Prevenient grace (orpreceding grace orenabling grace) is aChristian theological concept that refers to thegrace of God in a person's life which precedes and prepares to conversion. The concept was first developed byAugustine of Hippo (354–430), was affirmed by theSecond Council of Orange (529) and has become part ofCatholic theology. A similar concept is also found inEastern Orthodox andArminian theology. In all these traditions, prevenient grace is understood as universally available, enabling all individuals to have faith while leaving acceptance dependent onlibertarian free will. InReformed theology, it appears in the form ofeffectual calling, through which God's graceirresistibly leads certain individuals to salvation.
The concept of "prevenient grace" was originated and developed byAugustine of Hippo (354 – 430),[1][2] based on St.Ambrose's (c. 339 – c. 397) writings.[3] Prevenient grace refers to the grace of God in a person's life that precedes conversion.[2] The original expression (Latin:gratia praeveniens) means literally "grace that precedes". The English translation, "prevenient", likewise means preceding, antecedent, coming before.[4] This concept has a similar meaning to the concepts of "vocation" or "calling".[5]
There are variations in how prevenient grace is understood, particularly regarding God’s intent. In Roman Catholic,[6][7] Eastern Orthodox,[8][9] and Arminian theology,[10][11] prevenient grace is seen as a predisposing or enabling grace that assists all individuals in coming to faith. In Reformed theology, it is simultaneously comparable to two concepts:common grace[12][13][14] which doesn't improve man's depraved unregenerate nature and has no salvific purpose, andeffectual calling through which God calls to irresistibly believe.[15][16]
When grace is considered with regard to its effects, prevenient grace is differentiated from subsequent grace.[17] The nature of subsequent grace differs depending on the view on thedeterministic or non-deterministic nature of theprovidence of God:John Wesley named two forms of subsequent grace : "justifying grace" (also called saving grace) and "sanctifying grace". Both of those subsequent forms of grace are resistible.[14] On the contrary Calvinists have considered the justifying grace as anirresistible grace.[18]
The notion of "prevenient grace" (Latin:Gratia praeveniens) was developed by Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430).[1][2] In response toPelagianism, he argued that prevenient grace is necessary to prepare the human will forconversion.[2] WhenPelagius appealed to St.Ambrose (c. 339 – c. 397) to support his view, Augustine replied with a series of quotations from Ambrose which indicated the need for prevenient grace.[3] Augustine describedfree will without the spiritual aid ofgrace as, "captive free will" (Latin:liberum arbitrium captivatum).[19]
Through the influence of grace, however, this will becomes a spiritually "freed will" or literally a "liberated free will" (Latin:liberum arbitrium liberatum).[20] Prevenient grace first imparts essential spiritual enlightenment, after which the power to believe is granted exclusively to theelect.[21] Augustine viewed the grace leading to justification as unfailing for the elect.[22][23][24]
In 529, at theSecond Council of Orange, the question at hand was whether the doctrines of Augustine on God's providence were to be affirmed, or ifSemi-Pelagianism could be affirmed. Semi-Pelagianism was a moderate form ofPelagianism which teaches that the first step of salvation is by human will and not thegrace of God.[25]
The determination of the Council could be considered "semi-Augustinian".[26][27][28] It defined that faith, though a free act of man, resulted, even in its beginnings, from the grace of God, enlightening thehuman mind and enabling belief.[29][30][31] This describes the operation of prevenient grace allowing the unregenerate to repent in faith.[32][33] On the other hand, the Council of Orange condemned the belief inpredestination todamnation[34] implied by theAugustinian soteriology.[35]
The canons of the Council directly quoted Augustine's work related on the concept of prevenient grace (Canons 1, 2, 5, 6, 7).[36]Boniface II (died in 532) writing toCaesarius of Arles, confirmed the notion of prevenient grace: "[W]e confirm by the authority of theApostolic See your confession, in which in the Opposite way you explain that right faith in Christ and the beginning of all good will, according to Catholic truth, is inspired in the minds of individuals by the preceding grace of God."[37]
TheSecond Council of Orange of 529 stated that faith, though a free act, resulted even in its beginnings from the grace of God, enlightening the human mind and enabling belief.[25]
In canon 18 it is said "That grace is preceded by no merits. A reward is due to good works, if they are performed; but grace, which is not due, precedes, that they may be done [St. Prosper]."[38] In canon 23 it is said that God prepares our wills that they may desire the good.[39] Canon 25 states, "In every good work, it is not we who begin… but He (God) first inspires us with faith and love of Him, through no preceding merit on our part."[40]
Prevenient grace was discussed in the fifth chapter of the sixth session of theCouncil of Trent (1545–63) which used the phrase: "a Dei per dominum Christum Iesum praeveniente gratia" rendered "a predisposing grace of God through Jesus Christ".[41] Those who turned from God by sins are disposed by God's grace to turn back and become justified by freely assenting to that grace.[6]
TheCatechism of the Catholic Church (1992) explains, "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit. Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of prayer by his prevenient grace."[42]
In responding to Calvinism at theSynod of Jerusalem (1672), the Confession ofDositheus, describes the operation of the prevenient grace in the process of salvation. This grace is initially "imparted to all," "illuminating" individuals. Subsequently, based on a person’sfree-will response, it becomes "cooperating" and "enabling."[8]
In Orthodoxy, the operation of prevenient grace involves asynergism between God and humanity, closely resembling theWesleyan concept of prevenient grace.[9] Once regenerated, an individual can perform spiritual good but remains reliant on divine grace to guide and precede their actions.[43]
Prevenient grace is an important concept inArminian theology.[44]Jacobus Arminius affirmedtotal depravity but believed that prevenient grace enables people to respond to God's offer ofsalvation: "Concerning grace and free will, this is what I teach according to the Scriptures and orthodox consent: Free will is unable to begin or to perfect any true and spiritual good, without grace. […] This grace [prævenit] goes before, accompanies, and follows; it excites, assists, operates that we will, and co operates lest we will in vain."[45]
Theologian Robert E. Picirilli writes, quoting Arminius, that: "What Arminius meant by "prevenient grace" was that grace that precedes actualregeneration and which, except when finally resisted, inevitably leads to regeneration. He was quick to observe that this "assistance of theHoly Spirit" is of such sufficiency "as to keep at the greatest possible distance from Pelagianism."[4] Arminius distinguished between "prevenient" or "preceding" grace that involves amonergistic work of God, and a "subsequent" or "following" grace that involves asynergistic work.[46]
John Wesley in hissermon #85, "On Working Out Our Own Salvation", stated that : "prevenient grace elicits the first wish to please God, the first dawn of light concerning His will, and the first slight transient conviction of having sinned against Him." Wesley insisted on prevenient grace as a solution to two great problems in Christianity: the belief oforiginal sin and theProtestantdoctrine ofsalvation by grace alone.[47]
Thomas Oden defines prevenient grace as "the grace that begins to enable one to choose further to cooperate with saving grace. By offering the will the restored capacity to respond to grace, the person then may freely and increasingly become an active, willing participant in receiving the conditions forjustification."[48]
Wesleyans generally distinguish two forms of call related to prevenient grace : 1. A universal call which is the secret influence of the Holy Spirit upon the conscience. 2. A direct call through the revealed word as found in theHoly Scriptures.[5]
John Wesley adapted theThirty-Nine Articles of Religion adopted by theChurch of England in 1563 into theArticles of Religion, for use by AmericanMethodists. With very similar language with Article X of the first, the Article VIII of the second states, "The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God,without the grace of God by Christ preventing [preceding] us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will" (emphasis added)."[49]
Infant baptism is seen in Methodism as a celebration of prevenient grace. Although infant baptism is important for the life journey of the faithful disciple, it is not essential.[53]
Most Methodisthymnals have a section with hymns concerning prevenient grace asThe United Methodist Hymnal (1989). One of the best known hymns written about this doctrine isCharles Wesley's "Come, Sinners, to the Gospel Feast", which includes the lines, "Ye need not one be left behind,for God hath bid all humankind… the invitation is to all" (emphasis added).[54]
Some refer to the Arminian concept of prevenient grace as "universal enablement." They characterize the Arminian view as teaching that God has restored to every individual the ability to seek after God and choose salvation.[55]
Nevertheless, Arminians consider that prevenient grace is rather individually directed than universally directed.[56] They consider it is the enabling influence of the Holy Spirit on a human person in a "relational dynamic—a back-and-forth, influence-and-response, relational movement. Like other interpersonal forms of communication and influence, it is something that can come and go".[13][57]
Calvinists argue that because this grace is supposedly given to all alike, the determining factor in salvation becomes the will of man. They see thislibertarian will and choice of the individual as agood work required for salvation and thus an implicit rejection of salvation bygrace alone.[58]
Arminians object that, according to their view, salvation is by grace alone. This is because the provision of salvation including its initiation, activation and obtaining is by grace alone. It is respectively the result of prevenient grace, justifying grace and regenerating grace.[58]
Besides, they remark that Calvinism teaches the compatibility ofdivine determinism andmoral responsibility.[59] Man is responsible for his choice when he acts voluntarily, even if his will is determined by God. Thus, as man comes to faith voluntarily, it follows that man is morally responsible for his faith. Consequently, the choice of salvation through faith is a good work. So, for Calvinists to remain consistent, they can not claim that the praiseworthiness of the choice of salvation (whether libertarian orsemicompatibilist) is a rejection of salvation by grace alone.[60] Furthermore, Arminians reject the idea that the libertarian choice to accept the provision of salvation is participation in the work of salvation.[47]
In describing theLutheran Church's view on prevenient grace, cleric Chris Heavner states:[61]
In his disputes with the other reformers, Luther refused to accept any pre-conditions for God’s grace being freely bestowed. This is a prevenient grace; it is the grace that goes before anything else. It is a grace which acts on us, so that we might respond – perhaps respond by that which is spoken of as “faith.”[61]
The Lutheran Churches teachmonergism with regard to the doctrine ofjustification; theSmall Catechism states that “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”[62]
Lutheran scholarGerhard Forde explained that "a key tenet of the Lutheran view ofsanctification is that cooperation must not ignore grace."[63] Lutheran theologian Mark Ellingsen states that there is an "openness to Synergism one finds affirmed in official Lutheran documents. With warnings, the synergistic joining of our will with God’s grace is not rejected (Formula of Concord, SD II.90). Of course this openness is endorsed along with the strong Lutheran commitment to prevenient grace (the belief that grace precedes any synergistic cooperation), for the Holy Spirit is given credit for our faith and for the surrender of the will to God (Romans 3:21-28; Galatians 3:10-14; Luther’s Works, Vo.26, p.106; Small Catechism, II.6)."[64] TheFormula of Concord teaches "But the intellect and will of the unregenerate man are nothing else than subiectum convertendum, that is, that which is to be converted, it being the intellect and will of a spiritually dead man, in whom the Holy Ghost works conversion and renewal, towards which work man’s will that is to be converted does nothing, but suffers God alone to work in him, until he is regenerate; and then he works also with the Holy Ghost [cooperates] that which is pleasing to God in other good works that follow, in the way and to the extent fully set forth above" (SD II.90).[64][65]
Calvinists have their own doctrine of prevenient grace, which they identify with theeffectual calling and which is immediately and necessarily followed by faith. Because of the necessity of salvation following this dispensation of prevenient grace, the justifying grace is calledirresistible grace.[15][16]
The Calvinist form of prevenient grace is also related tocommon grace by which God shows general mercy to everyone, restrains sin, and gives humankind a knowledge of God and of their sinfulness and need of rescue from sin.[13][12][14] Despite this grace has no salvific purpose, it is said to let people without excuse of not coming to God.[66] Common grace explains also why people seem to come to God, but eventually seem to commit definitiveapostasy.[67] About that issue,Calvin formulated the concept of a temporary grace (sometimes called "evanescent grace") that appears and works for only a while in the reprobate but then disappears.[68][69][70][71][72] According to this concept, the Holy Spirit can create in some people effects which are indistinguishable from those of the irresistible grace of God,[73] producing also visible "fruit".[74] Temporary grace was also supported by later Calvinist theologians such asTheodore Beza,William Perkins,[75]John Owen,[76]A. W. Pink[77] andLorraine Boettner.[78]
Since Calvinist common grace leaves people absolutely incapable of coming to God, non-Calvinists do not believe it leaves them without excuse.[47] Concerning the operation of temporary grace supposed to explain apparent apostasy, non-Calvinists find it contrary to the revealed character of God,[79] and leaving Christian believers without real assurance of salvation during their life.[80]
^abWiley 1940, ch. 26. "Vocation or Call is further distinguished as the Indirect or universal call, and the Direct or immediate call [...] By the Universal Call, orVocatio Catholica, is meant that secret influence exerted upon the consciences of men, apart from the revealed Word as found in the Holy Scriptures."
^abDemarest 1997, p. 70. "Trent’s discussion of grace is found in its “Decree on Justification,” promulgated at the Sixth Session (1547). Trent disputed the Reformational definition of grace as God’s unmerited favor, suggesting rather that grace is a power that assists free human responses. Thus Trent identified the reception of grace. Adults are moved by “prevenient” or “assisting grace” and their own free will to exercise faith in Christ and submit to baptism."
^abOverbeck 1899, pp. 114–115, Decree 3. "And we understand the use of free-will thus, that the Divine and illuminating grace, and which we call preventing grace, being, as a light to those in darkness, by the Divine goodness imparted to all, to those that are willing to obey this—for it is of use only to the willing, not to the unwilling —and co-operate with it, in what it requireth as necessary to salvation, there is consequently granted particular grace; which, co-operating with us, and enabling us, and making us perseverant in the love of God, that is to say, in performing those good things that God would have us to do, and which His preventing grace admonisheth us that we should do, justifieth us, and maketh us predestinated."
^abCunningham 2022. "[...] contrasting [the Arminian doctrines of universal vocation and sufficient grace] with the doctrines generally held by Calvinists, in regard to effectual calling and efficacious grace."
^Aquinas 1954, Art. 3. "[S]ince God's love means something eternal, it can never be called other than prevenient. Grace, however, signifies an effect in time, which can precede one effect and follow another. It may therefore be called both prevenient and subsequent. [G]race is not divided into prevenient and subsequent grace in respect of its essence, but solely in respect of its effects [...].
^Bird 2021, p. 89-90. "The asymmetry in Augustine’s doctrine of grace is here plainly stated: if a man believes, it is because he has been irresistibly drawn; but if he does not believe, “his determination stands alone.” All credit for conversion is attributed to God; all guilt for refusal, to man. In coming to this position, Augustine had not abandoned his previously developed notions of adjutive grace and the power of delight, but now comprehended that both the adjutum and the delectatio must be of overwhelming strength. Salvation comes to a man when God does a work in him by his Spirit that can neither fail nor be refused."
^Denzinger 1954, ch. Second Council of Orange, art. 199. "We not only do not believe that some have been truly predestined to evil by divine power, but also with every execration we pronounce anathema upon those, if there are [any such], who wish to believe so great an evil."
^James 1998, p. 102. "Some Scholars, especially Catholics, understand Augustine not to have articulated a doctrine of double predestination. Others, Protestants and secular scholars, are more divided on the issue. [...] From our analysis, the Bishop of Hippo may will have believed in double predestination, though he does not unequivocally develop such a doctrine."
^Overbeck 1899, Decree 14. "For the regenerated to do spiritual good — for the works of the believer being contributory to salvation and wrought by supernatural grace are properly called spiritual — it is necessary that he be guided and prevented [preceded] by grace."
^UMPH 2004, Section 1: Our Doctrinal Heritage: Distinctive Wesleyan Emphases. "[Prevenient grace is] the divine love that surrounds all humanity and precedes any and all of our conscious impulses. This grace prompts our first wish to please God, our first glimmer of understanding concerning God's will, and our 'first slight transient conviction' of having sinned against God. God's grace also awakens in us an earnest longing for deliverance from sin and death and moves us toward repentance and faith."
^Manns & Meyer 1984, p. 141. "When modern Methodists expound infant baptism, they think first of "prevenient grace", for which infant baptism is said to be an effective, or at least a useful, sign."
^Erickson 1990, p. 925. "It is here that many Arminians, recognizing human inability as taught in the Scripture, introduce the concept of prevenient grace, which is believed to have a universal effect nullifying the noetic results of sin, thus making belief possible. The problem is that there is no clear and adequate basis in Scripture for this concept of universal enablement."
^Oden 1994, p. 246. "[Prevenient grace] draws us gradually, incrementally, in stages [...]. At each stage, we are called to receive and respond to the grace being incrementally given[...]."
^Helm 2010, p. 230. "[Calvin] holds that this determinism is compatible with human responsibility."
^Bignon 2018, p. 231-232. "Praiseworthiness and blameworthiness are the two sides of the one same coin of moral responsibility. If one goes, the other one goes with it, and denying praiseworthiness would, I'm afraid, come at the cost of denying blameworthiness also, which is unacceptable given orthodox views of divine judgment. The burden of much of the present work has been to defend the compatibility of moral responsibility with determinism, in the obvious hope of maintaining the truth of both of them. So determinists ought not deny any moral praiseworthiness for righteous deeds, as there is no asymmetry at that level between praiseworthiness for the good and blameworthiness for evil: both are entailed by human moral responsibility."
^Kettenring, Keith (16 October 2007).The Sanctification Connection: An Exploration of Human Participation in Spiritual Growth. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 26–27.ISBN978-0-7618-3738-1.
^Calvin 1961, p. 66. "[T]hose who appear to live piously may be called sons of God; but since they will eventually live impiously and die in that impiety, God does not call them sons in His foreknowledge. There are sons of God who do not yet appear so to us, but now do so to God; and there are those who, on account of some arrogated or temporal grace, are called so by us, but are not so to God".
^Calvin 1845, 3:24:8. "Sometimes, however, he communicates it also to those whom he enlightens only for a time, and whom afterwards, in just punishment for their ingratitude, he abandons and smites with greater blindness."
^Calvin 1963, p. 76. "[...] I do not see that this is any reason why He should not touch the reprobate with a taste of His grace, or illumine their minds with some glimmerings of His light, or affect them with some sense of His goodness, or to some extent engrave His Word in their hearts. Otherwise where would be that passing faith which Marks mentions (4.17)? Therefore there is some knowledge in the reprobate, which later vanishes away either because it drives its roots less deep than it ought to, or because it is choked and withers away."
^Calvin 1845, 3:2:11. "Experience shows that the reprobate are sometimes affected in a way so similar to the elect that even in their own judgment there is no difference between them. [...] [T]he Lord, the better to convict them, and leave them without excuse, instills into their minds such a sense of goodness as can be felt without the Spirit of adoption [...] Therefore, as God regenerates the elect only for ever by incorruptible seed, [...] there is nothing to prevent an inferior operation of the Spirit from taking its course in the reprobate. [...] Thus we dispose of the objection, that if God truly displays his grace, it must endure for ever. There is nothing inconsistent in this with the fact of his enlightening some with a present sense of grace, which afterwards proves evanescent."
^Calvin 1845, pp. 478–479, 3:2:11-12. "[Some reprobates are] just as a tree not planted deep enough may take root, but in the process of time wither away, though it may for several years not only put forth leaves and flowers, but produce fruit."
^Keathley 2010, ch. 6. "The doctrine of temporary faith, a notion first formulated by Calvin but later developed by Beza and William Perkins, further intensified the problem of assurance in Calvinist and Puritan theology. According to them, God gives to the reprobate, whom He never intended to save in the first place, a “taste” of his grace. Based on passages such as Matt 7:21–23; Heb 6:4–6, and the parable of the Sower, Beza and Perkins attribute this false, temporary faith to an ineffectual work of the Holy Spirit."
^Gribben & Tweeddale 2022, p. 402. "[...] Owen readily admits that the Spirit occasionally induces a partial illumination of the gospel truth, which might produce some conviction of sin and reformation of behavior. [...] For whatever its superficial resemblance to genuine conversion, it nevertheless falls short of that reality and explains the phenomenon of an apparently temporary illumination famously described in Heb. 6.4."
^Pink 2009, pp. 18–19. "Scripture also teaches that people may possess a faith which is one of the Holy Spirit, and yet which is anon-saving one. This faith which we now allude to has two ingredients which neither education nor self-effort can produce: spiritual light and a Divine power moving the mind to assent. Now a man may have both illumination and inclination from heaven, and yet not be regenerated. We have a solemn proof of this in Hebrews 6:4-6."
^Boettner 1932, ch. 14. "In addition to what has been said it is to be admitted that often times the common operations of the Spirit on the enlightened conscience lead to reformation and to an externally religious life. Those so influenced are often very strict in their conduct and diligent in their religious duties. To the awakened sinner the promises of the Gospel and the exhibition of the plan of salvation contained in the Scriptures appear not only as true but as suited to his condition. [...] This faith continues as long as the state of mind by which it is produced continues. When that changes, he relapses into his usual state of insensibility, and his faith disappears."
^Robinson 2022, pp. 352–253. "For God to act in this manner strikes the non-Calvinist as not only ludicrous, but more importantly, as God being deceptive in lulling the temporary believer into thinking that he (and his fellow believers) are true believers and part of God's elect at one time. [...] [I]t is contrary to the character of the God who reveals himself as the God of truth and faithfulness [...] ."
^Walls & Dongell 2004, pp. 201–202. "What is truly remarkable here is that persons who receive this partial and temporary illumination appear for a time to be truly elect but in fact aren't. They are deluded by a false hope. This dreadful possibility is what haunts Calvinists who struggle with the assurance and certainty of salvation."
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