Prevenient (love that word!) love

There is no way of taking the Bible seriously unless we are willing to entertain its presuppositions about sin, especially Sin in the singular. This is a catch-22 of sorts, because it is not possible to have a grasp of one’s own involvement in sin without a prior or simultaneous awareness of God’s prevenient love (Latin pre-venere, “going-before”). We need to recover that word “prevenient” because no other word or phrase captures so well the essential fact about grace: it prevenes (goes before), or precedes, recognition of sin, precedes confession of sin, precedes repentance for sin, and precedes forsaking of sin. Readers of this book are already held by God’s gracious intention toward them, whether they know themselves as sinners or not.—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 168 (emphasis original)