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 Leon followed by Ben’s answer:
Question: I am having a lot of trouble and no Arminian can seem to explain it to me. What is the role of “prevenient grace” in salvation or the ordu salutis? More directly, if we are “spiritually dead” or “totally depraved,” how does conversion come before regeneration? I have often heard it said, “A dead person does not make choices,” and the same applies for the “spiritually dead.” They certainly don’t assist in their being resuscitated.
I have seen that some Arminians argue for a “partial regeneration.” I’m not really satisfied with this response at this point. It does not seem to make sense. In my understanding, you are either spiritually alive, or spiritually dead. Someone is not sorta alive? Do Arminians only believe in “total depravity” in theory? How does “prevenient grace” bring a sense of “life” into someone without full regeneration and enabling them to make a choice?
It seems to that all these questions lead into others questions that I have (perhaps you can answer those later, ha.) I know my thoughts seem a bit scattered on this third question. But I have confidence this is definitely no new question for you and you understand what I am attempting to ask. But for me it is an honest question, I myself am confused about it and I’m having difficulty finding any good resources to read on the subject as well. This leads to my last question:
Where and what are some good articles and books to read on the subject of “prevenient grace.” I would like to study it more. Obviously I need to. (Ha.)
Answer: Thanks for stopping by. Good questions. I’m going to start with your biggest and most important question:
3) This might be the biggest question I have. I am having a lot of trouble and no Arminian can seem to explain it to me. What is the role of “prevenient grace” in salvation or the ordu salutis? More directly, if we are “spiritually dead” or “totally depraved,” how does conversion come before regeneration?
The bigger question is how can spiritual life come before faith when the Bible everywhere affirms that faith precedes the reception of new spiritual life? In Arminianism, prevenient grace is not the impartation of new life, it is God working in the heart to overcome our resistance to Him and inability to trust in Him. It enables a faith response where faith would have been impossible, but it is not spiritual life. New life is receive by faith and so is the Spirit of life (John 1:12, 13; Eph. 1:13; Gal. 3:2, 5, 14) We are joined to Christ through faith and only then do we experience His life in us.
I have often heard it said, “A dead person does not make choices,” and the same applies for the “spiritually dead.” They certainly don’t assist in their being resuscitated.
This is a Calvinist spin on what it means to be dead in sin. That is not how the Bible describes the concept. Spiritual death refers to our separation form God and the alienation of having no relationship or connection to the source of Spiritual life. It does not have reference to the inability of a physical corpse to do anything. It is through faith that those who are dead in sin come to share in the life of Christ and are spiritually raised again (Col. 2:12, 13).
So Arminians affirm total depravity in that without the enabling grace of God, no one would believe, but we find the Calvinist use of “dead in sin” to be unbiblical, so we do not agree with Calvinists that one needs to be regenerated in order to have faith. Such a concept is simply not supported in Scripture and is flatly contradicted by Scripture. Here are some posts and articles for you to check out on the topic:
https://arminianperspectives.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/what-can-the-dead-in-sin-do/
https://arminianperspectives.wordpress.com/category/john-112-13/
https://arminianperspectives.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/parallel-passages-on-regeneration/
https://arminianperspectives.wordpress.com/2007/07/27/does-regeneration-precede-faith/
http://wesleyanarminian.blogspot.com/2009/05/prevenient-grace.html
