Acts 7:51
Acts 7:51 (see also Ephesians 4:30)
“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.”
Calvinist, Erwin Lutzer, comments: “How do Calvinists interpret those verses that say that men have, in fact, resisted the Holy Spirit? Stephen charged the Jews with being stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart, always resisting the Holy Spirit (Act 7:51). Certainly, the unconverted do so. But Calvinists teach that God will of necessity give the disposition to believe to those who are chosen to eternal life. God’s grace will always eventually overcome the resistance of the elect. In contrast, Arminians believe that saving grace is given to all men and can be resisted. Here again, the difference between the two theological systems is clear.” (The Doctrines That Divide, p.188, emphasis mine)
This is strange, though, when considering the pre-conversion Apostle Paul, who stated the following: ““And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” So if he hadn’t received his effectual Irresistible Grace yet, and was just fighting against an ineffectual Common Grace, then how was it “hard” to kick against something that is ineffectual, especially since he would have still be suffering from a condition of Total Depravity that would have made it quite nature to resist? So I’m not getting the “hard” part, considering that the alleged grace was ineffectual and working in conjunction with a condition of total depravity. According to Calvinism, it would be hard NOT to kick against the goads. So Scripture leads us into the opposite direction of Calvinism. But there’s another problem. What about Christians, that is, the Regenerate, who also resist the Holy Spirit? What happened to their alleged Irresistible Grace? Does it stop functioning once they become Christians?
John Calvin explains: “Since the Holy Spirit dwells in us, to Him every part of our soul and of our body ought to be consecrated. But if we give ourselves up to anything unclean, it is as if we drive Him away from His lodging. … Because God has sealed us by His Spirit, we vex Him when we do not follow His guidance, but pollute ourselves with ungodly passions.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.194, emphasis mine)
Again, what happened to the alleged, Irresistible Grace? Where did it go? Calvinists would have to argue that the Irresistible Grace merely overcomes the initial conditions of Total Depravity, to make one submit to Christ and become Regenerated, and that’s it, and not do anything for the Christian to live a perfect Christian life in accordance with Regeneration. So the Christian would have a constant dose of Common Grace, both pre-and post conversion, and with Irresistible Grace just being in operation for the purposes of the Regeneration process of conversion. I can think of no other possible explanation. The Calvinistically elect would still be suffering from a degree of the effects of Total Depravity, though tempered by a state of Regeneration, and hence still sin and still resist God, just as the alleged non-elect do, though truly repenting, which those without Regeneration can never with sincerity do, and which leads to the next point: Calvinistic Determinism, and not all Calvinists agree with it. It’s essentially the Gnostic wing of Calvinism, in which life is a script, in that all thoughts are scripted from eternity to eternity, and there is literally no Compatibilism or Free Moral Agency. These kinds of Deterministic Calvinists are often found appealing to “mystery” when trying to explain the origin of sin, from the perspective of pre-Fall, sinless creatures.
Question: What about similar applications of resisting the Holy Spirit, committed by Christians, that is, the elect in Christ? Ephesians 4:30 states: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Do Calvinists wish to suggest that this is merely speaking of the Common Grace that Christians receive?
Answer: This blows up the Calvinist misconception that God deterministically predetermines whatsoever comes to pass. Clearly, God allows His will to be thwarted by others, though within certain limits (1st Corinthians 10:13), but God always gets the last word. However, this kind of sovereignty Calvinists reject as true sovereignty, and that’s their problem. God is not beholden to the theological constraints of Calvinists: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8)
Question: Does this refute the Calvinist doctrine of Irresistible Grace?
Answer: Calvinists simply answer that the resisters are either of the alleged non-elect who only ever receive a mere Common Grace, or else if they are of the Calvinistically elect, they simply haven’t received their Irresistible Grace yet.
Question: Now consider everything from the Calvinist paradigm of Determinism. If God deterministically predetermined the actions of all, then isn’t God essentially resisting Himself?
Answer: The alternative to Determinism is free will, or independent thought, in which God allows man the glorious privilege of receiving Him, but also the dubious privilege of resisting Him, and the accountability that comes with our choices.
