Question 49 of the catechism asks, “Can anyone repent or believe without the help of the Holy Spirit?” The simple answer is, “No.” The catechism answers, “In our fallen and corrupt condition, we cannot turn to God, or begin to have faith, by our own natural strength or works. Only by the grace of Christ, which goes before us by the Holy Spirit, are we able to exercise the faith necessary for salvation.”
Because human nature has been corrupted by the fall (see Question 12 on original sin), we need God’s grace to work in us before we ever make even the smallest move towards God. “Grace” in this context does not just mean “unmerited favor” (the familiar Sunday School definition). “Grace” refers to God showing his unmerited favor by working in and for us. The grace that we need is divine favor and divine action. The very good news is that God’s grace does go before us. God doesn’t abandon us to our fallen and corrupt condition. However, we are not ready for the good news until we have first wrestled seriously with the bad news: the total inability of fallen humanity to believe and thus the absolute necessity of grace.
Unless we first feel our desperate need for grace, we will simply pay lip service to it.
Unless we first feel our desperate need for grace, we will simply pay lip service to it. Or, worse, we will begin taking it for granted and, in practice, act as though human beings do in fact have the natural ability to repent and believe. (This is a common criticism of Arminians, and sadly it is sometimes a fair one.)
Key Scriptures
Scripture is quite clear that because human beings are sinful and corrupt, we cannot repent or believe apart from God graciously working in our lives. John 6:44 teaches that no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws them (by the Holy Spirit). To put it another way, sinful human beings cannot come to Christ apart from God actively drawing them.
Acts 5:31 says that God exalted Jesus to give repentance to Israel. Repentance is given by Christ. Just as human beings cannot come to Christ and believe apart from God drawing them, we cannot repent and turn from sin without Christ graciously drawing us.
Acts 16:14 says that the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to pay attention to the gospel. Our hearts are naturally closed to the gospel unless God opens them.
Our hearts are naturally closed to the gospel unless God opens them.
Acts 18:27 speaks of “those who through grace had believed.” We do not choose to believe by our own natural strength or power. Faith is the result of God graciously working within us. We believe through grace.
Romans 8:7–8 says that the mind that is set on the flesh does not and indeed cannot submit to God’s law. And since the fall, every human mind is naturally set on the flesh. To have one’s mind set on the Spirit requires divine intervention.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:3 that no one can say “Jesus is Lord” (and truly mean it from the heart) except by the help of the Holy Spirit. Someone can be conditioned or emotionally manipulated into saying the syllables, “Jesus is Lord,” but they cannot personally embrace or proclaim Jesus as Lord, from a heart of trust and surrender, apart from direct divine influence.
Ephesians 2:1 says that human beings are dead in their trespasses and sins. In our spiritually dead condition, we cannot repent or believe apart from God’s life-giving grace.
Ephesians 2:8–9 says, “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” “This” in verse 9 has been widely understood throughout church history to refer not only to being “saved” but to the entire previous sentence: “Being saved by grace through faith.” In this case, “faith” itself is part of the gift, a result of God working in spiritually dead people, as in Acts 18:27 above (“believed through grace”).
Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Salvation begins and ends as God’s work in us.
Philippians 2:13 says, “It is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure.” Even the will or intention to do what is right is the work of God in us.
James 1:17 says, “Every good gift is from above.” And as William Burt Pope explains, “This includes all spiritual influences” (Compendium, 372).
Church Teaching
Christians across the centuries and Protestants of all kinds—Arminians as well as Calvinists—have been united in affirming what is commonly called “total inability” or “the bondage of the will.” The Westminster Confession of Faith teaches,
Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto. (WCF 9.3)
Article 10 of the 39 Articles of Religion is simply titled “Of Free Will,” but the point of the article is to deny the freedom of the will to repent and believe, and to affirm the necessity of grace-enabled wills:
The condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith; and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing [going before] us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.
Arminians and Wesleyan-Arminians are sometimes accused of being Pelagian or semi-Pelagian (following the 5th-century heretic Pelagius in denying the necessity of the grace of Christ to believe and be saved, or in attributing too much to the human will). In practice, some Arminians are indeed pragmatic semi-Pelagians (acting as though people can seek God or choose to believe at any time). However, true Arminianism and Wesleyan-Arminianism are very far removed from this.
Arminius himself clearly and constantly taught, “In his lapsed and sinful state, man is not capable, of and by himself, either to think, to will, or to do that which is really good. … Free will is unable to begin or to perfect any true or spiritual good” (Declaration of Sentiments).
Wesley preached, “To love God! it is far above, out of our sight. We cannot, naturally, attain unto it” (Sermon 44, “Original Sin”).
The 1745 Methodist Conference at Bristol affirmed that Wesleyans and Calvinists are united “in ascribing all good to the free grace of God; in denying all natural free will, and all power, antecedent to grace; and, in excluding all merit from man, even for what he has or does by the grace of God.” The Methodist confession of faith, the 25 Articles of Religion (Wesley’s abridgement of the 39) includes Article 10 of the 39 on the bondage of the will.
This is completely in line with Calvin’s formula: “Simply to will is of man; to will ill, of a corrupt nature; to will well, of grace” (Institutes 2.3.5).
Faith is not something that human beings choose to have by their own natural free will.
Faith is not something that human beings choose to have by their own natural free will. As Augustine affirmed against Pelagius, the beginning of faith (initium fidei) is the work of divine grace. God, not man, initiates faith. As the Belgic Confession states, “The Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith that embraces Jesus Christ, with all his merits, and makes him its own, and no longer looks for anything apart from him” (22). Faith is the gift of God.
Contrary to Pelagius, it is not the grace of nature, which Adam lost by the fall, but the grace of Christ, provided by Christ’s atonement and applied by the Holy Spirit, which makes faith and salvation possible. Pope summarizes it well: “The grace of God … is the sole, efficient cause of all spiritual good in man: of the beginning, continuance, and consummation of religion in the human soul” (Pope, Compendium, 2:359).
Practical Application
The total inability of fallen humanity to believe and thus the absolute necessity of grace has countless implications for Christian life and ministry. First and foremost, this doctrine should make us humble and grateful. My heart would still be closed to the gospel if not for the grace of God. I would never have believed in Jesus unless God had first sought me, awakened me, and drew me to himself. Yes, we must let God have his way with us, and as a Wesleyan I believe that grace is resistible (Acts 7:51). However, I haven’t the slightest grounds for boasting, for even my faith itself is a gift of God.
Second, what we know to be true (and feel grateful for in our hearts) should make us careful not to say or do anything to undermine God’s grace or unduly elevate human will. I cringe when I hear someone say, “God has done his part, now we must do our part,” or, “God is just waiting for you to take the first step towards him.” It’s much better to encourage people to “stop resisting the Holy Spirit” or “yield to his work in your life” or “let God have his way with you (see the article “Ways of Speaking About the Human Response to Grace”). God is always the primary actor.
Third, this doctrine should make us reject approaches to ministry that try to achieve “decisions” by emotionally charged atmospheres or manipulative tactics. Emotionally charged atmospheres and manipulative tactics can get people to an altar of prayer, but they cannot kindle true faith in the heart. They run the risk of false conversions or a Christian life that’s built upon human feeling rather than divine transformation. The Holy Spirit is like the wind, which blows where it wishes, and we hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from or where it goes (Jn. 3:8). We dare not act as if we can control him.
Emotionally charged atmospheres and manipulative tactics can get people to an altar of prayer, but they cannot kindle true faith in the heart.
Fourth, this doctrine should lead us to faithful and diligent use of the means of grace. If the grace of God is our one desperate need, then it raises the question, “How does God give us his grace?” And the answer is that although God is free and can give grace in any way that he pleases, he has ordained certain means or channels by which to ordinarily give grace. These are the reading and exposition of God’s Word, prayer, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper (see Question 54). We don’t need cool, clever, flashy, emotional methods, since they can do nothing to produce deep repentance and true faith that leads to vital piety. We need the simple means of grace.
Finally, this doctrine should give us confidence and comfort in evangelism. So often we hesitate to share the gospel because we fear that we will fail. If people don’t respond, we blame ourselves for not having the “right words” or “all the answers.” However, even the most polished gospel presentation and masterful apologetic cannot bring true repentance and faith. That is the work of the Spirit. We should, of course, strive to present the gospel with clarity and to give a good defense of our faith. But the Spirit is powerful enough to work even through our most feeble efforts. When we rest in the fact that it is God alone who gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:6), it frees us to plant and water with joy and perseverance.
