CHAPTER 10
Of Effectual Calling
Section I:
All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call,1 by his Word and Spirit,2 out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ;3 enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God;4 taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh;5 renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good,6 and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ;7 yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.8
Section II:
This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man;9 who is altogether passive therein, until, being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit,10 he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it.11
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1 Rom 8:30; Rom 11:7; Eph 1:10,11
2 2 Thess 2:13,14; 2 Cor 3:3,6
3 Rom 8:2; Eph 2:1-5; 2 Tim 1:9,10
4 Acts 26:18; 1 Cor 2:10,12; Eph 1:17,18
5 Ezek 36:26
6 Ezek 11:19; Phil 2:13; Deut 30:6; Ezek 36:27
7 Eph 1:19; John 6:44,45
8 Cant 1:4; Ps 110:3; John 6:37; Rom 6:16-18
9 2 Tim 1:9; Tit 3:4,5; Eph 2:4,5,8,9; Rom 9:11
10 1 Cor 2:14; Rom 8:7; Eph 2:5
11 John 6:37; Ezek 36:27; John 5:25
These sections teach:
1. That, in addition to the external call of God’s Word, there is an internal call of God’s Spirit which is necessary to salvation.
2. That the subjects of this call are the elect only.
3. That the sole agent of this call is the Holy Spirit, using the revealed truth of the gospel as his instrument.
4. That the nature of this call is the almighty and effectual (effective) power of the Holy Spirit acting upon the soul such that it is made willing and, therefore, freely comes.
5. That the effect of this call is a radical and permanent change in the entire moral nature of the subject (regeneration).
–> Note that, while sinners are active in resisting God’s grace before regeneration, and believers are active in cooperating with God’s grace after regeneration, nevertheless believers are passive with respect to the Holy Spirit’s effectual calling whereby they are regenerated.
Section III:
Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit,12 who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth.13 So also are all other elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word.14
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12 Luke 18:15,16; Acts 2:38,39; John 3:3,5; 1 John 5:12; Rom 8:9
13 John 3:8
14 1 John 5:12; Acts 4:12
This section teaches:
1. That infants and others incapable of knowing the truth who are among the elect are regenerated by the Holy Spirit without the means of the external call of the gospel.
Section IV:
Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word,15 and may have some common operations of the Spirit,16 yet they never truly come unto Christ, and therefore cannot be saved:17 much less can men not professing the Christian religion be saved in any other way whatsoever, be they ever so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion they do profess;18 and to assert and maintain that they may, is very pernicious, and to be detested.19
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15 Matt 22:14
16 Matt 7:22; Matt 13:20,21; Heb 6:4,5
17 John 6:64-66; John 8:24
18 Acts 4:12; John 14:6; Eph 2:12; John 4:22; John 17:3
19 2 John 9-11; 1 Cor 16:22; Gal 1:6-8
This section teaches:
1. That the non-elect will certainly perish, not because a free salvation through Christ was not made available to them, but because of their refusal to accept Christ. And they all refuse to accept him because their hostility toward God is never overcome by effectual calling.
2. That, in the case of sane adults, there is no salvation apart from a knowledge of Christ and a faith in him, regardless of the sincerity and diligence of the person.
