John 14:17
John 14:16-17 (see also John 11:25)
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”
Question: “Cannot receive,” why?
Answer: Because the Holy Spirit is only for
believers in Christ. God does not shut the door
on the world; Jesus is at the door knocking.
(Revelation 3:20)
John Calvin: “‘The world cannot accept him.’ This contrast shows the special excellence of that grace which God gives only to his elect, for he means that it is no ordinary gift that the world is deprived of.” (John: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.344, emphasis mine)
If the New Testament elect are exclusively believers, then yes, God only gives the Holy Spirit to elect believers. However, what John Calvin is suggesting is that God gives the Holy Spirit to unbelieving ‘elect’ people, so that upon being made secretly and preemptively Born Again, are able to become saved.
