Recap: Although we had been reviewing some challenging questions regarding the doctrine of election, we took a break last week and I posted an excerpt from my book, God's Elect - The Chosen Generation.
For the past several weeks, we looked at some questions that often pose difficulties for the non-Calvinist. This week we'll turn the tables and begin to look at some commonly asked questions that challenge the Reformed/Calvinistic view of election. Before we begin with the first question, here is a short, (yet, I believe, accurate) understanding of the Augustinian/Calvinism (Reformed) doctrine of (unconditional) election:
“All (people) are not created on equal terms.”[i] God, from before the foundation of the world, divided all people into two groups; those he chose to save (the elect), and those who were not chosen to save (the non-elect/reprobate). God’s choice was not based on anything in the person, including foreseen faith. The elect will go to heaven. The non-elect will go to hell. God’s election is unconditional and final.
[i] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, paragraph 5
Vexing Question #4
Why evangelize?
This is probably the most common question that comes into the mind of someone who hears the Reformed/Calvinistic doctrine of election for the first time. They rightfully reason that if everyone's eternal future has been predetermined by God, what's the point of evangelizing? Why proclaim the gospel to people who, by God's own decree, cannot respond positively? And why proclaim the gospel to people who have already been guaranteed salvation from before time in eternity past?
There are two common answers offered by Calvinists:
1. We evangelize because God commands it.
2. We evangelize because God not only determines the ends (who will be saved, and who will not), he also determines the means by which the ends will be accomplished (i.e. the proclamation of the gospel).
Disclaimer
There is a part of me that doesn't even want to pay heed to this question because it might give the appearance of legitimizing a completely unscriptural premise. The proposition that God divided everyone into two groups whose eternal destinations were determined from before the foundation of the world is nowhere found in Scripture. While the Bible certainly speaks of chosen/elect groups and individuals, there is no biblical indication that these people/groups were chosen to be (unconditionally) saved. Likewise, there is no biblical warrant to believe that those who were not chosen/elect, were predestined for condemnation with a permanent inability to respond to the gospel. I know these statements require further explanation, but for now I mention them just for the record.
So, with the above disclaimer, let's address the two Calvinistic answers.
1. God Commands it
With regard to the first response, the Reformed reasoning is that since we don't know who the elect are, in obedience, we proclaim the good news to all because God commands it.
While we certainly respect and encourage any person who sincerely desires to obey the commands of God, the proclamation of the gospel, at its core, is an offer of hope - the genuine hope of salvation to the lost. In the Reformed doctrine of election, a proclamation of the gospel to the non-elect, then, is really a disingenuous offer of hope to those who, by the will/decree of God, are eternally hopeless. The real affront to our moral sensibilities is that the disingenuousness of the offer is not on the part of the Calvinistic evangelist (since he/she doesn't know whether the hearer of the gospel is one of the elect or not), but on God's part!
Does such cruel insincerity reflect God's nature? Does God really command us to be partners in such a cruel hoax - the offer of salvation to those who have been rendered unable to respond?
Let's look at an evangelical "outreach event" (pun intended) conducted by Jesus for a more biblical perspective on the nature of God.
And he took (the little children) in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. (Mark 10:16 ESV)
In the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark, we get the beautiful and touching scene when Jesus draws a group of little children into his arms and blesses them. He doesn’t express any worries about which ones are able to come to him and which ones are not, which ones were chosen from before the foundation of the world for salvation, and which of these little children were predestined to perish. He gathers all of them to himself and blesses them all. He knows that, because of the cross, eternal life will be available to every child, and that after the cross, every one of them and all future generations of children, will be drawn to Him with the God-given ability to seek him, reach out for him, and find him, because he will never be far from each and every one of them (Acts 17:27).
This tender story is a far cry from the hideous picture of a deceitful and insincere god who intentionally offers a false message of hope to those whom he has decreed eternally lost! From the examples set by Jesus (Mat 11:28, John 7:37, etc.), we see that the reason God commands that we be prepared to tell everyone the reason for the hope that we have (1 Pet 3:15), is because no one is unable, by God's decree, to receive the blessing of the gospel of grace. Everyone gets a sincere invitation to the wedding feast (Mat 22:9).
2. God determines the means to the end
With regard to the second answer - we evangelize because God not only determines the ends, he also determines the means - the implication is that God not only chooses who will be saved, but how they'll be saved. One way that God accomplishes the work of harvesting the elect, they say, is through the preaching of the gospel. Therefore, says the Calvinist, we evangelize.
I believe that within this answer is a biblical truth that has been applied to an unbiblical premise. In other words, it's a great answer, but to the wrong question. Since the stated goal of the Lord is the salvation of the world (John 12:47), we can say that God determines not only the end (true salvation of all who believe from every tribe, tongue, people and nation), but the means by which it will be achieved - the gospel. Or, to put it another way, the gospel is "the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes" (Rom 1:16).
While I might dispute that there is a biblical mandate for all to evangelize ("are all evangelists?"), armed with the confidence of the biblical truth that everyone (not just the select few) is capable of responding to the gospel message, the more appropriate and biblical question is, "Why not evangelize?"
Next Post: We'll tackle another perplexing question with regard to the Reformed view of the doctrine of election. Here's a link to the next post:
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