The word prevenient is an archaic English word that means going before. So prevenient grace is the idea that God’s grace enables people to respond to him. Prevenient grace is the thing that enables us to respond to God despite being dead in our trespasses and sins.
Prevenient grace goes out to everyone, enabling them to respond in faith to what Jesus has done for us. It is this prevenient grace that enables the believer to respond to the call of God.
The theory of prevenient grace was developed to reconcile the tension between God’s sovereignty and human free will. It allows believers to exercise the free will God has given us.
What Separates Prevenient Grace from Sanctifying Grace?
Christianity describes several kinds of grace that God provides. Prevenient grace is a form of grace that only acts on a person before they are saved. It is distinct from sanctifying grace in that way. There is a change in the type of grace a person receives once they enter a relationship with God. The process of sanctification is still similar; it is still a yielding to God’s perfect will at our own expense. In sanctifying grace, however, the Spirit helps us as we become more and more like Jesus. Prevenient Grace is at the very beginning of that process.
Who Developed the Idea of Prevenient Grace?
The idea of prevenient grace developed in response to Calvinism by Jacob Arminius. He was a theologian who lived in the Netherlands during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He and his followers formed a group called the Remonstrants, who went against prevailing ideas in the Reformed Church. The Reformed Church was rooted in Calvinism. At the time, it emphasized the Calvinist idea that God had unconditionally chosen who would believe, and he also condemned those who were not chosen.
Prevenient grace became prevalent because Arminius opposed the idea that God has already unconditionally chosen who would believe and who would be condemned. He saw predestination as an affront to God’s justice because he believed it made God the author of sin.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, further popularized it. Prevenient grace is a defining feature of Methodism. Most Pentecostal Churches also believe in prevenient grace. John Wesley saw prevenient grace as the first of three stages in the believer’s life. These were gestation (prevenient grace), birth (justifying grace), and death (sanctifying grace). So, prevenient grace is how God prepares the believer to respond to Him. It is the links in the chain pointing someone closer and closer to God.
Many theologians have expounded and added to the ideas put forth by Wesley and Arminius. A deeper look at prevenient grace can be found in Roger Olson’s book Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities.
Do We See Prevenient Grace in the Bible?
Wesley frequently cited four passages in defense of prevenient grace. The first of these is John 1:9—Wesley argues that because the light gives light to everyone, the offer of salvation is given to everyone. Another verse that supports this is Titus 2:11. The idea that God’s grace appears that offers salvation to all people. The idea that salvation is offered to all people is a doctrine held by most Christians.
The third passage is John 6:44. This verse says that the Father draws believers somehow before we are converted. For those who hold to this doctrine, the verse implies a grace going before the believer, enabling them to respond to God. Those who oppose prevenient grace say that the drawing is irresistible, that the one being drawn will be brought in no matter what.
The final verse frequently cited in support of prevenient grace is Romans 2:4. God’s kindness is seen as prevenient grace, which goes before believers and leads them to repentance.
These four passages seem to support the concept of grace going before people and coaxing believers to come to God. However, the lack of other passages on how this plays out leads to conflicts and debates about what prevenient grace can look like.
What Are the Implications of Believing in Prevenient Grace?
Since prevenient grace was a response to Calvinism, it is rooted in an opposing view of free will called libertarian free will. In this context, “libertarian” means that humans are free to respond to God’s call that he has given to all people. It is a way to reconcile how God’s grace is extended to all people, even though not everyone responds. It differs from Calvinism, which says God has already predestined and elected the people he has chosen to save.
Before a believer comes to Christ, he is dead in sin. Therefore we need God to intervene before we respond to him. Those who believe in prevenient grace also believe that man cannot respond to God unless God acts first. Genesis 6:5 supports this because it says fallen humanity will only seek and do evil without God’s intervention. Both Calvinist and Arminian theologians affirm this.
Believing in prevenient grace emphasizes that people are saved because of grace alone, not because of any action on their part. Salvation cannot be attributed to the works of the believer because all they did was to receive what God had already extended to them.
Prevenient grace means that Jesus died for everyone, but his atonement only affects those who believe in him. In contrast, the Calvinist view maintains that Jesus only died for those God had already chosen.
Synergists believe believers cooperate with God and respond out of their own free will choice. Prevenient grace enables the believer to respond to God’s calling to them. It does not mean they are in any way responsible for their salvation. Those who hold to prevenient grace believe that faith comes first, then the new Christian is regenerated
Do Christians Need to Believe in Prevenient Grace?
Prevenient grace is not a defining feature of the Christian faith. All Christians believe we are saved by grace through faith, not as a result of works, so no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Prevenient grace is one way of explaining how this plays out. There are many pieces of compelling evidence for prevenient grace—it effectively synthesizes God’s grace and humanity’s response to His grace.
No matter whether Christians believe in prevenient grace or a different view of grace, it is a matter of secondary importance. Therefore, all believers should treat conversations about it with love and respect. As German theologian Rupertus Meldenius wrote, “If we would preserve unity in what is necessary, liberty in what is not necessary, and charity in both, our affairs would certainly be in the best place.” Or, as most people remember the phrase today, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity, or love.”
What Are the Arguments Against Prevenient Grace?
Monergists, the counterpart to synergists, believe that God is the sole actor in the conversion of the believer and that humans cooperating with him in any way diminishes his glory. They hold that if the believer has a say in accepting or rejecting God’s call, Christ’s atonement is ineffective.
The emphasis on free will leads some Christians to see prevenient grace as compromising God’s grace, putting too much emphasis on the human response. The Calvinist view maintains that the believer’s nature is so corrupt that they will not believe in Jesus until they are regenerated.
These disagreements are ultimately secondary to the fundamental fact that God, by His grace, has redeemed His people. The finer points of prevenient grace vs. irresistible grace are not matters of salvation. They are, however, worthy of an in-church discussion on what salvation by grace looks like.
Photo Credit: Getty Images/LoveTheWind
Ben Reichert works with college students in New Zealand. He graduated from Iowa State in 2019 with degrees in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and agronomy. He is passionate about church history, theology, and having people walk with Jesus. When not working or writing you can find him running or hiking in the beautiful New Zealand Bush.
This article is part of our Christian Terms catalog, exploring words and phrases of Christian theology and history. Here are some of our most popular articles covering Christian terms to help your journey of knowledge and faith:
The Full Armor of God
The Meaning of "Selah"
What Is Grace? Bible Definition and Christian Quotes
What is Discernment? Bible Meaning and Importance
What Is Prophecy? Bible Meaning and Examples
