Lesson #6 – Doctrine & Zeal Are Not At Odds
The sixth installment in a seven part series that Kevin DeYoung posted regarding a Dutch Reformed minister Jacobus Frelinghuysen (1691-1747).
6. Doctrinal fidelity and evangelistic fervor do not have to be at odds.Frelinghuysen did not accept that head and heart had to pull in opposite directions. He embraced traditional Calvinist theology, utilized zealous frontier-style preaching, accepted confessional standards, and labored earnestly for conversions. He held together diverse inclinations that don’t have to be apart.
Martin Lloyd-Jones gives some theological principles for Reformed evangelism:*
1. The supreme object of the work of evangelism is to glorify God, not save souls.
2. The only power that can do this work is the Holy Spirit, not our own strength.
3. The one and only medium through which the Spirit works, is the Scriptures; therefore, we “reason out of the Scriptures,” like Paul did.
4. These preceding principles give us the true motivation for evangelism–a zeal for God and a love for others.
5. There is a constant danger of heresy through a false zeal and employment of unscriptural methods.
* Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Presentation of the Gospel, 6-7, and cited in Metzger, Tell the Truth, 26.
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