JUBILEE YEAR FOR LA PINARDIÈRE --- FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF CONVERSION (1975-2025) – “A SMALL BEGINNING OF ETERNAL LIFE” THEMATIC SUPPLEMENT: SOME KEY THEMES (A)

             

 JUBILEE YEAR

 FOR LA PINARDIÈRE

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF CONVERSION (1975-2025)

                                                –  “A SMALL BEGINNING OF ETERNAL LIFE”

 

THEMATIC SUPPLEMENT: SOME KEY THEMES (A)

In this section, I will present two themes that have had a profound impact on me over the years, namely 1) the free gift and assurance of salvation and 2) efficacious and irresistible grace. 3) In a later publication, I will address a final theme that fascinates and excites me, that of the doctrine of divine omnipresence according to different approaches and lastly according to the truth of biblical theism found in the Scriptures.

 

1.   The free gift and assurance of salvation

 

What greatly touched me when I began exploring the Bible in 1975 was the free gift of salvation. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot earn our place in heaven, even if we try to be the best we can be.

It is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;

no one understands, no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong;

no one does good, not even one.”   

In fact, human beings are not merely affected by evil and sin superficially, merely at the surface-level. The Bible goes so far as to say that they are spiritually dead.

 

"And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.".

(Ephesians 2:1)

God's diagnosis of us is admittedly radical, but the remedy He offers is just as radical, meaning that it is far from superficial. It is profound, reaching down to our radix, our root, our innermost being!

 

If we had only been partially affected by sin, superficially scratched and bruised, it would not have been necessary for Jesus to come and suffer the agony of the cross. If we could have earned salvation ourselves through our sincerity and personal efforts. God the Father would not have done the “impossible”, the “unthinkable” : giving his only Son “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  

If God went that far, it was because there was no other way possible. A perfect man (who was both God and man), without sin, had to be our substitute, taking on our sins, so that all who believe in him might be redeemed, saved, and forgiven of all iniquities.

 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; 

and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God 

– not because of works, lest any man should boast."

(Ephesians 2:8) 

Since we cannot accomplish what is necessary for salvation and Jesus Christ did it, and he did it perfectly and completely, then we as believers can confidently remain assured of being saved, completely forgiven.

 

"There is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus."

(Romans 8:1)

“No condemnation” for all those who have trusted in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation and forgiveness. This is a promise and a logical consequence, because, if Jesus bore my sins, I will not have to bear them.

Another passage, which God used in 1975 to touch my heart. 

"He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life.

I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.".

(1 John 5:12-15)

 

 

This text is not simply about adhering to a belief system. “He who has the Son has life”: It is about receiving Jesus and receiving life. What kind of life? Not physical life, for everyone has physical life, but some have spiritual, even eternal, life. If we must have Jesus to have life, then it can only be life with a capital “L,” eternal Life. Without Jesus, we do not have this life and we remain in spiritual death, awaiting the final judgment.

 

And the decisive text:

"I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,

that you may know that you have eternal life.".

 (1 John 5.13)

I thought that we couldn't know if we were saved until the Last Judgment.

When I read this verse, I understood that it is legitimate for a human being to know that he is saved, if he fulfills the condition. What is that condition? Believing, trusting in the Son of God. In fact, when we read the rest of the New Testament, we see that this faith (trust in God's grace) goes hand in hand with repentance, which consists of a deep regret for our sins. One cannot exist without the other.

In brief, in 50 years of daily Bible reading and of religious studies, I have never seen another belief system among the world's five major religions that includes these two elements: the salvation as free gift and the assurance of salvation. Only biblical Christianity, as preached in evangelical Protestant churches, affirms these important elements of the Christian faith.

 

It is useful to remind ourselves that the mottos that summarize the teachings of the Protestant reformers in the 16th century were as follows: 

    ·         Sola scriptura (Scripture alone)

        ·         Sola fide (By Faith alone)

        ·         Sola gratia (By Grace alone)

        ·         Solo Christo (Christ alone)

        ·         Soli Deo gloria (ToGod alone be glory)

                                                                               

The salvation as a free gift and the assurance of salvation: two themes that continue to inspire and fascinate me even after 50 years of meditating the Scripture and of walking with the Lord. 

 

2.      Efficacious and irresistible grace

When I entered the Master's program in theology at Laval University's Faculté de théologie et de sciences religieuses (Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies)(FTSR) in 1991, I experienced a sense of “dizziness,” in

the words of my advisor, then-dean Professor René-Michel Roberge. Dizzy because I didn't know where to focus my research. On the one hand, I was interested in contemporary Calvinism, particularly in the area of Reformed apologetics (the theoretical defense of the faith). My pastor at the time, Raymond Perron, was pursuing his doctoral studies at the same institution with the same supervisor, but in the field of Cornelius Van Til's Reformed apologetics. I had been interested in this field since my undergraduate studies at Toronto Baptist Seminary (TBS)..

On the other hand, my thoughts had been focused for some time on the thinking of Jean Calvin, the 16th-century french-speaking reformer of Geneva, and the reception of his theology by his successors, as well as the ongoing debate about the pseudo-divide between “Calvin and the Calvinists.” The doctrines contested in Calvin were mainly those of limited atonement and irresistible grace.

.

 

While talking on the phone with Professor Roberge, he said something along these lines: “Mr. Pinard, it's your decision, but keep in mind that you can't specialize in Protestant theology and ignore Calvin.” I therefore decided on John Calvin and the doctrine of irresistible grace, as this was a concept I had discussed at length with friends in the past. .

Bref, la plupart de mes cours en lecture dirigée portaient sur Calvin et m’ont permis de construire le squelette de mon mémoire terminé en 1994.

 

I continued to study the same theme at the doctoral level, but this time in a different treatise by the reformer. The thesis was completed in 2006.

But what is this « efficacious and irresistible grace »?  Far be it from me to go into minute details on this topic.  

To explain this concept, it is necessary to establish its conceptual and theological context. As I mentioned in the previous section, the Word of God establishes a radical diagnosis of human beings in their spiritual condition. This is why, since human beings are spiritually dead and reject God in their lives (the God revealed in Scripture), in order to enter into a filial relationship with this same God and be saved, they need divine grace. Grace is, first of all, a divine disposition whereby God enters into a favorable relationship with human beings by virtue of his love and goodness. He grants to human beings what they do not deserve. Indeed, human beings deserve condemnation. Thus, becoming a child of God, being born again spiritually, and receiving eternal life in our hearts all depend on divine grace, on his undeserved favor toward us.

Now, when we speak of “efficacious and irresistible grace,” we are referring to God's action in our lives. While we ourselves were spiritually dead, incapable, left to ourselves, of walking toward God, He draws us to Himself in an efficacious way, that is to say, in such a way that the objective for which it is granted is unfailingly achieved. Just as a detergent is “efficacious” when it succeeds in cleaning what was dirty, grace is efficacious when it brings life to a “heart of stone” (Ezekiel 36:26), it brings life to someone in a state of spiritual death. It communicates to us the spiritual life and instills in us the very desire to turn to God.

.

"No one can come to me

unless the Father who sent me draws him;

and I will raise him up at the last day."

(John 6:44)

It is an “efficacious and irresistible grace.” The Bible affirms that we resist God. Just as Adam fled from God in the Garden of Eden, we flee from Him because of our sin. But when the moment of grace comes, God renews our hearts by His Spirit and changes our will through an inner intervention. While we were fleeing far from God, God works a change in us so that we willingly return to our God and cease to resist Him.

 That is irresistible grace! Let's take as an example, a beautiful strawberry shortcake topped with whipped cream.

If we say it is irresistible, it is not because we feel compelled (against our will) to take a piece. The irresistible nature of this cake lies in the fact that the mere sight of it awakens in us a whole network of positive stimuli and feelings, which lead us to cease resisting the temptation to approach it. It is then that the object of desire becomes a gustatory reality.

This comparison can help us understand the phenomenon of appropriating grace within ourselves and why it is irresistible. When God opens the eyes of our hearts so that we can see all the benefits that the Son of God can give us by virtue of his sacrificial work on the cross of Calvary, then we cannot help but approach and come to the Savior to receive the benefits of his forgiveness, his pardon, and his reconciliation in order to be saved, and this, completely free.

"but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst;

the water that I shall give him will become in him

a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

(John 4:14)

 Of course, it must be pointed out that God does not send this grace to all humans. It is a grace that He grants to those whom He has chosen from all eternity, and for whom Christ came to give His life. But "Why is it not granted to everyone? That's not fair!” some might say. In fact, what would be fair and just would be not to have chosen anyone. That God decided to choose many, that is what should surprise us, even fill us with wonder!

Once this grace is granted to us, eternal life begins, and it never ends; we cannot lose it. Since God is the author of this grace, it is also God who ensures that we have the perseverance to reach our destination. Jesus' sheep will never perish.

                                    "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me;                                                                                       and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish,

                                             a nd no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, 

                                                    who has given them to me, is greater than all, 

                                        and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.".

(John 10:27-29)

Well, as you can see, it was this particular subject that prompted me to spend several years at university studying its ramifications, ins and outs, from Saint

Augustine (nicknamed the Doctor of Grace) to the reformer John Calvin (nicknamed the Doctor of the Holy Spirit[1]). For those who are interested and would like further reading on the subject, I have included a few references below[2].

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[1] Eifion Evans, "John Calvin: Theologian of the Holy Spirit », https://eamonyounis.blogspot.com/2018/08/john-calvin-theologian-of-holy-spirit.html (Consulted on 2025-09-15).

[2] André Pinard, « La notion de grâce irresistible dans la Response aux calumnies d’Albert Pighius de Jean Calvin », Ph.D. dissertation, Université Laval, 2006, xxv, 465 p.  https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrFQtfXDsJo3gQyUQH_Ggx.;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1757577048/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fdam-oclc.bac-lac.gc.ca%2fdownload%3fis_thesis%3d1%26oclc_number%3d1032990738%26id%3daa55650c-b2d0-4de7-b4c8-999753a1efdf%26fileName%3d24111.pdf/RK=2/RS=adOhkRXqggFi87bHCIXZKTWclDM-   Idem., « Libre arbitre ou liberté de la grâce? – La notion de grâce irresistible dans la Response aux calomnies d’Albert Pighius », Revue réformée, vol. 63, no 4, july 2012, pp. 47-72. https://larevuereformee.net/articlerr/n263/libre-arbitre-ou-liberte-de-la-grace-la-notion-de-grace-irresistible-dansla-response-aux-calomnies-dalbert-pighius-par-jean-calvin ; Idem, « Coup de grâce » augustinien dans la réponse aux calomnies d’Albert Pighius de Jean Calvin, Théologie évangélique, vol. 8, no 3, 2010, p. 161-179. See also Kevin DeYoung, "Irresistible Grace", https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/piper/irresistable.html (consulted on 2025-09-15); John Benton, La grâce irrésistible, https://www.reveniralevangile.com/la-grace-irresistible-john-benton/; Charles Burgunder, La rédemption particulière, https://evangile21.thegospelcoalition.org/essais/la-redemption-particuliere-2/.