“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.”
James 1:16-18
Jacob Arminus’s followers brought five of his doctrines to the Synod of Dort for evaluation. These were five points that he believed the church had erred on. All five of Arminius’ doctrines were resoundingly proved to be unbiblical. The Synod produced a document called the Canons of Dort which refuted each of Arminius’ points one by one biblically. These “canons” are what eventually became the five points of Calvinism.
The acronym TULIP was developed over time to help teach the five points. The last several weeks we’ve been going through TULIP, and this week we are now on “I” which stands for Irresistible Grace. All of Arminius’ concerns revolved around misunderstanding the sovereignty of God in an individual’s salvation and how it relates to an individual’s choice in the matter. God’s will versus man’s will. Which one ultimately determines a person’s salvation?
The doctrine of Irresistible Grace teaches that it is God’s will who determines who will be saved. The Holy Spirit never fails to draw the elect to faith in Christ. He is not dependent on man’s cooperation for salvation. All whom God intends to save become saved. It is God’s decision and not man’s.
Arminius believed this to be a significant error and taught that man can and often does resist the saving work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit extends a call to every human being but cannot save anyone until they come to faith first. An unregenerate, unbeliever must respond to the call before the Holy Spirit can actually save them. Once again, there are significant problems with his doctrine. Most of the issues are the same ones we have already covered but the overarching error is always giving man’s will sovereignty over God’s will which is simply not biblical.
James 1:16-18 explicitly states that it is God’s will that determines who will be saved. We saw this same truth in Romans 9:18 “Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.” The anticipated response is, who then can resist His will? Paul’s answer is no one. God does what He wills. He makes vessels for dishonor and vessels for honor. It is His work. (Romans 9:19-21)
In James the “gift” that comes down is the Holy Spirit who then “brings us forth.” This Greek word can be translated gives birth to. The Holy Spirit causes the elect to be “born again.” Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born again of the Spirit in order to be saved. John 1:12 tells us that those who are born again are born not by the will of man at all but, again, by the will of God. I John 5:4 declares that those who believe have been born again. Their faith is evidence that they have been born again by the Holy Spirit. Birth language helps us here. Think about your physical birth. What did you do in order to be born? Jesus is telling us that it is the same with our spiritual birth.
The Holy Spirit brought us forth by the means of the ministry of the Word. James uses the OT sacrificial term “First Fruits” to describe the salvation of the first Christians. As Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Notice that God foreknew, God predestined, and it goes on in verse 30 to says, God called, God, justified, and God glorified. God is the ultimate cause of salvation. He decides who is saved and He saves every single one that He intends to.
Once again this is incredibly wonderful news for the Christian! The sovereignty of God in salvation is reason to rejoice and to rest in His grace. It is also the reason to spread the good news of the Gospel to the unbelieving world because all those whom God intends to save will answer the call. His sheep will hear his voice because His Spirit cannot fail.
Fight the good fight!
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn