Acts 11:18
“‘And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as He did upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?’ When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.’”
It seems implied that this is an expression for the Gentiles being granted the opportunity for repentance, through the offer of the Gospel, and obviously not all Gentiles have accepted the offer, which message, has been carried throughout all the world for all men to hear. However, Calvinists infer that the “Gentiles” implies the Calvinism’s elect Gentiles, who are granted repentance by an Irresistible Grace, and they do so by manufacturing a necessity in the text, which basically says that the alternative is necessarily Universalism, and since that’s wrong, the only alternative is the Calvinistic interpretation.
Question: What does it mean to be granted the “repentance that leads to life”?
Answer: It means that God has given the Gentiles an opportunity to be saved. Notice, however, that it does not say that the Calvinism’s elect Gentiles were given regeneration that leads to life, but this is what Calvinists infer.
Question: Why should we view this in any other way than simply that God has opened up the way of salvation to the Gentiles?
Answer: The Arminian inference is that by God granting them repentance, God has granted them the opportunity to be saved through the offer of the Gospel. However, Calvinists infer that by God granting repentance, He has an elect group in mind (completely pulled out of thin air), and that when these are granted repentance, it is in the unilateral and irresistible sense. In other words, if God is granting them repentance, then He is drawing them, and if He is drawing them, they will come irresistibly or effectually, and Calvinists base this off of their acontextual proof-text of John 6:44.
Laurence Vance: “This does not mean that all Gentiles are saved. Just like Peter saying that the Gentiles by his mouth ‘should hear the word of the gospel, and believe’ (Acts 15:7) does not mean that all Gentiles are saved.” (The Other Side of Calvinism, p.347)
Laurence Vance: “If God granting repentance to a man is what the Calvinists say it is then all Jews would be saved because God gave ‘repentance to Israel’ (Acts 5:31). ... Calvinists would have to make it ‘elect’ Gentiles in order to use this verse as a proof text for Irresistible Grace. Both statements are referring to national privileges, as in Romans 9-11, not God irresistibly saving the unconditionally elected sinner.” (The Other Side of Calvinism, p.514)
Now consider the role of the Holy Spirit in granting repentance.
Adrian Rogers: “Spiritual blindness makes beggars of us all. ... The blind need more than light in order to see. ... I used to think, as a young preacher, that what you had to do to get people saved is just to tell them how to be saved. Just turn on the light. But it doesn’t matter how much light there is, or the person is blind because he cannot see it. It takes more than light, it takes sight. And a person who is blind cannot see the light, no matter how strong the light is or how pure the light is. It takes more than preaching to get people saved. That’s the reason I frequently say to you, I can preach truth, but only the Holy Spirit can impart truth. That is the reason why we must be a praying church. That’s the reason you must be a spirit filled soul winner. That is the reason that we must have the anointing, because we are dependent upon God to open blinded eyes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It takes more than light, it takes takes sight. We need to understand that nobody can be argued into the kingdom of heaven. Nobody can be educated into the kingdom of heaven. I’m not against letting the light shine. You must let the let shine. You must preach. But remember, there is another dimension.” (Jesus is God’s Answer to Man’s Darkness: John 20:30, emphasis mine)
In order for a man to receive the light of the Gospel, he must receive sight from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of its sin (John 16:8), pricks the heart of the lost (Acts 26:14), pierces the heart of the lost (Acts 2:37) and opens the heart of the lost so that they can respond to the Gospel. (Acts 16:14) This is neither irresistible, nor fully regenerative. It’s not the new birth. It’s spiritual sight so that the lost may see the light in order to receive Jesus into their heart. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the new birth comes after a person believes in Jesus. Ephesians 1:13 states: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” Supernatural Sight is the working of the Holy Spirit, through the supernatural Light of the faith-producing Gospel that enables a man to repent, believe and be saved. Adrian Rogers explains that this is why Christians need to pray for the lost, that God may touch their hearts in order to receive sight, that they might respond to the light. Though it is not irresistible, God, for His part, is willing that you become in Christ, and share in all that which God the Father has sovereignly bestowed in His Son, who stands knocking on the door of your heart. (Revelation 3:20)
Question: Who was the Holy Spirit poured out upon?
Answer: Believers, Jewish and now Gentile. The Holy Spirit is not given to unbelievers in order to believe, by means of Calvinistic, preemptive Irresistible Grace, but rather, the Holy Spirit is given to believers in Christ.
The essence of Calvinism is that God has a people, the eternal flock of the Father, elect in the Father, and that these alone are granted the means to overcome their Total Depravity through irresistible Regenerative Grace, predetermined by Elective Grace, in which God allegedly, preemptively makes them Born Again in order to believe.
Problem: Since preemptive Regenerative Grace is the sole means to overcome Total Inability, brought on by Total Depravity, and is performed by the Holy Spirit, the Bible would therefore need to teach that the Holy Spirit is therefore received preemptively for those of the alleged, elect in the Father, prior to faith in Christ. The reality, however, is that the opposite is taught. Acts 11:15-18 is just one example. Consider these others:
Ephesians 1:13: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
Galatians 3:2: “‘This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?’”
Since the Holy Spirit is received only upon believers, John 20:31 rightly states: “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”
Calvinism would have it that there are three phases of the Holy Spirit: 1) at preemptive regeneration, 2) upon being sealed in Christ, after one believes in Christ, and 3) the manifestation of the Holy Spirit upon the believer.
