PUBLICATIONS
THE BURNING BUSH
Volume 16 Number 1, January
2010
The Legacy
of John Calvin in the Bible-Presbyterian Church
Jeffrey Khoo
Reformed and Presbyterian churches this year celebrate the 500th year of John Calvin who was born on July 10, 1509 in Noyon, Picardy, France, and who died on May 27, 1564 in Geneva, Switzerland. Calvin was the great French Reformer of the 16th Century Protestant Reformation. All Reformed and Presbyterian churches trace their ancestry and theology back to him, and the Bible-Presbyterian (B-P) Church is no different.
What is Calvin’s
legacy in the B-P Church? What are the lessons to be drawn for the
present and future as we strive to be a faithful church until the Lord
returns? Let us look at the history and theology of the B-P Church in
Singapore and how we are what we are because of Calvin and other great
men of God.
History
 The
B-P Church in Singapore has seven historical roots, according to the Rev Dr Timothy Tow—her late founding pastor (see his book, The Singapore
B-P Church Story). Out of the seven roots, five of them (1st,
2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th) are Reformed or Presbyterian roots.
John Calvin
The B-P Church is a
Protestant Church. We remain part of the 16th
Century Protestant Reformation movement which opposed the tyranny and
the errors of the Roman Catholic Church. Although many Protestants and
Evangelicals (e.g. Evangelicals and Catholics Together 1994, and
Lutheran World Federation in 1999) have capitulated to the ecumenical
pressure to reunite with the Roman Catholic Church, the B-P Church
remains steadfast in proclaiming the five famous slogans of the
Protestant Reformation, namely, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus
Christus, Sola Scriptura, Soli Deo Gloria.
There were two main
leaders in the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther and John Calvin.
Luther was the evangelist, and Calvin the theologian. When we call
ourselves Reformed or Presbyterian we are identifying ourselves with
Calvin and his theology as contained in his Institutes of the
Christian Religion and the Calvinistic Westminster Confession of
Faith. Calvin was a Frenchman, and so our first root is a French root.
English Presbyterian Mission
The second root is
the English Root since our Reformed Faith is derived from the
missionaries of the English Presbyterian Mission (EPM) who evangelised
South China. The English Presbyterians, not wanting to conform to the
Anglican Church under an Archbishop, separated themselves to form the
Presbyterian Church which is governed by a plurality of spiritually
qualified and mature men called Presbyters or Elders, and not by just
one man. The B-P Church is a Church governed by a Board of Elders which
we believe to be the biblical system of church government.
William Chalmers Burns
 The
third root is the Scottish Root. William Chalmers Burns (1815-1868) was
a Scotsman and the "Grandfather of Bible-Presbyterians" for it was he
who in 1856 visited the Teochew ancestors of the Tow’s and the Heng’s in
Swatow, China, and founded the Swatow Presbyterian Church. The first
convert in Swatow was Tan Khai Lin, the maternal great-grandfather of
the Rev Dr Timothy Tow, who was also the first to be ordained as a
pastor. Owing to economic hardships, a number of the Swatow Christians
migrated to Singapore and Malaya in the 1860s and 70s. Noting the
migration, the EPM sent the Rev John A B Cook to organise the migrants
into four churches, one of which was Life Church, Prinsep Street (1883)
or Say Mia Tng. Life B-P Church came out of Say Mia Tng.
Carl McIntire
The next Reformed
root is the sixth which is the American Root. This brings us to Faith
Theological Seminary and the Bible Presbyterian Church of USA founded by
the Rev Dr Carl McIntire. When Timothy Tow was a student at Faith
Seminary training for full-time ministry, he heard Dr McIntire sound a
clarion call for a 20th Century Reformation
which was organised as the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC)
in 1948. The call was to defend the faith in the midst of apostasy. The
Liberals and Modernists were attacking the historic Christian Faith and
the Holy Scriptures left, right and centre. The young Timothy Tow heard
the call, found his heart strangely warmed, and joined with his
teacher—Dr Carl McIntire—in the spiritual battle for a 20th
Century Reformation.
Timothy Tow
 The
Singapore Root is traced to the Rev Dr Timothy Tow, the founding pastor
and first theologian of the B-P movement in Singapore. B-Pism in
Singapore is known for its separatist stance against liberalism,
ecumenism, charismatism, neo-evangelicalism and every false ‘ism’ that
has arisen to undermine the historic Christian Faith. The doctrine of
separation is enshrined in our constitution. The Rev Dr Timothy Tow
together with the Rev Dr Quek Kiok Chiang (then Elder) and the Rev Hsu
Chiang Tai (then Deacon) were known as the "Three Musketeers" in the
early days of the movement, earnestly contending for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints (Jude 3). Dr S H Tow, noting the danger
in the ecumenical evangelism of Billy Graham in the 1970s, joined in the
fray—the fourth Musketeer. Read all about it in Timothy Tow’s book—Disciples
of McIntire.
It is tragic today to
see the B-P movement being destroyed from within. The whole denomination
is now fractured into three or four camps since the dissolution of the
B-P Synod in 1988 due to incipient charismatism and neo-evangelicalism
(read about it in Timothy Tow’s The Singapore B-P Church Story).
The falling away is seen more and more clearly as the years go by. The
divide is even more pronounced today with certain B-P churches not
wanting to defend the Authorised or King James Version of the Bible
which is the Bible of the 16 th Century
Protestant Reformation, which is the Bible of the B-P Church from the
beginning. Some have already replaced the KJV with the NIV or one of the
modern versions. They refuse to take a separatist stance against the
liberal and ecumenical modern versions which are based upon corrupt
texts. They even go so far as to malign as "heresy" the biblical
doctrine of the verbal and plenary preservation (VPP) of the Holy
Scriptures. We pray for their repentance. The truth is Psalm 12:6-7
which says, "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in
a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever." Matthew
5:18, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled." Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33, "Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." God
promised to preserve His inspired words and we believe He kept His
promise. The Westminster Divines, our Calvinistic forefathers believed
this; Dr Carl McIntire, the father of Bible Presbyterianism himself
believed this. We cannot but defend the truth, "For we can do nothing
against the truth, but for the truth" (2 Cor 13:8).
Theology
Covenant Theology
  As
a Calvinistic Church, the B-P Church is unashamedly Covenantal as
opposed to Dispensational in its theology. You may ask, "What is
dispensationalism or dispensational theology"? You will get your answers
from the Rev Dr Timothy Tow’s scholarly book—The Law of Moses and of
Jesus—which is a critique of dispensationalism in general and its
view of the Moral Law in particular. If you want to know what is
Covenant Theology, please read Theology for Every Christian: A
Systematic Theology in the Reformed and Premillennial Tradition of J
Oliver Buswell published by the Far Eastern Bible College. Briefly
and simply, Covenant Theology is all about the unity of the Bible and
the unity of God’s plan of salvation in Christ. It emphasises the
sovereignty of God in all that happens in this world, and the
faithfulness of God in keeping His promises to His people.
"Calvinism is Paulinism Systematised"
 Now
when we study Calvin, we are not actually studying Calvin but the
Apostle Paul. "Calvinism is Paulinism systematised" said the Rev Dr
Timothy Tow. Rev Tow was an expert on Calvin. He had abridged Calvin’s
Institutes and written many books expounding Calvinism. You will want to
begin with A Glimpse of the Life and Works of John Calvin, and
then move on to Has God a Plan for Your Life? which is really a
practical application of his more doctrinal book—The Sevenfold
Will of God. If you wish to feel the Calvinistic heartbeat of Rev
Tow, you will want to read his book, The Story of My
Bible-Presbyterian Faith, and many other books he had written on
preaching and counselling, missions and evangelism, and commentaries on
the different books of the Bible.
TULIP
 We
also hold to the Five Points of Calvinism commonly known as TULIP—an
acronym for the Five Points, viz, (1) Total Depravity, (2) Unconditional
Election, (3) Limited Atonement, (4) Irresistible Grace, (5)
Perseverance of the Saints. We are true blue, Five-Point Calvinists. We
are not Four-Pointers or TUIPs who deny the Third Point which is Limited
Atonement nor Six-Pointers or TULLIPs who distort the Third Point by
denying God’s Common Grace and His Desiderative Will. For elaboration,
read my tract, "Hyper-Calvinism in the Light of Calvin." Many of the
books and articles mentioned are downloadable for free at the Far
Eastern Bible College website (www.febc.edu.sg).
Conclusion
The B-P Faith which
demands a separation from all forms of worldliness and unbelief, and a
polemic defence of the inspired and preserved Words of God will not be
appreciated by many but by the faithful remnant. Calvin himself was
greatly persecuted for preaching and writing in defence of the faith,
and exposing error. But despite the dangers he faced, he often
encouraged himself and his hearers by quoting Romans 8:31,
"If God be for us, who can be against us?"
Let us therefore make
sure we are first of all for God, and if we are for Him in accordance
and obedience to His forever infallible and inerrant Words, then we can
be sure He is also for us and will keep us in these perilous days. Who
is more powerful than God? None!
The Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo is Principal of the Far Eastern Bible College, and an Elder of True Life Bible-Presbyterian Church.
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