To the Ends of the Earth

MD: Why is this book necessary?

MAGH: I think a book like this is necessary because, in the last 100 years or so, there’s been a perspective that Calvinism is a theological position that is inimical to evangelism, that people who are Calvinists aren’t really interested in doing evangelism because of their conviction of the sovereignty of God in salvation. So, those whom God has elected to save he will save, therefore we don’t need to do evangelism. And that’s a charge that’s been made a number of times; it’s a frequent one that comes up, particularly in the SBC. And it just isn’t true.

MD: What was Calvin’s view of the Great Commission? Did he see it as fulfilled in the apostolic age?

MAGH: If you go through Calvin’s perspective on the whole area of the expansion of the kingdom of God and missions, there is just no way that you can argue that he saw it as being fulfilled in the apostolic era. There is some indication that some of his successors in the 17th century would have argued that way. But there’s no evidence that Calvin really argued that way. In fact, there’s every evidence to the contrary.

You see it in Calvin’s comments about the extension of the kingdom. You see it in Calvin’s prayers, especially where he prays that the gospel will go to the ends of the earth. If he believed that was something already fulfilled, he certainly wouldn’t be praying about it. And you also see it in the one opportunity he really had for significant cross-cultural mission to Brazil, and as soon as the opportunity presented itself, he and the other elders in Geneva jumped at the chance.

So, in terms of his thinking, his praying and his activity, there is no indication that he felt that the Great Commission would already be fulfilled in his day. Keep reading