Question: The Spirit’s Role in Salvation?

Kirk E. Miller

A friend of mine, Tyler Williamson, recently contacted me with a fantastic question about the role of the Holy Spirit leading people to salvation. In my experience, I have discovered that many others have similar questions. So, with his permission, I thought I’d share our informal internet conversation.

Now certainly the Holy Spirit’s role of  in salvation is a huge topic; but given the context of his question, my response more narrowly addressed the Holy Spirit’s work in what is called effectual calling and briefly touched on the Spirit’s related work of regeneration. (If the answer I provide is not as direct as you may like, please bear in mind that this was an informal conversation.)

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Christian Tyler Williamson: The Holy Spirit–integral to the relationship of the believer with Christ. Many people talk of free will; many people talk of predestination. What do you believe is the role of the Holy Spirit in the salvation process? Detailed (as you typically are) would be great.

Me: The Bible speaks much of the Holy Spirit’s work of drawing individuals to faith in Christ. This is what theologians call the doctrine of “calling.”

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Disney Pixar’s Brave

Kirk E. Miller

Storyline

Summary (without spoiling it for you)

In a land reminiscent of the ancient British Isles, filled with peoples reminiscent of Vikings and Celts, lives a princess named Merida. She’s an independent, bushy red-haired “tom-boy,” but she’s also soon to be married to a prince of one of the nearby clans… and she’s not too thrilled about that latter part.

Merida lives in a land that contains four clans, each of which apparently fought together in some war back in the day. But now, their treaty with one another depends on intermarriage between their sons and daughters. They rely heavily on this tradition.

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The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler and Jared Wilson

Kirk E. Miller

Matt Chandler, with the help of Jared Wilson, has published his first book–The Explicit Gospel.

The Purpose

Summary

This book’s purpose is a negative one–to get its readers to the point of not assuming the Gospel. As Chandler states towards the end of his book,

Unless the gospel is made explicit, unless we clearly articulate that our righteousness is imputed to us by Jesus Christ, that on the cross he absorbed the wrath of God aimed at us and washed us clean–even if we preach biblical words on obeying God–people will believe that Jesus’ message is that he has come to condemn the world, not to save it.

But the problem is deeper than that and more pervasive. If we don’t make sure the gospel is explicit, if we don’t put up the cross and the perfect life of Jesus Christ as our hope, then people can get confused and say, “Yes, I believe in Jesus. I want to be saved. I want to be justified by God,” but then begin attempting to earn his salvation [pg. 208-209].

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The Gospel & Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever

Kirk E. Miller

This is less of a review and more of a recommendation.

One of the ways I evaluate whether a book is really good is whether or not I will read it a second time. … A few weeks ago I finished this book for the second time.

As Mark Dever notes in the video below, his purpose for writing this book was to provide an excellent introductory level book (only 119 pages!) on evangelism written for the average Christian. But at the same time, although he speaks in common, easy-to-understand language, the instruction and insights in this book are deep and well-worth the meditations of any Christian.

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