What does it mean that God effectively calls and converts us?
" Effectual calling " is the title of ch. 10 of the Westminster Confession (1647). The chapter begins: 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 described here is the process of Christian conversion , involving illumination, regeneration, and the transformation of the will. It is a sovereign work of God, "effectually" (that is, effectively) performed by the power of the ...