Skip to content
01v/11/arve/G2582/020

The Evangelistic Nerve of John Calvin

By Jeff Robinson –

What does the theology of John Hick and John Calvin have in common? Much, if some voices within popular evangelicalism are to be believed. Hick, of course, is a well-known inclusivist and Calvin is one of the heroes of the Reformation. Theologically, the two seem to be polar opposites, but it is Calvin’s adherence to the biblical doctrine most closely linked with his name, predestination, that some argue puts him in league with Hick and other inclusivists, for both inclusivism and predestination taken to their logical end scuttle the necessity of missions and evangelism.

Televangelist Jerry Falwell once said Calvin’s theology has been responsible for sending “untold millions” to a godless eternity because it has nothing to say to the lost. But those charges are not limited to popular evangelicalism. The scholarly community  has joined the chorus of voices charging Calvin and his theology with lacking evangelistic nerve.

The late William Estep, a renowned church historian, argued in a 1997 article in the Texas Baptist Standard that predestination is “logically anti-missionary” and “renders the Great Commission meaningless.” Calvin’s soteriology means that every person is “programmed” to be damned or saved and “makes a person a puppet on a string,” he further argued. Estep’s main critique of Calvinism hinges on a perceived inconsistency with Christ’s command in Matthew 28:19, a passage that universally compels Christians to evangelize all people and all nations.

Contrary to popular evangelical opinion, Calvin’s theology, including his subscription to predestination, is anything but anti-missions and evangelism. The entire concern of the Reformation was the recovery of the heart of the gospel, justification by faith, so that lost humanity might come to a saving knowledge of the one true God.

Calvin’s exegetical writings make it clear that his theology has no kinship with inclusivism and, to the contrary, views Christ as the only way to reconciliation with God, a truth that must be proclaimed promiscuously before lost humanity.

For example, commenting on 2 Peter 3:9, a text often commandeered as evidence against God’s election of individuals for salvation, Calvin is very clear as to the expectation that every Christian is to do the work of an evangelist:

This is a very necessary admonition to give us so that we may learn to rightly use time, for otherwise we shall suffer a just punishment for our idleness. He is not willing that any should perish, Peter tells us. So wonderful is his love toward mankind that God would have all saved and is himself prepared to bestow salvation on the lost. But we are to notice that God is ready to receive all to repentance so that none may perish. Therefore, everyone who is desirous of salvation must learn to enter by this way.”

Similarly, of the classic predestination passage in Ephesians 1, Calvin expresses a clear and heartfelt desire that the nations receive God’s matchless grace in Christ, “Let us also pray that it may please him to grant this grace, not only to us but also to all people and all nations.”

Writing of Ephesians 4:16, a passage that speaks of all the gifts of Christ’s body being used together in concert to build up the church in love, Calvin demonstrates a strong desire to see the Gospel shine forth and bring light into the darkness of a world captive to sin’s dark night: “We should not willfully separate ourselves from the world, but, as it were, stretch our arms out to bring in all who yield themselves willingly to obedience of God so that we may have one faith together. Let us work to bring this to pass.” John Calvin is inclusivist only in the sense that he believed that Gospel proclamation should include every tribe, tongue and nation.

Jeff Robinson (Ph.D., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is senior pastor of Philadelphia Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL.

Did you enjoy this article. Read others like it in the January issue of Credo Magazine, “In Christ Alone.”

The January issue argues for the exclusivity of the gospel, especially in light of the movement known as inclusivism. This issue will seek to answer questions like: Can those who have never heard the gospel of Christ be saved? Will everyone be saved in the end or will some spend an eternity in hell? Must someone have explicit faith in Christ to be saved? Contributors include David Wells, Robert Peterson, Michael Horton, Gerald Bray, Todd Miles, Todd Borger, Ardel Caneday, Nathan Finn, Trevin Wax, Michael Reeves, and many others.

To view the magazine as a PDF Click Here

Advertisment
Back to Top