Part 11 – Preparationism
Continuing in our discussion of the Sixth Session of the Council of Trent, in chapters five and six of the Decrees, the Council put forth a doctrine of Prevenient grace. The word prevenient simply means ‘preceding’, or ‘anticipatory’, and here it is used to describe a kind of grace from God that precedes, or anticipates, Man’s free will decision to obey the calling of God:
The Synod furthermore declares, that in adults, the beginning of the said Justification is to be derived from the prevenient grace of God, through Jesus Christ, that is to say, from His vocation, whereby, without any merits existing on their parts, they are called; (Trent 32-33)
So the anticipatory grace of God is unmerited, and calls a person to the beginning of Justification. But the Council has already put forth a doctrine of Free Will. If the will of Man is completely free to obey the calling of God, or not, as it pleases Man, then why would it need grace of any kind to obey the calling of God?
The Council goes on to explain this anomaly:
… that so they, who by sins were alienated from God, may be disposed through His quickening and assisting grace, to convert themselves to their own justification, by freely assenting to and co-operating with that said grace: in such sort that, while God touches the heart of man by the illumination of the Holy Ghost, neither is man himself utterly without doing anything while he receives that inspiration, forasmuch as he is also able to reject it yet is he not able, by his own free will, without the grace of God, to move himself unto justice in His sight. (Trent 33)
Did you follow all that? Yeah, me neither. Obviously, the Council realized that making Man the deciding factor in his own salvation would be blasphemous; but they didn’t want to totally discard the idea, either. So these are the kinds of mental and theological gymnastics you end up having to engage in to reconcile Free Will with the glory of God in salvation.
And it’s clear that the Council didn’t want to take all the glory of God in salvation away from him. Only just a tiny little piece. God will probably never even miss it!
But he does. Logically, the doctrines of the Gospel all stand or fall together. Each doctrine is dependent on all the others. Therefore, God will have one-hundred percent of the glory in the salvation of his people, or he will have none. Take your pick.
At the end of the chapter, the Council does refer to a Bible verse in support of their doctrine:
Whence, when it is said in the sacred writings: Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you, we are admonished of our liberty; (Trent 33)
The verse in question is Zechariah, chapter one, verse three:
And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Turn to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will turn to you, says the Lord of hosts. (Zec 1:3, CPDV)
This is a common argument with those who hold to the doctrine of Free Will — that since God holds Man responsible to believe the Gospel, therefore Man has the ability to believe the Gospel. But this is false:
Yet all men are responsible to obey the commands of God, because God, as the sovereign King of creation, has the right to command obedience from His creatures, regardless of their ability to obey. [Deu 10:16; Mat 12:13; 28:18; Joh 11:43; Act 17:30-31; Rom 2:12-16; 2Th 1:8] (Christian Confession of Faith, III.B.4)
The responsibility of Man isn’t derived from his supposed Free Will, but from the Sovereignty of God. The Creator may demand obedience from his creatures, whether they have the ability to obey or not.
The natural Man has no ability to obey God’s commands:
No one is able to come to me, unless the Father, who has sent me, has drawn him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (Joh 6:44, CPDV)
And the wisdom of the flesh is inimical to God. For it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be. So those who are in the flesh are not able to please God. (Rom 8:7-8, CPDV)
But the animal nature of man does not perceive these things that are of the Spirit of God. For it is foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand it, because it must be examined spiritually. (1Co 2:14, CPDV)
Yet the natural Man is still under an obligation to obey God, because of the supreme authority of the one giving the command.
Therefore, circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and no longer stiffen your neck. (Deu 10:16, CPDV)
And Jesus, drawing near, spoke to them, saying: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. (Mat 28:18, CPDV)
As I have written elsewhere:
The dry bones of Ezekiel 38 had no ability to obey the command “Dry bones, live!”, yet they had a responsibility to obey. Lazarus had no ability to obey the command “Lazarus, come forth!”, yet he had a responsibility to obey. Their responsibility to obey did not come from their ability to obey (for they had none). Rather it came from the authority of the One giving the command. God has every right to command us to do that which pleases him, even if we have no power to do so. Therefore, when he commands us to believe the Gospel, we have a responsibility to do so. But this by no means implies the ability to obey that command. Notice that both of the above examples included commands that the subjects (Lazarus and the Dry Bones) obviously couldn’t obey. It was simply beyond their ability; yet they both had a responsibility to obey. So it is with the natural man. (Adams)
References
Adams, Christopher. A Wolf in Wolves’ Clothing. 2019. Web. The Gospel and Its Enemies.
Catholic Public Domain Version of the Holy Bible. Ed and trans. Ronald L. Conte Jr. 2009. Web. SacredBible.org
Christian Confession of Faith. True Gospel Ministry, 2003. Web. The Gospel & Its Enemies.
Trent, The Council of: The canons and decrees of the sacred and oecumenical Council of Trent. Ed. and trans. J. Waterworth. London: Dolman, 1848. Web. Hanover Historical Texts Project.
The Gospel & Its Enemies 