This article was originally intended to be the last article on conversion. However, the connection between conversion and the title of this series are so interwoven that I thought that it might be best to start this series and show some connection between the two. A lot of ink and hyperbole has been spilled over the issue of hyper-Calvinism of late, but the even more pervasive danger of Pelagianism and hyper-evangelism has had little to no attention. While the focus of many is on hyper-Calvinism, the opposite (and perhaps greater) dangers of Pelagianism and hyper-evangelism continue to march unabated and unknown into the walls of the city. With hyper-Calvinism the core of the Gospel can be preached, but Pelagianism is a totally different gospel. Hyper-evangelism changes the message of the Gospel to one that can be told rapidly and gain equally rapid “results.”
Hyper-Calvinism has been so feared that a conference was recently held on it. Though R.C. Sproul has said that we are in the Pelagian captivity of the Church, there is hardly any noise about Pelagianism at all. B.B. Warfield wrote of what happens when a Pelagian view of the will is united to Calvinism. It becomes and is heresy. Warfield said that this was what happened with Finney and N.W. Taylor. Yet today the evangelism that is practiced is more like Finney’s than like the Reformed of times past. What would happen if a person had a Pelagian view of the will and yet thought that s/he was a Calvinist? One thing that would be the result is that the person would hate Calvinism and brand it as hyper-Calvinism. Another result would be that irresistible calling and efficacious grace would have to be replaced with a form of evangelism that had Pelagian roots. It would be, as Dr. Kennedy of Scotland from the 1800’s called it, hyper-evangelism. While we fear the absence of Gospel preaching with hyper-Calvinism, with Finney’s hyper-evangelism we are left with “burned out districts.” Perhaps America has not been un-evangelized so much as it has been wrongly evangelized and so has massive parts that are burned out districts.
What is wrong with hyper-evangelism? While it will be dealt with far more in-depth at a later point, what happens is that people become very excited and engaged in what they call soul-winning. But when they get involved at this hyper stage, they drop many of the biblical parts of evangelism and get involved with their programs and forget about the need for a soul to be truly converted. True conversion requires a biblical way of evangelizing souls. Hyper-evangelism just wants to tell people enough of a message to get them to the front or to say a prayer. Of course many Reformed people say that they have a deeper theology, but that is not reflected in their evangelism. So they end up evangelizing much like some version of the Pelagians do. Hyper-evangelism is a compromise of the Gospel because it waters the Gospel down to get results. John Kennedy wrote his book on this issue and said this: “Hyper-Evangelism I call it, because of the loud professions of evangelism made by those who preach it; and neglect of others which are equally important parts of the great system of evangelic doctrine. 2. Because unscriptural practices are resorted to in order to advance the movement.”
In calling things like this “hyper-evangelism” some might think of this as an attack on evangelism. Rather than that, however, it is the call for individuals and churches to study biblical doctrines that inform biblical evangelism. The great stress on evangelism apart from doctrine, holiness, and the life and preaching of the local church is actually a dagger in the heart of the teaching of Scripture on the issue. Teaching and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God is far more than just getting a person to admit to a few sins and then to hear a few historical facts about Jesus. It is also the case that many modern day people who call themselves Reformed also practice hyper-evangelism because they have swallowed a Pelagian view of the will to some degree. The real issue, however, has to be what is biblical. Regardless of the terminology and of scare tactics, we must be truly biblical at all costs. There may be and will be some costs to be what is truly biblical.
One thing that inspired this series (so quickly) is a recent visit of mine to a Jehovah Witness meeting. I have had Jehovah Witnesses coming to my door for about eighteen months, so I went to hear a special lecture on their faith in an effort to understand them better for the purposes of getting the Gospel to them. The lecture spoke of the cross of Christ and of the need to repent and believe. What scared me is that I have heard many people who call themselves Reformed say pretty much the same thing with even less explanation. The Gospel is not preached when we state a few facts about Jesus. That message would have been acceptable at many Baptist “churches.” Certainly it would have been fine at many Methodists and Presbyterian “churches,” though there might have been objections to speaking on the blood of Christ so much. The message, though sounding much like what many “evangelicals” would say, was thoroughly Pelagian. We can tell people to repent and believe until we turn blue in the face but until we explain repentance and belief according to the Bible and the character of God we are not telling people anything but what they think they can do in their own power and strength. That is Pelagianism pure and simple.
It has been stated that Christianity has been in a theological decline since 1680 or so with some exceptions. If that is true, then perhaps we need to think through what we think of as orthodox. Perhaps we are so far off the path that what we are truly afraid of is really orthodox Christianity. In looking back at the history of the Church, there was a Reformed way of doing evangelism that has been virtually lost in our day. Not only that, it has been virtually lost for a long time. The battle in the mid to late 1700’s that carried on into the 1800’s over hyper-Calvinism may have been a problem with both sides turning from the way earlier Reformed way of evangelism rather than just one side. But again, while things have changed, the real issue is how the Bible teaches that conversion happens. To simply declare that a person is to repent and believe without biblical instruction on what that means is to do no more than a Pelagian or a Jehovah’s Witness would do. That may sound awful, but the speech I heard was utterly frightening in that it was so bland that it would fit in without any real offense in about any religious setting. The Mormons do the same thing. In my discussions with Mormons they say that they are simply another branch of Christianity and that they are trying to get people to believe in Jesus. When Reformed and non-Reformed (not all) have little difference in their presentations with the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons, we know that there is a problem.
As we work through this series we will be looking at Ian Murray’s work on Spurgeon and Hyper-Calvinism and other works as well. This is a deadly serious issue and it will not be resolved by any one book or a series of articles in a newsletter of from an internet site. True hyper-Calvinism can be a very serious issue, but if one falls off the other side of the cliff by buying into a Pelagian view of the will or hyper-evangelism one may be even further off. There is a great danger on both sides of the issue and yet in our day there is only a focus on the one. But remember Warfield’s warning that a Pelagian view of the will (even if one does not know or recognize it) when united with Calvinism leads to and is heresy. How many people are out there who call themselves Calvinists and yet have Pelagian views of the will and evangelism? My guess is that there is a lot more than those who tend to hyper-Calvinism. Perhaps Spurgeon was correct in his day in his fight with hyper-Calvinism, but that does not mean that the same thing he fought is alive today. Pelagianism is what the real battle should be against today.
Some of the related issues have to do with the nature of faith. If faith is nothing more than an intellectual exercise, then a Pelagian way of evangelism will work and all we need to do is tell people the facts. But if faith only comes from the soul that is converted in all of its aspects, then the Pelagian way of evangelism (even if joined to a Calvinistic soteriology of some sort) is not proclaiming the true way of salvation to sinners. Pelagianism is thoroughly pagan and human-centered in all ways though it gives lip-service to God. True Reformation teaching of a God-centered God is thoroughly God-centered in all ways. There is no way to join the two in anything but an uneasy and inconsistent way that thoroughly waters down the Reformation teaching. How devious and tricky is the devil if he would bring Pelagianism into the “Church” in the guise of Reformed theology. How much destruction could he cause if he got a Pelagian view of the will carried into the walls while hidden in the belly of Reformed theology? How much destruction could he cause if he tricked those who thought themselves to be thoroughly Reformed to mock and fight the truth of God? This is not a small issue at all. It is a battle for the Gospel.
It has been said that there is no logical stopping point between true Calvinism and atheism. That is true. But there is also no logical stopping point between true Calvinism and a full Pelagianism. A fear of hyper-Calvinism, if we are not careful, can actually blind us to the inroads of Pelagianism. The Gospel must be held to tightly because there is only one Gospel. Listen to the truth of Paul’s words: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!” (Gal 1:8). Pelagianism has been declared to be heresy in Church Council after Church Council. It is the great danger of our day. It is like the chameleon that has many forms and colors to disguise itself to fit in with its surrounding. It is like its master who disguises himself as an angel of light. As our nation spirals at a frightening rate downward, let us not suppose it has no relation to the stand of the Church and its preaching of the Gospel. As the Church has weakened its theology, that has weakened its Gospel. It is no longer salt and light. The role of Pelagianism in this is perhaps far larger than we suppose. The Gospel, in all theological circles, is under attack by Pelagianism in its many disguises as it is one way the devil works to bring error into the Gospel. Let us pray for eyes to see this attack which has already had much success. The true Gospel of grace alone to His glory alone is the only antidote for such an insidious virus.
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