BUILDING BRIDGES CONFERENCERIDGECREST

NOVEMBER 26-28, 2007

PRESENTED BYDAVID S. DOCKERY

PRESIDENT, UNION UNIVERSITY

Are Southern Baptists Calvinists?

Important Words• CONTRADICTION: Refers to a condition in

which at least two things are truly contrary to one another.

• ANTINOMY: Combination of two thoughts or principles each of which is true, but to us they seem incompatible.

• PARADOX: Appears to be a contradiction, or even absurd, but when closely examined, it prove to be true.

• MYSTERY: An assumed truth which the human mind cannot comprehend, but which we must accept by faith.

Biblical Affirmations

1. The Bible Affirms the Sovereignty of God2. The Bible Affirms the Responsibility of

Men and Women3. The Bible Affirms Both the Sovereignty of

God and the Responsibility of Men and Women Together

John Calvin(1509-1564)

• We know very little about John Calvin’s conversion to the Protestant faith, which must have occurred sometime in the 1530’s. Unlike Wesley or Luther, Calvin only referred to it once, and then, in a very cryptic way.

• “By a sudden conversion,”he said, “God subdued my heart to teachability.”

• In 1536 Calvin found himself in the city of Basel, a refugee from religious persecution in France. Here he published a little book, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. It was a brilliant, systematic introduction to Protestant theology. Calvin said he hoped that it would be “a key to open a way for all children of God into a good and right understanding of Holy Scripture.”

• Over the next 23 years Calvin revised and expanded The Institutes numerous times until the definitive edition of 1559. The basic outlines of The Institutes follows the order of the “Apostles’Creed.” It is divided into four books, each of which deals with a cluster of key theological ideas.

The Institutes• Book One is about the knowledge of God, His

general revelation in creation, and His special revelation in the Bible along with the concern He shows for His people through His providential care.

• Book Two focuses on the person and work of Jesus Christ, His atoning death on the cross, which is God’s remedy for the sin and guilt of lost humanity.

• Book Three explores the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation, the life of prayer, the mystery of predestination, and the Christian hope in resurrection.

• Book Four is about the church. In one sense, Calvin explains, the church is invisible. It is the company of all God’s redeemed ones throughout all the ages of time. We can never be absolutely sure who is a part of this invisible church because God’s elect are known with certainty only to Himself. But in this life, we are also concerned with the visible church, the blueprint for which is found in the New Testament. Calvin had very clear ideas about the organization of the visible church, its officers, sacraments, and responsibilities in the world. Calvin saw the Church as a dynamic presence in the world, responsible not only for religious activities but for giving shape and direction to every aspect of culture and life. “The world,” Calvin said, “is the theater of God’s glory.”

• Calvin died on May 27, 1564, and at his own request was buried in an unmarked grave. His life’s goal was to be a faithful servant of the Word of God. No doubt, he would have agreed with one of his spiritual descendents, John Robinson (1576-1625), the pastor of the pilgrim fathers: “I have followed Calvin no further than he has followed Christ. For the Lord has yet more truth and light to break forth from His Holy Word.”

• Calvin has bequeathed to us the concept of ecclesia semper refermanda, the Church always reforming and ever in need of further reformation. And so, in spite of their foibles, blind spots and sins, we continue to build on the foundation laid by John Calvin and the other reformers.

Jacob Arminius (1560-1609)

Prof. at Univ. of Leider (1603-09)

Developed what has become known as Arminianism as an alternative to teachings of John Calvin

Remonstrant Arminianism (1610)

--conditional election--universal offer of salvation--emphasis on God’s mercy

Synod of Dordt’s Response (1618-19)Developed so-called Five Points of

Calvinism1. Depravity2. Unconditional Election3. Particular Redemption4. Irresistible Grace5. Perseverance of Saints

• 1609—General Baptists• Later—Particular Baptists—London

Confession

Early Baptists

Baptists in America

• Roger Williams—Providence

• John Clarke—Newport• Philadelphia

Association—1st in North—adopted London Confession

The Southern Baptist Convention: An Introduction

Comprised of over 16 million church members in all fifty states of the United States, making it the largest evangelical denomination.

The SBC has tended to exist separately from the rest of American Christianity because of its sectionalism, its inability to separate from Southern culture, its parochialism, and its self-sufficiency, though there are some indicators that these things are beginning to change.

For almost three decades the SBC has been embroiled in controversy regarding theological issues and denominational polity.

We now find ourselves asking important questions about the identity and future of Southern Baptists.

Southern Baptist History:An Overview, 1845-1979

The SBC came together in 1845 in Augusta, GA in response to two matters:--The lack of interest among American Baptists for home missions in the South, and--Concerns over whether slave holders could be appointed as foreign missionaries. The first was as important as the second, if not more so.

W. B. Johnson

The SBC traces its roots to two groups of Baptists in the South--The “so-called”Charleston tradition: characterized by confessional theology, strong support for education, quasi-liturgical worship—order.

Richard Furman

• Charleston Association—

• 1st in South—• Richard Furman, • Basil Manly, • James Boyce, • W. B. Johnson

--The “so-called” Sandy Creek tradition: evangelistic, revivalistic, suspicious of educated ministry, and Spirit-led worship characterized by ardor.--The leadership in the early years of the Convention (the initial faculty members at Southern Seminary and first group of Convention presidents) were more akin to the Charleston tradition, but the grassroots had more in common with Sandy Creek.

Daniel Marshall

John L. Dagg (1794-1884)

• Manual of Theology• Mercer University• Stood in the Reformed

tradition of earlier Baptist Theologians such as John Bunyan, Benjamin Keach, John Gill, Andrew Fuller, and Isaac Backus

• Almost all of Dagg’s theology was a study in the grace of God

James P. Boyce (1827-1888)

• The Abstract of Principles (adapted from second London Confession/ Westminster Confession)

• Philadelphia Confession (1742)

• Charleston Confession

• Abstract of Systematic Theology• It was said, “Although the young men were

generally Arminians when they came to the Seminary, few went through his course in theology without being converted to his strong Calvinistic views.”

While differences obviously existed, 19th Century Baptists looked to a fully truthful and authoritative Bible as guide for beliefs and ministry as seen in Baptist: Why and Why Not, edited by J. M. Frost with contributions from Eaton, Kerfoot, and others.

B. H. Carroll (1843-1914)

• Baptists and Their Doctrines• Contrition, the response to

conviction, is godly sorrow which is the point of no return. Once the sinner experiences this, God’s irresistible grace will draw him to faith.

• Regeneration is an action which precedes faith

E. Y. Mullins (1860-1928)

• The Christian Religion in Its Doctrinal Expression

• Arminianism overlooked certain essential truths about God in its strong championship of human freedom. As against it, Calvinism ran to extremes in some of its conclusions in its very earnest desire to safeguard the truth of God’s sovereignty. We are learning to discard both names and adhere more closely to the Scriptures, while retaining the truth in both systems.

W. T. Conner (1877-1952)

• Christian Doctrine• Gospel of Redemption

– Election for Conner was definable in terms of God’s purpose, not God’s decree

– Modified Calvinist– Humans are not worthy of salvation,

yet are worth saving.– Rejected limited atonement/

irresistible grace

• Though J. M. Frost, F. H. Kerfoot, J. B. Tidwell followed a Calvinistic theology similar, but not as strict as Dagg and Boyce, the two great theologians in Southern Baptist life in the first 50 years of the 20th

century, Mullins and Conner, emphasized human experience, human response, and soul competency.

Southern Baptist thought moved from a hermeneutic of divine sovereignty with Boyce, Broadus, and Manly to one of personal revelation and experience with Mullins, and to a lesser degree with Conner.

From 1954 to 1979 the SBC was on the road to becoming yet another “mainline protestant denomination”—by this time the largest protestant denomination in the country.--Most leaders at this time were embarrassed by the SBC’s revivalistic heritage.

--Such embarrassment was surpassed by the Calvinistic aspects of the “Charleston tradition.”--The SBC re-envisioned itself, largely ignoring the 19th Century roots.

Herschel H. Hobbs (1907-95)

• What Baptists Believe (1964)

• The Baptist Faith and Message (1971)

• “The Baptist Faith and Message”(1963)

• Led by the thought of Herschel Hobbs, Southern Baptists in the middle and latter years of the 20th

century moved toward a modified understanding of predestination and foreknowledge. He believed that God affirmed every free human choice in such a way that the choices are not predetermined.

• He rejected the idea that God’s election is based on His choice of some. Instead Hobbs maintained that God chose to limit His sovereignty so that men and women may either accept God’s salvific offer in Christ.

• The middle years of the 20th century saw the arminianizing of the SBC, particularly with Dale Moody and Frank Stagg.

W. A. Criswell (1909-2002)

• Great Doctrines series– While rejecting

particular or limited atonement Criswell affirmed the other traditional four points of Calvinism, at least as he defined them.

– Either God acts to bring about salvation or else there is no hope.

• Confessions– Philadelphia New Hampshire– Charleston Baptist Faith and Message ’25– Abstract of Principles Baptist Faith and Message ’63– Baptist Faith and Message ’00

• Traditions– Charleston Sandy Creek– Landmarkism Frontier/Texas– Revivalism

• Toward a New Century

SBC in the 21st Century has been influenced by the broader Evangelical world, even while rediscovering the 19th

Century leaders of the SBC.

So we now find ourselves with these various groups represented in the SBC.--Fundamentalists: hard-lined people who have more in common with “independent”Baptists than with the SBC heritage.--Revivalists: heirs of the Sandy Creek theology, commitment to evangelism and revivalism.

Orthodox Evangelicals: A group that looked to Carl Henry, Harold Ockenga, and Billy Graham as models. This group wanted a theological course correction, a commitment to the full truthfulness of the Bible, serious intellectual and cultural engagement while interacting with all who would claim the great orthodox Christian tradition.

Calvinists: A group that wants to reclaim the “Charleston” theological tradition. Some among this group have a rather isolated mindset. They have much in common with the “Evangelical” group above. Include “Nine Marks,” “Sovereign Grace,” “Founders,” and others.

Many continue to misunderstand these differences, seeing all SBC conservatives as the same.

The consistent Calvinists tend to be the object of rejection by the fundamentalists and revivalists. The “contemporary church model” types are more and more detached from, if not apathetic toward, convention matters. The evangelicals are disappointed because of the lack of unity. The Calvinists feel rejected and those who make up the younger generation are at times frustrated and confused.

By and large, we don’t know our heritage, our history, our theological identity or the distinctives of the various traditions. We don’t know Furman, Manly, Broadus, Johnson, Frost, Mullins, Carroll, Conner, Moon or Armstrong. We hardly know Lee, Rogers, Hobbs, and Criswell.

It is in this context that we are made aware that Southern Baptists are at once beneficiaries and victims of tradition.--Beneficiaries: who receive nurturing truth and wisdom from God’s faithfulness in past generations.--Victims: who now take for granted things that possibly/probably need to be questioned.

--Southern Baptists are both beneficiaries of good, wise, and sound traditions, as well as victims of poor, unwise, and unsound traditions.--The Bible must be the “last word” in sifting through and evaluating both our traditions and our challenges. Paul’s word in 1 Thess. 5:21 is a helpful reminder: “Test everything. Hold on to the good.”

Ultimate danger to the Gospel lies not in the nuances of our differences, but in the rising tides of liberalism, neo-paganism, and postmodernism that threaten to swamp Southern Baptist identity in cultural accommodation.

We must remember that current frustrations and disappointments could re-ignite a battle—one in which the folk engaged are prone to concentrate on the frustrations or disappointments, while never thinking of the ultimate issues or implications for which the battle is being fought.

Luther Rice

• Let us not, however, become bitter against those who view this matter (the doctrine of election) in a different light, nor treat them in a supercilious manner; rather let us be gentle towards all men. For who has made us to differ from what we once were? Who has removed the scales from our eyes?

Charles Haddon Spurgeon• I have endeavored, in my ministry,

to preach to you, not a part of the truth, but the whole counsel of God; but I cannot harmonize it, nor am I anxious to do so. I am sure all truth is harmonious, and to my ear the harmony is clear enough; but I cannot give you a complete score of the music, or mark the harmonies of the gamut. I must leave the Chief Musician to do that.

A Model to “Build Bridges”Whitefield:

• Sovereignty of God

• Total Depravity

• Unconditional Election

• Limited Atonement

• Irresistible Grace

• Perseverance of the Saints

Wesley:

• Sovereignty of God

• Original Sin

• Did not accept unconditional election

• Atonement for all

• Did not accept irresistible grace affirming prevenient grace for all

• Did not accept the perseverance of the saints

John Leland

• Baptists hold to sovereignty of God and the Promiscuous Preaching of the Gospel

Iain H. Murray

• The final conclusion has to be that when Calvinism ceases to be evangelistic, when it becomes more concerned with theory than with the salvation of men and women, when acceptance of doctrines seems to become more important than acceptance of Christ, then it is a system going to seed and it will invariably lose its attractive power.

When working with those who hold different convictions we must…

1. Not compromise our own convictions.2. Seek togetherness for the right reasons.3. Remember that doctrinal matters are

important4. Know how to distinguish between primary

and secondary matters of faiths.

5. Pray for guidance and illumination from the Holy Spirit when we have theological disagreements.

6. Be humble, not arrogant, when dealing with controversies.

• Finally, we pray for God’s guidance, grace, and blessing in our doctrinal discussions as we seek consensus and renewal even as we together pray for a Great Commission resurgence in Southern Baptist life.