The Mystery of Predestination: According to Scripture, the Church and St. Thomas Aquinas by Salza John

Author:Salza, John [Salza, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: TAN Books
Published: 2010-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

PREVENIENT GRACE AND REGENERATION

The story of Lazarus also brings up the issues of prevenient grace and regeneration. Calvinists and most other Protestants use the term “regeneration” to describe the moment one is “born again” in Christ and experiences a “spiritual resurrection.” That is, when one is regenerated he is saved in Christ. Most Protestants say this happens when one “accepts Jesus as personal Lord and Savior.” For the Calvinist, as we have explained, when one is born again one transitions from total depravity to salvation through an irresistible grace. Because man is totally depraved, he can be moved only by an irresistible grace, which bypasses his corrupted will and regenerates him on the spot.

Because of man’s “total depravity,” Calvinists do not believe that man receives any graces that precede regeneration and dispose him to salvation. These graces, which the Church calls prevenient (or “actual”) graces, are those that come before salvation, and which move man to good and prepare him for rebirth in Christ. Rather, Calvinists take an “all or nothing” view of regenerating grace.125 Man goes from being totally depraved to being saved at once, without first being moved by preceding graces. In the Calvinist system, just as grace cannot be resisted, grace cannot precede regeneration.126

First, we note that regeneration occurs not when one “accepts Christ as Savior,”but when one is baptized into Christ. Briefly, when Nicodemus asks Jesus how a man can be “born again,” Jesus says, “Amen, amen I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Previous to this passage, St. John connects “water” and “Spirit” to baptism (see John 1:31-33). Immediately following the passage, St. John explains that the disciples went into Judea and baptized (see John 3:23; 4:1-2). This is why the early Church Fathers were unanimous in their interpretation of John 3:5 as referring to baptism.127

Further, in his letter to Titus, St. Paul uses the word “regeneration” to describe baptism: “Not by the works of justice, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us, by the laver of regeneration, and renovation of the Holy Ghost” (3:5). The “laver of regeneration” literally means the “bath of rebirth” or being “born again of water,” and the “Holy Ghost” is, of course, the Spirit.128 Baptism regenerates the sinner and infuses his soul with faith, hope and charity (see Rom. 5:1-5). This is why St. Peter says that “baptism … now saveth you” (1 Pet.3:21). In reference to baptism, St.Paul also says, “[Y]ou are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).

Secondly, while Calvinists are correct to say that man is not saved until he is regenerated (although they err on what regeneration is), they are wrong to deny the existence of prevenient grace. Most Calvinists reject prevenient grace because they confuse the Arminian understanding of prevenient grace with the Catholic understanding.

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