Jesus taught that one could enter the Kingdom of God only after being born again (Jn 3:3, Jn 3:5). Jesus also taught that all who were given to Him by the Father would indeed come to Him and be raised at the last day (Jn 6:37-40, Jn 10:27-29, Jn 17:1-2). It follows then that all given by the Father to Christ will be born again.
Natural man, being unreceptive to spiritual things, would invariably resist the spiritual birth if he could. The quickening power of God's Spirit must therefore be irresistibly imposed. This reasoning is confirmed by the fact that the scriptures consistently describe salvation as being the result of God's will and not of man's (Jn 1:11-13, Jn 5:21, Rom 9:11-16, 2Tim 1:9-10, Heb 10:7-10).
Jesus taught the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is analogous to the wind in that it is sovereign and irresistible (Jn 3:8). Jesus also taught this was the case for everyone that is born of the Spirit.
The principle of irresistible grace is clearly illustrated in the case of Paul on Damascus road. Since the Spirit works in similar fashion for all (Jn 3:8), it follows that all must experience the same irresistible power that confronted Paul. Accordingly, Paul later claimed his experience to be a pattern for all believers (1Tim 1:12-16).
All analogies of the new birth presented in the scriptures suggest an irresistible power working on a passive object. In particular, the acquisition of spiritual life is presented in the scriptures as being analogous to:
1) birth - Jn 1:11-13, Jn 3:3-8
2) quickening - Eph 2:1-5, Col 2:13
3) translation - Col 1:12-13
4) resurrection - Jn 5:25-29
5) creation - 2Cor 5:17, Eph 2:10
No individual experiencing any of the above transitions ever contributed in the least degree to the transition, nor have they ever successfully resisted it.
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