Training · The 1689 Baptist Confession
Effectual calling
How someone dead in sin comes to Christ, and why they come willingly.
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What happens in effectual calling?
God, by his word and Spirit, enlightens the mind, takes away the heart of stone, gives a heart of flesh, renews the will, and draws the person to Christ.
Every verb has God as its subject and the person as its object. The confession is describing something done to someone, in the way that waking is done to a sleeper, before anything is done by them.
I'll give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I'll take away your stubborn, stone-like heart and give you a heart that's alive and responsive.
Ezekiel 36:26Confession 10.1
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If God determines the will, is the person dragged in?
No. The confession says they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.
This is the sentence that keeps the chapter from describing coercion. What changes is not the person's ability to choose but what they want; and someone who now wants to come is not being forced when they do.
Confession 10.1
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Is effectual calling a response to anything God sees in the person?
No. The confession says it is of God's free and special grace alone, and not from anything at all foreseen in them.
Describing the call as changing the mind, the heart and the will already implies the person was not going to arrive on their own. Here it is said flatly, and it is the same denial made about election: nothing in the person is the reason.
God saved us and called us to live a holy life - not because we earned it, but because of his own purpose and kindness. This was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
2 Timothy 1:9Confession 10.2
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How active is a person in their own calling?
Altogether passive, until they are made alive and renewed by the Holy Spirit - at which point they are enabled to answer the call.
The order is the whole point and it is why "altogether passive" is not the last word. Passive first, then enabled, then answering. The person really does answer; they simply could not have answered first.
You've been rescued by God's kindness, just by trusting him. This isn't something you did yourself - it's a gift from God.
Ephesians 2:8Confession 10.2
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What happens to infants who die in infancy?
That elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who works when, where and how he pleases.
The clause is written to protect two things at once: that salvation is always through Christ, and that it is not restricted to those able to hear and understand a sermon. The same is said of anyone incapable of being outwardly called by the word.
The wind blows wherever it wants. You hear its sound, but you can't tell where it comes from or where it's going. That's how it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
John 3:8Confession 10.3
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Can someone be called by the preaching of the word and still not come?
Yes. They may hear it, and have some common workings of the Spirit, and still neither will nor can truly come to Christ.
This is the distinction the whole chapter turns on: an outward call, which anyone in earshot receives, and an effectual one, which does what it says. It is also the confession being honest about a pattern anyone who has preached has seen.
A lot of people are invited, but only a few are actually chosen.
Matthew 22:14Confession 10.4
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Can someone be saved by living sincerely according to whatever light they have?
No. The confession says people who do not profess the Christian faith cannot be saved by any other way, however diligently they follow the light of nature or the religion they do hold.
It is the same claim made from the other side about the gospel - that it cannot be worked out from creation or conscience, and so has to be announced. The confession will not treat sincerity as a substitute for the news, and it adds that holding otherwise is a serious error.
Confession 10.4