Once, after preaching from Acts 14:16 and 17:30 that God commands all men everywhere to repent, Carey was [...]]]> William Carey certainly can’t be accused of being unevangelistic.  And yet he was an unabashed Calvinist (yes, all 5 of ‘em), and in fact, it was his God-centered Calvinist (Pauline) theology drove his passion for people, missions, and evangelism.

Once, after preaching from Acts 14:16 and 17:30 that God commands all men everywhere to repent, Carey was confronted with the following comment by a Brahman who heard his message: “Indeed I think God ought to repent for not sending the gospel sooner to us.”

Carey’s response is classic:

“To this I added, suppose a kingdom had been long overrun by the enemies of its true king, and he though possessed of sufficient power to conquer them, should yet suffer them to prevail, and establish themselves as much as they could desire, would not the valor and wisdom of that king be far more conspicuous in exterminating them, than it would have been if he had opposed them at first, and prevented their entering the country? Thus by the diffusion of gospel light, the wisdom, power, and grace of God will be more conspicuous in overcoming such deep-rooted idolatries, and in destroying all that darkness and vice which have so universally prevailed in this country, than they would have been if all had not been suffered to walk in their own ways for so many ages past.”  (from A Vision for Missions, by Tom Wells, p. 13.)

Carey’s wise words betray the following convictions:

1. God is sovereign not only in salvation but also in the course and progress of the gospel throughout history.
2. God’s goal in missions is ultimately to make his wisdom, power, and grace conspicuous.
3. God sometimes sovereignly withholds the gospel from going to certain people in order to accomplish his own God-glorifying purposes (cf. Matthew 10:5-6).
4. At any moment that he sovereignly chooses to do so, God is perfectly capable of “overcoming…deep-rooted idolatries” and “destroying all that darkness and vice which have so universally prevailed” in the world.
5. God accomplishes this through “the diffusion of gospel light” which requires that gospel-bearing messengers participate in his mission (cf. Rom 10:14-15).