Thoughts on Preparatory Grace

The Puritan Reverand William Greenhill gave a wonderful sermon titled What Must and Can Persons Do Towards Their Own Conversion. This brilliant sermon is a masterclass in Biblical soteriology (the Doctrine of Salvation). In it, Greenhill asserts two fundamental Biblical truths. First, he affirms overwhelmingly that no person is able to add or contribute anything towards their own salvation. No man is able to find God by his own efforts. Neither is any man able to collaborate, in any way, with God towards their own salvation. Salvation is entirely of God. Even the act of repenting and believing are gifts of grace, not acts of human strength.

Yet he also affirms that there are normal steps that God often uses in preparing man’s heart to receive the free gift of the Gospel. It is these steps of preparation that are often called Preparatory Grace. By preparatory grace we are referring to those normal steps that God often does in a person’s life before one become a believer. For example, many people experience an overwhelming sense of their own depravity before their salvation, as the law of God weighs heavily on their conscience. This person has not yet turned to Christ. They have not yet been justified before a Holy God. They are still in their sins. And yet the law of God is weighing on them in such a way that they feel and experience its crushing weight. This is what the Puritans referred to as Preparatory Grace. Far from supporting some version of Arminian theology, the doctrine of Preparatory Grace is a strong beam in the house of Calvinism. See a wonderful book review on IX Marks on Joel Beeke’s book on this topic here. Further, for the true student of theology, preparatory Grace must not be confused with the false doctrine of Preparationism, the belief that these steps of Preparation somehow contribute towards our own salvation.

What then can a nonbeliever do during this season of Preparatory Grace? In this sermon, Greenhill lays out eleven human responses that may be part of this preparatory grace period. He especially roots his discourse in Acts 2:37-38, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you…” Here, a group of nonbelievers has clearly been pricked in the heart, felt their need of salvation, and have inquired of what they ought to do. All of this while still being unregenerate. From this example and others, Greenhill lists out the following:

1. Men may become convinced of their own sin. As the law weighs down on them, they may come to a place where they realize that they are not good enough. That wickedness and moral pollution dwells within them.
2. They may mourn over their sin. This knowledge of their sinfulness may begin to weigh heavily on their own heart to the point that they begin to despair.
3. They may begin to fill with dread over the reality of their final judgment before God. As with the men in Acts 2:37-38 who cried out, “What shall we do?” They feared their current course and sought help from somewhere.
4. They may confess their sins, renounce it, and reform much. This might seem against Reformed theology but it isn’t. Very often the unregenerate will seek some reform in their life. Though they are unable to truly remove the root of their sin, which lies deeply in their heart, they may indeed confess the problems and seek through their own will to overcome moral weaknesses. On the surface, they may appear to make great gains.
5. They may admit to their own guilt and justify God’s judgment over them. Not only do they know their own sinfulness, but they may recognize that were God to judge them in that moment, he would justly find them guilty.
6. Men may seriously consider the nature of their sin. The more men reflect on their own depravity, nuances may be discovered that were previously unknown. They may see strands of moral depravity never before seen in their own lives.
7. They may come to truly believe that there is no help for their sinful condition in themselves or their own lives. Again, the person is not yet saved, but rather at this point is truly in a place of despair. They are as Isaiah who cried out, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lip!” Isaiah did not seek out salvation at this point. He simply knew, he was a dead man.
8. They may arrive at a decision that they will do anything required of them in order to be saved. At this point, the person truly knows nothing of grace. They do not understand the free gift of the gospel. But they have become so desperate that they confess their willingness to do whatever is required, if only for relief from their final judgment.
9. They may conceive fair hopes of mercy. In their hopeless state, they may dream of mercy being extended to them. They may hope for some free unexpected gift to remove them from their condition.
10. They may thirst after, pray for, and long for that mercy to arrive. Again, we may think this person saved at this point. But until Christ applies the Gospel to their life, this person is still in their sin. This is all still simply preparatory grace, as they cry out for salvation to come to them.
11. They may wait upon God to do the work. Men may make it this far, and resolve to wait patiently for God to do what they cannot.

After these eleven insights, Greenhill says, “By these forementioned things men are in a proximity or nextness to conversion, but not converted. It must be an higher power than our own which lifts us up into an higher nature, or state, than we are in at present. Though men may do much upon moral persuasions; yet not so much as to make themselves converts or spiritual, of animal or natural. Previous actions and preparative dispositions may make a man a picture of a convert, not a true or living convert.”

Do all of these steps contribute in any way to our salvation? No! Do they turn God’s head and make him say, “Ah, there is one worthy of salvation.” No! Salvation is entirely and utterly of God. Yet, as we see from numerous examples in Scripture, it is often the case that God provides a type of grace that prepares the heart for the seed of the gospel to take root. What a wonderful God we serve. As the great Wilhelm A Brakel wrote, “These preparatory circumstances mentioned do not proceed from man, but are God’s common operations…. [They] are but means which God uses to deal with man in a manner consistent with his humanity.”

It would appear that many people I have known over the years have experienced something of Preparatory Grace. We as Christians and bearers of the light of Christ, must be prepared at all times to offer the free gift of grace to our friends who may very well be in this haunting season of Preparatory Grace. Hide it though they may, many people truly have come to the end of themselves, have cried out for help, but do not yet know where their help comes from. O Christian, tell them of the free gift of grace, the full forgiveness of sins, and the life everlasting that is found in Christ. Tell them of the Savior, Jesus Christ!