April 18, 2017 Show with Michael Haykin on “To the Ends of the Earth: Calvin’s Missional Vision & Legacy”

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors, Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another. Matthew Henry said that in this passage, quote, we are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions. Now here's our host, Chris Arnson.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet Earth who are listening via live streaming. This is Chris Arnson, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 18th day of April 2017.

Well, God willing, we are going to be joined any second by our guest, Dr. Michael Haken, who is professor of church history and biblical spirituality and director of the Andrew Fuller Center for Baptist Studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and our intention is to discuss, to the ends of the Earth, Calvin's missional vision and legacy, but as of yet, Dr. Michael Haken has not contacted the studio and he does know about the program because we just spoke with him about a half hour ago, so I'm not sure why the delay with Dr. Haken, but hopefully he will be with us very shortly.

In studio with me, returning to Iron Sharpens Iron as my co-host, is the Reverend Buzz Taylor, and it's great to have you back on the air with me.

As a co-host, Reverend Buzz. Well, I guess it's good to be back. I say I guess because the reason I wasn't is because I went back to my now non-existent job. So I have mixed emotions about.

This, you know. And I know that you are, the reason I call you the Reverend Buzz Taylor is you are an ordained minister and you are actually looking right now for pulpit supply and possibly even eventually a pastor.

Yes, I am. Yep, that's the first order of business. So if anybody is listening who knows of a church that has a vacant pastoral office or they need pulpit supply because of a pastor being in the hospital or on vacation or whatever, how would they contact you?

Well,.

My email is buzzwords, that's b-u-z-z-w-o-r-d-s, that's buzzwords422 at gmail .com. That's buzzwords422 at gmail .com. Great. Well, and of course, if people forget.

That email address, you can always contact me. You know where to find me. ChrisArnson at gmail .com, ChrisArnson at gmail .com and just ask me how to contact the Reverend Buzz Taylor. I am going to go to an early station break because I'm starting to wonder what's going on with our guest, Dr. Michael Hagen.

Perhaps he got the time confused because he thinks we're something other than Eastern time. So I'm going to contact him. We're going to go to an early station break. So God willing, we will be right back with Dr. Michael Hagen momentarily, so don't go away.

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This is Chris Arnzen, and indeed we do have Dr. Michael Haken on the line with us. Dr. Haken, we already gave you a formal introduction before you came on the air with us, but it's an honor and privilege to have you back on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Well, it's great to be with you. Thank you. And I'll introduce you to my co-host, Reverend Buzz Taylor. Good to meet you. How are you, Buzz? And today we are going to be addressing a very controversial figure from church history and a key figure from church history who has had global impact ever since the 16th century and in some ways has impact on society in ways that we don't even know.

There are many people who are unaware of, including the forming of the government here in the United States of America and other areas of life that we take for granted. I'm talking about John Calvin, one of the reformers of the 16th century and his reformation took place in Switzerland primarily.

But Dr. Haken, it might be interesting for our listeners to know why you, as a Baptist, revere a man like John Calvin, who is not a Baptist, and had some very perhaps even harsh things to say about Anabaptists from time to time.

But there are, as you probably are fully aware, there are Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ who are puzzled why we, who are reformed Baptists, put Calvin in such high esteem in regard to his role in church history and theology.

Well, I think certainly part of it is, a key part of it is, and Puritans, as well as a variety of other figures in terms of his elucidation of the reformed Baptist movement, Calvinistic Baptism in the 17th and 18th century, particular Baptists, theologically, is deeply shaped by Calvin.

And once, we should probably clear up a couple of things that are caricatures or things that have been even to the level of slander that have been said and perpetuated about John Calvin, and about Calvinists or theologically reformed Christians.

Let's even start there. People who are opponents to what we believe will often say that we have an idolatrous attachment to this man, which even reveals itself in the fact that we very often call ourselves Calvinists.

Now, I know that there's even disagreement among brethren in Christ who adhere to the doctrines of God's sovereignty and to sovereign grace and so on, as to whether or not to use that label. I know brothers and sisters in Christ who agree with me nearly identically in regard to my theology, but who do not like the label Calvinist.

Some don't even like the label reformed. But other than the fact that there can be oddballs and nutty people who do actually have an idolatrous attachment to John Calvin, this is really a slanderous attack on us, is it not?

Yeah. Honestly, I don't know any Calvinistic Baptist. I don't know of any key figure in any sort of... That would mean that certainly is not the case. And in fact, a number of the key figures in that tradition, like Andrew Fuller, probably read very little of Calvin.

Calvin is... He's at the fountainhead of the Puritan movement. I've never come across any figure that has anything close to what we...

And this book we are addressing today, To the Ends of the Earth, Calvin's Missional Vision and Legacy, is a book that you co-authored with Jeffrey Robinson Sr. I want to just read a couple or a few commendations for this book by men who have been guests on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

First of all, we have Burke Parsons, who is co-pastor at St. Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, Florida, alongside Dr. R .C. Sproul. He says,. This book sets the record straight once and for all. John Calvin was a man consumed with the global proclamation of the gospel, the salvation of souls, and the discipleship of all nations.

With historical integrity and pastoral insight, Hagen and Robinson demonstrate the beautiful harmony that exists between Calvinistic theology and a robust biblical missiology. Here is a call for the church to share in that same passionate pursuit.

Also, Dr. Michael Horton, the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary in California, he says,. Among the many myths surrounding Calvinism is the idea that it is anti-missions.

Michael Hagen and Jeffrey Robinson draw into one place the many sources that demonstrate the tradition's missionary passion. They do so without defensive rhetoric, more out of love for the Great Commission than for any party label.

You don't have to be a Calvinist to find this story inspiring. And then we have Derek Thomas, Minister of Preaching and Teaching at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina, and Professor of Systematic Theology and Historical Theology at Reform Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.

The rehabilitation of Calvin and his robust theology of divine sovereignty as a leading figure in global missions is overdue, and few authors are qualified to do it with such enthusiasm and expertise as Hagen and Robinson.

And to the ends of the earth, the perennial assertion that Calvinism is destructive of evangelism and missions is convincingly shown to be entirely false, theologically and historically. Indeed, the very opposite is the case.

Geneva proved to be a center of missionary endeavor and expansion. Read this book and then purchase several more copies to give to your friends. I cannot recommend it highly enough. And then last but not least, I will go to Dr. Joel Beakey, President of Puritan Reform Theological Seminary.

Evangelism, missions, and prayer for the lost cannot long endure without a foundation in the doctrines of God's glory and sovereign grace. Michael Hagen and Jeffrey Robinson demonstrate through careful historical research that despite all claims to the contrary, Reformed truth has been a vital root feeding visionary and sacrificial efforts to reach the world with the gospel.

May God use these thrilling accounts to magnify the glory of his grace and to move many Christians to pour out their lives for the sake of Christ's kingdom in all lands. And that is obviously, as you know Dr. Hagen, the key thing that Calvin and his followers, his descendants, theologically have been slandered about is the notion that Calvin and his heirs did not and do not have any passion for evangelism.

They do not have any passion to reach the lost with the gospel, to urge the lost to repent and believe upon Christ and follow him. And these things that we have been accused of, although there are hyper-Calvinists who can be viewed as guilty as charged, they are a minority and certainly do not define Calvinism and Reformed theology in its majority over the centuries,.

Am I right? Yes, there have been obviously a few of the Calvinist movement. The standard charge continued down to the present, repeated by, you know, as well as is not evangelistic, his own practical opportunity he got on one occasion to send a Calvin and then we track into the 18th century has begun largely by Calvinists.

Yeah, isn't it true that all you.

Have to do is look at the history of missions to see that? Yeah, this is Reverend Buzz Taylor,.

My co-host. Yeah, if you look at the history of missions, the modern mission movement as it the way in which political agendas like Calvinism. And a lot of people, I'm sure you would agree,.

Dr. Hagen, they use what they believe is a logical chain of thought. And they think that if God before the foundation of the world has already chosen and elect people who will come to faith in Christ and will eventually go to heaven, there is no need for evangelism.

That's the logical chain of thought that they believe is proof of their presuppositions about what we believe.

But that is not at all the case, is it? No, no, not at all. And that's a, you know, that's a very old response to that 1550 that has come up a number of times. It's an argument to evangelism. Then you've got a real part of what we're doing in the Reverend Buzz Taylor.

Has another. Well, yeah, a lot of the misunderstanding to I think would stem from limiting Calvinism to simply the five points, which is what usually people are debating.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, I think it's important to recognize that the very term Calvinism, he would much prefer, wouldn't you say that one of the areas of confusion for our non-Calvinist.

Friends, or dare I say even enemies, would be that they fail to take into account when they make accusations that we do not believe evangelism and passionate pleas for the lost to repent and believe upon Christ, is that they fail to recognize that we believe that God in his sovereignty uses means that he has ordained and that he commands to bring about the salvation of his elect.

Even though God could have chosen another way for men to come to faith, he gave us the specific means by which he brings men to faith, and that is when creatures like us, human beings, proclaim the gospel and urge men and women to repent and treat them with love and compassion and kindness in the name of Christ and so on.

Yeah. One of the things that is crucial, while God does by the death of his son, his people, he had elected by election. Nonetheless, there are means that are used, and then there is a mystery about the problem of people.

It's God who does it. He is sovereign in it. Nonetheless, there is... Perhaps it would be helpful for you to give a summary of something of the background of.

John Calvin. I mean, we've had other programs where we went into great detail about his life in a Roman Catholic family and his conversion, but if you could just give us a summarized view.

Of that. Yeah, Calvin was born in 1509. He's born in the Northeastern, which actually would have been its own dialect. He would have had to learn what he went up to. He goes there, and his father has over the next number of people that he actually ends up rooming.

How Calvin is converted, when Calvin is converted, is not easy to determine, but it's somewhere in the early 15th. He only makes one lengthy comment about it, which is in his Preface to his Commentary on the Psalms.

He mentions no witness. He mentions God's sovereignty. It's a sudden conversion. By the mid -1530s, those who are not welcome in France, coming back to the Roman Church, they'll be martyred. He ends up in Judea in 1538, and he's mentored, as well as meets his wife there.

He's his main... Writes commentaries in addition to his sermons, and then, obviously, his Magnum Opus. He drew five editions in Latin. His final edition in Latin is in 1559. That's often regarded as the definitive...

Interestingly enough, he's being translated... If Calvin had lived longer, and he dies in his...

Huh, that's interesting. It is interesting, because today, and I'm not saying this as a broad-brushing statement. I know that there are Missouri Synod Lutherans and conservative Lutherans who have high esteem for Calvinist brethren in Christ, such as...

I know that even Rod Rosenblatt cooperates with Dr. Michael Horton on the White Horse Sin Program, but I have encountered a number of Missouri Synod Lutheran scholars and conservative Lutherans who despise, utterly despise, Galvanism, and it's interesting to me.

Is that because they have become something altogether different or very different from the Lutheranism and, in fact, from Martin Luther's theology himself?

Yes, in part. I mean, there has been, certainly, developments within Lutheranism, ones with which I'm not really... But there's certainly no predestination. You cannot say predestination, the sovereignty of God, is a mark of Calvinism, because all the Lutherans believe that.

What does this understanding of the relationship of the place of the Holy... Well, those would be the two key areas. Oh, and the Lord's Supper. Over the years, some of them even want them canonized, don't they?

Yeah, but Calvin is still anathema.

Right. Interesting to me. We're going to be going to a break right now. If anybody would like to join us on the air with a question, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com, chrisarnsen at gmail .com, C-H-R-I-S-A-R-N-Z-E-N at gmail .com.

Please give us at least your first name, your city and state of residence, and your country of residence if you live outside of the USA. Don't go away. We'll be right back, God willing, with Dr. Michael Hagan and our discussion of To the Ends of the Earth, Calvin's Missional Vision and Legacy.

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For many years to come. Hi, I'm Pastor Bill Shishko inviting you to tune in to a visit to the pastor's study every Saturday from 12 noon to 1 p .m. Eastern Time on WLIE Radio www .wlie540am .com. We bring biblically faithful pastoral ministry to you and we invite you to visit the pastor's study by calling in with your questions.

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Study because everyone needs a pastor. Welcome back, this is Chris Arnzen. If you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours with a little less than 90 minutes to go is Dr. Michael Haken and we are discussing his book To the Ends of the Earth, Calvin's Missional Vision and Legacy.

In studio with me is my co-host Reverend Buzz Taylor and if you'd like to join us on the air, our email address is chrisarnzen at gmail .com, chrisarnzen at gmail .com and I got an interesting email from Canada, Dr. Haken.

I have someone named Heinz whose last name I wouldn't even dare to try to pronounce and he says, I studied under Michael from 1988 to 1991 and have been best friends ever since and ministry colleagues ever since.

He sits on our board of Joshua Press and is one of the founders of Joshua Press, so he's just giving you a greeting here. And we do have Joe in Slovenia who has a question about hyper-Calvinism and that is something that needs to be defined, obviously, because people who dislike Calvinism will routinely call us hyper-Calvinists and you wonder why, if they just have a disdain for ordinary historic Calvinism, why they would even want to attach hyper to it.

I don't know why, but Joe in Slovenia says, I've never understood why hyper-Calvinism would ever even develop as a theological position. I'm referring to the hyper-Calvinism that existed in Britain before Andrew Fuller and William Carey and still exists in some sectors of Reformed theology today.

Please ask Dr. Haken to explain to us how those supposedly following the theological teachings of someone as thoroughly biblical as John Calvin and the Reformers in general could arrive at anti-missions understanding.

Thank you.

For the sharp topic today. Yeah, there's probably a number of factors that need to be identified. Originally, I think by Matthew 28, 19 -20, that we know it was justified before. There's no other 18th century hyper-Calvinism.

The key figure is Joseph Hussey, a Congregationalist pastor, and he argues for the evangelist to remain in John's questions about whether or not Gill is committed to the monopoly of Whitefield. This is tied up with the Church of Anglicanism, which had been a major persecutor to eternal justification.

Such lay foundations, none missionary-minded. Now, would you agree with our friend Dr. Tom Nettles that he is to be.

Greatly valued, nonetheless, in spite of any faults he may have? John Gill, I'm speaking of.

Yeah, oh yeah. Terminology, hyper-Calvinist, is to be rightly applied to Gill. I think he is, to some degree, a hyper-Calvinist. Mind complete. Unitarianism. Error,.

When we hear about things like that, it reminds us of how important, among the other watchwords of the Reformation, we should always, not only adhere to sola scriptura, we should adhere to tota scriptura, and it seems that the issue of Arminianism or hyper-Calvinism, it really is in at its root an unconscious rejection of tota scriptura.

It seems that Arminians want to preserve the biblical truths of the responsibility of man and the love of God, and the hyper-Calvinists want to preserve the biblical truths of God's sovereignty and the total depravity of man and the inability of man, and both sides reject or ignore, even if unconsciously, all of those scriptures that speak on the elements that they are overlooking, like, in the Arminians' case, the sovereignty of God and the total depravity of man, and in the hyper-Calvinist case, the responsibility of man.

Yeah, and one of the big debates, and it's an area that is not being studied at all, among hyper-Calvinists, there is this tendency to limit the love of God, and then on the Arminian case, the overarching, and as a result, in the development of Arminianism, you get the open theism of the late 20th century.

Yeah, they call themselves consistent Arminians. Yeah, yeah, I think it's a logical development to maintain the biblical and of tension, and there are tensions, and the hyper-Calvinist position, intention, finite reason, cannot, cannot completely solve.

Now, going back to something you just mentioned briefly, the love.

That God has for all of humanity, or even all of creation, wouldn't you say, though, that the Arminian blurs the distinction between God's parental and spousal love for his elect alone,.

And the love that he has, as is demonstrated in his common grace to all humans? I mean, like,.

For instance, I can remember years ago, a very dear friend of mine, who's an independent fundamentalist Baptist, who is a vehement anti-Calvinist, he, during a discussion with me, says, one of the main problems I have with you and your fellow Calvinists is that you paint a picture of God loving some people more than others, and I said to him, so you're saying to me that God loves those who are spending an eternity in conscious torment and punishment?

He loves you in the same measure and in the same way that he loves them? And he said, I guess so. I mean, really, I guess nobody ever posed that question to him before. But to think that God loves us, who are his children, who will spend eternal life with him in glory, the same measure that he loves those in hell doesn't make any sense at all.

No, no, it doesn't. And again, that's a distinction that can be made. By the way, Joe, in Slovenia, we are going to be shipping you off a free copy.

Of To the Ends of the Earth, Calvin's Missional Vision and Legacy by our guest, Dr. Michael A .G. Haken and C. Jeffrey Robinson, Sr., compliments of Crossway and also compliments of our friends at Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, C .V. for Cumberland Valley, B .B .S. for BibleBookService .com.

So keep your eye open in the mail for a package from C .V .BBS .com. And thank you very much for submitting the question. And thank you very much also for providing an American address where we will ship this to your daughter.

We have Casey, originally from the Philippines, now living in Kannapolis, North Carolina, who says, in fact, I'm going to ask the question and then have you answer it when we return from the break because I don't want to cut you off in mid-sentence.

His question is, where did the modern concept that election, predestination, and Calvinism contradict evangelism and missions come from? And how can we better set the record straight when speaking to others about these issues?

And in fact, I will forward the email of this listener to you so you can have it right in front of you. And we're going to a break right now. And if anybody would like to join us on the air as well with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Chrisarnson at gmail .com. Don't go away. We will be right back after these messages with Dr. Michael Hagan. Thriving Financial is not your.

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Tired of bop store Christianity,.

Of doing church in a warehouse with all the trappings of a rock concert? Do you long for a more traditional and reverent style of worship? And how about the preaching? Perhaps you've begun to think that in-depth biblical exposition has vanished from Long Island.

Well, there's good news. Wedding River Baptist Church exists to provide believers with a meaningful and reverent worship experience featuring the systematic exposition of God's Word. And this loving congregation looks forward to meeting you.

Call them at 631 -929 -3512 for service times. 631 -929 -3512 or check out their website at wrbc .us. That's wrbc .us.

I'm James White of Alpha Omega Ministries. The New American Standard Bible is perfect for daily reading or in-depth study. Used by pastors, scholars, and everyday readers, the NASV is widely embraced and trusted as a literal and readable Bible translation.