What About "Witnessing?"

If an individual accepts Calvinism, "witnessing" or "testifying" in religious services is an accepted practice. Calvin taught that, since man was totally depraved, the only way he could be saved was by a divine act, and when God acted, His grace was irresistible and unconditional.

Calvin also taught that man could not obey God unless God operated directly upon his heart. Therefore, the only way others could know of this personal, "experiential salvation" was for the one saved to give testimony of seeing Jesus or hearing Jesus speak to him, thereby assuring him that he was saved.

While a person's feelings may be sincere, we must reject any testimony about being saved by God's irresistible grace. We must reject it, because it contradicts the testimony of the eyewitnesses of Jesus in the first century. Those witnesses testified that grace is resistible (Acts 7:51; Acts 13:46) and salvation is conditional (Mark 16:16; Romans 10:9; Acts 8:37).

The truth of the matter is that "testimonials" are entirely subjective – a person claims to testify, but his testimony has no basis or evidence for being tested, except his personal claim. Furthermore, the belief that we are to be busy "witnessing" to other people is a misuse of the term.

We are not "witnesses" as the New Testament uses the term. We cannot personally testify of Jesus, because we have not personally seen or observed Jesus (Acts 1:22; 2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:1-4). Our belief, however, is based on the accurate evidence of inspired eyewitnesses – they testified of the Lord so that we could believe (John 20:30-31; Acts 4:8-13; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; 1 John 1:1-4).

Can we preach and teach about Jesus, sharing with others the gospel for their salvation? Absolutely! We must be doing that because the witnesses of Jesus (apostles) commanded that we do so (2 Timothy 2:1-2; 2 Timothy 4:1-2).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets