GOD DRAWS HIS PEOPLE TO HIMSELF ... by Packer

EFFECTUAL CALLING

GOD DRAWS HIS PEOPLE TO HIMSELF

.... From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 THESSALONIANS 2:13-14

Effectual calling is a sixteenth-century English phrase that became the title of chapter X of the 1647 Westminster Confession. The chapter begins thus:

All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, 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.

What is being spoken of here is the many-sided reality of Christian conversion, involving illumination, regeneration, faith, and repentance. It is being analyzed as a sovereign work of God, “effectually” (i.e., effectively) performed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The concept corresponds to Paul’s use of the verb call (meaning “bring to faith”) and called (meaning “converted”) in Romans 1:6; 8:28, 30; 9:24; 1 Corinthians 1:24, 26; 7:18, 21; Galatians 1:15; Ephesians 4:1, 4; and 2 Thessalonians 2:14, and contrasts with the idea of a merely external and ineffective invitation, as found in Matthew 22:14.

Original sin renders all human beings naturally dead (unresponsive) to God, but in effectual calling God quickens the dead. As the outward call of God to faith in Christ is communicated through the reading, preaching, and explaining of the contents of the Bible, the Holy Spirit enlightens and renews the heart of elect sinners so that they understand the gospel and embrace it as truth from God, and God in Christ becomes to them an object of desire and affection. Being now regenerate and able by the use of their freed will to choose God and the good, they turn away from their former pattern of living to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to start a new life with him. --from Packer, concise theology

Before Belief

Consider the masterful way the authors of the Catechism describe the process of our coming to faith:

"Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit whereby (three progressive participles indicate inward changes beginning to unfold): convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills; he (the Spirit, having prepared our hearts) doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered in the Gospel" (#31).
The various nuances of that catechism answer are extraordinary and provide great insight into helping a person recall the powerful working of God before they actually believed. Usually when people give a testimony of their salvation they will allude to these kinds of experiences, but often with the thought that they were almost random events rather than the deliberate moving into their lives of the Holy Spirit of God. It seems to me that taking time to reflect back on our lost condition and then recall how God moved in and changed us is a pattern frequently applied by Paul
(1 Corinthians 1:26-31, "think of what you were when you were called..."; Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 1:13,14,21).
--Steve Smallman in a really helpful article called "Understanding the New Birth"

Piper on what we don't have without the new birth

Effectual Calling and Regeneration (The gift of NEW LIFE) are clearly and closely tied together.

What won’t we have without the new birth? Here they are in summary:

1. Without the new birth, we won’t have saving faith, but only unbelief (John 1:11-13; 1 John 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 1:29; 1 Timothy 1:14; 2 Timothy 1:3).
2. Without the new birth, we won’t have justification, but only condemnation (Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 2:17; Philippians 3:9).
3. Without the new birth, we won’t be the children of God, but the children of the devil (1 John 3:9-10).
4. Without the new birth, we won’t bear the fruit of love by the Holy Spirit but only bear the fruit of death (Romans 6:20-21; 7:4-6; 15:16; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; Galatians 5:6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 3:14).
5. Without the new birth, we won’t have eternal joy in fellowship with God, but only eternal misery with the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41; John 3:3; Romans 6:23; Revelation 2:11; 20:15).

What is effectual calling?

ANSWER: Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.

--q.31 of Westminster Shorter Catechism

Scriptures that influenced this answer:
Acts 26:18. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 1 Corinthians 2:10, 12. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.... Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 2 Corinthians 4:6. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:17-18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints