Wesleyan Theology and the Doctrine of Salvation — Unit 3: Prevenient Grace

Key Verse

"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." (Titus 2:11, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Define prevenient grace and explain the Latin word behind it.

2. Explain why Wesley taught that sinners cannot turn to God by their own strength.

3. Describe what prevenient grace does in a person before new birth, with Scripture for each part.

4. Explain why Wesleyans teach that this grace can be resisted, and state the main Reformed objections to it fairly.

5. Use the doctrine to encourage a family that is praying for someone who is far from God.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Wesleyan tradition, for Wesleyan students. It is conservative and evangelical. When it says "we," it means the churches that follow John Wesley's teaching. We respect those who differ, and we state their views fairly before we answer. Unit 2 taught that Christ died for all. This unit asks how any sinner can respond to that good news at all.

The Problem: Dead in Sin

Wesleyans do not take sin lightly. Paul says, "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God" (Romans 3:10-11). He describes the lost as "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). Jesus says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44), and also, "without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

On this point we stand with our Reformed brothers. Wesley taught that since the fall, human beings are corrupted in every part, and that no one can turn to God by his own natural strength. He did not teach that people have a natural free will to choose God. Wesley said that whatever freedom a sinner has to answer God is itself a gift of grace.

Here is the question. If sinners cannot seek God, and God desires all to be saved, how can anyone come to Christ? The Reformed answer is that God, from eternity, chooses some and changes their hearts in a way they cannot refuse. The Wesleyan answer is prevenient grace.

What Prevenient Grace Is

The word "prevenient" comes from two Latin words, prae, "before," and venire, "to come." Prevenient grace is the grace that comes before. It is the grace of God that goes ahead of our decision and makes a decision possible. Some teachers call it "preventing grace," using an older English meaning of "prevent," which was "go before."

This was not Wesley's own invention. Augustine, the great teacher of the fifth century, spoke of grace that goes before the will, and the Church of England's Article of Religion on free will teaches that we have no power to turn to God without the grace of God going before us. Wesley took this old teaching and joined it to the truth that Christ died for all. His conclusion was that God's grace which goes before is given to all people, and not to some only.

Our key verse says that the grace of God that brings salvation "has appeared to all men." John's Gospel says that Christ is "the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world" (John 1:9). Jesus says, "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32). Nobody is left in total darkness without some touch of God.

What Prevenient Grace Does

Wesley described several works of this grace. Each one rests on Scripture.

It gives light. God has not left any people without witness. Paul says that God's eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen in the things He has made (Romans 1:19-20). The Gospel of John speaks of the light that lights every person.

It wakes the conscience. Paul says that Gentiles who do not have the Law show "the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness" (Romans 2:15). Wesley taught that conscience is not just a natural faculty. It is a gift that God keeps alive in fallen people. He wrote a sermon on conscience.

It convicts. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit "will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8). Many people feel a sense of guilt, an emptiness or a hunger for God before they know the gospel. Wesley said that this comes from grace, and not from the sinner's own goodness.

It draws. Jesus says that the Father draws (John 6:44) and that He Himself will draw all (John 12:32). This is a drawing and not a dragging. A man who is drawn can still pull away.

It restrains. God holds back sin so that society does not become as evil as it could be. Wesley saw this in the many people who, without knowing Christ, still had a sense of right and wrong.

It enables. This is the heart of the doctrine. Prevenient grace gives the sinner the power to answer the call. It does not make the decision for him. It restores enough freedom that he can say yes or no to God. Wesley described the first desire to please God, the first light about His will, and the first brief conviction of sin as the beginning of this grace. Then, if the person does not resist, more grace comes.

An example from Acts

Lydia, a seller of purple in Philippi, heard Paul speak by the river. Luke says, "The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul" (Acts 16:14). Notice that God opened her heart, and that she heeded. Grace came first, and Lydia answered. Then she and her household were baptized. The story shows that grace goes before and that a person responds.

Cornelius is another example. Before Peter came, he was already devout, he prayed, and he gave to the poor (Acts 10:1-2). God had been at work in his life and sent Peter to him with the full message of salvation.

What Prevenient Grace Is Not

Prevenient grace is not salvation. A person can have conscience, conviction and a strong desire to know God, and still be unforgiven. Prevenient grace leads toward the new birth, but it is not the new birth. In Unit 6 we will study what happens at the new birth.

It is not a second source of salvation apart from Christ. All of it flows from the cross. Wesley held that grace is given to all because Christ died for all.

It is not works. The sinner who responds does not earn anything. Paul says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). The ability to answer, and the faith that answers, are both God's gift. A beggar who holds out his hand for bread has not paid for the bread.

It is not universalism. Many people resist the grace that is given to them. We do not teach that everyone will finally be saved.

Grace That Can Be Resisted

Prevenient grace is real, but it is not forced on anyone. Stephen said to the council, "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51). If the Spirit's work could not be resisted, this rebuke would have no meaning. Jesus said of Jerusalem, "you were not willing!" (Matthew 23:37).

Why do we hold that grace is resistible? Because God made human beings to love Him freely, and love that is forced is not love. A husband does not want a wife who was made to say yes against her will. Resistible grace is not weak grace. It is the strength of a love that waits at the door. In Revelation 3:20 the Lord says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him." The One who knocks is mighty, and He chooses to wait.

At the same time we remember that the first move is always God's. Paul tells believers to work out their own salvation "with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13). Our working out rests on God's working in. Wesley loved this verse for that reason.

Objections and Answers

Objection 1: The Reformed say that grace is irresistible for the elect, and that the dead must be made alive before they can believe.

Teachers in the Reformed family hold that God gives new life to the elect first, and faith follows as the fruit. They point to Ephesians 2:1, which speaks of the dead, and to John 6:37 and 6:44, where those the Father gives to the Son come and are drawn. A dead man cannot respond, they say, and so God must make him alive before he can believe.

Our answer. We agree that the sinner is dead and that no one can come unless the Father draws. We disagree about whom the Father draws and how. Jesus says that He will draw "all peoples" (John 12:32), and Paul says that saving grace has appeared "to all men" (Titus 2:11). We read John 6:44 in light of those verses. A drawing that can be refused fits the picture of Jerusalem, whom Jesus wanted to gather but who was not willing. Wesleyans agree that the sinner's response depends on God's power. The disagreement is whether that power is given to all and may be refused, or is given to some and cannot be refused.

Objection 2: The charge of semi-Pelagianism.

Pelagius, a teacher of the early fifth century, taught that people can obey God by their own natural strength. The Council of Orange in 529 rejected the view that the first step toward God begins with us. Some critics say that Wesleyans, by speaking of human response, fall into this old error.

Our answer. We condemn Pelagianism with the Reformed. We say that the first step is always grace. We do not say that fallen people can begin to turn to God from their own strength. Prevenient grace is the first move, and it comes before any human act. Our answer to the charge is to show where we locate the starting point: in God, and not in us. The sinner does not earn the grace that enables, and faith is received, not produced. Paul says that salvation is "of faith that it might be according to grace" (Romans 4:16).

Objection 3: The Bible never uses the phrase "prevenient grace."

This is true. Some critics say it is an invention to make the system fit.

Our answer. The phrase is not in the Bible, just as "Trinity" is not in the Bible. The question is whether the teaching is. We find it in the texts above: the light given to every person, the conscience, the convicting work of the Spirit, the drawing of all people, and the grace that appears to all. The doctrine puts these texts together.

Objection 4: What about people who have never heard the gospel?

If prevenient grace is given to all, does it save people who never hear of Christ?

Our answer. Prevenient grace is not saving grace. It leads toward God, but salvation comes through Christ, and people must hear the message to believe (Romans 10:14). We trust that God is a just judge and that He gives light to every person. We do not use that trust as an excuse to stop preaching. Paul says, "How shall they hear without a preacher?" Prevenient grace is the reason the missionary can expect to find hearts already stirred.

Pastoral Application

A deacon named Miguel comes to his pastor with a heavy heart. His grown son has left the church, drinks, and says he wants nothing to do with God. Miguel asks, "Is it too late? Does God still care for him? Did I fail as a father?"

The pastor opens the Bible to Titus 2:11 and John 12:32. He explains that God's grace goes ahead of Miguel's prayers and into the places Miguel cannot go. The son's restlessness and his pangs of conscience, which Miguel has noticed, may be signs of grace at work. God is drawing him, and the son is able to answer, though he can also refuse.

The pastor then gives Miguel practical guidance. Keep praying, because God uses prayer. Keep loving the son without nagging. Be ready to speak when the son asks a question. Do not lay the whole burden on yourself, because a father can pray and witness, but he cannot make the choice for his son. The pastor and Miguel pray together, and Miguel goes home with hope.

Summary

Prevenient grace is the grace that comes before. Wesley agreed that sinners are dead in sin and cannot turn to God by themselves, and he taught that God gives to every person a grace that goes ahead of the decision. This grace gives light, wakes conscience, convicts, draws, restrains and enables a response. Key texts are Titus 2:11, John 1:9, John 12:32, John 16:8 and Romans 2:15. It is not salvation, not works, and not universalism. We hold that it can be resisted, as Acts 7:51 and Matthew 23:37 show. We answer the Reformed doctrine of irresistible grace, the charge of semi-Pelagianism, the complaint that the phrase is not in Scripture, and the question of those who have never heard. We rejoice that grace comes first, and that no one is beyond the reach of God.

Further Reading

• John Wesley, "Working Out Our Own Salvation" (Sermon 85), in the Standard Sermons.

• John Wesley, "The Scripture Way of Salvation" (Sermon 43).

• John Wesley, "On Conscience" (Sermon 105).

• John Wesley, "Free Grace" (Sermon 110).

• John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on John 1:9 and Titus 2:11.

• Augustine, On Grace and Free Will, a primary source for the earlier Christian teaching on grace going before the will.

• The Canons of the Synod of Dort (1618-1619), for the Reformed view of effectual calling.

• The Arminian sections of the CTS Systematic Theology course (CTSST).

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