Question 31: Effectual Calling
Question 31: What is effectual calling?
Answer: 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.
In Jesus' encounter with Nicodemus he taught him that he must be born again. Nicodemus protested that he could not enter his mother's womb a second time, and Jesus explained that this second birth was spiritual. He explained it like this: "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:7-8) Our catechism begins its exploration of the application of salvation to people by affirming the complete sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in bringing salvation to us. We do not control our being born again, and we do not call ourselves to salvation. God the Holy Spirit works in us so that we are persuaded to embrace Jesus Christ.
To avoid confusion, the catechism clarifies further that this is done to people who are completely consumed by sin, capable of no spiritual good. We are sinful and miserable (as described in questions 18-19) and have nothing to offer. Our minds are corrupted (Titus 1:15) as well as our wills. The corruption of the will means that although we still make free choices in the sense that we fully want to do what we choose to do, without the work of the Spirit we would never choose to follow God (Genesis 6:5). Only by the work of the Spirit are we drawn to embrace Jesus Christ, as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 2:10-14. "These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit...We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interepreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
It is tempting to think that we are saved because we are better than others in some way, if nothing other than our good decision-making. Rather than glorifying ourselves, let us glorify God who is completely sovereign in calling us to himself!
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