What the Reformed Faith Is

Why, then, is it charged upon the Reformed Faith, and sometimes feared, that it is incompatible with evangelism? This is because of what the Reformed Faith is. It is the teaching that salvation is the free gift and sovereign work of God in Jesus Christ, wholly without the slightest merit or work of man. The message of the Reformed Faith is, "Salvation by Grace Alone."

This message consists of several outstanding truths. God has eternally loved and predestinated unto eternal life some persons out of the human race, in distinction from others whom, in the same decree, He predestinated unto perdition. This is the gracious source and foundation of all salvation.

God gave His only begotten Son to die for all those, and those only, whom He had given to Christ as His people, effectually to redeem them, by atoning for their sins. This is the gracious ground of all our salvation.

God now efficaciously calls, by the gospel and the Holy Spirit, into saving fellowship with Jesus, all those, but only those, whom He chose and redeemed. This is the gracious accomplishment of salvation. This work continues, as preservation, until all the elect, redeemed, and renewed people of God are perfected in glory.
With these doctrines, the Reformed Faith holds that all men alike are, by the fall of Adam, dead in sin and slaves to Satan, having wills that are not free, so as to be able to choose Christ and salvation, but bound, so as to be incapable of doing ought else, save to reject the Christ presented in the gospel.

The Reformed Faith preaches an almighty, gracious God and a powerless, totally depraved mankind. Such a faith, men charge, cannot evangelize. Indeed, such a faith must be unevangelistic in its very spirit. It cannot be motivated to be zealous in evangelism. Even if it were so motivated, it would have no message to bring.
Note well, however, that this charge, or fear, as the case may be, arises from certain preconceived notions about evangelism - notions that are unbiblical. There is the notion that the motivation of evangelism is God's love for all men and desire to save all men. There is the notion that the message of evangelism is a universal love of God, a universal atonement, and a universal grace in the preaching, all dependent upon the free will of sinners, who, it is thought, are able to choose for Christ. There is the notion that the efficacy of evangelism is the persuasiveness of the evangelist and the decision of the sinner's wooed will.

Raving these notions of evangelism, men proceed to corrupt the Reformed Faith in the interests of evangelism. Double predestination hinders missions; and, therefore, reprobation is denied, and men proclaim a universal saving love of God - the evangelist preaches to all and sundry, "God loves you." Limited atonement hampers missions; and, therefore, men preach a universal atonement - the evangelist assures all and sundry, "Christ died for you." An efficacious call of the gospel to some only restricts mission work; and, therefore, men teach that God is gracious to all men in the preaching - the evangelist announces to all his hearers, "God desires your salvation and is now sincerely offering salvation to you." Total depravity does not square with such evangelism (for what good is all this love, atonement, and grace, if the sinner cannot avail himself of it?); and, therefore, it is suggested to the sinner that he has the ability to open up his heart to let Jesus in, or he is told outright that the new birth depends upon his believing.
With this kind of evangelism, the Reformed Faith is incompatible; of such an evangelism, it is the sworn foe. A Reformed preacher would not dare to engage in evangelism of this kind. He would not, because he fears to stand in the Judgment, having preached a message that robbed God of His glory in the salvation of sinners and that taught sinners to trust for salvation in their own ability and activity. The worst evolutionist, a veritable Charles Darwin, will not be so culpable of despoiling the wonderful works of God as such an evangelist.

But this is not Biblical evangelism. With Biblical evangelism, the Reformed Faith is perfectly compatible. It is false, it is absurd to suppose that the Reformed Faith cannot do evangelism, because of the doctrines of grace that it espouses. These truths, assailed as detrimental to evangelism, are truths that set forth salvation as God's gracious gift. They constitute the gospel, the "evangel", the good news. How foolish of men, whether within Reformed churches or without, to deny the gospel, in order that they may better evangelize, i.e., proclaim the gospel. Men are really saying that God's gospel is unpreachable, or that it is not serviceable for saving sinners and gathering the Church. 


Prof. David J. Engelsma
 http://www.prca.org/pamphlets/pamphlet_17.html