Calvinists and Arminians agree that humans are saved by God’s grace alone. But how does grace work? Does God apply grace in advance to allow people the capacity to follow him? Or does God apply grace to those who are chosen, in order to actually bring about their salvation?

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Because human beings are fallen and sinful, they are not able to think, will, nor do anything good in and of themselves, including believe the gospel of Christ. Unaided by God’s grace, no one can choose to please God or to believe the promise of salvation held out in the gospel. But how does grace work? 

Does God give grace to allow sinners the ability to choose whether or not to accept or reject the message of salvation? Or does God apply grace to actually accomplish salvation for those sinners whom he has already chosen?

Irresistible Grace

Calvinists believe that because God’s grace is only applied to the elect, that grace cannot be resisted. They explain that there are two ways God calls people to repentance. The first is the outer call, which is extended to anyone who hears the gospel. This can be and often is rejected. By contrast, the internal call is extended only to the elect and can never be rejected. This internal call always results in conversion. They argue that people are spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1). Physically dead persons are incapable of responding to any external message or stimulus. Likewise, spiritually dead people must be given spiritual life before they can respond to God’s call. The Holy Spirit, in cooperation with the will of the Father, gives the gift of salvation to the elect. God then bestows to them the faith which Christ secured for them at the cross. Finally, the Spirit leads these spiritually regenerated sinners to cooperate with God and repent, which leads to their conversion. The Spirit graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ.

In this view, God’s grace never fails to result in the salvation of those to whom it is applied. As a result, God’s grace is never thwarted. Calvinists believe that if the Spirit’s regenerating work does not come before both faith and repentance, these responses become human works. But the Spirit, they say, is not limited in his work of salvation by human will, nor is he dependent on human cooperation. Thus salvation is entirely and only a work of God. 

Followers of Calvinism focus on Bible texts that emphasize the impossibility of a human sinner’s response to God, the priority of God’s will over human will, and the effectiveness of God’s grace.

• John 6:37-39 – “Those the Father has given to me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.”

Jesus says that those given to him by the Father WILL come. He doesn’t say “maybe” of “if.” Based on God’s will, not one of them will be lost.

• John 6:44 – “For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.”

God doesn’t seem to draw everyone to Jesus, but only those who will actually come to him.

• John 1:12-13 – But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn – not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

Spiritual birth does not come from human decision or action, but from God. As the NIV puts it: “Children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” 

• Romans 8:8 – That is why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.

Unbelievers are under the control of the sinful nature and thus can never do anything pleases God, including repentance and faith. This is true in spite of prevenient grace, which suggests that regeneration must precede faith and repentance.

Prevenient Grace

Arminians agree with Calvinists that salvation is entirely of grace. But they believe that the grace of God, which regenerates and saves sinners, is not an irresistible force. While both groups agree that people often do resist God’s grace, Arminians teach that this resistance is not conquered by God in any way that would violate any person’s unlimited free will.

Although the Holy Spirit is instrumental in salvation, he does not force anyone into repentance. The Spirit merely attracts and enlightens people. If any of them, in their free will, choose to believe in Christ, those people then begin to exercise repentance and saving faith. In response, the Holy Spirit then regenerates then. If the Calvinist order of salvation is regeneration, then faith and repentance, leading to conversion, the order for Arminians is faith and repentance, leading to regeneration and conversion. Faith is the cause, not the result, of regeneration. Faith is what allows the Holy Spirit to do His regenerating work in the new believer. 

Considering the call of God to sinners, the Spirit calls inwardly all those who are also called outwardly by the gospel invitation. He does all that he can to bring every sinner to salvation. But as a free being, a human can successfully resist the Spirit’s call. Until the sinner responds, the Spirit cannot give life. God’s grace, therefore, is not invincible. It can be - and often is - thwarted by human beings.

Arminians often refer to the grace of God, which invites human beings to salvation, as “prevenient grace” (often called assisting grace, awakening grace, or cooperative grace.) Because fallen human beings are not capable, in their sinful condition, to respond to the gospel on their own, God’s prevenient grace comes before conversion and enables us to believe. Prevenient grace is said to restore man’s free will, which was impaired by the effects of original sin. This grace is extended to all human beings to make it possible for them to choose or refuse the salvation God offers in Jesus Christ. Those who resist God’s grace will be lost, but those who do not resist will be able to accept the gift of salvation. So because God dispenses his calling, drawing, and convicting grace in such a way that people may reject it, saving grace is resistible.

Arminians emphasize passages in the Bible that provide examples of people spurning God’s grace, and of belief coming before regeneration.

• Matthew 23:37 – “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her sings, and you were not willing.”

Jesus’ desire to gather the people of Jerusalem was thwarted, because he allowed for people to determine their own relationship with him.

• Luke 7:30 – But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.

It is possible for people to reject God’s purpose or what God wills.

• John 12:32, 37 - “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”... Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.

Jesus draws ALL people to himself, but many choose not to believe.

• Titus 2:11 - For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.

Grace brings salvation to ALL people. Arminians don’t mean universal salvation, but the universal offer of salvation.

The Takeaway

To summarize, for Calvinists, salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of God. The entire process is the work of God and is by grace alone. God, not man, determines who will be the recipients of the gift of salvation. For Arminians, salvation is accomplished through the combined efforts of God (who takes the initiative) and man (who must respond). Since a human response is the determining factor, God does not ultimately determine who will receive the gift of salvation.

For Calvinists, the sovereignty of God is at stake. Is God really in charge of the universe? Can the will of a truly sovereign God ever be thwarted? For Arminians, human free will is at stake. If the human will is not free, can people really be held accountable for their choices?

In spite of these two very different perspectives, ultimately, the experience of the Christian life is no different whether you believe in irresistible grace or prevenient grace. Regardless of the order of factors involved in salvation (whether faith precedes regeneration, or vice versa), once you have been born again, everything the Bible says about who you are in Christ, and how you live to honor God, is true whichever approach you take. This is why the best Calvinists and the best Arminians look very much alike when it comes to living the Christian life. Regardless of how we understand God’s saving grace, we all are still called to honor God with how we live, and to make disciples who will likewise honor him.