Aug 24
18
Baptist Catechism 34
Q. 34. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the Gospel. (2 Tim. 1:9; John 16:8-11; Acts 2:37; 26:18; Ezekiel 36:26; John 6:44,45; 1 Cor. 12:3)
Scripture Reading: Titus 3:1–7
“Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:1–7, ESV)
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Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God incarnate, the great prophet, priest, and king of God’s people, accomplished redemption for God’s elect when he assumed a human nature, lived, died, rose again, and assended to the Father’s right hand nearly 2,000 years ago. That work – the accomplishment of our redemption – is finished. There is nothing more to do. The question that this portion of our catechism is addressing is this: How do the elect of God come to have the benifits of the redemption that Christ has accomplished as their own?
Let me remind you of Baptist Catechism 32. It asks, How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ? Answer: …by the effectual application of it to us, by His Holy Spirit.
Question 33 probes a little deeper, asking, How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? Answer: …by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. So then, we have learned that it through faith in Christ that we come to be saved, or redeemed. And it is through faith in Christ that we come to be saved, or redeemed, because faith unites us to Jesus. What he has earned comes to be ours when we are you united to him in this way.
This brings us to Baptist Catechism question 34 which digs a little deeper still by asking, What is effectual calling?, and answering, Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel. This is a marvelous question and answer. He we find a clear and sucinct summery of what the Bible teaches on this very importinat subject.
First, we are told that effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit. At this point, I should probably mention that there is a kind of calling that is the work of man. When a preacher preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ and urges men and women, boys and girls, to turn from their sins and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, he does call them to faith and repentance, but this is not effectual calling. Theologians have referred to this call — the call that those who preach the gospel extend — as an external call. Why? Because when the preacher preaches men and women hear him with their natural ears only (unless the Spirit works). The call of the gospel preacher is not always effective, therefore. But when the Holy Spirit calls a person, it is always effective, for the Spirit calls inwardly. The Spirit’s “voice” is not heard with the natural ears but with the ears of the heart. Theologians refer to the Holy Spirit’s calling as an internal or effectual call. Here in this catechism question, we are talking about effectual calling, and so the answer begins, effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit.
Secondly, notice the word, “whereby”. This word indicates that we are about to be told what the Spirit does in a person to effectively call them to faith and repentance. Notice that this word, “whereby”, is followed by three phrases, each of them beginning with a word ending in –ing: convincing, enlightening, renewing. What are the three things the Spirit does to a person inwardly when he effectually calls them? One, the Spirit convinces them of their sin and misery. Two, the Spirit enlightens their minds in the knowledge of Christ. And three, the Spirit renews their wills. This is how the Spirit persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel.
By the way, I think we are to see that these three works of the Spirit are presented as remedies to the corruptions of our nature mentioned in Baptist Catechism 21. Human beings are body and soul. The body has parts and the soul has parts. The parts of man’s soul are the mind and the will (affections are the motions of the will). We must remember that human nature was corrupted when Adam fell into sin. The human mind is not full of light as it was in the beginning, but is darkened. The human heart is not soft to God and the things of God, but is hard and calloused. And the will of man is bent towards evil. This is what Paul plainly says in Ephesians 4:18-19. He speaks of the natural man when he says, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity” (Ephesians 4:18–19). You see when the Holy Spirit effectually calls a sinner, he repairs these defects in us to make us willing and able to believe in Christ. This is called regeneration or new birth.
There is a famous story found in John 3. There Jesus speaks with a man named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee who came to Jesus at night to ask him questions. Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, saying, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3, ESV). As this passage unfolds, it becomes clear that Jesus was talking about the new birth that the Holy Spirit brings. For a person to see and to enter the kingdom of God, the Holy Spirit must first make the dead sinner spiritually alive. Only then will they truly see their sin and Christ as the King of God’s kingdom leading them to repentance and faith.
Jesus made a very similar point recorded for us in John 6. In this passage, Christ speaks to a great multitude and plainly says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44, ESV). A little later he reiterated this same point with his disciples, saying, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65, ESV). These sayings of Jesus are about effectual calling or the doctrine of regeneration. If spiritually dead sinners are to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, God must make them alive. It is this new birth that Paul speaks of when he says, “And you [Christian], who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses…” (Colossians 2:13, ESV). It is God who makes us alive, and this he does through his word and by his Spirit.
Our catechism is correct. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel.
Before concluding, we must consider the last phrase, “he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel.” I have three brief observations to make about this important statement.
One, notices the words, “he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel.” Friends, repentance, that is, turning from sin, is something you must do. You are called by God to repent. And faith is something you must exercise. You must trust in Christ personally. The Holy Spirit does not repent or believe for us when he effectually calls us. And neither does the Holy Spirit force us to repent and believe. He does, however, persuade and enable the elect of God to repent and believe at God’s appointed time. The Spirit of God persuades the elect of God by convincing them of their sin and misery and enlightening their minds in the knowledge of Christ, as we have already said. The Spirit of God enables the elect of God — that is to say, he makes them able — to repent and believe by renewing their wills. When sinners turn from their sins and trust in Christ, it is something they do willingly and freely from the heart. But we know that they are persuaded and enabled to do this only by the grace of God. They willingly come to Christ because God the Father chose them in eternity, the Son atoned for their sins on the cross, and the Holy Spirit effectually calls them at God’s appointed time.
Two, notice the phrase, “he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ…” This reminds us of what was said in Baptist Catechism 33. There we learned that it is by faith that we are united to Christ. Here our catechism says that the Holy Spirit enables us to embrace Jesus Christ. This is another way of talking about faith. To have faith in Christ is to embrace Christ. I appreciate the warmth of this expression. Those who have true faith in Christ will warmly and lovingly embrace him, and the ability to do so is a gift from God delivered by the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit (see again Ephesians 2:8-9).
Three, notice the phrase, “freely offered to us in the gospel”. This is a very important little phrase. For one, it clarifies that the Holy Spirit always effectually calls sinners to faith and repentance through, or in concert with, the gospel. The gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ. It is through the preaching (or reading) of the gospel that sinners are called to repentance and faith in Christ in the external way described earlier. And while it is true that there is a great difference between the external call of gospel preaching and the internal, effectual call of the Holy Spirit, the two things are related. The Holy Spirit calls sinners inwardly and effectually as the good news of Jesus Christ is delivered. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that tells us about our sin and misery. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that tells us about Christ and the salvation he offers. And it is the gospel of Jesus Christ that calls us to turn from our sins, to trust Christ, and to confess him as Lord. But it is the Spirit of God who works within us to convince us of our sin and misery, enlighten our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renew our wills. In this way, the Spirit persuades and enables God’s elect to embrace Jesus Christ as he is freely offered to them in the gospel (see Acts 13:48). To put it another way, while it is possible (and common) for men to be called by the gospel externally but not inwardly and effectually, it is not possible for men to be called inwardly effectually but not externally. The Holy Spirit always calls inwardly and effectually in concert with the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ.
The words “freely offered” are also important. Friends, Jesus Christ is to be freely offered to all through our gospel preaching. You and I do not know who the elect of God are. You and I do not know who God will effectually call or when he will do it. We are to freely offer Jesus to all who will hear the proclamation of the gospel. We are to cast the seed of the gospel far and wide, having no concern for the condition of the souls of men and women. That, I think, is what the parable of the sower found in Luke 8 is about. And this is how Paul the Apostle (and others) went about their gospel ministry. They preached the gospel of Jesus Christ knowing “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16, ESV). They traveled far and wide to preach this gospel knowing that none would be saved apart from it. In Romans 10:14 Paul asks, “How then will they call on [Christ] in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’” (Romans 10:14–15, ESV). So, for sinners to be saved, the gospel must be preached. And for the gospel to be preached, preachers must be sent. But Paul also knew that for men and women to respond to the gospel in repentance and faith, the Spirit had to call them inwardly and effectually.
Conclusion
Q. 34. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the Gospel.
