So then what we are really saying is "resistible prevenient grace" and the total inability of man to respond to the Gospel once heard without the work of grace in the man's heart?
I read more that God reveals himself and He removes the veil over peoples eyes (spiritual blindness) as they respond to His promptings and hearing His word, not that He gives Grace to the non-believer and they can resist His Grace.
You need to have more clarity in this matter:
1. God's grace is offered to ALL MANKIND in and through Christ and His finished work of salvation.
2. The Gospel is meant for *every creature* which means that all can be saved if all will obey the Gospel (repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ)
3. When the Gospel is preached (or read) it becomes the power of God unto salvation through the convicting and convincing of the Holy Spirit. Which means that *total inability* or *total depravity* are not biblical, and sinners can and do respond to the preaching of the Gospel. You can either call this God giving grace through conviction and convincing, or God OFFERING grace through the Gospel.
4. All sinners will be convicted by the Holy Spirit, but they can either (a) submit to God and Christ or (b) reject the Gospel, reject Christ, and reject the offer of eternal life. Which means that they can either obey the Gospel or disobey the Gospel. And as Paul says (Rom 10:16) But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. And this is what resisting grace means.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS IRRESISTIBLE GRACE (Mark 16:15,16)
5. The term "prevenient grace" is not found in the Bible. But here is what it means from Theopedia:
Prevenient grace refers to the grace of God in a person's life that
precedes conversion (or
salvation). The word "prevenient," considered an archaic term today, was common in the King James English and simply means to "go before" or "precede." Likewise, it is sometimes called "preventing" grace (from
prevenient) with the same meaning...
In
Arminianism and Wesleyanism, it is a grace that offsets the
noetic effects of
the Fall, restores man's
free will, and thus enables every person to choose to come to Christ or not. There are two forms of this view:
- Universal prevenient grace — This grace is extended to every person. (BIBLICAL)
- Individualistic prevenient grace — This grace is only extended to those who come under the intelligent hearing of the gospel, and not to every person.
However, here is the biblical meaning of God's grace:
TITUS 2: GRACE = SALVATION + SANCTIFICATION + GOOD WORKS
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.