Effectual Call of God versus General Call of God
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
The effectual call of God is one of those theological terms that divide Christians in their understanding in how salvation is accomplished. On one side, Christians believe that God calls all of mankind equally and man either chooses or rejects rejects His call. On the other side, Christians believe that God calls all man generally and others with an effectual call in which man will respond. There is an effectual call and a general call.
God does call all of mankind.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 ESV)”
God had made Himself known to all of mankind through His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, in the things that have been made. People love their ways over the things of God.
God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1:18-20 (ESV)
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. John 3:19 (ESV)
The Gospel has gone out to all nations, all of mankind. Yet, despite the Gospel being preached to all, man will always reject God. We share the Gospel and it is rejected countless times. Or people believe that they are not so bad since they are not murdering, maiming, robbing or other acts that we deem to be bad. This is the wrong measuring rod, that’s man’s measuring rod, not God’s. Man will always go his own way unless God intervenes. That intervention is the effectual call of God.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 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 8:29-30 (ESV)
Romans 8:29-30 really is four links in the chain of salvation and in this order:
1. God predestined;
2. God called those He predestined;
3. Those He called, He justifies;
4. Those He justifies, He glorifies.
The effectual call of God will bring about regeneration, or the spiritual birth of the person whom God calls. He works through the general call of preaching the Good News to the sinner. God’s effectual call enables a person to respond to the Gospel. Jesus said that “No one CAN come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draw him” (John 6:44). Without this effectual call, a person cannot come to God. At the time of the fall, man became spiritually dead and cannot respond to things of the spirit.
The general call is an outward call that can be resisted. We see that all the time when we witness. In fact, the general call can even cause a person to make a mental decision for Christ. That person may even join a church and be baptized. It never reaches the heart whereas the effectual call touches the spirit of man and quickens him where no one can resist; no one wants to.
For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matthew 22:14 (ESV)
The general call goes out to all of mankind but the effectual call are to those that God predestined. Predestine means to choose beforehand and it cannot be understood that God looked through the corridors of time to see who would respond and then predestine. That is not the meaning of predestination at all. If that is what God meant, He would have had to use another word. To take that viewpoint would mean that it is man that chooses and God responding. In other words, it is not God making a choice but only responding to man’s choice. We cannot change the meaning of a word because it does not fit our theology.
I read an illustration of a general call and a effectual call that I would like to share. It went something like this. A mother chicken was out with her baby chicks while she was clucking away at them. They paid her no mind and went about their baby chick ways until she effectively called them with a warning cluck that is indiscernible to our human ears but not the her little baby chick’s ears. The chicks came running to her for protection. With that special warning cluck, she was able to effectively gather up her chicks. The general call goes out to all of mankind and people may be listening, may even agree in their minds but it really has no effect upon their spirit until, like the mother hen, an effective call goes out. The effective call awakens the sinner so that he can see the danger of his sin and God’s view of sin and that there is no hope. He will feel the need for Christ. This is not a intellectual knowledge which can be rejected but a spiritual knowledge what will cause the person to surrender so that Christ may be revealed to him.
The effectual call of God brings about a regeneration, a spiritual birth. An unsaved person is dead in their sins and cannot hear things of the spirit. God awakes or quickens that person so that he can hear. The Word of God can only take root in a spiritually awakened person. Those that respond to the general call are planted in the rocky ground but no root takes place. The general call can be rejected and it is those that are sown among thorns. The effectual call is planted in good soil, will take root so that will the person will hear, understand and will bear fruit.
The Parable of the Sower Explained
“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 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. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” Matthew 13:18-23 (ESV)
Donald Grey Barnhouse gave this explanation on the differences between the general call and the effectual call to salvation.
‘If men heed no more than the outward call, they become members of the visible church. If the inward call is heard in our hearts, we become members of the invisible church. The first call unites us merely to a group of professing members; but the inward call unites us to Christ Himself.’ Donald Grey Barnhouse, God’s Grace, God’s Freedom, God’s Heirs: Expositions of Bible Doctrines 7:171
“The outward call may bring with it a certain intellectual knowledge of the truth; the inward call brings us the faith of the heart, the hope which anchors us forever to Christ and the love which must ever draw us back to Him who first loved us. The one can end in formalism, the other in true life. The outward call may curb the tendencies of the old nature and keep a soul in outward morality; the inward call will cure the plague that is in us and bring us on to triumph in Christ” (God’s Heirs: Exposition of Bible Doctrines . . . , vol. 7, pp. 171, 172).
John 5:25 says “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.” All mankind is spiritually dead and only those that God quickens can hear the voice of Jesus. Acts 16:14 states that God opened the heart of Lydia so that she could respond to the words spoken by Paul. Without God’s intervention, Lydia would not have been able to respond. That’s an effectual calling.
Man does not choose to not respond to the general call in a saving faith. No one chooses to be lost. People CANNOT respond to the general call unless God quickens them so that they can respond. This is the truth of what the Word of God teaches. Without the eyes to see and ears to hear, that is the effectual call, man cannot respond to the Gospel in a saving faith.
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