Chapter 10: Of Effectual Calling
1. Those whom God hath predestinated unto life, he is pleased in his
appointed, and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit,
out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace
and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and
savingly to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of
stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and
by his almighty power determining them to that which is good, and
effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most
freely, being made willing by his grace.
(
Romans 8:30;
Romans 11:7;
Ephesians 1:10, 11;
2 Thessalonians 2:13, 14;
Ephesians 2:1-6;
Acts 26:18;
Ephesians 1:17, 18;
Ezekiel 36:26;
Deuteronomy 30:6;
Ezekiel 36:27;
Ephesians 1:19;
Psalm 110:3;
Song of Solomon 1:4
)
2. 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 the creature, being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and
trespasses, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit; he is
thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered
and conveyed in it, and that by no less power than that which raised
up Christ from the dead.
(
2 Timothy 1:9;
Ephesians 2:8;
1 Corinthians 2:14;
Ephesians 2:5;
John 5:25;
Ephesians 1:19, 20
)
3. Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ
through the Spirit; who worketh when, and where, and how he pleases; so
also are all elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called
by the ministry of the Word.
(
John 3:3, 5, 6;
John 3:8
)
4. Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry
of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit, yet not
being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will nor can truly come
to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved: much less can men that receive
not the Christian religion be saved; be they never so diligent to frame
their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion
they do profess.
(
Matthew 22:14;
Matthew 13:20, 21;
Hebrews 6:4, 5;
John 6:44, 45, 65;
1 John 2:24, 25;
Acts 4:12;
John 4:22;
John 17:3
)
Back to the 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith
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