Theological term
Semi-Pelagianism
3 sermons · All terms
2LCF Chapter 10 - Of Effectual Calling
Effectual calling is the sovereign, gracious act by which God brings those predestinated unto eternal life from spiritual death to faith in Christ, through His word and Spirit, with no contribution from the creature. This lesson works through all four paragraphs of 2LCF Chapter 10, tracing the definition and character of the effectual call, its Trinitarian foundation, the two-fold nature of outward word and inward Spirit, the extraordinary provision for elect infants and those incapable of hearing the word, and the fixed inability of the reprobate. The session closes by pressing the doctrine against Pelagian, Semi-Pelagian, Arminian, Socinian, and Roman Catholic errors, and by insisting that there is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ for those who receive not the Christian religion.
2LCF Chapter 10 - Of Effectual Calling
2LCF Chapter 10 expounds the doctrine of effectual calling — the sovereign, monergistic act by which God brings elect sinners from spiritual death to life in Jesus Christ. The chapter is read in full and examined in four paragraphs, with sustained attention given to the definition of effectual calling (paragraph 1) and its exclusively divine power (paragraph 2). God calls none but the predestinated, acts in his own appointed time, works through Word and Spirit, and employs no less power than that which raised Christ from the dead — leaving no room for human agency or merit in salvation. The session closes with brief pastoral notes on elect infants and the non-effectual gospel call, followed by congregational questions on infant salvation and the theology of divine simplicity undergirding unconditional election.
2LCF Chapter 9 - Of Free Will
The doctrine of free will, as confessed in chapter 9 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, is neither denied nor affirmed without qualification — it is carefully defined in relation to the fourfold state of man. In the state of innocency man possessed genuine freedom to do good, yet was mutable; in the state of sin he retains natural liberty of choice but has wholly lost all ability to will any spiritual good; in the state of grace God monergistically transfers the sinner from bondage into freedom to will and do what is spiritually good, yet remaining corruption sustains a continual warfare within; and in the state of glory the will is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone. The central pastoral application is that a true grasp of total depravity and total inability is the only ground on which amazing grace is truly amazing, and the presence of ongoing battle against sin — not its absence — is the mark of regenerate life.