Words from John G. Paton (Part 1) – “A Word to the Naysayers”
Lately I have been reading the autobiography of John G. Paton (1824-1907), pioneering missionary to the cannibalistic peoples of the New Hebrides islands. Paton is arguably the greatest missionary in the history of the Reformed Presbyterian Church (how one defines the “greatness” of a missionary is up for debate, and you may notice that I only said Paton is “arguably the greatest,” which can be a sneaky way of affirming something without actually having to prove it. As evidence of my argument, however, can you name any other member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church about whom John Piper has delivered an hour-long address?[i]).
My aim in this series of blog posts is to be reminded, and to remind others, that it can be rightly said of John Gibson Paton -- though dead, he still speaks. I am convinced that he has many words fitly spoken to many of us in considering the call to support and pursue global missions as part of Jesus’ Great Commission. This first word is to the naysayers – those who would say (or maybe would not actually say, but definitely think) that the doctrines of Calvinistic Theology and the distinctives of the Reformed Presbyterian Church necessarily hinder the work and fruitfulness of missions.
Paton was a lifelong member of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland and a thorough Covenanter. He was Reformed and Calvinistic in doctrine, faith, piety, and evangelistic missionary zeal. Reformed doctrine, Reformed faith, and Reformed piety are pretty well acknowledged and understood by many people. Reformed evangelistic missionary zeal, however, may seem vague and even an oxymoron.
Michael Horton expresses this sentiment in the opening lines of his book, For Calvinism: “Calvinists are ‘the frozen chosen.’ Become one and you’re sure to lose not only your evangelistic and missionary zeal but also the heartfelt joy of a personal relationship with Christ. The pursuit of holiness will wane. Calvinism is a religion of the head, not the heart or the hands.”[ii] To be clear, Horton is not stating his own view, but rather presenting the stereotype which he spends the rest of the book disproving.
John G. Paton’s life was another book that disproved the Calvinist stereotype. I would suggest that Paton’s zeal and fruitfulness were not an accident that came about in spite of his Covenanter faith and practice, but rather his zeal was inseparably tied to his church identity. For this, I offer two brief examples of church influences in his life.
First, though John G. Paton was raised in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, his father, James Paton, was not. John wrote this about his father:
Somewhere in or about his seventeenth year, my father passed through a crisis of religious experience, and from that day he openly and very decidedly followed the Lord Jesus. His parents had belonged to one of the older branches of what now we call the United Presbyterian Church;; but my father, having made an independent study of the Scotch Worthies, the Cloud of Witnesses, the Testimonies, and the Confession of Faith, resolved to cast in his lot with the oldest of all the Scotch Churches, the Reformed Presbyterian, as most nearly representing the Covenanters and the attainments of both the first and second Reformations in Scotland. This choice he deliberately made, and sincerely and intelligently adhered to; and was able at all times to give strong and clear reasons from Bible and from history for the principles he upheld.[iii]
The point here is to observe that one of the means which the Lord used to raise up a missionary like John G. Paton, was James Paton’s deep and intentional study of the Bible, the Confession and Testimony, and Church History, coupled with a resolve to commit his ways to what he found therein.
Secondly, it is also worth noting that, as an adult, John G. Paton was a member and elder in the Glasgow Reformed Presbyterian Church, where he sat under the preaching ministry of Dr. William Symington, arguably the greatest Reformed Presbyterian theologian of his day (see what I did there?). Even if you have never read Messiah the Prince, you might know that this book by Dr. Symington remains the definitive exposition for the doctrine of the mediatorial kingship of Jesus Christ. Undoubtedly Paton’s mind and intellectual capacities were shaped and sharpened there in Glasgow, but it is just as certain that this was not done to the exclusion or detriment of molding his heart and filling it with a love for the Lord and for the lost.
Truly, the mediatorial kingship of Christ is a doctrine which ought to fuel evangelistic missionary zeal. As the Great Commission itself is grounded upon the fact that unto King Jesus, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-19, ESV). Jesus’ reign even extended over the cannibals of the New Hebrides islands. The locals might not have known that at the time, but John G. Paton did. So, he went, and so he made disciples in that nation.
There are probably few people in history who better fit the mold of a classic, old-school, Calvinistic, Reformed Presbyterian Covenanter than John G. Paton. And there are few people who have completely blown apart the stereotype that such a person will necessarily lack evangelistic missionary zeal. May you and I not conform to the stereotype, but to Jesus, and carry out His Great Commission.
Jonathan H. is the pastor of an RP Church in North America. He has a wife and two young children. Jonathan sensed his call into pastoral ministry while serving overseas on an RP Missions short-term trip.
[i] “You Will Be Eaten by Cannibals! Lessons from the Life of John G. Paton.” Desiring God, January 24, 2020. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/you-will-be-eaten-by-cannibals-lessons-from-the-life-of-john-g-paton.
[ii] Michael Horton, For Calvinism (Grand Rapids, Zondervan: 2011), 13.
[iii] John G. Paton, John G. Paton: Missionary to the New Hebrides (New York, Fleming H. Revell, 1898), 19.