from our flesh in order to be saved, then in the final analysis, salvation must be something that God does in us and for us, not something that we in any way do for ourselves.

God's grace is so powerful that it has the capacity to overcome our natural resistance to it. —R.C. Sproul

However, the idea of irresistibility conjures up the idea that one cannot possibly offer any resistance to the grace of God. However, the history of the human race is the history of relentless resistance to the sweetness of the grace of God. Irresistible grace does not mean that God's grace is incapable of being resisted. Indeed, we are capable of resisting God's grace, and we do resist it. The idea is that God's grace is so powerful that it has the capacity to overcome our natural resistance to it. It is not that the Holy Spirit drags people kicking and screaming to Christ against their wills. The Holy Spirit changes the inclination and disposition of our wills, so that whereas we were previously unwilling to embrace Christ, now we are willing, and more than willing. Indeed, we aren't dragged to Christ, we run to Christ, and we embrace Him joyfully because the Spirit has changed our hearts. They are no longer hearts of stone that are impervious to the commands of God and to the invitations of the gospel. God melts the hardness of our hearts when He makes us new creatures. The Holy Spirit resurrects us from spiritual death, so that we come to Christ because we want to come to Christ. The reason we want to come to Christ is because God has already done a work of grace in our souls. Without that work, we would never have any desire to come to Christ. That's why we say that regeneration precedes faith.

I have a little bit of a problem using the term irresistible grace, not because I don't believe this classical doctrine, but because it is misleading to many people. Therefore, I prefer the term effectual grace, because the irresistible grace of God effects what God intends it to effect.

[jeffbargerbiblestudies]

Good lesson. Paul spoke of the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Cor 11:3). Free grace is simple. "Works" complicates the simplicity. Thank you. Keep up the good work.

[krisjustin]

Love hearing the literal Greek translations! Very consistent!

[biosci]

I consider myself a (soft) Calvinist, largely convinced and taught by R.C. Sproul. I don't see any contradictions between Calvinism and your description of the doctrines of grace. There are likely those who ascribe to the odd, rather confused beliefs you seem to be fighting against, but I don't think they are in any way mainstream.
That said, as you pointed out, Calvinists are not a monolithic structure and disagree on many points outside of TULIP, including eschatology, which will be settled at the Throne, I am sure, and not before. This is normal and no reason for disfellowship, for we all see as through a mirror dimly, and all who belong to Christ are covered by grace.

[oracleoftroy]

You said at the offset that you haven't looked into the so called "free grace" controversy. I think that hurts your analysis.

As I understand it, MacArthur was responding to an antinomian heresy that said that grace is so free that a truly saved person can show absolutely no change at all and live out their life in blatent unrepentant sin and show no love for christ and still be saved, all because they said some prayer or something once in their life.

The Reformed position isn't that man has to work their own salvation or work together with God to be saved, grace is completely free in that regard and man is completely passive. But true grace is given with faith and that faith works. Faith apart from works is a dead, non-saving faith. Yet it is not our works that save, God's work is what saved. But those he has saved will work by exercising their faith. E.g. Eph 2: 10.