Baptist Theology
Baptist Theology
• I. Introduction
•
A. Baptist Diversity
•
B. Sources
•
C. The Nature of
Baptist Theology
•
D. Definitions
The Baptist Observer
“Historically, Baptists are a diverse people bound
together by a belief in freedom of conscience, the
truthfulness of Scripture, believer's baptism by
immersion, Religious Liberty and Separation of Church
and State, local church autonomy, and the Priesthood
of all Believers. Apart from these commonalities,
internal dissension has abounded, including
disagreements over Calvinism and Arminianism,
missions, denominational structures, worship styles,
music, and many other issues. As a result, Baptists have
split many times over into dozens of distinct groups
within the United States and hundreds worldwide.”
R. Wayne Stacey
“There is something uniquely Baptist about a
theology in which individual Baptists, rather
than just one Baptist, express their own
diverse views, not attempting to speak for all
Baptists in these matters—which no Baptist
can.”
Bruce Gurley
“Baptist groups, churches and individuals
range the theological and ideological
spectrums from fundamentalist to liberal and
Calvinist to Arminian (and many points in
between).”
Robert N. Nash
“Baptists have never had doctrinal uniformity.
We have disagreed over hundreds of
theological issues throughout our history. We
have battled about the nature of Christ’s
atonement, the proper mode of baptism, the
Sabbath, the nature of the church, missions
and evangelism, footwashing, the Bible, and a
myriad of other theological issues, both
weighty and inconsequential.”
Fisher Humphreys. “Baptists and Their
Theology,” Baptist History and
Heritage 35.1 (Winter 2000): 7-19.
“There is one set of theological issues that has
surfaced in each of the four centuries of
Baptist history, namely, the issues related to
Calvinism and Arminianism. The relative
importance of this conversation has varied
from generation to generation, but the
conversation has never been fully silenced”
(my emphasis).
Robert Nash, Jr. “Myth: Baptists Believe in Doctrinal
Uniformity,” a pamphlet published jointly by the
Baptist History and Heritage Society, The Center for
Baptist Studies at Mercer University, and the William
H. Whitsitt Baptist Heritage Society. Online at
http://www.baptisthistory.org/mythdoctrinal.htm
“. . . three major theological controversies have dominated in Baptist
life; and each can be loosely assigned to a particular century or
centuries.”
a. Christology in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
b. Ecclesiology in the nineteenth century
c. Scripture in the twentieth century
Theology
Folk
a. the theology of a community
of Christian people that they
hold and by which they live
b. uses first-order language (I and
we)
c. minimal interest in method
and system
d. found in confessions, sermons,
books by pastors, those whose
center is the life of the church
Academic
a. done by those whose
center is more in an
intellectual elite
b. concern for method and
system
Theology: definitions
a. John Gill: “signifies a discourse concerning
God and things belonging to him.”
b. Augustus Hopkins Strong: “the science of
God and of the relations between God and the
universe.”
Systematic Theology: definitions
a. John Gill: “the gathering out of Scripture the principles
of evangelical truth and arranging them in an orderly
method to show their connection, harmony, and
agreement.”
b. The online Theopedia says: “Systematic theology is a
discipline which addresses theological topics one by one
and attempts to summarize all the biblical teaching on each
particular subject. Sometimes called constructive theology
or even dogmatic theology, the goal is to present the major
themes of the Christian faith in an organized and ordered
overview that remains faithful to the biblical witness.”
Baptist Theology
• II. Baptists in the
Seventeenth Century
•
A. Public Theology
•
B. Smyth and Helwys
•
C. Arminianism and
Calvinism
•
D. Church Membership
and Communion
•
E. Music
Fisher Humphreys
“These Baptist confessions are for
constructing bridges rather than walls.”
Fisher Humphreys
on Believer’s Baptism
This is the first Baptist contribution to the Church
The significant point with believer’s baptism is
“the creation of a church that is an
intentional faith community.”
This creation of a believer’s church is “a
contribution of such magnitude that it provides at
least a partial justification for the fact that it
creates a chasm between Baptists and other
Christians.”
Fisher Humphreys
on Religious Liberty
This is the second contribution of Baptists,
that “came early, was vocal, cost Baptists
dearly, and has been politically fruitful.”
Thomas Helwys
The inscription to King James
in The Mystery of Iniquity
Thomas Helwys
The Mystery of Iniquity
“The king . . . hath no power over the immortal souls of
his subjects, to make laws and ordinances for them,
and to set spiritual Lords over them.”
“For men’s religion to God is between God and
themselves. The king shall not answer for it. Neither
may the king be a judge between God and men. Let
them be heretics, Turks, Jews, or whatsoever . . . .”
Humphreys says in effect Helwys “instructed the king
to ‘make no laws respecting an establishment of
religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’”
Fish Humphreys
on Roger Williams
“In America, Roger Williams (1603-83)
founded in Providence [Rhode Island] the first
Baptist church in America in 1638 and made a
dramatic case for religious liberty not only in
his writing but by granting comprehensive
religious freedom to the inhabitants of the
colony of Rhode Island whose patent he
secured from Parliament in 1644.”
Fisher Humphreys
on Sectarian Withdrawal
Baptists withdrew from the Church of
England, but not from society. They sought to
engage society over issues like religious
liberty.
Unlike the Mennonites the Baptists did not
exclude the magistracy from the church.
Arminianism and Calvinism
General Baptists Particular Baptists
Salvation in Christ is
effective for all who believe
Salvation in Christ is
effective only for the elect
whom God chose before
creation
Church Membership and Communion
William Kiffin
membership reserved for
baptized believers
John Bunyan
open membership and open
communion
communion reserved for
members
"I do not deny, but
acknowledge, that baptism
is God's ordinance; yet I
have denied, that baptism
was ever ordained of God to
be a wall of division
between the holy and the
holy."
Baptist Theology
• III. Baptists in the
Eighteenth Century
•
A. England
1. Particular Baptists
2. General Baptists
3. John Gill
B. America
1. Religious liberty
2. Great Awakening
3. Modified Calvinism
Fisher Humphreys
“It is clear that some eighteenth-century Baptists
accepted the view that a genuine commitment to
Calvinism entailed a refusal to evangelize and
that the refutation, or perhaps better, the
transcending, of that view was indispensable to
the health of Baptists. The struggle between
these two points of view was conducted by
followers of Gill and followers of Andrew Fuller,
the pastor in Kettering whose views were
summarized in his book The Gospel Worthy of All
Acceptation.”
Robert Nash, Jr.
“In America, Baptists became less Calvinistic
as competition for converts on the American
frontier intensified and as international
missionary efforts were successful.”
Baptist Theology
• IV. Baptists in the
Nineteenth Century
•
A. Two Issues
1. Eccumenicalism
2. Liberalism
B. Systematic Theologians
Eccumenicalism
the relationship of Baptists to non-Baptists, a
primary concern of J.R. Graves and the
Landmark movement
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Sword and Trowel
“We are going downhill at break-neck speed.”
“We care more for the central evangelical truths than we
do for Calvinism as a system; but we believe that Calvinism
has in it a conservative force which helps to hold men to
vital truth, and therefore we are sorry to see any quitting it
who once accepted it.”
“The present struggle is not a debate upon the question of
Calvinism or Arminianism, but of the truth of God versus
the inventions of men. All who believe the gos-pel should
unite against that ‘modern thought’ which is its deadly
enemy.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Sword and Trowel
“A new religion has been initiated, which is no
more like Christianity than chalk is cheese.”
John Clifford
Statements of faith “were nothing more than
‘weapons of clerical absolution, tools of
theological tyranny, padlocks on the bible and
foes of Christian brotherhood.”
Bill J. Leonard
The controversy sowed seeds “for extended
debates regarding the authority of Scripture,
the role of confessions of faith, and the
grounds for Baptist fellowship and
cooperation.”
An Ecclesiological Controversy:
Covenant vs. Voluntary
Andrew Fuller held that
the New Testament
offered only a
rudimentary polity for
the church which was
free to develop it.
John Clifford saw
churches as “Christappointed instruments
for establishing the
Kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and for
extending the gracious
and redeeming power
of God over the world.”
E. Glenn Hinson
“For persons not well versed in Baptist history,
therefore, this article may occasion some
surprise. Baptists, even in the South, have
raised up some contributors and made some
major contributions to American
theological liberalism.”
“The truth is, Baptists supplied major players
in American theological liberalism.”
Liberal Baptists
C.H. Toy, President of The Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary
Walter Rauschenbusch, leader in the Social
Gospel movement
William Newton Clarke, systematic theologian
Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor
Baptist Systematic Theologians
• John Dagg, a convinced evangelistic Calvinistic Baptist, produced the
Manual of Theology in 1857, the first American Baptist systematic
theology.
• James P. Boyce, also an evangelical Calvinist, produced a systematic
theology in 1887. He served as the first president of The Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary.
• A.H. Strong, seminary president and professor of theology, produced his
Systematic Theology in 1876, “the most comprehensive by a Baptist
author ever published” (Humphreys, “Baptists and Their Theology”).
• William Newton Clarke, who embraced liberal theology, produced Outline
of Christian Theology in 1898, “the first systematic theology by a liberal
Protestant and the most widely influential” (Humphreys).
Baptist Theology
• V. Baptists in the
Twentieth and TwentyFirst Centuries
A. Calvinism vs.
Arminianism
B. Fundamentalism
C. Systematic Theologies
C. Doug Weaver
on Calvinism
a. “The increasing number of college students in my classes who embrace
Calvinist theology points to a different conclusion. Reformed Baptists
today are growing at a rate faster than I ever thought possible.”
b. “In the last twenty years, Calvinism has revived and “gone public” in the
SBC. While many Baptists reject three (actually four) of Calvinism’s classic
five points --unconditional election/predestination, limited atonement,
and irresistible grace–Reformed theology is increasingly influential in
numerous areas of Southern Baptist life.”
c. “Openness to Calvinism exists in some recent Southern Baptist
publications, particularly in the work of Timothy George, dean of the
Beeson Divinity School at Sanford University.”
d. “The attraction to Calvinism is best explained by factors other than local
church influence and religion departments. Three avenues appear to play
significant roles in the introduction of Baptist collegians to Calvinism.
These three “gateways” are campus ministries, contemporary Christian
music, and popular authors and speakers.”
Fisher Humphreys
“There is a movement, The Founders
Ministries, which works to restore
Calvinism to Southern Baptist life. In their
work they draw on the writings of earlier
Calvinistic Baptists such as John Gill, John L.
Dagg, James P. Boyce, and Charles
Haddon Spurgeon.”
Philip E. Thompson
“The debate over ‘Calvinism’ thus far has
given some help toward the goal of
articulating a faithful Baptist vision. It has
raised difficult, yet necessary questions. The
debate has not yet, however, provided good
answers. That task yet remains. In seeking
those answers, we will do well to keep in mind
that it may well be that ‘Baptists of
tradition’ have much yet to teach us, if only
we will listen.”
E.Y. Mullins
“Salvation is not conditioned upon our belief
in, or acceptance of, a book. . . . God’s
revelation of himself comes through his direct
action upon our spirits. . . . God thus becomes
our supreme authority and the Bible is
recognized as the authoritative record of his
supreme revelation. . . . What is our supreme
source of the knowledge of God . . . The
answer is the revelation of God in and through
Jesus Christ.”
R. Alan Culpepper
“The Scriptures have no power to give life;
their function is to point us to Christ through
whom we have the promise of eternal life.”
Further, “The principal subject of the New
Testament, clearly, is not the Bible but Jesus.
Its concern is not that we have a correctly
articulated doctrine of scripture, but that we
have faith in Christ.”
William L. Poteat
“Laboratory and Pulpit”
A lecture series from 1920 to 1923
Introduced an advocacy of evolution
Into the Southern Baptist Convention
W.T. Conner
“We cannot for a moment admit the views of
evolution that leaves God out and holds that
without God’s creative power or
superintending guidance the universe came
uncaused out of nothing and has kept on
evolving until it produced man.”
Albert W. Wardin
“Moderate fundamentalists will cooperate
with evangelicals of like faith, but militant
fundamentalists refuse cooperation with
evangelicals who, in turn, may cooperate with
theological liberals.”
Baptist Systematic Theological Works
• 1. Dale Moody, The Word of Truth: A Summary of Christian Doctrine Based
on Biblical Revelation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981).
• 2. Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker,
1983-85); rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998).
• 3. James William McClendon Jr., Systematic Theology, 3 vols. (Nashville:
Abingdon, 1986-).
• 4. Gordon R. Lewis and Bruce A. Demarest, Integrative Theology, 3 vol.
(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987-94).
• 5. James Leo Garrett, Systematic Theology: Biblical, Historical, and
Evangelical, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990-95).
• 6. A. J. Conyers, A Basic Christian Theology (Nashville: Broadman &
Holman, 1995)
• 7. Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian
Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994)
• 8. Stanley J. Grenz, Theology for the Community of God (Nashville:
Broadman & Holman, 1994
Baptist Theology
• VI. Some Concluding
Points
A. Baptist Diversity
B. Calvinism
C. Baptists and the Bible
Walter B. Shurden
“Debate, theological and otherwise, continues
in Baptist circles. A good bet is that it always
shall”
Fisher Humphreys
on the Calvinistic/Arminian debate
“. . . usually the terms of this controversy are divine
sovereignty and human freedom. I believe this is
misleading. Human freedom is very important to me, but,
asked to choose between these two, I would certainly
affirm divine sovereignty. In my judgment, this is not the
issue. The issue is predestination. Did God in eternity
sovereignly predestine some people to be saved and not
others? Put this way, it is clear that there can’t be a middle
way: either God did, or did not, do this. On these terms,
there can be no modified Calvinism and no four-point or
three-point Calvinists. My principal concern about
Calvinism is not its affirmation of divine sovereignty; my
principal concern is whether God loves all people and so
wants them all to be saved.”
Stanley J. Gerz
“Here, we as Baptists can learn from the Reformation that cradled our movement.
More particularly we could do no better than to take our cue from the insightful
statement of the Protestant principle of authority found in the Westminster
Confession: ‘The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be
determined, and all decrees of counsels, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of
men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to
rest, can be no other than the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.’ By bringing
Scripture and Spirit together, this statement suggests the sense in which the Bible
is the norming norm in theology.” Further, “Through the Bible, the Spirit orients
our present on the basis of the past and in accordance with a vision of the future.
The Spirit leads the contemporary hearers to view themselves and their situation
in the light of God's past and future, and to open themselves and their present to
the power of that future, which is already at work in the world. Thereby they are
drawn to participate in God's eschatological world. Viewed from this perspective,
the task of theology, in turn, is to assist the people of God in hearing the Spirit's
voice speaking through the text, so that we can live as God's people as inhabitants
of God's eschatological world--in the present world.”