Can God Subdue The Will?

"Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." (Phil. 3:21 kjv)

One of the reasons why I believe in effectual calling, and that God can and does save all he is pleased to save, rejecting Pelagian and Arminian ideas about "free will," is because of such verses as the above.

Although I have not read any commentator who straightway affirms what I am about to affirm on the verse, nevertheless the affirmation, or argument, would not be rejected by those who believe in sovereign grace.

Let me begin by asking some questions:

1) Does the will of the depraved sinner need to be "subdued" in the work of salvation?

2) If yes, then, according to the above general statement of Paul, God is able to subdue the will.

3) If God subdues the will, and without fail, then how does that fact bear on the debate on how God works on the will in salvation?

Many say that the Calvinistic belief in "effectual calling," or "irresistible grace," leads to the idea that God "forces" or "coerces" sinners against their wills in saving them. But, seeing that such words have a bad connotation to them, can we substitute the word "subdued," or other synonyms such as conquer, subject, make to obey, etc.? After all, do we not read that "thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power"? (Psa. 110: 3)

If God is able to subdue "all things," would this not include the sinful carnal will?

The Arminian likes to talk about how God only "woos" the will, and deny that he "forces" the will. But, in reply, who can deny that the wooing of omnipotence is always conquering, always successful? Does he lack the wisdom or power to woo the will, to "win the heart" of the object of his deepest affections?

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17: 9) But, who knows it better than God? Does God not know the stubbornness of the depraved will? Must his work not cross the line of "interfering with the will of man"? If God "forces" the will, has he sinned against himself, his own nature? What Arminian wants to tell us just where that line is drawn? Where wooing turns into coercion? Where does the putting forth of divine force (power) in the conquering of the will go across the line?

All agree that God puts forth power in changing a man's heart and will, but the Arminian wants to prescribe limits for how much force God may righteously apply. If he applies too much power in the changing of a sinner's heart and will, then, according to such thinking, he is guilty of violating a man's free will. So, in order for that not to happen, God must restrain his power in such a work to mere wooing and not go across that line. If he does cross that line, many will say that "God forces salvation on people," a thing thought to be unworthy of God.

"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will." (Prov. 21:1)

When I came to Christ, it was the result of God working in me "to will." (Phil. 2:12) He "made" me willing. Yet, at the time, I felt to be under no "coercion." I came most willingly. But, who am I to thank for my going from being "unwilling" to being "willing"? God, or myself?

What think ye?