The Christian Life: Chapter Four Notes

Chapter Four: Called by God

The Effectual Call

Lesson preparation
Resources Used:

Summary of Christian Doctrine, Chapter 14, by Louis Berkhof

Called with a Holy Calling, Robert Murray M'Cheyne**

Body of Divinity, Chapter 31, The Effectual Calling, by Thomas Watson

The Shorter Catechism Explained, Chapter 31, Effectual Calling

Grace Unknown, Chapter 9, by R. C. Sproul, The Spirit's Effective Call

From Grace Unknown, pg. 190

Effectual calling is effectual because in it and by it God effects exactly what He intends in the operation: The quickening of spiritually dead souls to spiritual life. Calling refers to the Holy Spirit's inward or secret operation on the soul. . . The grace of regeneration changes the heart or sould from something cold, lifeless, and stony into something living, pulsing, sanguine and responsive. The heart is "made alive" to the things of God.

**a must read

Related Tags: Effectual Call, R. C. Sproul, Thomas Watson, The Christian Life, Sinclair Ferguson, Robert Murray M'Cheyne, Louis Berkhof