The Error that Grace Is Mere Persuasion—The Rejection of Errors, Third and Fourth Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort (7)

Synod rejects the errors of those . . .

Who teach that the grace by which we are converted to God is nothing but a gentle persuasion, or (as others explain it) that the way of God’s acting in man’s conversion that is most noble and suited to human nature is that which happens by persuasion, and that nothing prevents this grace of moral suasion even by itself from making natural men spiritual; indeed, that God does not produce the assent of the will except in this manner of moral suasion, and that the effectiveness of God’s work by which it surpasses the work of Satan consists in the fact that God promises eternal benefits while Satan promises temporal ones.

For this teaching is entirely Pelagian and contrary to the whole of Scripture, which recognizes besides this persuasion also another, far more effective and divine way in which the Holy Spirit acts in man’s conversion. As Ezekiel 36:26 puts it: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; and I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.…”

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A modern illustration of this 17th century error can be seen in a famous Christian tract which reflects similar confidence in the human will, claiming: “God has voted for you; the devil has voted against you. Your vote decides” whether you’ll spend eternity in heaven or hell. If the Synod of Dort had been conducted today, they’d have spent countless hours considering similar appeals from Evangelical pulpits proclaiming the same error as the Arminians. Instead of proclaiming Christ and him crucified and trusting the Holy Spirit to grant the new birth and create faith, contemporary preaching often centers around enticements such as the promise of a better and happier life, or even financial prosperity. It is not an accident that testimonies of celebrities are prominently featured. You can have the same spiritual experience they have, if only you are willing. Peer pressure too is used—everyone else is accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior! What are you waiting for . . .

In many ways the refutation of this error addressees the heart of the Arminian system–the denial of the efficacy of grace, which is replaced by “gentle persuasion.” The Arminian system is grounded in the unbiblical assumption that after the fall of the human race into sin, people still retain the ability to respond favorably to the gospel. People are not dead in sin, but are understood to be “wounded in sin.” Evangelism often amounts to attempting to persuade people to believe in Jesus since they can do so if only they are willing to do so.

As set out several times in previous articles of the Synod, the appeal to persuasion is grounded in the fact that Arminians contend that Jesus Christ’s death secured a universal (but ineffectual) grace, which regains for humanity much of that which was lost in the Fall, including the ability to “accept” Christ prior to and apart from a supernatural act of regeneration.

According to the Arminians, there is no need of a supernatural act of God (regeneration) prior to sinners being persuaded to believe in Christ, so that as a result, regeneration (the new birth) is granted as a reward for a human act. Reflecting the ancient Pelagian error, Arminians believe that the human will is no longer dead in sin and enslaved to our sinful nature, thereby leaving us able to come to faith in Christ through an act of will. But as the Canons point out, this completely ignores biblical texts such as Ezekiel 35:26 which tell us we cannot come to faith in Christ until we have been made alive, regenerated and born again—we can point to a litany of texts in John’s Gospel–John 3:3-5; John 6:44; 65; with an even longer list of such passages found in Paul’s epistles.