Perhaps you are familiar with this parable concerning the difficulties of affirming both man’s free will and God’s all-encompassing sovereignty.
A sign above the door to Heaven boldly proclaims “Whosoever will may come!” However, once through Heaven’s gates, an astute observer will notice that the flip side of the sign says, “Only those predestined before the foundation of the world may enter.”
There is more than a little truth to this parable. The first sign deals with salvation from man’s perspective. To the awakened sinner, the first sign gives hope that if he will but look, he will live. Calvinism pulls the curtain back on the awakened sinner’s soul and sees God’s Spirit at work in regenerating the sinner, and granting him repentance and faith, due to the second sign.
As I see it, Calvinism deals mostly with what goes on behind the scenes, so to speak, in respect to salvation. But let me stress that Calvinism is not prying into secret areas of God’s will. No, Calvinism responds to numerous Scripture texts. While they don’t claim to understand everything, Calvinists are bound to believe the five points due to their regard for Scripture. This is not something they enjoy “making up from thin air” so to speak.
A proper understanding of man’s part and God’s part in salvation will do much to help us sort through the sticky issues surrounding Calvinism and evangelism. Historically, some Calvinists (hyper Calvinists, actually) have claimed that we have no responsibility to evangelize since God will irresistibly draw His elect with or without our help. Furthermore, they have claimed that we cannot confidently tell anyone necessarily that if they will but believe and come, that they will be saved. Such hyper Calvinists, then, denied the first sign.
So it is due to extremists from within their own theological system, that Calvinists face such intense suspicion at times. Many people sincerely doubt that Calvinists believe in evangelism. And many go beyond doubt and actually claim that Calvinism will negatively impact evangelism.
But such claims are so utterly wrong! Historically, some of the greatest evangelists and missionaries, some of the most evangelical of pastors have been 5 point Calvinists. Names like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield, Charles Spurgeon, William Carey, Adoniram Judson and many, many more could be given. In fact many missionary movements and revivals have been started in large part due to the work of Calvinists.
History aside, if one understands that Calvinism addresses the “behind the scenes” actions of God (God’s part), he will not see any contradiction between Calvinists rushing to do man’s part (evangelism). For Calvinists believe that every sinner who would be saved, must actually believe, and he must do this himself. Furthermore, we understand Scripture to clearly teach that no one gets saved apart from the gospel, and almost always people must be involved in spreading that gospel.
So for Calvinists, evangelism is about obeying God. And yet it is more. It is about joining God in His mission. It is about spreading God’s glory among the nations for His sake. Calvinists are encouraged that God is the one ultimately responsible for results. This gives us hope to minister in many contexts that might not provide immediate results, from man’s perspective.
There is one other point to stress here. Calvinists tend to understand salvation as a “work in progress”. It is that “work” which God has started in us and promises to complete. And so for the Calvinist, mere human decisions are not the goal of evangelism. Numbers of noses, and baptism tallies mean little. Calvinists see discipleship and spiritual growth as the goal of evangelism. [This is not to say that all non-Calvinists disagree with us here, by the way.] I say this because when numbers are expected, many a Calvinist might fail the test. But to a Calvinist, numbers aren’t the most important thing.
I hope what I have said makes sense and helps work toward an understanding of where Calvinists stand in relation to evangelism. And if it doesn’t I have several articles here from the last few weeks, which will help you really understand this issue. I provide them, because it was partly by coming across these that I was motivated to write this post.
- “Are Election and Evangelism Compatible?” by T. Robert Baylor
- “God’s Part and Man’s Part in Salvation” by John G. Reisinger
- “Decisions or Disciples: What’s the Goal?” by Rhett Kelley
Related Posts:
Bob,
Well stated. For years, I was taught that Calvinism destroys “soul winning”. Now I know the truth. The only “soul winning” that Calvinism destroys is the man-centered decisionism kind.
Know I preach the Gospel with more boldness because of confidence in the power of Christ.
There is much peace and confidence in Christ know that I understand the doctrines of grace.
Thanks for your testimony, Joe. Calvinism often has that effect on people. It strengthens their faith and causes them to love Christ more fully. It does not have to create a puffed-up prideful spirit.
God bless,
Bob
It’s true that fundamentalists agree that discipleship is the ultimate goal, but their intentions are undermined by the often shallow response to an often shallow presentation of the gospel. That’s why Calvinists may lose the “numbers game.” Lay a purely Calvinist presentation of the gospel up against a typical fundamentalist presentation and you can tell that it requires a longer attention span. A fundamentalist presentation may have a quicker turn around, but percentage wise, I dare say it also has a high turnover rate.
If you can’t get folks to come back to church, you can’t get them discipled–unless, of course, you’re willing to regularly go to them, which requires sacrifice. But this may seem an impractical task to a fundamentalist whose racking up so many “decisions.”
Speaking generally, while fundamentalists are in it for the short term decision, the Calvinist is in it for the long term disciple.
Don’t these two statements contradict each others?
It’s true that fundamentalists agree that discipleship is the ultimate goal.
Speaking generally, while fundamentalists are in it for the short term decision, the Calvinist is in it for the long term disciple.
Anyway, I generally agree with you. Trying telling your average Fundamentalist that “teach” is the only imperative in the Great Commission. You’ll get laughed at and they’ll tell you to go study or something.
Hey, there is another great post on this topic found here.
[...] explored how Calvinism and Evangelism are not at odds, in an earlier post here. Today, I want to encourage you to listen to my pastor, John Piper’s most recent message [...]
This is a well thought out post. I have been surfing different posts on you blog and it has done much for my spirit. Thank you for your time and diligence.
Calvinists have no reason to be persuasive with evangelism, because they believe in Irisistible grace. Calvinists believe that regeneration is first required before someone can believe, and that this regeneration is irresetibly and divinely caused by God. According to the Calvinist, it is a direct act on the non-believers’ heart.
Hence, once you have told the good news, there is no need to be persuasive. Furthermore, there is no need for follow-up (except for growing) for the Calvinist, because of the Calvinistic belief in “perseverence of the saints”.
Daniel,
You’re welcome to disagree. God gives the increase, and he wants us to do all things so that we might save all. We are to follow the commands of Scripture about loving others, having discernment, being patient, giving ourselves in evangelism, etc. We are to follow Paul’s example of evangelism. Calvinists agree.
Your points are all conclusions you think Calvinism leads one to. But they are not necessary conclusions. The Calvinistic belief in the perseverance of the saints is no license for not following up at all. Heb. 3 teaches clearly our need for brotherly admonishment. That believers persevere, is a challenge for me to be persevering. It’s all of God, but if His work in me is genuine, I will be persevering. Perseverance is no easy believism nor once saved always saved flippant view of salvation.
I challenge you to explore what Calvinism really teaches. Explore some of the links my blog gives. At the least, agree to disagree charitably with us and don’t insinuate we don’t care about evangelism. We do.
Blessings in Christ,
Bob
[...] Whitfield, Charles Spurgeon, William Carey, Adoniram Judson and many, many more could be given. (Fundamentally Reformed) In Calvin’s day, Geneva became a great center for church planting, evangelism and even [...]
[...] the cross, but the cross-work was not performed on the behalf of all, but only for the elect. (This does not mean we should not preach to all, since we have no way of knowing who the elect are. Hyper-Calvinists are the ones who do not preach [...]