Prevenient Grace，Effectual or Irresistible Grace？

Prevenient Grace

Much debate surrounds the issue of how God’s grace is prevenient to the sinner’s first positive response to God. Both Reformed and Arminians agree that grace is prevenient in the general sense that God initiates the first movement in salvation (Ps 80:3; 85:4; Jer 31:18). Wesleyans and Arminians insist that prevenient grace savingly engages all people, whereas the Reformed limit its efficacy to the elect, or the “sheep,” given by the Father to the Son. Arminians envisage (vt. 正视，面对；想像) prevenient grace as that action of the Spirit that mitigates inherited depravity and corruption universally. This “sufficient grace” is said to restore to all sinners the ability to respond to the Gospel call. Since depravity is judged to be neutralized by prevenient grace, Arminians posit (vt. 假定,设想,假设) an optimistic view of sinners in their empirical (adj. 以观察或实验为依据的) condition. The Scripture texts we have adduced (vt. 引证, 举出(例证、理由等)) earlier in support of real human depravity appear to contradict this claim of restored spiritual ability in sinners universally.

(1) To clarify the meaning of the phrase “prevenient grace,” consider Jesus’ words to the crowd gathered for the Passover feast (John 12:32): “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” Jesus’ audience included not only Jews but “some Greeks” (v. 20) or non-proselyte Gentiles. The Lord’s words suggest that his saving work was intended for both ethnic Jews and Gentiles, as he and his apostles plainly taught in John 10:16, John 11:52, Acts 10:34–35, and elsewhere. In other words, John 12:32 means that “Christ will draw people to himself without regard for nationality, ethnic affiliation or status.” (2) Recall Jesus’ teaching regarding the Paraclete’s ministry in John 16:8: “When he comes, he will convict [elenxei] the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. 他既来了，就要叫世人为罪，为义，为审判，自己责备自己。” The verb elenchō means “expose,” “refute,” or “convict.” Jesus undoubtedly had in mind here several contrasting ministries of the Spirit. The Spirit helps or assists believers (John 14:16–17, 26) but exposes and convicts the world of the gravity of their sin. There is no hint that this convicting work of the Spirit changes the carnal dispositions of sinners universally. (3) Consider also Tit 2:11, where Paul wrote that “the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared [epephanē] to all men.” The “grace of God” Paul referred to here is the kindness of God in Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Tim 1:9), not the person of the Holy Spirit. The aorist passive of epiphainō points to the past event of Christ’s manifestation in history for the purpose of salvation, consistent with Paul’s Epiphany Christology described in 1 Tim 3:16. The context of Tit 2:11, moreover, indicates that the condition of the unsaved is thoroughgoing moral and spiritual corruption (cf. 1:15–16).

The ample biblical teaching cited earlier concerning the moral and spiritual depravity of the unsaved likewise argues against the hypothesis that prevenient grace has neutralized inherited sin in pre-Christians. Scripture depicts the unsaved as blind to spiritual truths (1 Cor 2:14; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 4:18), as “dead” or unresponsive to spiritual concerns (Eph 2:1–3, 5; Col 2:13), as slaves to the law of sin (John 8:34; Rom 6:16–20; 7:25), as haters of the light (Ps 139:21a; John 3:20), and as rebels against God (Isa 30:9; 48:8; Rom 3:11–12). The Bible hardly portrays the unsaved as liberated from the darkening and debilitating effects of original sin. Indeed, the very opposite is the case. It appears that Arminians have introduced their interpretation of prevenient grace to support the universality of Christ’s saving work and the freedom of the will in all persons. Consider the judgment of a late British scholar: “This doctrine [of sufficient grace] is evolved in a sincere attempt to do justice to the idea of universality in the gospel; but this avowedly (adv. 明确地；公然) ‘sufficient’ grace shows itself to be quite ‘insufficient’ for its purpose.”

Prevenient grace as a soteriological concept refers to the grace that works in the elect to illumine their darkened minds, soften their contrary wills, and incline their affections toward Christ and his offer of salvation. This concept is discussed in the following section and more fully in chapter 5.

Effectual or Irresistible Grace?

Older Reformed authorities often described God’s special grace as irresistible. There is an element of truth in the phrase “irresistible grace,” in that no mortal finally can thwart (vt. 横过；反对；阻碍；挫败) God’s sovereign purpose. Scripture indicates that penultimately (adj. 倒数第二的) people can and do resist the Spirit’s operation (Acts 7:51; 26:14; Heb 12:25). But ultimately human resistance does not prevail, for the Spirit exerts ( v. 运用；表现出；发挥)on the souls of chosen sinners an influence of sufficient grace and power to cause the Father’s saving purpose to bear fruit. We suggest that this life-transforming operation of the Holy Spirit be denominated not “irresistible grace” but “effectual grace,” “invincible grace,” or “indefectible grace.” All of us are familiar with the game of tug-of-war. In the spiritual realm, it is not true that God drags sinners into his kingdom against their wills, kicking and screaming. The unwilling do not enter the kingdom of God; only the willing do. But God’s omnipotent Spirit powerfully moves on sinners’ hearts to make those formerly unwilling willing to come to Christ. Thus God’s grace is “irresistible in the sense that it is efficacious, that once it enters into the life of man it will penetrate his inner being and alter his will.”

Scripture amply supports the concept of effectual grace. By grace God causes his Word to take root in lives (Jer 31:33) and bring about meaningful hearing at the spiritual level (John 10:16, 27). Effectual grace, in other words, quickens unbelieving hearts to know and trust Christ. As the Lord said through the prophet, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord” (Jer 24:7a). Special grace, furthermore, frees the unregenerate from the bondage of sin (Rom 6:18; 8:2), draws sinners effectively to Christ (John 6:37, 44), and imparts spiritual life to the dead (Eph 2:4–5). In sum, effectual grace enables spiritually impotent sinners to embrace Christ unto salvation (John 6:65). It should be clear from this discussion that effectual grace is prevenient, in the general sense that it precedes sinners’ decision for Christ (see section E above). But prevenient grace, as here defined, not only prepares pre-Christians to respond, it actually evokes their Christ-honoring responses (effectual grace). The thrust (刺, 戳) of the Bible’s teaching is that without God’s prevenient (i.e., effectual) grace no sinner, in fact, would trust Christ unto salvation.

How shall we understand the relation between effectual grace and human freedom? God’s wise and powerful benevolence in action effectively restores forfeited (adj. 因受罚而丧失的；被没收的) human freedom (defined as the power of contrary choice spiritually) in responsible agents by radically changing the disposition of their sinful hearts. In other words, the personal love-activity of God works compellingly on hearts such that sinners now act freely to welcome Christ in accord with their deepest wishes. We noted above that sinners can be saved only through their willing assent; but effectual grace makes unwilling hearts personally willing and impotent hearts personally potent to respond freely to God’s offer of life. Effectual grace, in other words, creates the conditions of knowing, desiring, and willing that are necessary for sinners to be saved. This discussion coheres with the compatibilist view of freedom (as opposed to the indeterminist(非命运论者,非定命论者)), whereby the Spirit decisively inclines the human will Godward without forcing it to act against its wishes. For further interaction with this problem of divine sovereignty and human freedom, see the volume on God in this series. In any case, in the discussion of free will and salvation we must avoid two errors of extremes: (1) that alleged human free will is a cause or ground of salvation, and (2) that one is saved by grace apart from an authentic, personal response.^[1]

^[1] Demarest, B. A. (1997). The cross and salvation: the doctrine of salvation (pp. 83–86). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.