IRRESISTIBLE GRACE

I stands for irresistible grace, which refers to God’s loving power in salvation. Essentially, it says that if God loves you and wants you in His family, He is going to get you. He loves you so much that He will ensure that you come to faith, and He is powerful enough to guarantee your faith. So often in life, we see people we love going down the wrong path and we cannot convince them to turn from it. We are powerless to ensure that they make the right choice. God’s love is powerful enough to ensure that we make the right choice. He can overcome all resistance we might offer and He never fails to persuade the elect to trust in Him. Certainly, we may resist Christ for a time. We might reject the gospel for years before we believe it. That’s why it might be better to speak of finally irresistible grace or of effectual grace. Yet, when all is said and done, God will bring all of His children to faith.

You can probably see how this is required by unconditional election. If God chooses some for salvation and this will cannot be thwarted, then His grace must be finally irresistible. It must be effectual to bring us to faith. But we also find evidence for it in texts such as John 6:37–40, where we are told that everyone given to Christ by the Father for salvation actually comes to Him. Ephesians 2:1–10 also tells us that God makes people who are dead in sin alive. Resurrection requires an effectual power because dead people cannot respond in faith. God must act effectually to give us new hearts before we believe because we cannot cooperate with Him while dead in sin. Other texts that point to God’s finally irresistible grace include Genesis 12:1–3, where God commands Abram to go up out of Ur and the patriarch does not at all hesitate to leave. God decreed it and it happens.

In sum, irresistible grace preserves the truth that God is not just all-loving but He is all-powerful. His love is strong enough to guarantee the salvation of all those He wants to save. His love for His people is omnipotent.

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