Acts 16:14 says, “One of those listening was a women named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” How did God “open her heart”? The answer from the text is that because she was a worshiper of God, having listened to God and learned from God through the words of the prophets and having accepted the One who sent Him, she had the prerequisite beliefs (i.e. belief in God’s promised Messiah) to accept Jesus. Simply put, if you reject God and His word, your heart will not be open to Jesus. Paul explains this in 2 Timothy 3:15 which says, “and that from childhood you have known the sacred writing which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” God opens all believers’ hearts by His word, His gospel and His witness Jesus Christ. Does this passage support irresistible grace? Not at all.
Acts 18:27 says, “…and when He (Apollos) arrived, he helped greatly those who had believed through grace.” God gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life. This act of grace is the gift of the gospel through the life, death and resurrection of God’s one of a kind Son, and granting eternal life to believers who place their faith in His Son does not need to include irresistible grace. The inference that the grace in view is irresistible grace rather than the gospel, which is the power of God to salvation, is unnecessary and so this passage does not support irresistible grace.
Philippians 1:29 says, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Christ commanded that we make disciples; that we carry the gospel to the ends of the world. As servants of Christ, believers are to carry their cross and follow Christ no matter the cost. God gave us His Son granting us the opportunity to believe, but also if we believe, the opportunity to suffer with Christ and all other believers, so that for the sake of Christ we can carry the gospel to a lost world. This passage again uses “granted” and Calvinists read “irresistible grace” into this grace, when no such inference is even remotely suggested.
Romans 9:16 says, “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.” Clearly Paul is teaching that salvation does not depend on our works, no matter how much effort (a man that wills) is put into it. This verse actually provides a powerful proof that irresistible grace is false doctrine. For it teaches an unregenerate man is able to will to be saved, rather than needing to be transformed by irresistible grace in order to will to be saved. But our willing and running does not result in salvation, for all our works are filthy rags. It is God alone who credits our worthless faith as righteousness and based on that sets us apart in Christ for salvation.
Romans 9:19 says, “You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will.” The answer of course is that nobody can resist His will, unless God has granted the capability to choose God or go our own way. Note that in Acts 7:51 the unsaved are resisting the will of the Holy Spirit and therefore the capacity to resist or accept God’s will that all men be saved in indicated. In context, some are complaining that since God hardens some hearts to accomplish His purpose and plan, God should not find fault. Paul responds that we, the creation should not judge the creator. Note that the complaint is lame, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Therefore, anyone that God hardens is justly condemned already. God just did not extend or grant them mercy in order to bring is plan to fruition. This passage does not support the need for irresistible grace.
Support of the concept of irresistible grace is sometimes sought in Titus 3:5 which says, “He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,”
The assertion is that regeneration precedes faith or, in other words, that the regeneration mentioned here, is irresistible grace. But if you look at the verse you see plainly that the steps of salvation are in view, first the selection for salvation is based on mercy, and not any works of righteousness, then the sinner who is the object of God’s mercy is washed in the process of rebirth whereby the body of sin is removed in the circumcision done without hands in the baptism into the death of Christ and then we arise a new creature with a new heart and a good conscious, and then we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. This view, regeneration means being born again, mirrors the similar thoughts to this passage (Titus 3:5-7) found in 1 Peter 1:3. But backing up, since the first step mentioned is salvation according to God’s mercy, a sinner in a sinful state is in view, someone who needs mercy because justice would result in continued condemnation. So we are saved by grace (God granting mercy) through our faith in Christ. In summary the steps are God sent His Son. We believe in our heart in His Son, we call upon the name of His Son, and then God accepts our faith and grants salvation by grace through faith. Therefore, while God’s grace (embodied in the gospel of His Son) precedes our faith, our faith precedes God’s salvation by the process of being born again from above and being indwelt. Acts 16:30-31 says it well in answer to the question, “What must I do to be saved?” Believe in the Lord Jesus which is action of a sinner seeking mercy through faith, rather than making a works based claim of righteousness, because faith is our introduction into the grace of salvation (Romans 5:2).
In summary, while scripture can be found to support the concept of irresistible grace by inference, (i.e. Calvinists have read it into the text) even though it is unnecessary to a straightforward understanding of the text, there is no text or combination of texts that logically demonstrate the inferred action by God. Irresistible grace is a false doctrine. Because of our slavery to sin which pulls us away from God and toward darkness, scripture teaches that God evaluates our faith, as flawed and “depraved” as it might be, and then, based on His mercy credits it as righteousness and, by His grace, chooses to set us apart and by the power of the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the body of Christ.
