What Is So Convenient About Prevenient Grace?
Prevenient grace is the official doctrine of the Church of
the Nazarene as well as Methodism. It is
found in the roots of Pietism and Puritan theology. Its wide range of appeal makes it a dominate
conversion theology in North American Evangelicalism. More specifically it is embraced primarily
by Arminian Christians who are influenced by the theology of Jacobus Arminius and
John Wesley. We even see the Roman Catholic
Church commenting on prevenient grace saying, “without any merits existing on their parts, they are called;
that so they, who by sins were alienated from God, may be disposed through His
quickening and assisting grace, to convert themselves to their own
justification, by freely assenting to and co-operating with that said grace.[1]”
More specifically, prevenient grace teaches that an
unconverted person is incapable of choosing salvation due to being dead in sins,
which is until the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel comes to awaken them
and enable them to make a choice to accept or reject salvation. Thomas Oden comments on this saying, "By offering the ‘will’ the restored
capacity to respond to grace, the person then may freely become an active,
willing participant in receiving the conditions for justification.”[2]
Prevenient grace tries to protect the doctrine of free will
and yet not deny the doctrine of original sin.
It avoids the pitfalls and heresy of Pelagianism while also avoiding
Calvinism’s doctrine of double predestination.
By avoiding the two opposite ends of the spectrum it is a very
convenient ideology for many Christians.
For many years I held to the theology of prevenient grace. However, over the last 9 years I have been shifting away from this view of conversion theology. This is due to 3 areas of concern that have surfaced for me. While I can certainly appreciate any theology that tries to avoid the pitfall and heresy of Pelagianism, my following concerns are worth consideration.
For many years I held to the theology of prevenient grace. However, over the last 9 years I have been shifting away from this view of conversion theology. This is due to 3 areas of concern that have surfaced for me. While I can certainly appreciate any theology that tries to avoid the pitfall and heresy of Pelagianism, my following concerns are worth consideration.
Whether intentionally or
not, prevenient grace is inadvertently handled much like a miniature version of
the Roman Catholic’s view of "infused righteousness." In other words, prevenient grace is viewed
like a small dose of righteousness that is infused into the person thus
enabling them to cooperate and chose life. This infusion of grace into the person can
also bring about the perception that a person is declared righteous by God due
to the divine nature of Christ taking up residence in his or her heart. Now just in case you are worried at this
point, let me reassure you that the scriptures do teach of the Triune God
dwelling in the believer. The scriptures
do testify that the blessing and fruit of salvation is God at work “in” the life
of the believer. However, this inward
working is sanctification, not justification.
You
see, “the danger of
saying that justification is something happening inside of a human being is
that people will be looking always within themselves, instead of looking to
Christ’s objective work.”[3] This is
the error that Andreas Osiander taught. My friends, justification takes place outside of us, in the
person of Christ. Faith in the Gospel
points us away from self, to Christ.
Faith then receives the extra nos gift.
Extra nos is Latin and means that our salvation comes from outside
ourselves, not from within. This
salvation is something that God does to, for and upon us. I fear that prevenient grace may point us inward, rather than outward, thus allowing for uncertainty to set in.
Secondly, even though this
view of prevenient grace gives credit to God, it actually turns faith and
repentance from God’s work, into a work of man.
In other words, instead of repentance and faith being something that
happens to mankind as a result of the Law and Gospel (i.e. gifts), both repentance and faith become
a work of man. Repentance and faith become something that mankind initiates as a result of the preparatory grace (i.e. miniature infused grace). In other words, in this view repentance and faith are ascribed to the realm of mankind's response, what man is required to do in response to the preparatory grace. Thus, a man-centered narrative is ever so slightly introduced
into the conversion narrative.
Thirdly, I pose the
following question. As we hear the Word
of Christ, is the Word merely informative words that enable us to have faith or
is the Word performative words that create faith in us? In other words, does the Word enable one to
have faith, thus allowing them to act upon the Word or is the Word
performative, where the Word acts upon the person? My concern in this third point is that I see
God’s Word being not merely informative but powerfully performative. The Word of God spoke the world into
existence and this same Word creates faith in dead sinners! (See Romans 10:17, John 17:20, 1 Corinthians 1:21, etc...)
In conclusion, the issues of infused righteousness, the location of salvation, how one understands repentance & faith, and the difference between informative words and performative words are certainly worth noting. These are not mere linguistic issues but issues that I commit to you for your studies.
PAX
In conclusion, the issues of infused righteousness, the location of salvation, how one understands repentance & faith, and the difference between informative words and performative words are certainly worth noting. These are not mere linguistic issues but issues that I commit to you for your studies.
PAX
[1]
The issue of prevenient grace was
discussed in the fifth chapter of the sixth session of the Council of Trent.
[2]
Thomas Oden, John
Wesley & Scriptural Christianity (Zondervan, 1994), 243.
[3] Paul
McCain, General Editor. Concordia, The Lutheran Confessions, The Editor’s Notes on
the Formula of Concord (CPH, 2006), 465.
Join in the conversation on Facebook: CLICK HERE
Join in the conversation on Facebook: CLICK HERE
Comments