50. How does grace dawn in the helpless soul?
God’s preventing (or prevenient) grace lightens the effects of original sin even before we are aware of our need for God.
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While Wesley believed that human beings were utterly unable to seek out and return to God on their own initiative and strength, God had, in his love for his fallen creatures, taken the initiative to elevate humankind sufficiently to arrive at an awareness of God and of their need for God. Although human beings continue to be born with an inclination to sin and to serve themselves, God restored sufficient freedom to our wills to allow us to choose between serving ourselves and serving our Creator and Redeemer as we ought to have done from the start. The teaching about prevenient grace is important within Wesleyan thought for several reasons.
First, it reflects Wesley’s agreement with John Calvin and the Reformed tradition—a tradition rooted ultimately in Augustine—that the effects of the fall are so substantial as to render human beings incapable of taking the first step toward reconciliation with God because, left to our own initiative, we would continue to prioritize our own interests and desires, not those of God or neighbor. God, rather, must take the initiative—the first step toward our reclamation.
Second, it reflects Wesley’s conviction that God has, in fact, taken this step and put reconciliation and realignment with him within the grasp of every human being. This is a consequence of God’s love for all and God’s desire that all people might, indeed, “come to repentance” rather than perish (2 Peter 3:9). As Charles Wesley put it in his invitational hymn, “Come, Sinners, to the Gospel Feast”:
Ye need not one be left behind,
For God hath bidden all mankind.
At this point, Wesleyan theology differs sharply from Calvinist or Reformed theology, affirming that God’s favor extends to all human beings rather than being limited to some number of “elect” persons while abandoning others to remain wholly lost.
Third, it allows us to acknowledge God’s goodness at work in the lives and in the actions of people who, while not yet lovers of God and followers of Jesus, nevertheless show an awareness of right and wrong and even invest themselves in the good of their neighbors, whether near or far. Rather than confront such people with the claim that their good works are of no value because of their unbelief, we can invite them to recognize that their lives already give evidence of God’s intervention and involvement with them—and to travel the rest of the journey that God would have them make.
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“No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.” (John 6:44–45)
“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27 NIV)
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 NIV)
Deut. 4:37; 7:6–8; 14:2; Matt. 5:45; Luke 15:20; John 15:5; Titus 2:11–12; Book of Doctrines and Discipline (D&D) ¶ 102 § 3
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This is an excerpt from Christian Faith and Doctrine: An Annotated Catechism for the Global Methodist Church. Seedbed is pleased to partner with The Global Methodist Church to offer this companion resource to A Catechism of Christian Faith and Doctrine for the Global Methodist Church.
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