On his website, Arminian Perspectives, Ben Henshaw has a questions page at which he answers questions about Arminianism and Calvinism that visitors to his site pose in the comment section of the page. Here is a question from a man named Marius followed by Ben’s answer:
Question:
A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.
NASB Acts 16:14
Doesn’t this verse seem to be support for idea that faith comes only from God, that God opens the heart and causes faith, according to the Calvinist idea that man can’t believe on his own?
Answer:
On Lydia, the language actually favors the Arminian interpretation. It makes more sense if the passage is speaking about enablement rather than irresistible causation. In the passage, Luke is focusing in on a certain individual coming to faith and explaining a part of the process, God opening the heart to believe. That is what Arminians believe. God must enable us to believe the gospel. That is all the passage tells us. The passage does not say that faith was the irresistible result of God opening the heart, only that God’s opening the heart led to her believing, enabled her to believe, with the result (in this particular case) that she actually believed.
Furthermore, Calvinists claim that God must give us a new heart before we can believe the gospel (and wrongly refer to Ezek. 36:26). But this passage in Acts says nothing of a new heart. Rather, God opened up her old heart to believe. In other words, despite her depravity, God enabled her to believe and this enablement did not require giving her a new heart first. So the passage really doesn’t fit well with the Calvinist claim, but it does fit perfectly with the Arminian view of prevenient grace.
Here is a good article on the opening of Lydia’s heart:
http://www.examiningcalvinism.com/files/NT/Acts16_14.html
Regarding the Calvinist understanding of Ezekiel 36:26, see this post:
https://arminianperspectives.wordpress.com/category/ezekiel-3626-27/
