Proverbs 11:30—“he that winneth souls is wise”

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise (Prov. 11:30).

ARMINIAN ARGUMENT:

“How do Reformed people explain this text when they are critical of the Arminian emphasis on ‘winning souls’?”

(I)

Prof. Herman C. Hanko

[Source: Covenant Reformed Fellowship News, vol. 4, no. 4]

We must be absolutely sure, first of all, that we understand that this text has nothing to do with [the] Arminian interpretation. The Arminian makes salvation dependent upon the choice of the human will; thus the one who “wins souls” is the one who persuades another to accept Jesus Christ as his personal Saviour. The “soul-saver” is, therefore, the man to whom can be given the credit for saving someone.

This is contradictory of all Scripture, which teaches in innumerable places that salvation is solely the work of God. He alone can enter the totally depraved heart of man and so change that heart through the work of the Holy Spirit of Christ that the sinner comes to Christ.

What then does the text mean when it speaks of winning souls?

This idea is not foreign to Scripture. A similar passage is found in James 5:20: “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.”

The important point to remember here is that, although only God can “win souls,” God is pleased to use means to do this. He uses the means of the preaching of the gospel to work faith. In fact, so true is this that no salvation is even possible apart from the preaching of the gospel. Paul makes this clear in Romans 10:13-14: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?”

Just as God uses the preaching of the gospel to bring to conscious faith and salvation in Christ, so also does He use the personal witness and testimony of the saints to bring His own people under the preaching of the Word so that they can be saved.

This happens in two ways.

It may happen that a member of the church falls into sin. God is pleased to restore such a one to the fellowship of the church and the way of holiness by the personal witness and admonition of the sinner’s fellow saints.  Paul speaks of this in Galatians 6:1 “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

And this is what James refers to in James 5:20.

But God is also pleased to use the witness and testimony of His people to bring out of unbelief His own elect. We are called to be God’s witnesses in the wicked world in which we live. We are called to be witnesses both by our life and by our speech. God may very well be pleased to use this witness to bring someone to the church and under the preaching. And there, within the church, is to be found salvation.

Our Heidelberg Catechism emphasizes this when it gives us one of the reasons why we must do good works: “that, by our godly conversation, others may be gained to Christ” (Q&A 86).

So important is this that no mission work of the church can ever be used by God to gather His elect unless both the calling and sending church and the group of believers brought together by the preaching are faithful witnesses to the truth they love and the grace of God which has saved them.

God is always pleased to use means. He uses the means of food to sustain our earthly life. Only God can give us our life in the world. And He brings it to an end when He has determined this to happen. But it remains a fact that, if we deliberately starve ourselves, we will die. God is not mocked, and the means He gives are necessary and important.

So it is in the spiritual realm. God is pleased to use means to save His people. Some Reformed theologians, to emphasize this, have gone so far as to say, “God binds Himself to means.” I.e., He will not work apart from them.

And so He uses our witness to gather His church.

This is a great blessing and a great calling. It is a blessing because it is a privilege to witness to God’s truth. It is a calling because it is a part of our responsibility to live lives of gratitude to Him for the salvation He has freely given us in Christ. How can we who are saved by grace be silent?

Let us in word and deed be faithful witnesses to God’s great truth of sovereign grace in Christ!

And let us remember: “Actions speak louder than words!”

------------------------------------------------

(II)

More to come! (DV)