Skip to content
Ordinary Time

Key Doctrines

Efficacious Grace

Grace that infallibly accomplishes its purpose in the one it is given to — closely related to irresistible grace and effectual calling.

Not To Be Confused With

Efficacious (or 'effectual') grace certainly achieves conversion; 'sufficient' grace (in some Catholic debates) is enough to enable but does not by itself ensure the response. The distinction is central to grace-and-freedom debates.

The term features in both Reformed theology and the Catholic Thomist-Molinist debates over how grace moves the will without destroying its freedom. All sides affirm grace's necessity; they differ on how grace and the free response relate so that the act is both God's gift and truly the person's own.

Related Terms

Related Word Studies

Efficacious Grace — Definition | Theologos Media