Points 3 and 4 of the Canons of Dort describe God’s grace as irresistible and effective in saving sinners; the will of humans cannot thwart or stop it. However, this image of irresistible grace sometimes leads people to believe that Reformed theology leaves people as robots and/or that God unfairly acts against the will of people. The Canons of Dort speak to those concerns and objections.
Renewed Humans, Not Robots
Article 16 directly addresses the question of whether the idea of regeneration and God’s irresistible grace means that we no longer have any sort of will or choice. God’s work of regeneration does not eliminate our ability to choose, but rather shifts it from only being able to choose sin or to believe. Here is how this article puts it:
“However, just as by the fall humans did not cease to be human, endowed with intellect and will, and just as sin, which has spread through the whole human race, did not abolish the nature of the human race but distorted and spiritually killed it, so also this divine grace of regeneration does not act in people as if they were blocks and stones; nor does it abolish the will and its properties or coerce a reluctant will by force, but spiritually revives, heals, reforms, and—in a manner at once pleasing and powerful—bends it back.
As a result, a ready and sincere obedience of the Spirit now begins to prevail where before the rebellion and resistance of the flesh were completely dominant. In this the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consists.”
We are not inanimate objects like stones or blocks (they didn’t have robots back then!), simply moved about by someone else (God). Rather, God moves in our heart to bend it back to the way it should be. This may raise the question whether or not we are able to bend it back again (resisting what God is doing), but the power of God is so overwhelming, so great, that we cannot help but turn to Him and trust in Him. People sometimes say they were swept off their feet and couldn’t help but fall in love with their spouse. In the same way, when God moves in our hearts, we can’t help but turn to Him. We do not resist His work because His work is so awesome and powerful.
Still Responsible
We are not robots but make real choices and are responsible for those choices. Article 9 revisits a point made elsewhere in the Canons of Dort that the responsibility for rejecting the gospel message does not lie with God but with those who reject it. “The fact that many who are called through the ministry of the gospel do not come and are not brought to conversion must not be blamed on the gospel, nor on Christ, who is offered through the gospel, nor on God, who calls them through the gospel and even bestows various gifts on them, but on the people themselves who are called. Some in self-assurance do not even entertain the Word of life; others do entertain it but do not take it to heart, and for that reason, after the fleeting joy of a temporary faith, they relapse; others choke the seed of the Word with the thorns of life’s cares and with the pleasures of the world and bring forth no fruits. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13)” (3/4.9). God renews people’s hearts to believe, but those in whom He does not do this work reject God out of their own free choice.
Is it fair that God chooses to renew and regenerate some, but not all sinners? Again, this question was addressed elsewhere in Dort, but Article 15 of the third and fourth Main Points brings it up again, reminding us that grace is not something God owes anyone; saving people is not about justice but about mercy and grace. “God does not owe this grace to anyone. For what could God owe to those who have nothing to give that can be paid back? Indeed, what could God owe to those who have nothing of their own to give but sin and falsehood? Therefore those who receive this grace owe and give eternal thanks to God alone; those who do not receive it either do not care at all about these spiritual things and are satisfied with themselves in their condition, or else in self-assurance foolishly boast about having something which they lack” (3/4.15).
A Call to Humility and Prayer
This Article calls us to be humble about our own position and how we view others, praying for others. “Furthermore, following the example of the apostles, we are to think and to speak in the most favorable way about those who outwardly profess their faith and better their lives, for the inner chambers of the heart are unknown to us. But for others who have not yet been called, we are to pray to the God who calls things that do not exist as though they did. In no way, however, are we to pride ourselves as better than they, as though we had distinguished ourselves from them” (3/4.15). The doctrines of total depravity and irresistible grace should cause us to be humble – as we didn’t do anything to save ourselves (God did it all) and also to pray for others that God might work in their hearts. We are not better than anyone else but should confess, like Paul, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:15-17, ESV). Paul praises God for saving him and proclaims this message to others in hopes that they might be saved. May we do the same.
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