The Fallacy of Resistible Grace
Grace is the sovereign work of our Almighty, all-wise God, for the benefit of His people, the end being their complete salvation. The Scriptures are clear about God’s sovereign position (Ps 115:3; 135:6), His sovereign power (Eph 1:11; Ps 138:8), and His success in accomplishing His purpose in Christ (Eph 3:11; 2 Cor 2:14).
If God has chosen a people for His own possession (Rom 11:5; 1 Pet 2:9), predestining their adoption by election (Eph 1:4–5), redeeming them with the blood of His only begotten Son (Eph 2:13; 1 Pet 1:18–19; Rev 1:5), then we can agree with the apostle Paul, “He saved us (Titus 3:5).”
Although the Arminian claims that God is omnipotent, he introduces the false idea that God turned off His omnipotence, when it came time to apply the benefits of Christ’s substitutionary atonement (Rom 5:8; 1 Thess 5:10; 1 Pet 3:18), designed to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). Instead, God decided to play a game with humanity.
The rules of this imaginary game are found in a conditional covenant, where God does His part to make salvation a possibility for everyone, who are purportedly loved by Him. God loves all people. Christ died for all people. Salvation now sits in a warehouse somewhere. There is an available supply for everyone, everywhere. God then tells people they have the privilege to be the determiner of their own salvation. They have to place an order with the warehouse. This is their one work.
The most important aspect of salvation to the Arminian God is the autonomous free will of man. God, in denying His own sovereign free will, is happy to send multitudes to hell and eternal damnation, so long as man retains his God-given right to make his own choice. This aspect of the game means that every man has the power to resist the grace of the Almighty. God has made Himself, impotent, so man would have a chance and a choice. The motto of the game is, “You have to choose to win.”
The clever ruse, in the Arminian configuration, is to separate the attributes of God’s omnipotence and God’s grace, and this renders God’s conversion of sinners, inefficacious. God stands by, helpless, stymied, and frustrated as multitudes resist Him. Before we correct the Arminian error of resistible grace, let us summarize a few points in their man-centered system of theology.
First, man’s fall into sin, only partially hindered him. Second, man is still good enough to secure his own personal way back to God. Third, God helps hindered man, by denying His own sovereign will and omnipotent power. Fourth, God’s highest priority is man’s autonomous free will. Fifth, God creates a conditional covenant that makes every man a potential co-redeemer. Sixth, God supplies the possibility of every man’s salvation, but He requires man to seek after God and ask Him for this salvation. Seventh, man is the final determiner of his salvation. He does this by either accepting or resisting the will and power of God’s wishes. This is a partial rendering of the Arminian heresy.
We correct the Arminian error of resistible grace, by noting that God, in His divine power, has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3). That is Peter’s way of saying, “God’s grace is sufficient for our salvation, from beginning to end.”
Next, we note that it is God’s desire for good to come to His people. Paul wrote, “That God fulfills every desire of goodness and every work of faith with power (2 Thess 1:11).” In other words, God powerfully works to do his will (Phil 2:13). If it is God’s intention to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21), then they will be saved, by God saving them, as the one and only Savior (Titus 1:3; 2:13; 3:6).
If God requires faith in Christ, where will faith come from? Again, Paul wrote, “…that we believe, according to the working of the strength of His power (Eph 1:19).” God gives faith to His elect (Rom 12:3; Gal 3:22; 5:22; Phil 1:29; 1 Pet 1:21; 2 Pet 1:1), meeting His own requirement, when He gives them His Spirit, as a gift (Acts 2:38; 10:45; Rom 5:5).
God’s Spirit is synonymous with His omnipotence (Zech 4:6; Lk 1:35; 4:14; Acts 1:8; 10:38; Rom 1:4; 15:13–14; 1 Cor 2:4; 1 Thess 1:5). Rather than denying His power in salvation, God is displaying it to the utmost. He is mighty to save.
Rather than exalting man’s autonomy and free will, we read in God’s Word that man is a slave to sin (Jn 8:34; Rom 6:6; 16, 17, 20), and he is neither willing, nor is he able, to facilitate any aspect of His salvation (Jn 3:19; Rom 8:7). We learn that sin has caused the death of man’s soul (1 Cor 15:22; Eph 2:1), and his body is also dying (2 Cor 4:16).
But God has mercy upon whom He will have mercy (Rom 9:15–16). The Bible calls these people, “vessels of mercy prepared for glory (Rom 9:23).” God’s eternal good pleasure determined God’s will, to have a people of His own possession (Gen 17:7–8; 1 Pet 2:9). In His sovereignty (Ps 115:3; 135:6), God cannot be denied because no one can resist God (Lk 21:15; Rom 9:19).
God makes His enemies to be at peace with Him (Prv 16:7), by His gracious working in their lives (Jer 31:3). God is good (Mk 10:18), and He extends His goodness, as an undeserved gift (Ps 73:1). God the Father is drawing His chosen people to God the Son (Jn 6:44, 65), and when they hear their Good Shepherd’s voice, they follow Him (Jn 10:3–4), because they belong to Him (1 Cor 3:23).
The indescribable gift of God, to His chosen people, is Himself (2 Cor 9:15). They cannot resist Him because it is the day of His power, and He has made them willing (Ps 110:3). The infusion of grace is nothing less than the arrival of God in our hearts (Rom 5:5; Eph 3:17).
The ignorant make the claim that they let Jesus into their hearts, but the Christian knows that it was only after God performed a heart transplant that she truly repented and believed (Ezek 36:26). She, of course, has no complaints, nor would she ever trade the reality of the grace of God, for the myth of free will.
Christian, praise God for His sovereign will and work in saving you from the world, the ruler of this world, and sin deserving wrath (Ex 15:2; Ps 9:14; 21:1; 95:1; 1 Chron 16:35). Rejoice in the irresistible grace that has accomplished all things concerning you and your salvation (Ps 57:2; 138:8); for it is He Himself imputed to you, which is the glory of regeneration (Rom 8:10–11; Gal 3:27; Phil 1:6; Col 1:27).
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
June 22, 2022
