Like sands through the hourglass....
For those who enjoy soap operas, get a life. But until you do, a new installment of “As the Convention Turns” is airing in the blogosphere as can be seen here and here. The message they reference can be accessed here.
Let's set the scene.
On one side of the dustup is a group of Calvinists. What they are and what they are portrayed as are often two different things. On the other side is a group who wear the self-coined label “Baptist Identity.” Likewise, what they are and what they are portrayed as are often two different things. When referring to our Baptist heritage, the Calvinists like to trace through the Magisterial Reformers to the English Particular Baptists. The Baptist Identity folks tend to emphasize our connection to the radical reformers and the early Anabaptists. The Calvinists emphasize God’s sovereignty in salvation as typically enumerated in five points the Synod of Dort articulated to counter the Five Articles of Remonstrance. The Five Articles of Remonstrance were developed in 1610 by the followers of Jacobus Arminius and emphasized the free will of man in salvation…. I digress.
Wesleyan denominations such as Methodism have typically held to a more Arminian soteriology than Baptists. Presbyterian and Anglican denominations have typically held to a more Calvinist soteriology than Baptists. While Calvinists in the SBC hold to all five or at least four points of Calvinism, the Baptist Identity people only hold tenaciously to one. Even in that one point of agreement, instead of using the traditional Calvinist language of perseverance, they use the words, “security of the believer.” Those with more Arminian beliefs often impugn Baptist security of the believer by relabeling it “once saved always saved,” thereby attempting to equate it with antinomianism…. I digress again. Other than security of the believer, Baptist Identity people do not identify with the rest of the Calvinist soteriological system.
Due to shared soteriological beliefs between SBC Calvinists and other Calvinists, friendships and gospel partnerships have been formed between prominent SBC leaders and Presbyterians, Anglicans and other paedo-baptists. This has sparked the vocal ire of Baptist Identity folks who have publicly responded by emphasizing believer’s baptism by immersion. They are also addressing and debating who should be admitted to the Lord’s Table. Their take is that only immersed believers should be able to partake of the Lord’s Supper, thereby ostracizing all paedo-baptists. Theirs is an updated version of the historical closed communion policy of Landmark Baptists, which has instigated the charge of landmarkism leveled by their detractors.
The scene is set and the soap opera plot thickens.
Calvinists in the SBC call Baptist Identity folks landmarkers. Baptist Identity folks call Calvinists all kinds of names, but mostly they equate Calvinism with Hyper-Calvinism. In other words, they accuse Calvinists of killing evangelism. Calvinists accuse Baptist Identity of leading the SBC into a theology of baptismal regeneration. Baptist Identity accuses Calvinists of leading the SBC into a theology of reprobation that will eliminate evangelism. Accusations fly, harsh words are expressed and generalizations, overstatements and false accusations are made. But to what end?
I have spent my whole life as a Southern Baptist. I was on a Southern Baptist cradle roll and spent time in a Southern Baptist nursery. I was raised a Southern Baptist because that’s what my parents were. I am a Southern Baptist pastor today because that is the denomination which, thanks to the conservative resurgence, tenaciously holds to inerrancy and most reflects what I believe the Bible says. In my 41 years of being a Southern Baptist, I have never met a Hyper-Calvinist Southern Baptist. I have met many Southern Baptists who hold to varying degrees of Calvinistic soteriology, but never one who rejected evangelism as an impingement upon God’s sovereignty. By the same token, I have never met a Southern Baptist who held to baptismal regeneration. I have met many who place a huge emphasis on human responsibility and public response including baptism, but never one who taught that justification occurs in the waters of baptism.
Proper biblical doctrine is important—even essential. The heresies of history prove the necessity of well-reasoned doctrinal positions. Soteriological and ecclesiastical differences should not be papered over. They should be discussed—deeply, passionately, thoughtfully. Most of all they should be discussed peacefully. The Southern Baptist Convention is not defined by Calvinism. Neither is it defined by the Baptist Identity niche. Our ordinances alone do not define us. Just as our heritage is a conglomeration of both Magisterial and Radical Reformers, what we are today is a conglomeration. I will argue against limited atonement with a Calvinist—in an irenic manner and in private. I will argue against closed communion with a Baptist Identity person— in an irenic manner and in private. Certainly not in public on the internet before a lost and dying world. And certainly not as a basis for division among brothers in our convention.
What should our identity be as Southern Baptists? Many things that are summed up nicely in the Baptist Faith and Message. But standing high and above all of those things, our identity should be that we exalt the name of Jesus by the way we treat one another, that we exalt the name of Jesus by the way we handle His Word, and that we exalt the name of Jesus by the way we make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them.
It’s time to turn off the soap opera and get busy exalting the name of Jesus.
Matthew 5:9
Let's set the scene.
On one side of the dustup is a group of Calvinists. What they are and what they are portrayed as are often two different things. On the other side is a group who wear the self-coined label “Baptist Identity.” Likewise, what they are and what they are portrayed as are often two different things. When referring to our Baptist heritage, the Calvinists like to trace through the Magisterial Reformers to the English Particular Baptists. The Baptist Identity folks tend to emphasize our connection to the radical reformers and the early Anabaptists. The Calvinists emphasize God’s sovereignty in salvation as typically enumerated in five points the Synod of Dort articulated to counter the Five Articles of Remonstrance. The Five Articles of Remonstrance were developed in 1610 by the followers of Jacobus Arminius and emphasized the free will of man in salvation…. I digress.
Wesleyan denominations such as Methodism have typically held to a more Arminian soteriology than Baptists. Presbyterian and Anglican denominations have typically held to a more Calvinist soteriology than Baptists. While Calvinists in the SBC hold to all five or at least four points of Calvinism, the Baptist Identity people only hold tenaciously to one. Even in that one point of agreement, instead of using the traditional Calvinist language of perseverance, they use the words, “security of the believer.” Those with more Arminian beliefs often impugn Baptist security of the believer by relabeling it “once saved always saved,” thereby attempting to equate it with antinomianism…. I digress again. Other than security of the believer, Baptist Identity people do not identify with the rest of the Calvinist soteriological system.
Due to shared soteriological beliefs between SBC Calvinists and other Calvinists, friendships and gospel partnerships have been formed between prominent SBC leaders and Presbyterians, Anglicans and other paedo-baptists. This has sparked the vocal ire of Baptist Identity folks who have publicly responded by emphasizing believer’s baptism by immersion. They are also addressing and debating who should be admitted to the Lord’s Table. Their take is that only immersed believers should be able to partake of the Lord’s Supper, thereby ostracizing all paedo-baptists. Theirs is an updated version of the historical closed communion policy of Landmark Baptists, which has instigated the charge of landmarkism leveled by their detractors.
The scene is set and the soap opera plot thickens.
Calvinists in the SBC call Baptist Identity folks landmarkers. Baptist Identity folks call Calvinists all kinds of names, but mostly they equate Calvinism with Hyper-Calvinism. In other words, they accuse Calvinists of killing evangelism. Calvinists accuse Baptist Identity of leading the SBC into a theology of baptismal regeneration. Baptist Identity accuses Calvinists of leading the SBC into a theology of reprobation that will eliminate evangelism. Accusations fly, harsh words are expressed and generalizations, overstatements and false accusations are made. But to what end?
I have spent my whole life as a Southern Baptist. I was on a Southern Baptist cradle roll and spent time in a Southern Baptist nursery. I was raised a Southern Baptist because that’s what my parents were. I am a Southern Baptist pastor today because that is the denomination which, thanks to the conservative resurgence, tenaciously holds to inerrancy and most reflects what I believe the Bible says. In my 41 years of being a Southern Baptist, I have never met a Hyper-Calvinist Southern Baptist. I have met many Southern Baptists who hold to varying degrees of Calvinistic soteriology, but never one who rejected evangelism as an impingement upon God’s sovereignty. By the same token, I have never met a Southern Baptist who held to baptismal regeneration. I have met many who place a huge emphasis on human responsibility and public response including baptism, but never one who taught that justification occurs in the waters of baptism.
Proper biblical doctrine is important—even essential. The heresies of history prove the necessity of well-reasoned doctrinal positions. Soteriological and ecclesiastical differences should not be papered over. They should be discussed—deeply, passionately, thoughtfully. Most of all they should be discussed peacefully. The Southern Baptist Convention is not defined by Calvinism. Neither is it defined by the Baptist Identity niche. Our ordinances alone do not define us. Just as our heritage is a conglomeration of both Magisterial and Radical Reformers, what we are today is a conglomeration. I will argue against limited atonement with a Calvinist—in an irenic manner and in private. I will argue against closed communion with a Baptist Identity person— in an irenic manner and in private. Certainly not in public on the internet before a lost and dying world. And certainly not as a basis for division among brothers in our convention.
What should our identity be as Southern Baptists? Many things that are summed up nicely in the Baptist Faith and Message. But standing high and above all of those things, our identity should be that we exalt the name of Jesus by the way we treat one another, that we exalt the name of Jesus by the way we handle His Word, and that we exalt the name of Jesus by the way we make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them.
It’s time to turn off the soap opera and get busy exalting the name of Jesus.
Matthew 5:9
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment