Matthew 16:17
Matthew 16:16-17 (see also Luke 8:13)
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
John Calvin: “For here flesh and blood are set over against
the special illumination of God.” (Calvin’s New Testament
Commentaries, A Harmony of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark
and Luke, Vol. II, p.185, emphasis mine)
What kind of “special illumination of God” does Calvin
have in mind?
John Calvin: “Since the whole human race is blind and stubborn, those faults remain fixed in our nature until they are corrected by the grace of the Spirit, and that comes only from election. Two people may hear the same teaching together; yet one is willing to learn, and the other persists in his obstinacy. They do not differ in nature, but God illumines one and not the other. We are, indeed, made God’s children by faith--faith is for us the door and beginning of salvation; but there is something deeper with God. He does not begin to choose us after we believe, but by the gift of faith he seals the adoption that was hidden in our hearts and makes it manifest and sure.” (Acts: Calvin, Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.229, emphasis mine)
Calvin interprets the Holy Spirit’s illumination of Peter as an Irresistible Grace, such that the Holy Spirit makes “the elect” preemptively regenerated at a fore-appointed time, in order to irresistibly believe in the Gospel, which is ironic since the alleged, Irresistible Grace, apparently was not in operation when Peter later denied Christ. Obviously Peter recovered, but the point is that the Holy Spirit’s illumination does not seem to coincide with irresistibility of action.
Question: Why should we assume that illumination determines action?
Answer: Not everyone who is convicted of their sin, repents, just as not everyone who receives faith from the hearing of the Gospel, believes.
Should we also conclude that Nicodemus had an Irresistible Grace when he similarly confessed: “Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:1-3)
While we can conclude that both passages reflect a revelation from the Holy Spirit, where is there any indication of irresistibility? In terms of who God illuminates and who He allegedly does not, consider John 1:9-11: “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” Also consider the prophet Jonah. Again, you can see the revelation does not determine action.
