Calvin: Teacher of Evangelism

(Posted by Joel R. Beeke)

How was Calvin’s teaching evangelistic? In what way did his instruction oblige believers to seek the conversion of all people, those within the church as well as those in the world outside it?

Along with other Reformers, Calvin taught evangelism in a general way by earnestly proclaiming the gospel and by reforming the church according to biblical requirements. More specifically, Calvin taught evangelism by focusing on the universality of Christ’s kingdom and the responsibility of Christians to help extend that kingdom.

The universality of Christ’s kingdom is an oft-repeated theme in Calvin’s teaching. Calvin says all three persons of the Trinity are involved in the spreading of the kingdom. The Father will show “not only in one corner, what true religion is…but he will send forth his voice to the extreme limits of the earth.” Jesus came “to extend his grace over all the world.” And the Holy Spirit descended to “reach all the ends and extremities of the world.” In short, innumerable offspring “who shall be spread over the whole earth” will be born to Christ. And the triumph of Christ’s kingdom will become manifest everywhere among the nations.
How will the triune God extend His kingdom throughout the world? Calvin’s answer involves both God’s sovereignty and our responsibility. He says the work of evangelism is God’s work, not ours, but God will use us as His instruments. Citing the parable of the sower, Calvin explains that Christ sows the seed of life everywhere (Matt. 13:24-30), gathering His church not by human means but by heavenly power. The gospel “does not fall from the clouds like rain,” however, but is “brought by the hands of men to where God has sent it.” Jesus teaches us that God “uses our work and summons us to be his instruments in cultivating his field.” The power to save rests with God, but He reveals His salvation through the preaching of the gospel. God’s evangelism causes our evangelism. We are His co-workers, and He allows us to participate in “the honor of constituting his own Son governor over the whole world.”

Calvin taught that the ordinary method of “collecting a church” is by the outward voice of men; “for though God might bring each person to himself by a secret influence, yet he employs the agency of men, that he may awaken in them an anxiety about the salvation of each other.” He goes so far as to say, “Nothing retards so much the progress of Christ’s kingdom as the paucity of ministers.” Still, no human effort has the final word. It is the Lord, says Calvin, who “causes the voice of the gospel to resound not only in one place, but far and wide through the whole world.” The gospel is not preached at random to all nations but by the decree of God.

According to Calvin, this joining together of divine sovereignty and human responsibility in evangelism offers the following lessons:

1. As Reformed evangelists, we must pray daily for the extension of Christ’s kingdom. As Calvin says, “We must daily desire that God gather churches unto himself from all parts of the earth.” Since it pleases God to use our prayers to accomplish His purposes, we must pray for the conversion of the heathen. Calvin writes, “It ought to be the great object of our daily wishes, that God would collect churches for himself from all the countries of the earth, that he would enlarge their numbers, enrich them with gifts, and establish a legitimate order among them.” By daily prayer for God’s kingdom to come, we “profess ourselves servants and children of God deeply committed to his reputation.”

2. We must not become discouraged at a lack of visible success in evangelistic effort, but pray on. “Our Lord exercises the faith of his children, in that he doth not out of hand perform the things which he had promised them. And this thing ought specially to be applied to the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Calvin writes. “If God pass over a day or a year [without giving fruit], it is not for us to give over, but we must in the meanwhile pray and not doubt but that he heareth our voice.” We must keep praying, believing that “Christ shall manifestly exercise the power given to him for our salvation and for that of the whole world.”

3. We must work diligently for the extension of Christ’s kingdom, knowing that our work will not be in vain. Our salvation obligates us to work for the salvation of others. Calvin says, “We are called by the Lord on this condition, that everyone should afterwards strive to lead others to the truth, to restore the wandering to the right way, to extend a helping hand to the fallen, to win over those that are without.” Moreover, it is not enough for every man to be busy with other ways of serving God. “Our zeal must extend yet further to the drawing of other men.” We must do everything we are capable of to draw all men on earth to God.
There are many reasons why we must evangelize. Calvin offers the following:

God commands us to do so. “We should remember that the gospel is preached not only by the command of Christ but at his urging and leading.”

God leads us by example. Like our gracious God who wooed us, we must have our “arms extended, as he has, toward those outside” of us.

We want to glorify God. True Christians yearn to extend God’s truth everywhere that “God may be glorified.”

We want to please God. As Calvin writes, “It is a sacrifice well-pleasing to God to advance the spread of the gospel.” To five students who were sentenced to death for preaching in France, Calvin wrote, “Seeing that [God] employs your life in so worthy a cause as is the witness of the gospel, doubt not that it must be precious to Him.”

We have a duty to God. “It is very just that we should labor… to further the progress of the gospel,” says Calvin; “it is our duty to proclaim the goodness of God to every nation.”

We have a duty to our fellow sinners. Our compassion for sinners should be intensified by our knowledge that “God cannot be sincerely called upon by others than those to whom, through the preaching of the gospel, his kindness and gentle dealings have become known.” Consequently, every encounter with other human beings should motivate us to bring them to the knowledge of God.

We are grateful to God. Those who are indebted to God’s mercy are bound to become, like the psalmist, “the loud herald of the grace of God” to all men. If salvation is possible for me, a great sinner, then it is possible for others. I owe it to God to strive for the salvation of others; if I do not, I am a contradiction. As Calvin says, “Nothing could be more inconsistent concerning the nature of faith than that deadness which would lead a man to disregard his brethren, and to keep the light of knowledge… in his own breast.” We must, out of gratitude, bring the gospel to others in distress, or appear ungrateful to God for our own salvation.

Calvin never assumed that the missionary task was completed by the apostles. Instead, he taught that every Christian must testify by word and deed of God’s grace to everyone he or she meets. Calvin’s affirmation of the priesthood of all believers involves the church’s participation in Christ’s prophetic, priestly, and kingly ministry. It commissions believers to confess Christ’s name to others (prophetical task), to pray for their salvation (priestly task), and to disciple them (kingly task). It is the basis for powerful evangelistic activity on the part of the entire living church “to the world’s end.”