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Both are opposed to compromise and all half-measures. Both were a trumpet call in hard times for hard men, for intellects that could pierce to the roots of things where truth and lies part company.
Intolerance is sometimes a virtue. The very essence and life of all great religious movements is the sense of authority; of an external, supernatural framework or pattern to which all must be made comformable. Calvinism and Islam were neither of them systems of opinion but were attempts to make the will of God as revealed in the Bible, or according to Mohammed in the Koran an authoritative guide for social as well as per- sonal affairs, not only for Church, but for State. Calvinism and Islam have at their very core the principle of a claim of finality and universality, and it is this principle that is the very basis of a missionary religion.
Calvinism and the Missionary Enterprise 75 ary and drove him across all racial barriers, compelling him to set forth Christianity as final and triumphant. The strongest plea for missions is the will of God for the whole world. We can only have a passion for the glory of God when we acknowledge his sovereignty in every realm of life. If singleness of aim is a mark of leadership, Calvin and Mohammed were both born leaders. As Barth expresses it: God in his sovereign providence and by his Holy Spirit has led the Reformed faith geographically to the very heart of the Moslem world.
For more than one hundred years the Churches of the Reformed tradition were the only ones that went to its cradle and its strongholds in the Near East. They, more than any other branch of the Church, were pioneers in the world of Islam. Fa- miliar names come to memory: Thorns, Sharon Thorns, Mrs. Mylrea, John Van Ess to mention only a few of those who have passed on to their reward — in Arabia. He was very faithful and a zealous member of the Church. Having spent more than ten years in Western Europe at Protestant universities, especially Reformed, and in travels, he became a very strong and convinced Calvin- ist, and became acquainted with some of the most renowned evangelical scholars and religious leaders of his time see The Moslem World, vol.
Vaclav Budovec lived in Constantinople from to He sought opportunity to win back apostates and to preach to the Turks; but he was staggered by the power of Islam. Budovec wrote a number of books in the Czech language, one of them being called Anti-al-Koran. It is a defense of the Christian faith and a refutation of Islam.
This book is very rare, but copies are found in the University and other private libraries in Prague. Here we have the first Christian apologetic written by the Reformation Church for Moslems. Nor can we forget that the Reformed Churches of South-Eastern Europe were the bulwark against the invasion of Islam for centuries. Again we note that in Java and Sumatra the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands have had more converts from Islam than any other mission in any part of the world. Over 62, living converts from Islam are connected with the various missions in Java alone.
These missions cover territory which has a population almost solidly Mohammedan of nearly forty million souls. As regards America, it is not without providential significance that when the world of Islam faces a crisis and affords the Church a new opportunity, Reformed and Presbyterian bodies together have the strongest and widest work in five of the great lands of the Moslem world: Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Persia, and Arabia. Calvinism and the Missionary Enterprise 77 the strongest mission work in the world for the evangelization of Moham- medans.
Its old historic cities are mission stations of our Churches: The walls of Arabian in- tolerance and fanaticism have already fallen before the medical missionary pioneers of these Churches. But there are whole provinces of Arabia still unoccupied and vast Moslem areas in Africa and Asia where the mission- ary has never entered.
This is the missionary challenge to the Calvinists of today. A challenge to dauntless faith and indiscourageable hope and a love that will not let go. Here is a population of nearly forty-five millions! All these are a call to action for those who yearn to see the victory of the Cross over the Crescent. Has pub- lished on 17th, 18th and 19th century church history.
Special fields of interest: Anglo-Dutch ecclesiastical and theological relations, predestinarianism; Jew- ish-Christian relations and polemics; millenarianism; Protestant Enlighten- ment. The danger of bringing the lofty missionary task into the often clouded sphere of theological controversy looks to be anything but imaginary. When we rate these notions at their true value, it appears that there is a much closer connection between them than we could surmise and that Cal- vinism, not in spite of its main characteristics, but as a fruit of its core and essence, has given rise to a rich development of missionary activity.
It is almost impossible to give a clear and at the same time exhaustive definition of Calvinism. We make a caricature of Calvinism if we lay too much stress on the differences between Luther and Calvin: God will be honoured on the broad front of life by those who know themselves to be saved by His free grace and His eternal love. All missionary work has a soteriological character: Hut at the same time it is comprehensive and totalitarian: Berkouwer, Geloof en Rechtvaardiging Those Christians, who call themselves issus de Calvin, who want to belong to the spiritual progeny of that great Reformer, know that there is a relation between their Calvinism and the missionary obligation of the Church.
They are aware that their knowledge is partial and defective and that they have often used the light which God had given them in a wrong way, but they are also aware of the immense implications of the message which Calvin, by the grace of God, derived from the rediscovered and reopened Bible, and it is with that message that they want to serve the Church Universal in the ful- filment of its missionary task. But as soon as all this begins to engage our attention, we aced before a very difficult problem. One of the most are remarkable and mysterious facts of church history is the — at first sight — rather negative attitude of the Reformers with regard to the missionary obligation of the Church.
It looks as if the rediscovery of the Gospel did not lead to a new zeal to spread the message of Christ throughout the world. In this respect there is more harmony than difference between the great Reform- ers, though of course with each of them the problem has another accent and aspect.
It appears that with Calvin the thought that the Gospel has to spread throughout the world and has to take its course to the ends of the earth is very dear; less clearly, however, does he sec in what manner this must happen; and the practical application of the missionary ideal is almost completely lacking. From the Roman Catholic side a number of reasons have been brought to the fore. In the first place it has been said, that because the Reformers abandoned the Catholic conception of the Church, there remained no one who had a right to send out missionaries.
Calvin only purified and restored the concept of the Church and it is not to be wondered at that as a result of this purification the idea of missions had to find a new foothold. This ex- plains the initial hesitation with regard to the ecclesiastical foundation of missions, which hesitation, however, was very soon overcome by the in- herent forces of the Calvinistic conception of the Church. It has also been remarked that the abandoning of the ascetic ideal of the Middle Ages robbed the Reformers of one of the strongest stimuli for mis- sionary activity.
But here, too, a purification was needed: Also in this point the foundation of missions had to be laid on a deeper level. A well-known Roman Catholic argument against the Reformation, espe- cially with regard to the propagation of the Gospel, is that the elimination of the monastic orders left a disastrous vacuum which could not properly be filled.
The Jesuit author H. Lullus there was some opposition to missions, which sprang from a combi- nation of eschatological and quietistic-mystical motions. It is a great pity that by this fear, justifiable as it is in itself, the clear view on the mission- ary obligation was darkened. It was a strong argument of the Reformers against the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, that the office of the twelve Apostles was only a munus extraordinarium with a temporary char- acter.
But in the heat of the debate they were in danger of forgetting that the task of the Apostles to spread the Gospel and to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ is the task of the Church as a whole, whose Apostolate it is to go out into the world with the apostolic kerygma.
Because of all this the missionary command of Matt, xxviii. Still we have to remember that the opinion of the Reform- ers on this point was not yet quite settled — Calvin55 as well as Zwingli56 and Bucer57 left open the possibility of a temporary renewal of the apos- tolic office in the Church. I would even venture to say that if the Reformers had had a broad opportu- nity for missionary activity, their onesided understanding of the Aposto- late, due to the fact that no missionary problems were under discussion, would certainly have been corrected by their own dominant theological conceptions.
Calvin never expressed this thought; he only sees a beginning 53 H. The reverse is true — this doctrine is not a stimulus for passivity, but calls man to high activity61 combined with a deep and humble feeling of dependence, as Cal- vin himself clearly expresses in his Institutio when, appealing to the works of Augustine, he vehemently denounces the caricature which even in his time was made of the doctrine of election. So it will happen that we exert ourselves to make every one whom we meet a partner of the peace [of God].
Augustine, Bucer,63 Carey, Kuyper and many others. Calvin says this in his commentary on Ps. Not the inward attitude of the Reformers, but the outward circum- stances were the most serious obstacle in the way of missionary thinking. The Reformers had no contact with the heathen world. Almost all the lands where missionary work was possible were under the control of Roman Catholic countries, Moreover the hands of the Reformers were tied by the heavy struggle with the Roman Catholic Church, in which the existence of the Reformation was at stake. Is it any wonder those Churches which were always in danger of being persecuted and destroyed, which had to build up their ecclesiastical life from the ground and which, moreover, had no con- tact whatever with the world outside, dominated as it was by the Roman Catholic powers, had no clear vision of the missionary exigencies and pos- sibilities?
I am convinced, that the main cause of the alleged lack of mis- sionary zeal with Calvin and the other Reformers lies in the outward cir- cumstances: Not only does the universal meaning of the Gospel take a dominant place in his works, especially in his commentaries on the proph- 65 A.
Oussoren, William Carey, especially his missionary principles , p. This becomes clear, if we focus our attention on the development of missionary 67 Cf. Saravia, from whom had appeared in a treatise about the diverse grades of the min- isters of the Gospel, Already from the full title73 of the book it appears that Saravia did not aim in the very first place at a defence of the missionary command; as we have already seen above, the chief object of his work was to defend the episcopal system of Church government against the attacks of the Presbyterian Calvinists, to whom he had once belonged during his min- istry and his professorship in Holland,74 So his plea for missions was neu- tralised by the fact that it was embedded in a plea for a system against which the majority of Calvinists had a strong antipathy.
Of much more importance for the awakening of a practical missionary interest was the work of J. De legatione evangelica ad Indos capessenda admonitio, which appeared in The cry of Heurnius was not a solitary voice: Teellinck wrote his Ecce Homo and J. Walaeus gave solid missionary instruction in his Seminary at Leiden, J. Hoornbeek proved himself a scholarly advocate for the cause of missions in several of his works, and the great theologian 73 De diversis ministrorum Evangelii gradibus, sicut a Domino fuerunt instituti, et traditi ab Apostolis, ac perpetuo omnium ecclesiarum usu confirmati.
Voetius,76 paid very much attention to missionary questions in his Disputationes as well as in his Politica Ecclesiastica. Here again we find the soteriological line, though Voetius, as a good Calvinist, does not neglect the theological line: It cannot be denied that in the elaboration of their missionary ideas they underwent the influence of Roman Catholic authors; but their mis- sionary attitude itself was quite definitely not a result of Roman Catholic influences.
That the stream of Dutch missionary activity silted up at last is due to in- ternal and external circumstances which prevented the progress of the newly awakened missionary enthusiasm in Church and State. The mission- ary stream was stopped at its source by the decay of Dutch Calvinism, which fell into scholasticism on the one hand and mysticism on the other by a one-sided emphasising of the theological or the soteriological line. And the stream which could still flow on in spite of those hindrances could not reach its goal because of the counter-currents of indifference and even hostility with which the East India Company met the missionary work dur- ing the second half of its existence.
Voetius , pp. As a century before in Holland, voices were now raised in England and Scotland advocating the cause of missions. In a book by a Scottish minister, Robert Millar of Paisley,84 appeared: With him we find the same characteristic element as with the Dutch theologians of the former century: Justus Heurnius , pp. It pleased God to kindle the fire of mission- ary zeal in Calvinistic Scotland, when in Calvinistic Holland it had almost been extinguished. Now the question remains: It is impossible to give a clear answer to this ques- tion because of the utter complexity of the religious situation in the eight- eenth century.
But that their stimuli found such an eager response on Calvinistic soil proves once again that missionary zeal was present in Calvinism, ready to spring forward when a broadening of the horizon coincided with a deepening of the spiri- tual life. Carey and his partners as well as Duff and his fellow-workers may be called Calvinists in a broad and yet very deep sense.
Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Persia, and Arabia. To ask other readers questions about Unter Galliern , please sign up. The one ex- erted it in Roman-Protestant Europe, and the other in every part of the world where he sent his missionaries, especially the Far East. Voetius is also the founder of the comparative study of religions for mis- sionary purposes. Almost all the lands where missionary work was possible were under the control of Roman Catholic countries, Moreover the hands of the Reformers were tied by the heavy struggle with the Roman Catholic Church, in which the existence of the Reformation was at stake. Calvin says this in his commentary on Ps.
From Great Britain the missionary ideals were brought to new life in Holland: We cannot say that all branches of Dutch mission- ary activity are equally rooted in Calvinism — but on the whole Dutch mis- sions have never been able to disavow their Calvinistic origin. A splendid effort to combine Calvinistic and missionary thinking we find in a lecture which A.
Kuyper gave at the first missionary Congress of the Reformed Churches87 at Amsterdam in , in which lecture88 he tried to find a Cal- vinistic foundation for the missionary task of the Church. The same Cal- vinistic foundation was sought in the missionary Report of the Synod of the Reformed Churches, held at Middelburg in It is a pity that in the Report the soteriological line sometimes disappears behind the theological one, which gives to some turns of phrase a rather chilly effect89 — but by 86 A.
Keller, Amerikanisches Christentum Heute , p. Bavinck under the title Historisch Document We have come to the end of our historical survey, in which only some crucial points in the development of Calvinistic missionary thinking could be mentioned. If we venture to draw a conclusion from it we would say that Calvinistic missionary activity was at its height when there was perfect harmony and unity between the theological and the soteriological line in Calvinism.
The unity of these two lines can only be realised, if we remember and ap- ply the wise words of Solomon: So it appears that a living Calvinism has a message for the missionary work of to-day. It derives that message from the Word of God: On a mural painting91 in the missionary centre of the Reformed Churches at Baarn we see the old Calvin standing behind a young, modern missionary. Ages lie between them, but still they are one: If missions threaten to become secularised, that Bible calls them back to the core of its message: But if they are in danger of losing sight of their task on the broad front of life, it reminds them of the totalitarian character of the message of Christ: The man of the comprehen- sive approach is warned against the great danger of forgetting the essential task of the Church: Onze Werk Zendingskerk, passim.
He is on his guard against an airy optimism, with regard to the results of his work, because he knows that it is God who works both to will and to do of His good pleasure Phil. The conversion of the nations is never our work; it is only the work of God. But — and this is the other line, which runs through all the works of Calvin — God wants to use us as His instruments, He calls us, He sends us, we are under His command, His name must be glorified by our poor words and our still poorer deeds.
And this is the scriptural summary of all that Calvin teaches us: Originally published in Reformed Review Vol. Re- printed by permission of the editor of the Reformed review. Introduction One of the perpetual problems facing the Protestant missiologists is the apparent lack of a salient doctrine of the mission of the church in the theol- ogy of the Reformers. None has experienced more poignant embarrassment nor been more acutely aware of this hiatus than the descendants, both theo- logical and ecclesiastical, of John Calvin. The purpose of this study is twofold.
Gustav Warneck, a sympathetic observer, said categori- cally that there was no recognition in Calvin of the church having a duty to send out missionaries. Revell Company, , p. The second aim in this study is to attempt to discover what particular doctrines of Calvin provided the missionary dynamic in the thought and practice of his spiritual descendants who were in the forefront of the rise of the Protestant world mission. It cannot be denied that men, classified theo- logically as Calvinists, have been in the vanguard of this movement. From the ill-fated missionary attempt of the French Calvinists in the Brazilian colony of Villeganon, in ,97 to the popularization of the society method at the turn of the nineteenth century, men in the theological lineage of Calvin have been particularly prominent.
It is true that other factors have played an important part in the Protestant missionary awakening. However, Calvinism has provided not only much of the muscle and sinew of the movement, but it has also contributed much in basic motivation and fundamental principles. The Moravian Zinzendorf, the Methodist Wesley, the Calvinist Edwards — they all stand at the cradle of the great missionary awakening. But that their stimuli found such an eager response on Calvinistic soil proves once again that missionary zeal was present in Calvinism.
VIII , pp. XXI , pp. The Missionary Dynamic in the Theology of John Calvin 95 thought did house prolific missionary ideas, which ones had particular sig- nificance to the early Protestant missionary leaders? Since … God had not taken more than one nation to be the subject of his reign, the Prophet here shows that the boundaries of his Kingdom will be enlarged, that he may rule over the various nations. He likewise notices, indi- rectly, the difference between the Kingdom of David, which was but a shadow and this other Kingdom, which would be far more excellent.
At that time God ruled over his own people by the hand of David, but after the com- ing of Christ, he began to reign … in the person of his only-begotten Son … He confirms the calling of the Gentiles, because Christ is not sent to the Jews only, that he may reign over them, but that he may hold his sway over the whole earth. Baker Book House, , p. The Calvin Translation Soci- ety, , v. Because the doctrine of the Gospel, by which God hath gathered to himself a Church indiscriminately out of all nations, proceeded from Mt.
Zion, he justly says that they will come to it, who having, with one consent or faith, embraced the covenant of eternal salvation, have been united into one church. There is no people and no rank in the world that is excluded from salvation; because God wishes that the gospel should be proclaimed to all without ex- ception.
Now the preaching of the gospel gives life; and hence … God invites all equally to partake salvation. Printed for George Bishop, , p. Cal- vin used the metaphor of the royal sceptre often to express this concept. Though the Kingdom of Christ is in such a condition that it appears as if it were about to perish at every moment, yet God not only protects and defends it, but also extends its boundaries far and wide, and then preserves and carries it forward in uninterrupted progress to eternity.
Calvin lamented, then exhorted: Would that Christ reigned entirely among us! For then would peace also have its perfect influence. But since we are widely distant from that peaceful reign, we must always think of making progress … T. Torrance has pointed out the missionary significance of this par- ticipation in the Kingdom by the church. It is because of this participation in the Kingdom of Christ, in the heavenly peace, that the church can engage in its arduous task of extending that King- dom on earth. And so throughout his works Calvin made it a point to teach the combination of the medkatio vitae futurae with the unceasing activity of the Church on earth in the growth and extension of the Kingdom.
Tor- rance and J. Oliver and Boyd, Ltd. At the same time in which the church participates in the extension of the Kingdom, the church is being gathered. There is no other way of raising up the church of God than by the light of the word, in which God himself, by his own voice, points out the way of sal- vation. Until the truth shines, men cannot be united together, so as to form a true church. The Missionary Dynamic in the Theology of John Calvin 99 order to bring into the church the Gentiles from all parts of the world. The Kingdom of Christ was only begun in the world, when God com- manded the Gospel to be everywhere proclaimed, and … at this day its course is not as yet completed.
But Calvin avowed that God might still call others to that office when the necessity of the times required it. Commenting on Isaiah 2: By these words he first declares that the godly will be filled with such an ardent desire to spread the doctrines of religion, that everyone, not satisfied with his own calling and his personal knowledge, will desire to draw others with him … This points out to us also the ordinary method of collecting a church, which 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.
John Calvin on the Epistles of S. Paule to Timothie and Titus, London: Woodcoke, , p. He would continue so to do until the gospel had reached the fartherest bounds of the earth. Christians are responsible, under God, to share the gospel of Christ with all men, everywhere.
Quotations from Calvin on this subject are very numerous.
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It will be ad- vantageous to have the words of Calvin himself illustrate this principle which was such a vital part of his understanding of the Christian life. He thought that this compassion should have been the experience of every true Christian and that it should have moved each Christian to do his best to bring others to Christ. The desire which ought to be cherished among all the godly … is, that the goodness of God may be made known to all, that all may join in the same worship of God.
We ought especially to be inflamed with this desire … after having been delivered from the tyranny of the devil and from everlasting death. For when any one consults his own private benefit and has no care for others, he first betrays more clearly his own inhu- manity, and where there is no love the Spirit of God does not rule there.
Be- sides, true godliness brings with it concern for the glory of God. It is no won- der then that the Prophet, when describing true and real conversion, says that each would be solicitious about his brethren, so as to stimulate one another, Commentary on Matthew The Missionary Dynamic in the Theology of John Calvin and also that the hearts of all would be so kindled with zeal for God, that they would hasten together to stimulate his glory.
Calvin spoke in this manner many times. We must endevour, as much as is possible, that God may be honored, and that the world may be gathered unto him, and we ourselves must come fore- most. God has deposited the teaching of his salvation with us, not for the purpose of our privately keeping it to ourselves, but of our pointing out the way of salvation to all mankind. This, therefore, is the common duty of the children of God.
While we exhort and encourage others, we must not, at the same time, sit down in indo- lence. That God woulde have all the worlde to be saved: Calvin had a Gospel that was offered to all the world. He was participating in the extension of a Kingdom that would include people from every language and land. The Kingdom would con- tinue to grow, in spite of all opposition, until it reached the farthest bounds of the earth.
They were also gathered by his church. Two such forces, which contributed to his lack of positive action, became dynamic influences in the stimulation of missionary activity two centuries later. However, in the Sermons on Timothy, p. The Missionary Dynamic in the Theology of John Calvin later years of missionary awakening this same aspect became a mighty and important force. This is not to say that Calvin was discouraged from missionary activity because his doctrine of election made such activity unnecessary. This charge has too often been made. Instead, the gracious election of God was a stimulus to activity, not a hindrance.
Calvin was very insistent that the gospel must be offered to all. In answering the charge that God would be inconsistent with himself if he invited all without distinction to salvation and yet only elected a few, Calvin said: And he who, forbidding Paul to preach in Asia, and leading him away from Bithynia, carries him over to Macedonia, shows that it belongs to him to dis- tribute the treasure in what way he pleases. It was not his will that all should know the Gospell at the first blowe. And thereupon, there were some countries where he would not suffer Saint Paule to preach, as in Bithynia and Phrygia.
The implication was, rather, that God would be certain so to do. Speaking of those who had not as yet been made partakers of salvation, he said: We must not … forget that God has made us all to his image and likeness, that we are his workmanshipe, that he may stretch foorth his goodnesse over them whiche are at this day faare from him, as we have had good proofe of it.
He who hath already drawn us to him, may draw them along with us. The Apostle takes for granted that God will do so, because it had been foretold by the predictions of the prophets, concerning all ranks and nations. It could be done only as God provided the opportunity, only as God opened the door. Its meaning is, that an opportunity of promoting the Gospel had presented itself.
For as an opportunity of entering is furnished when the door is opened, so the servants of the Lord make advances when an opportunity is presented. The door is shut, when no prospect of usefulness is held out. Now as, on the door being shut, it becomes us to enter upon a new course, rather than by fur- ther efforts to weary ourselves to no purpose by useless labor. So where an opportunity presents itself of edifying, let us consider that by the hand of God a door is opened to us for introducing Christ there, and let us not withhold compliance with so kind an indication from God.
Only one real opportunity presented itself to Calvin. In , he helped to get a party of colonists together to establish a settlement and Protestant refuge in Brazil. Included in the group were several ministers. Staunch Calvinists became some of the first to respond to these opportuni- ties. Andrew Fuller, long after the Protestant missionary movement was begun, expressed this sig- nificance: If we have any authority from Christ to preach at all … weare doubtless warrented and obliged, by this commission to embrace any opening in any part of the earth, within our reach to the imparting of the word of life to them that are without it.
He was confident that in time God would open those doors. American Baptist Publication Society, , I, However, this too became a mighty force a few generations later in both arousing a slumber- ing church and in executing a mission to the heathen. These two factors are closely related. For Calvin predestination and eschatology were two doctrines, neither of which could be expounded without the other. Predestination is the prius, es- chatology the posterius of the Christian faith … Calvin was horrified by the apocalyptic fanaticism of his time.
He did not preach any such hope of a near end. For Calvin, it was a mistake to think that the gospel would be fulfilled with one mighty stroke. The King- dom, he insisted, would have a progressive growth. The first was the period of proclamation of the gospel to the whole world. This had been fulfilled before his day. How- ever, even though this period had been completed not literally as noted above , still the end did not come.
Before the end could come, Calvin avowed, the world would fall into apostasy and the Antichrist would obtain a footing in the church. Lutterworth Press, , p. Seeing then it is certain that the Roman Pontiff has imprudently transferred to himself the most peculiar properties of God and Christ, there cannot be a doubt that he is the leader and standard-bearer of an impious and abominable kingdom. It was to be a period of prosperity and fertility for the church.
For though the church be now tormented by the malice of men, or even broken by the violence of the billows, and miserably torn in pieces, so as to have no stability in the world, yet we ought always to cherish confident hope … that the Lord will gather his church. But as soon as the end shall have been put to those distresses, a day will ar- rive when the majesty of the Church shall be illustriously displayed.
It was the eschatological context of later Calvinism that held to- gether all the motives and goals of the early missionary enterprise. Missionsverlag GMBH, , p. Mather believed that his day was on the brink of the third epoch. It is probable that the Holy Spirit will be again bestowed on the church for its enlargement, in operations similar to those which, in the first ages of Christianity, were granted for its plantation.
In this chapter we have a prophecy of a future glorious advancement of the church of God … that last and greatest enlargement and most glorious ad- vancement of the church of God on earth. Lincoln and Edmands, , p.
This has been so often discussed that only a brief reference is necessary here. Quotations could be multiplied both from Calvin and his theological de- scendants. Calvin held that, in spite of the terrible conse- quences of the sin of Adam, there still remained a remnant of the knowl- edge of God in man, This remnant knowledge had two sources. It was not sufficient alone to bring man to the true worship of God. Andrus Roberts and Burr, , I, All worship and religious systems were abortive efforts to come to God.
This meant that there was no ground for hope at all for the heathen, ex- cept by the preaching of the gospel. The heathen were, indeed, blind, help- less, and pitiful. To be aware of their condition was enough to move one to compassion and a desire for their salvation. Conclusions The conclusions of this study have been evident in the discussion.
Calvin was hindered from doing or saying a great deal about the mission of the church by his theological un- derstanding of the circumstances of his own time and situation. At least two of the factors which, thus, colored his thought and deterred his action, became factors of importance in promoting the world mission of the church in the thought of later Calvinists. His theological understanding of the other religions of the world provided both an entree for the gospel message and a stimulus to Christian compassion. Originally published in Harvey M.
Theological Perspectives on Church Growth. Presbyterian and Reformed Publ.: Phillipsburg NJ , This shorter version was published by Presbyterian Network Vol. Printed by per- mission of the publisher. This doctrine cuts to the very nerve of missions. John Calvin has been quoted as saying that mis- sions is only the work of God and therefore man has no responsibility in it. This is true, but Calvin then exhorts that man must sow the seed diligently precisely because God will bring the fruit.
As this new Association forms, missions will play a critical role in its reason for existence and its growth. What then is the true reformed view of missions? What is the missionary flame of reformed theology? What hope does it bring in the confusion and challenge of Christian mission in the last dec- ades of this century?
To him be the glory for ever. Paul writes in awe as he reflects on the divine mystery, the theology of the mission of God. No mission problem was more acute for the apostle than his calling to proclaim the gospel among the Gentiles. Daily he bore the reproach of being a renegade, of betraying his own people to curry favour with the heathen.
He was driven to reflect on the ways of the Lord as he saw his own people rejecting their Messiah and the Gentiles entering by faith into the number of the true people of God. The answer given to Paul by the inspiration of the Spirit is a magnificent vision of God revealed across the panorama of the history of redemption in the Old Testament. Paul understood that the Lord who chose to be glorified in him is the Lord who works all things according to the counsel of his will. He has not cast off his people whom he foreknew.
But the story cannot end there. God is able to graft in again the natural branches and Paul ministers the gospel to the Gentiles in the fervent hope that as they enter into the blessings of the kingdom of God, the sons of the kingdom may be aroused to jealousy and come streaming in. The songs of Gentile praise ascend to God as the prophets and psalmists had promised Rom. Christ himself is a minister of the circumcision, not in the sense that he ministers to them but in the sense that he takes up their ministry.
The goal and fulfillment of the saving mission of the Son is that the name of the Father might be glorified in the eternal song of the redeemed Rev. Now, we may ask, what practical result does this exalted aim have in dealing with the concrete problems of missions today? Does it change our perspective with reference to church growth? Does it offer guidance on the demand for a moratorium on North American and European missionaries? Does it direct us with respect to political implications of the missionary message?
Jesus ministered to great multitudes, but they were progressively alienated by his message and they left him to die alone on the cross — that death in which God was supremely glorified. The doxo- logical goal of missions must serve first the purpose of heart searching, but we dare not ignore its implications for the issues in debate.
Paul clearly reflects on this, not only in Romans but in the whole epis- tle. On the other hand, Jesus declares that His Father is glorified when His disciples bear much fruit John But that same Son of God pointed his disciples to the harvest and called them to be fishers of men only after he had filled their nets with fish. The doxological mode in missions goes beyond a certain optimism in the expectation of response. Rather it praises God for the assurance of the ga- thering in of all the sheep of Christ to the eternal fold. The Grace of God the Source of Missions The doxology of missions is a rainbow of praise arching over the throne of God.
The end of that rainbow is the glory of God but its beginning is the grace of God. If all things are unto him, all things must also be of mm. The initiative in salvation is always his. Knallcharge und historische Figur? Der Termin ist nur in meinem privaten Kalender eingetragen. Oder sie hat es einfach geschlussfolgert, dass ich keine Verabredung mit einer unwichtigen Knallcharge habe, Ich bin nichts als eine ornithologische Knallcharge. Ja, da muss man doch Federn lassen. Doch es ist ausgerechnet die Knallcharge Scrat, die das Geschehen in Gang bringt - selbstredend beim "running gag" der seit laufenden Filmreihe, Kein Fan von Verkehrsregeln: AfD-Vize Gauland beleidigt Polizisten Kirstin marked it as to-read Jan 19, Anissa added it Jul 20, Anne marked it as to-read Sep 29, Victoria marked it as to-read Aug 03, Kristin marked it as to-read Aug 28, FranzisBuchstabensalat marked it as to-read Dec 21, Rike marked it as to-read Mar 15, Samdayx added it Aug 01, There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
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