Irresistible Grace

One of the advantages (I suppose) of starting out at a Presbyterian seminary is that I got a good grounding in Reformed theology. Given that the English Reformation was influenced more by Calvin than Luther, that was a good thing. Calvin turned out to have some redeemable qualities. As a former lawyer he was a more systematic thinker than Luther. Like Luther, it was Calvin’s followers who hardened into stone some of the less desirable features of the founder.

The most striking example of that hardening was the Dutch Synod of Dort in the seventeenth century. Out of this came classic Reformed doctrine, summarized by the mnemonic TULIP:
• Total depravity of humankind
• Unconditional election (to salvation or damnation, from before all time)
• Limited atonement (Christ died only for the elect, not all humankind)
• Irresistible grace
• Perseverance of the saints (those who have been elected will be saved no matter what)

It’s a peculiar collection to my mind and I don’t subscribe to any of it except for one item: irresistible grace. At our clergy lectionary study this week, one Lutheran pastor brought up irresistible grace as his way of interpreting the saying of Jesus, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If it is evil that draws us away from God, he said, and in the end evil will either be destroyed or converted, then all people will eventually be drawn to God because of God’s irresistible grace. He did, however, make the concession that our free will makes it possible to refuse to turn toward God. Someone may look at what God offers and then choose otherwise (which, I suppose, means that grace isn’t really irresistible after all!).

It’s an intriguing problem. How should Christians regard those who do not believe in Jesus Christ? There are two easy solutions, neither of which I find to be scriptural. One is to presume to know the mind and will of God, and to judge unbelievers as condemned to hell. The other extreme is complete relativism, to say that there are many ways up the mountain, all of which are valid. This assumes that it is the same mountain all religions climb, which is clearly not so. Is there some third solution, an Anglican via media?

The Scripture readings this week are pretty uncompromising. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. Yet Jesus is also the Word through whom everything is created. So Christ can be revealed through the natural world and through people who are not Christians. For the strict Reformed, total depravity kicks in here – we are so sinful that we cannot see God in creation unless it is through Christ. I don’t share that interpretation, and neither did the early Anglicans who talked about the “two books” of revelation (nature and the Bible). Christ’s universal presence in creation allows Christians to work for the kingdom of God side by side with people of other faiths, including the faith of no-God (atheism).

I believe that Jesus Christ is the fullest self-revelation of God to humankind. That is why I am a Christian. True, God can be known outside of Christianity, but that is not as complete as knowing God through Jesus Christ. (And even that vision, as the Apostle Paul well knew, is like seeing through a mirror darkly.) As for salvation, it is freely offered to all. Jesus died for everyone, not just the elect. But like my Lutheran friend, I believe that grace is only irresistible to a point, because we have to cooperate with grace for it to work. We have the choice of turning away from God. Why anyone would do that, God only knows. For who can resist that Love known to us in Jesus Christ?

[Easter 5: Acts 7:55-60; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14.]