Can anyone resist God's grace?
People can and do resist the outward call of the gospel: Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they would not come. But the saving work of God's grace is another matter. The Spirit opens closed hearts, raises the dead, and gives the new heart that loves God. In that deeper sense Scripture speaks of a call that cannot fail, because it is the work of God Himself.
This question arose from studying What is grace? and Did God choose me to be saved before I chose Him? and How does the Spirit convict the world of sin?.
Begin by reading
Go into the Word
Not a summary of these passages: the passages themselves. Read them, then come back to the study below.
The study
What the Scripture says
No one comes unless the Father draws
Jesus states our position without softening it: 'No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.' He repeats it for emphasis: 'no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.' And yet the same chapter is full of welcome: 'All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out.' The drawing is decisive and the coming is certain, and the welcome is completely open.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
He said, “For this cause have I said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.”
All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out.
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
It is resurrection, not persuasion
Paul describes our condition as death: we were 'dead in transgressions and sins,' and God 'made us alive together with Christ.' A corpse cannot be argued into breathing; only the God who raises the dead can. Jesus says the new birth is the Spirit's own work: 'The wind blows where it wants to... so is everyone who is born of the Spirit,' and John adds that we are born 'not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.' Grace does not wait politely for our cooperation; it creates the heart that cooperates.
You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,
But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
The windblows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Lord opens the heart
Luke tells the story of Lydia in one clause: 'whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.' The word is preached, and the listening is given. Luke notes the same pattern elsewhere: 'as many as were appointed to eternal life believed,' and 'the Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.' The church later named this effectual grace: not that God drags anyone, but that He makes the dead heart willing.
A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.
As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.
The new heart God gives
Ezekiel's promise shows the shape of the saving work: 'I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes.' God does not only invite; He changes what we want. Paul puts our effort and God's enabling in one sentence: 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.'
I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.
So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
Resistance is real; the saving call prevails
Scripture never pretends that everyone who hears comes. Stephen says to the council, 'You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit!' and Jesus wept over Jerusalem: 'How often I would have gathered your children together... and you would not!' So the outward call can be refused. What Scripture also shows is a call that creates what it summons, like the voice that said, 'Lazarus, come out!', and the dead man came out. Paul's chain has no missing links: 'Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.' When God calls a dead heart to life, the dead heart lives.
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!
When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”
Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
Studying the Word naturally opens more of it. Follow what you just read: it leads somewhere.
We haven't written this one yet. Take it to your church or small group: the Word answers it wherever it is asked. If we study it here later, all the better.
Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out.
for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast.
A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul.
Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.
Worth visiting