THE OUTWARD AND THE INWARD
CALLS
T.P. Simmons
Election has to do with the purposing and planning of salvation.
The atonement has to do with the provision of it. We come now to study the
application and communication of salvation to the elect.
I. THE
OUTWARD CALL
The Scripture clearly speaks of two different calls. The first one
in the order of occurrence is known generally as the outward
or external call. The following Scriptures refer to this call: Isa. 45:22;
55:6; Matt. 9:13; 11:28; 22:14; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32; Rev. 22:17. There are
other Scriptures that evidently refer to both calls. These are reserved until
we take up the inward call.
1. THE CALL IS THROUGH THE
PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL.
It was by means of the gospel that Jesus called sinners to
repentance. Today every presentation of the gospel is a call to men to forsake
sin and trust Christ. The preaching of the gospel is also properly attended by a
setting forth of man's need of salvation and of his duty and
responsibility under God to repent and believe (Acts 17:30). There should also
be the earnest entreaty to men to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20) and an
invitation to all that labor (Matt. 11:28), and are athirst (Isa. 55:1; John
7:37; Rev. 22:17).
2. THIS CALL IS AN INDIRECT CALL OF THE SPIRIT
See the discussion of the indirect work of the Spirit in the lost
in Chapter IX.
3. THIS CALL, THEREFORE, IS GENERAL
By this we mean that it is not confined to
the elect (Matt. 22:14). We are commanded to preach the gospel to all. This
call is intended for all men, though all do not hear it. This is true just as
all men are commanded to repent (Acts 17:30), even though all men do not hear
this command.
4. THIS CALL, OF ITSELF, IS
ALWAYS INEFFECTIVE
To Israel God said: "When I called, ye did not answer"
(Isa. 65:12). The call referred to here was an outward call similar to the call
now under discussion. Because of man's depravity, the preaching of the gospel
alone is never sufficient to bring him to Christ. He needs more than an outward call. The gospel "is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16); but "the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness
unto him, and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged" (1
Cor. 2:14). Man must be enabled to turn from sin and believe on Christ. Jer.
13:23; John 12:39,40; 6:44,65.
Nevertheless it is the immediate duty of all to accept this call.
Acts 17:30.
5. THIS CALL IS SINCERE
Arminians object that the Calvinistic
system of doctrine makes a general call insincere. Sincere means "being in
reality as in appearance. Intending precisely what one says or what one appears
to intend." Having defined the term under discussion, we are now prepared
to examine into the exact grounds of this objection. Three Calvinistic
teachings are pointed out as rendering a general call insincere. They are:
(1) The teaching that man by nature is unable to turn from sin to
Christ.
Arminians say if the case with the natural man were such as
Calvinists represent it, and this were fully known to God, then God could not
be sincere in inviting men to come to Christ. But there is
nothing in the general call that makes it appear that all men are able to
respond to it. This is nothing more than an unwarranted inference. And it has
its foundation, not in the call itself, but in an erroneous conception of man's
state by nature. Hence this call is not insincere.
"God's call to all men to repent and
to believe the gospel is no more insincere than His command to all men to Love
Him with all the heart. There is no obstacle in the way of men's obedience to
the gospel, that does not exist to prevent their obedience to the law. If it is
proper to publish the commands of the law, it is proper to publish the
invitations of the gospel. A human being may be perfectly sincere in giving an
invitation which he knows will be refused. He may desire to
have the invitation accepted, while yet he may, for certain reasons of justice
and personal dignity, be unwilling to put forth special efforts, aside from the
invitation itself, to secure the acceptance of it on the part of those to whom
it is offered" (Strong).
Does God's invitation or call to all men
any more appear to indicate that all men can accept it than His command to all
men to love Him supremely appears to indicate that all men can do it?
(2) The teaching as to God's elective purpose to save only a
portion of Adam's race.
Arminians say if God has purposed to save only a portion of Adam's
race, then He cannot sincerely invite all men to come to Christ for salvation.
Let it first be remarked as to this phase of the objection that the objector,
to have even the semblance of consistency, must deny the foreknowledge of God.
For, if God foreknew everything, then He certainly foreknew that all men would not believe the gospel, since we see that all do
not. And certainly no evangelical would say that God purposed to save those who
reject the gospel. So, if the foreknowledge of God be true, then God purposed
to save only a part of Adam's race, believers. Hence consistency demands that
the Arminian surrender either this phase of the objection or else surrender the
foreknowledge of God. He cannot be logical and hold both.
(3) The doctrine of a limited atonement.
This was touched on in relation to the sincerity of God's general
call through the gospel in the previous chapter. However we give it further
brief notice. If one is going before a large number of
people to offer to each one of them a ten-dollar bill, and he has inerrant
knowledge before hand that only a hundred out of that number will accept his
offer, need he in order to make a sincere offer to all have more than one
hundred ten-dollar bills? Surely not. Knowing that he has a sufficient number
to supply all that will accept the offer, he can most freely and sincerely say,
"Let every one of you that desires a ten-dollar bill come to me and I will
give you one." Is it not manifest to all who can think
logically that, in a case such as is described above, the failure of all the
people except the hundred to receive a ten-dollar bill would be due to their
refusal of the offer, and not to lack of provision?
God's general call is in appearance no more than it is in reality.
And He appears to intend no more than He does actually
intend. This does not appear as something that all men can respond to nor as
something that will enable men to come to Christ or that will necessarily impel
them to come. Nor does this call appear to affirm that God has made a futile
provision of salvation for those who persist in unbelief. In this call God
appears to intend that all men are welcome if they will come; that all who come
will be received. He actually intends just this. It is just
as much a Bible truth that all who come to Christ will be saved as it is that
only the elect will be saved. We can heartily and gladly subscribe to the New
Hampshire Declaration of Faith in saying that "nothing prevents the
salvation of the greatest sinner on earth except his own inherent depravity and
voluntary refusal to submit to the Lord Jesus Christ." In other words,
these are the things that send the sinner to Hell.
II. THE INWARD CALL
The following Scriptures refer to the inward call: Acts 2:39; Rom.
1:6; 8.28,30; 9:11,24; 1 Cor. 1:1,26; 7:15; Gal. 1:15; 5:8; Eph. 4:4; Col.
3:15; 1 Thess. 5:24; 2 Thess. 2:14; 2
Tim. 1:9; Heb. 9:15; 1 Pet. 1.15; 2:9; 3:9; 5:10; 2 Pet.
1:3,10; Jude 1. Some of these Scriptures, as has been indicated already, seem
to allude to both the inward and outward call.
1. THIS CALL IS A DIRECT CALL THROUGH THE SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit takes the preached gospel and
opening the heart of the sinner (Acts 16:14), applies the word to the heart in
regenerating power. It is then, and only then, that man is able to understand
and receive the things of the Spirit of God. Thus the inward call is also
through the gospel, but it is through the gospel as applied by the Holy Spirit.
The Scriptures touching on this work of the Spirit through the word will be
given when we study regeneration.
2. THIS CALL IS PARTICULAR
By means of it the chosen objects of God's saving grace are
singled out. The difference here between the outward and the inward calls may
be imperfectly illustrated by the difference between a
general invitation extended by a church to the people of a community to attend
its services and the personal invitations that are extended to particular
individuals by the membership of the church. Of course, as we have said, this
only imperfectly illustrates the difference between God's two calls. Rom. 8:30
shows the particularity of this call.
3. THIS CALL IS ALWAYS EFFECTIVE
It is manifest that the Scriptures given at the beginning of the
discussion of this call refer to an effective and efficient call. This call is
never resisted; yet, in responding to it, man acts voluntarily and freely. See
chapter on "The Free Agency of Man." The effectiveness of this call
is shown by Rom. 8:28, 30; 1 Cor. 1:24.