Some of the objections are due to a simple misunderstanding of the doctrine itself. To recap, irresistible grace is the teaching of Scripture that when God chooses to move in the life of His elect and draw them to salvation by bringing them from spiritual death to spiritual life, nothing can stop HIm from doing it. This teaching has nothing to do with the fact that sinners always resist the common grace of God and the Holy Spirit, because they do. Neither does it have to do with the fact that Christians can sin and fail to live perfectly in the power of grace to overcome sin. All it affirms is that when God has chosen a person for salvation, He will bring that person to spiritual life, without the fulfillment of any conditions on their part. With this being said, I now want to address four major objections to the doctrine of irresistible grace.
1. There are passages that state that sinners have rejected and resisted God. Such passages that are normally cited are Proverbs 1:22-26, Hosea 11:1-9, Psalm 78:10, Psalm 81:11-13, and Jeremiah 32:33 where Israel has turned her back on Yahweh, refusing to heed His call to repentance and life. In the New Testament, two verses are normally cited. The first is Acts 7:51, where Stephen rebukes the Jews for being stiff-necked, "always resisting the Holy Spirit" just as their fathers did. The second is Matthew 23:37, where Jesus cries out over Jerusalem and states how He longed to take them in, but they were "not willing."
Several things can be said in response. First, in regards to the Old Testament passages that refer to the nation of Israel, we must deal with the complexity of the term "elect." God elects Israel as His chosen nation, but as we learn from the rest of Scripture, not all Israel is of Israel (Rm. 9:6). Thus, in the Old Testament, within the chosen nation, there were individuals who were elect and non-elect when it comes to matters of salvation. Israel is thus elected for both service and salvation, but while all who are elect in Israel for service, not all are elect in regards to salvation (Rm. 3:1-2; 9:4-5).
The use of Acts 7:51 fails to take into account two things. First, because of total depravity, humanity is always in a state of resisting the Holy Spirit. Second, the use of Acts 7:51 as refuting irresistible grace is a frail attempt to pull a verse out of context and not consider the places in Scripture that does teach a difference between "general call" and "effectual call."
Such a case is Matthew 22:1-14. In this parable of the wedding feast Jesus compares two groups: those who were invited but did not come and those whom the King gathered (Matthew 22:1-14). Jesus then concludes, "For many are called, but few are chosen" (22:14). It is clear in this passage that the first group received a general, gospel call that can be resisted and is for all people, while the former group received a much different call. Furthermore, in Romans 8:30 the gospel call is distinguished from the effectual call. Paul states, "And those whom He predestined He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified" (Romans 8:30). Therefore Acts 7:51 shows humanities common state of depravity in always resisting the general call of salvation.
In regards to Matthew 23:37, we must consider the context. When we look at this verse in Matt 23 in context, it comes at the heels of a fierce rebuke of the religious leaders of the Jews. Note who the pronoun “you” refers to in verses 33-35 where the killers of the prophets are described. Here, we see the killers of the prophets (Jerusalem) being lamented over. One would be hard pressed to make “Jerusalem, the city … your … you” be anyone other than the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus has been rebuking. Look at who was resisting and who was to be gathered. Here Jesus laments that the religious leaders were resisting him in his drawing of their children.Basically, we have a verse where the religious leaders are being lamented (after the sharpest rebuke Jesus gave anywhere) over their resistance (something no Calvinist would deny) to God’s drawing of the children of Israel. This passage is perfectly consistent with the doctrine of irresistible grace.
2. The all inclusive invitation of Scripture. Many such passages usually cited are Joel 2:32; Matthew 7:24; 10:32-33; 11:6, 28; 12:50; 16:24-25; John 1:7, 9; 3:15-16; 4:13-14; 6:40, 51; 7:17, 37; 8:51; 11:26; 12:46; Acts 2:21; 10:32, 43; Romans 9:33; 10:11, 13; 1 John 2:23; 4:15; 5:1; Revelation 3:20; 22:17. Some of these are taken out of context, but the argument made is that in passages such as these, God commands people to repent and believe (especially in the New Testament passages).
First, the use of such passages fails to consider the whole counsel of Scripture, especially the parts that teach on how the pervasiveness of depravity impacts the sinner's ability to act upon these invitations. As we have dealt with in previous post, man is dead in sin, a slave to sin, and therefore unable to exercise anything of spiritual value, including faith (Romans 8:7; 1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 2:1-5; John 3:3, 5). Yes, God does offer salvation to those who believe. Yes, Christ does promise eternal life to those who trust in Him. Yet this in no way implies that man is able to accept Christ apart from the intervention of God. Scripture everywhere affirms that man is both unwilling and unable to will that which is good due to his depravity. This depravity is so pervasive and man is so utterly helpless, that until God, by an effectual act of sovereign grace, regenerates the person, so that he may repent and trust in Christ, that person will go on in rebellion against God.
3. Scripture teaches that all those who believe will receive eternal life. Jesus says to Nicodemus that "everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). And again in John 3:36 Jesus states, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life" and also in verse 40, "you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life." Others passages say the same (cf. John 6:51, 53-54, 57; 11:25; 20:31). Thus, the conclusion drawn from these passages is that to receive"eternal life" is to be regenerated and since one must believe to receive eternal life (or regeneration), faith always precedes regeneration. What we have here is both a category mistake and simple eisegesis (reading meaning into the text).
The faulty assumption is that "eternal life" in these passages is synonymous with regeneration. However, this is not how Scripture defines eternal life. In Scripture, "eternal life" is both a present and eschatological reality. Eternal life is said not only received in the present (John 5:24; 6:47, 54; 1 John 5:11-13) but is also to be received in the future (cf. Mark 10:17, 29-30; Romans 2:6-7, 23; Galatians 6:8; 1 Timothy 6:19; Titus 1:2; 3:7; James 1:12; Revelation 2:10). In other words, regeneration is a one time instantaneous act that occurs at the beginning of a sinner's Christian life, whereas eternal life is an eschatological hope that pervades into the present (Mark 10:17, 29-30; Romans 2:6-7, 23; Galatians 6:8; 1 Timothy 6:19; Titus 1:2; 3:7; James 1:12; Revelation 2:10).
4. 1 John 5:1 states, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him." The argument made here is that this verse is said to supposedly teach that belief precedes regeneration (being born again). However, 1 John 5:1 actually supports the position that regeneration precedes faith. The verb "has been born" is in the perfect tense. This means that it is an action completed in the past with continual results in the present. In 1 John 5:1 the continuing result is "believes," which is a present tense participle. Therefore, it is the new birth which results in belief. The same grammatical construction is also true in other verses in 1 John (1 John 2:29, 3:9, 4:7, and 5:4). Scripture affirms that God's act of regeneration is what gives rise to the believer's faith.
Finally, I will close with this teaching from John's Gospel. In John 6:44, Jesus states, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." When looking at the context, verse 35 demonstrates that coming to Christ is the same thing as believing. Therefore, in 6:44 no one can believe or exercise faith in Christ unless they are drawn by the Father. Such a drawing is not for all people and cannot be resisted. Later on, Jesus states in 6:64 that "there are some of you who do not believe." John then adds, "For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe" (6:64). Jesus concludes by repeating what He said in 6:44, "This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father."
In the next post, we will look at how this doctrine plays out practically. We will discuss such things as how to discern when God is drawing your children, as well as how to discern if regeneration and conversion has taken place in younger children.