Effectual Calling

Greg Dietrich·March 24, 2025·0 comments

Those whom God has predestined to life, he is pleased in his appointed and accepted time effectually to call1 to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. He effectually calls them by his Word and Spirit out of their natural state of sin and death, enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God.2 He takes away their heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh.3 He renews their wills and by his almighty power causes them to do what is good. He effectually draws them to Jesus Christ,4 yet they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.5

This effectual call is of God’s free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man nor from any power or agency in him.6 Being dead in sins and trespasses, he is wholly passive in this until being born again and renewed by the Holy Spirit.7 He is thus enabled to answer this call and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it. This is by no less a power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.8

Elect infants dying in infancy9 are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit,10 who works when, where, and how he pleases.11 All elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word are also regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit.12

Others who are not elect, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word and may have some common operations of the Spirit,13 but who are not effectually drawn by the Father, will neither come to Christ nor can come to Christ. Therefore they cannot be saved,14 much less men who do not receive the Christian religion cannot be saved, though they so diligently frame their lives according to the light of nature and the law of whatever religion they profess.15

  1. Romans 8:30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.  Romans 11:7–8 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”  Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.  2 Thessalonians 2:13–14 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ↩︎
  2. Acts 26:18 Open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.  Ephesians 1:16–18 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.  Ephesians 2:1–6 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.  ↩︎
  3. Ezekiel 36:26–27 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.  ↩︎
  4. Deuteronomy 30:6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.  Ezekiel 36:27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.  Ephesians 1:16–18  I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. ↩︎
  5. John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”  Philippians 2:12–13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. ↩︎
  6. 2 Timothy 1:8–9 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.  Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.  ↩︎
  7. 1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.  Ephesians 2:5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.  John 5:25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.  John 3:3, 5 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God…. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ↩︎
  8. Ephesians 1:19–20 And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. ↩︎
  9. 2 Samuel 12:23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me. ↩︎
  10. John 3:3, 5–6 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”…Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which ↩︎
  11. John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. ↩︎
  12. Psalm 22:9–10 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. ↩︎
  13. Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.  Matthew 13:20–21 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.  Hebrews 6:4–5 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come.  ↩︎
  14. John 6:44–45, 65 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, “And they will all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me…And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”  1 John 2:24–25 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.  And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.  ↩︎
  15. Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.  John 4:22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ↩︎

Greg Dietrich

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