Are Election and Evangelism Compatible?

Having finished my posts on the 5 points of Calvinism, in my final two posts I want to deal with two criticisms commonly argued against Calvinism. The first and perhaps most common criticism is, "Calvinists don't believe in evangelism" or "If the elect are going to be saved, why share the gospel with them?"

This criticism seems most unfortunate to me since historically just the opposite has been the case -- Calvinists have been leaders in the history of evangelism. William Carey (the Father of Modern Missions), Jonathan Edwards (the primary leader of the 1st Great Awakening), Charles Spurgeon (at one point pastor of the largest and most evangelistic church in England), and George Whitefield (an Oxford trained evangelist) were all 5 point Calvinists and are considered to be among the most evangelistic men in Church History. Historically, those who denied the need for evangelism were termed hyper-Calvinists because they went beyond the teachings of Calvinism to the point of denying the need for evangelism.

I suspect, however, that those who offer this criticism do not do so on the basis of church history. Instead, it seems this criticism normally arises because it is difficult to see how God's sovereignty (in election and irresistible grace) and human responsibility (in evangelism) could possibly work together. Generally when critics argue that election and evangelism cannot go together it is because they misunderstand the Calvinist doctrine of Providence.

Calvinists believe that God, in his infinite wisdom, has planned the entire course of history and that His plan, upheld and maintained by His sovereignty, will be infallibly accomplished [the doctrine of God's Decree]. Yet, they also recognize that God does not simply purpose things into happening -- rather, God is at work in His creation in order to bring his purposes about in the world. This is where the doctrine of Providence comes in -- Providence teaches us how God accomplishes what He decrees. Providence is that biblical teaching that God sovereignly superintends over everything in the world by guiding, cooperating, directing, and working with various means in order to accomplish His purposes.

Simply put, what God determines He accomplishes through the use of various means. Therefore, when God decrees or elects a person to salvation, election does not make evangelism or prayer for that person unnecessary, it simply guarantees that the use of those means in the case of that individual will be absolutely effective. In fact, it is the regular pattern of the Scripture to confirm that God calls his elect to salvation through prayer and the preaching of the gospel. This is the case, for instance, in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 where Paul states that the election of the Thessalonians resulted in their acceptance of the gospel when it was preached --
The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul's primary point in this chapter is to warn the Thessalonians that there is coming a time when the whole world will follow after Satan and refuse sound teaching. This passage preserves for us the tension between human responsibility and God's sovereignty. On the one hand, we are told that in that day those who refuse the gospel will be destroyed "because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." On the other hand however, verse 11 also demonstrates that God is sovereignly involved in their rejection by sending them "a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie" and therefore be condemned.

Yet, pay close attention to Paul's contrast between those who will be condemned and the Thessalonians. Unlike those who perish, the Thessalonians were chosen "from the beginning." More specifically, they were chosen "to be saved through the Sanctifying work of the Spirit and belief in the truth." This is an important phrase because it is giving us both the goal of election -- they were chosen "to be saved" -- and the means through which this election results in salvation -- the work of the Spirit and faith. Notice further that the passage details for us the means through which God brought the elect Thessalonians to a place of faith: "He called you to this through our gospel." In other words, it was Paul's preaching which God used to call the elect in Thessalonica to himself.

As we have said previously, it is important for us to recognize that God uses various means to accomplish His sovereign purposes. This text is an excellent example of how God does that. The fact that the Thessalonians were chosen "from the beginning" didn't mean that hearing the gospel was unnecessary; rather, it meant that God would guarantee that one day they would hear the gospel and respond to it. Again, the fact that the Thessalonians had be chosen "from the beginning" didn't mean that they shouldn't repent of their sin and believe the gospel -- it meant that God had guaranteed that they when they heard the gospel they would repent and believe.

We might say that God's sovereign election doesn't make evangelism unnecessary -- it simply guarantees the results of evangelism. Therefore, concerns that Calvinists don't believe in evangelism, or that election and evangelism are incompatible are really quite unfounded. The truth of election should not discourage anyone from sharing the gospel, if anything it ought to motivate us to preach the gospel with confidence knowing that God will be sovereignly at work drawing his elect to salvation through our message. It should also create thanksgiving in our hearts for the day that we heard the gospel and the Spirit opened our eyes so we might see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus" (2 Cor. 4:4).