“Think like a Calvinist. Preach like an Arminian.” That is how one preaching professor taught his students to call people to faith in a sermon. He couldn’t reconcile a theological system that embraces God’s sovereignty in salvation with a plea for sinful people to change. Ultimately, this prof thought Calvinism makes sense biblically and logically, but not practically.

Perhaps you have struggled with this, too. I know I have.

There was a season of my ministry where I didn’t call people to believe the gospel. I preached the gospel, of course, but only with the hope that the Spirit would use his word to regenerate spiritually dead teenagers against their will. I merely implied that they must believe the gospel.

But I have turned from this mindset. This is not because my pendulum has swung to a more balanced position between Calvinism and Arminianism—I don’t believe there is such a thing. It’s because I’ve grown to understand what Calvinism is and, perhaps more importantly, what it isn’t.

It is Calvinistic to call people to respond with faith in the gospel.
Eschewing theological labels for a moment, it is biblical and Christian to call people to believe in the gospel. This is, after all, how Jesus began his ministry: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). You don’t have to know Greek to recognize the imperatives.

But we Calvinists love to quote Ephesians 2:8. “Faith is a gift from God!” we exclaim. “It doesn’t originate in the person!”

The question is: When non-Christians do repent and believe the gospel, do they express faith in Christ? Or does God grant the gift of faith in Christ to men? Yes! Why? Scripture teaches that faith in Christ includes both an objective and a subjective aspect. This is not a contradiction. Rather, the two must be held in tension.

Objectively speaking, faith is a gift from God (Eph. 2:8, although the “gift” is the whole work of salvation, not just the faith). Subjectively speaking, the person exercises faith in the gospel (Eph. 1:13). This is why Paul thanks God (the objective side) for the Ephesians’ faith in the Lord (the subjective side; Eph. 1:15-16).

Since faith is both objective and subjective, we are right, as Calvinists, to call unbelievers to put their faith in Jesus.

Hyper-Calvinists inappropriately overemphasize the objective aspect of faith. Therefore, they have a hard time calling people to put their trust in Jesus. Arminians, on the other hand, inappropriately overemphasize the subjective aspect of faith, as ultimately the responsibility of the individual.

Calvinism, and more importantly the Bible, appropriately emphasizes both, which is why we can (must!) call unbelievers to put their faith in Christ, and mean it.

………

How to think like a Calvinist and preachlike one.
Where do we go from here? This discussion boils down to three ways Calvinists ought to proclaim the gospel:

1. Explicitly call the unregenerate to believe in the gospel.
2. Trust that the Holy Spirit will do the work to make that call effective in the elect.
3. Pray that God would save people through the inherent power of the gospel.

More than just being practical, Calvinism contains the power for calling sinners to respond to the gospel in faith.

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Eric McKiddie is the junior high pastor at College Church in Wheaton, Illinois.