You may have thought “How do the Calvinist doctrines work in evangelism?” Calvinists will argue that there is impetus for “evangelism” in their “doctrines of grace,” but I contend that they must wrestle with a question that is demanded by the biblical root of the word “evangelism” which means “good news.” They must ask themselves, “What can the precise content of our evangelistic message be that is consistent with our “doctrines of grace” if we are to preach “good news” to all sinners?” This is ultimately an issue of logical consistency and moral integrity. What message can the Calvinist preach that is “good news” for all those hearing the message and also be logically, morally, epistemologically and biblically consistent with their “doctrines of grace?”
At least Harold Camping’s position was consistent. And we saw how this Calvinist consistency led to nonsense regarding faith and salvation. Camping maintained that it is enough for sinners to sit under the teaching of the Bible for the efficacious work of one’s unconditonal election to salvation to take place. That is the means, he says, by which the elect are effectually called. He does not preach what he calls the “false gospel” – that a person can be saved by believing on Jesus as the Son of God and accepting him as their Savior. That would be a call to believe, and such believing is, according to all Calvinists, a work this is considered a “do-it-yourself-salvation plan.” (47) So, God must grant faith after regenerating (i.e., saving) the person as opposed to the person exercising faith upon which salvation (i.e., regeneration) is appropriated.
The Calvinist’s soteriology would seem to suppress a genuine concern that lost souls be saved so that they do not spend eternity in hell. For how can a Calvinist have a genuine concern that lost sinners not spend eternity in hell and have that concern be logically and morally consistent with their “sovereign grace” doctrines, let alone the mind and heart of God? For it is God who predestined a certain number of people to an eternity in hell. Only those people will unfailingly be saved. All others cannot and will not be saved. That just is the doctrine of uncondtional election. Therefore, it seems that a concern that people who do not believe should believe only has a logical and moral foundation if persons have a substantively free choice regarding their eternal destiny. When Paul expresses his desire for the salvation of Israel he is affirming this theology of free will and universal salvation. He writes,
“I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit — that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises. The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.” (Rom. 9:1-5, CSB)
J. B. Phillips puts it this way.
“My brothers, from the bottom of my heart I long and pray to God that Israel may be saved! I know from experience what a passion for God they have, but alas, it is not a passion based on knowledge. They do not know God’s righteousness, and all the time they are going about trying to prove their own righteousness they have the wrong attitude to receive his. For Christ means the end of the struggle for righteousness-by-the-Law for everyone who believes in him.” (Rom. 10:1-4, JBP)
Paul’s passion for Israel is coherent with salvation being undetermined, conditional, and contingent; a passion that is incoherent with belief in unconditional election. Can a Calvinist be genuinely concerned that some people will spend eternity in hell despite the fact that God assigns them this destiny? I guess so. But that emotion would be incoherent with their Calvinist determinism. This is one reason that the Calvinist interpretation of Romans 9 and 10 is incorrect. The Calvinist reads Romans 9 as talking about these Jews as the non-elect. Now, can the Calvinist genuinely desire to alter the eternal destiny of these unbelieving reprobates when in fact, according to their own doctrine, God himself has fixed their eternal destiny? But who are you, O Calvinist, to talk back to God! (Rom 9:20) Who are you, O Calvinist, to will something different than God! Why would Paul, or anyone, have such empathy and sorrow for the non-elect if God himself has not been moved by his own compassion to save them but rather has assigned them eternal damnation? Is your human empathy and compassion greater than God’s? And if you claim that God does love and have compassion on those he predestined to eternal damnation – an act of “love” and “compassion” unrecognizable to us as such – then what can we know is true about the nature of divine love and compassion? It would be a C. S. Lewis said, “God is we know not what.” 1
So, if I am concerned about the question, “What can I do to be saved?”, then where does Calvinism leave us? The Calvinist will say one should not concern themselves with whether they are among the elect or not. They say you cannot know this, other than by the “manifest evidences,” and these may not even be enduring signs of one’s election. This is what Camping was struggling with in the context of his deterministic doctrines (see the previous section). He understood that one’s election to salvation is the most basic concern when talking about salvation. One has to somehow be able to discern whether or not they are among the elect. But how could you or I ever know that? How could I ever know if I am among the elect? The question persists as unanswerable from the Calvinist soteriological context. Rather, one must presume their own election by the evidence of their interest in Christian things. But Calvin says these evidences may be temporary and the Spirit, although he make work some evidences of salvation, may withdraw from a person because they are not among the elect. So any present evidences one is counting on may not endure, indeed, they will not endure if you are not chosen for salvation. But is this how faith and salvation are explained in Scripture. I submit to you that it is not. One looks in vain throughout Scripture for any justification for a universal divine causal determinism, especially as to our salvation. Hence, Calvinism leaves us without “good news” for sinners.
And as to the universal applicability of salvation which is contrary to unconditional election, Paul is also clear. He writes,
“It is the secret of faith, which is the burden of our preaching, and it says, in effect, “If you openly admit by your own mouth that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and if you believe in your own heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” For it is believing in the heart that makes a man righteous before God, and it is stating his belief by his own mouth that confirms his salvation. And the scripture says: ‘Whoever believes on him will not be put to shame’. And that “whoever” means anyone, without distinction between Jew or Greek. For all have the same Lord, whose boundless resources are available to all who turn to him in faith. For: ‘Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’.” (Rom. 10:8b-13, JBP)
1 C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, (New York: Macmillan, 1962), 37.
The Truth of the Gospel 