Join us as we navigate the complex terrain of free will and predestination within Christian theology. Our hosts discuss the intricacies of prevenient grace, a concept that sheds light on God’s drawing of humanity towards faith. This episode features an open dialogue about the role of divine intervention in belief, the difference between spiritual inability and unwillingness, and the significance of biblical narratives like that of Lydia in understanding spiritual awakenings. Tune in for a compelling conversation that seeks to keep the grace-focused discourse in sharp focus.
If all human beings in Adam are spiritually dead, how could they ever respond to God? Does this mean that regeneration has to happen before we can be regenerated? There’s a brain teaser. Well, we are glad you are joining us today for Grace in Focus. This is the radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Find us on the web at faithalone.org. And right now we’d like to invite you to consider coming to our annual national conference happening at a Christian camp, Camp Copas in Denton, Texas, May the 19th through the 22nd. Find out all the details on our website, faithalone.org. Now with today’s question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and David Renfro.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to Grace and Focus. I’m David Renfro, and I’m here with the amazing… Dr. Bob Wilkins.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, me? Thank you, David. I believe you have a question from someone named Ron, and it sounds like it’s what we would call a Calvinist question or a question from either a Calvinist or someone who wonders about Calvinism.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think we’re safe in saying that he’s not free grace.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, or if he is, he just wonders what our view is on these issues. On certain things, you may be right. Because he doesn’t make it crystal clear, but he does sound like he agrees with the position that spiritual death means a total inability to respond to God, right? Isn’t that what he’s asking?
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s what he’s asking, you know, in the light of this concept of free will. that man has free will in light of Scripture, and he quotes 2 Corinthians 4.4 and verse 6 of that same chapter.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, no, he’s quoting those to say man don’t have free will. Oh, yeah, you’re right. Why don’t you read 2 Corinthians 4.4? Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think he even puts it in the question, right? He does. He says, Okay, so let me say that, first of all, I accept what 2 Corinthians 4.4 is saying, and it’s pretty clear that Satan, the god of this world,
SPEAKER 02 :
blinds people about the truth of the gospel. We find the same thing in the parable of the four soils. When Jesus interprets the parable of four soils in Luke 8, 11 to 15, he says that the seed that’s thrown on the path, he said, Satan snatches away the seed lest they should believe and be saved. So tying that together with 2 Corinthians 4, 4, that’s the blinding. Okay, so that leads to a question. If people are blinded, how could they possibly come to faith without being born again first, which is the Calvinist position? Well, you can’t be born again without believing. So what God needs to do is somehow take away the blinders. He needs to take away the satanic confusion. And we find verses that talk about that. But let’s go to his second question, and then we’ll come back to that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, he kind of supports his view by quoting Ephesians 2.1, which says, And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin? And then he comments on that, saying, Dead men can’t see or respond. They are wholly dependent on God for regeneration.
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay, so this is the Calvinist position, but the problem with this view is that it’s inconsistent with Scripture. For example, Jesus said, “…you search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, but you’re unwilling to come to me that you may have life.” Why would he speak of unwillingness if you have inability? Right. It wouldn’t make sense. Or he says in Matthew 23, The kingdom could have come in the first century if Israel had believed in her Messiah and been in fellowship with him. then the kingdom would have come. It wasn’t that God predetermined it couldn’t come in the first century. It didn’t. The kingdom didn’t come then because of their unbelief. So when you look at Ephesians 2.1, spiritual deadness means lacking everlasting life, right? It’s kind of obvious. But to be dead in trespasses and sins does not mean you have spiritual inability. For example… Look at Cornelius in Acts chapter 10. Here’s a person who’s an unbeliever, and yet he’s called a devout man. And we’re told that God sends an angel to him because his prayers and alms ascended to God. God was hearing his prayers. God was seeing his alms. And we know he wasn’t born again yet because, first of all, he doesn’t receive the Spirit until Peter preaches to him. But secondly, in Acts 11, 14, Peter says that Cornelius had told him that the angel had said, send for Simon Peter, who will tell you words by which you and your household must be saved. They were unsaved before Peter came and preached to them. And yet he was already a man whose prayers ascended to God. He was already responsive to God. Also, Acts 17, 27 says, which says, Paul speaking to the Athenian philosophers, God has granted to all men that they might seek God, they might grope after God, and they might find him, and he’s not far from all of us. So the Calvinist position on deadness is a man-made position. In fact, I’ve often heard, maybe you’ve heard this illustration, David, they give the example of a deep well. And there’s a man who falls down in the well. He’s at the bottom of the well and he’s died as a result of the fall. And so someone calls down, grab the rope. We’ve thrown a rope down. That’s right. Grab the rope. And they say, first of all, the guy can’t hear you. Right. Secondly, he can’t grab the rope because dead men don’t grab ropes. And so they say that’s an example of what spiritual deadness is. The problem with that is that example does not occur in the Bible. That illustration does not occur in the Bible. That’s a man-made illustration contrary to John 5.40, you’re unwilling to come to me that you may have life. It’s contrary to Acts 17.27 that men can grope after God and find him. It’s contrary to Hebrews 11.6 that God’s a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. It’s contrary to Matthew 7, 7 to 11, where Jesus said, ask, seek, knock. If you do that, you’re going to find.
SPEAKER 03 :
Why would Jesus say that if you’re unable to do it?
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
The point is, yes, people can respond to God. There is a verse in Romans 3.11 that says, No one seeks God, no, not one. But that’s looking at man apart from God’s drawing. Because God is drawing all, therefore all can respond. Right. Now, I think he’s got another verse or question that he has, does he?
SPEAKER 03 :
He talks about predestination. Yeah. And he quotes Romans 8, 28 to 30. We know that all things work together for them who love God. But then the last part, he mentions the term prevenient grace. What is that?
SPEAKER 02 :
Prevenient grace is, which is like a curse expression in Calvinism, but it’s basically the idea that God is drawing the unbeliever toward Christ and the unbeliever is capable of responding to God’s drawing. So prevenient grace is what God does before a person comes to faith. He’s wooing people. He’s drawing people. Remember, Jesus said, if I am lifted up, I will draw all unto me. Or John 1.9 says, coming into the world, he enlightens every man. So there’s something about the incarnation that’s drawing people to Christ. There’s something about the cross that’s drawing people to Christ. Of course, we know from Psalm 19.1 and Romans 1 that the natural creation is drawing people to Christ.
SPEAKER 03 :
It declares the glory of God.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. But when you come back to the question of, okay, how does God overcome the satanic blinding that takes place? A verse that Calvinists like to cite, but I do too, is Acts 16, 14. Do you have it there, David? This is about Lydia. She was a God-fearing Gentile. She’s in Philippi, where they didn’t even have enough Jewish men to have a synagogue, so they met down by the riverside. And what does 16, 14 say?
SPEAKER 03 :
It says, now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.
SPEAKER 02 :
So the Lord opened her heart. That is what Calvinists call regeneration. The interesting thing is this is the only occurrence of this expression, opening the heart. There are similar expressions. For example, Luke 24, 45, it said God opened their understanding or their minds that they might understand the Old Testament scriptures about Christ.
SPEAKER 03 :
Is that the same thing as… Being persuaded. Right. Belief.
SPEAKER 02 :
Exactly. And that’s what the case is here. God opened her heart. Heart is used as a synonym for mind in many passages, including here. This isn’t referring to her blood pumping organ. And it also isn’t referring to her emotions. It’s saying he opened her understanding her mind so that she could believe. Right. And in my view, every time a person comes to faith, it’s because God opens their minds. But that doesn’t mean that that’s independent of the person who is spiritually dead. That person is capable of worshiping God, right? Don’t we read here that Lydia worshiped God?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it says she worshiped him.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, how could she worship him if she’s dead? Well, because dead people can worship God. Dead people can be devout, and they can give alms and prayers that are pleasing to God.
SPEAKER 03 :
Which changes the implication of what the word dead means.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. Dead doesn’t mean physically dead. It doesn’t mean unable to respond. It means lacking eternal life.
SPEAKER 03 :
The opposite of having life.
SPEAKER 02 :
They don’t lack the ability to respond to God. What they lack is everlasting life. And they get that everlasting life when they believe. In fact, in Ephesians chapter 2, he made us alive, doesn’t come to verse 5. And then he says, by grace you have been saved. When he says made alive, it’s by grace you have been saved. And then verse 8, it says, by grace you have been saved through faith. Through faith, right. How can a Calvinist say it’s not through faith when verse 8 says it’s through faith? Also, of course, Jesus repeatedly said in John’s Gospel, he who believes in me has everlasting life. The Calvinist wants to say he who has everlasting life will subsequently believe in Jesus. That’s backwards. Jesus says you have to believe to have life. John 5.40 says, You’re not willing to come to me that you may have life. So, Ron, I appreciate your question. I don’t know if you’re asking because you’re a Calvinist or because you’re not a Calvinist, but you want to know how we’ll answer it. Either way, it’s important to recognize God wants to take the blinders off, and he’s ready, willing, and able to do that for anyone. Right. We’re not contributing to our salvation. We’re simply accepting the free gift of everlasting life by believing in him.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, thanks so much. And remember, everybody, let’s keep grace in focus.
SPEAKER 01 :
Would you be interested in some free eBooks on topics you hear on this program? Well, if you are, you need to come visit us at faithalone.org. That’s faithalone.org. We would love to hear from you. Maybe you’ve got a question, comment, or some feedback. If you do, please don’t hesitate to send us a message. Here’s our email address. It’s radio at faithalone.org. That’s radio at faithalone.org. And when you do, very important, please let us know your radio station call letters and the city of your location. On our next episode, assurance or salvation? Which comes first? Please plan to join us. And in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.
SPEAKER 03 :
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