prevenient grace

American  

noun

1. divine grace operating on the human will prior to its turning to God.

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Etymology

Origin of prevenient grace

First recorded in 1660–70

Example Sentences

He is almost entirely dependent upon God's "prevenient grace," which gives him the desire to do God's will, and "subsequent grace," which enables him to do it.

From Time Magazine Archive

Consequently, there can be no efficacious prayer without prevenient grace, and purely natural prayer is inefficacious for salvation.

From Grace, Actual and Habitual A Dogmatic Treatise by Preuss, Arthur

Solemn Bishops and high Dignitaries, our divine "Pillars of Fire by night," debating meanwhile, with their largest wigs and gravest look, upon something they call "prevenient grace"?

From Latter-Day Pamphlets by Carlyle, Thomas

The Semipelagians ascribed the dispositions necessary for justification to the natural efforts of the will, thereby denying the necessity of prevenient grace.

From Grace, Actual and Habitual A Dogmatic Treatise by Preuss, Arthur

What must his wrath be that the thirty thousand Needlewomen are still here, and the question of "prevenient grace" not yet settled!

From Latter-Day Pamphlets by Carlyle, Thomas