My Position on Calvinism Growth in the SBC and the Baptist Faith and
Message
By Marvin Ganote
It is indeed a sad commentary on Southern Baptists (according to a 2007 LifeWay research report [includes definitions of the Five Steps (Points)] that 10% of SBC pastors say they are Five Step Calvinists. Further the “Baptist Press’s BPNews article: “In fact, over 60 percent of graduates of one of our seminaries identify themselves as five-point Calvinists.”
Step (Point) 1: The doctrine of Total Depravity (also called "total inability") asserts that, as a consequence of the fall of man, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin.
Step (Point) 2: The doctrine of unconditional election asserts that
God's choice from eternity of those whom he will bring to himself is not based
on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people. Rather, it is
unconditionally grounded in God's mercy alone.
Step (Point) 3: Limited Atonement - Also called "particular redemption" or "definite atonement", the doctrine of limited atonement is the teaching that Jesus' substitutionary atonement was definite and certain in its design and accomplishment. The doctrine is driven by the concept of the sovereignty of God in salvation and the Calvinistic understanding of the nature of the atonement. Namely, Calvinists view the atonement as a penal substitution (that is, Jesus was punished in the place of sinners), and since, Calvinists argue, it would be unjust for God to pay the penalty for some people's sins and then still condemn them for those sins, all those whose sins were atoned for must necessarily be saved.
Moreover, since in this scheme
God knows precisely who the elect are and since only the elect will be saved,
there is no requirement that Christ atone for sins in general, only for those
of the elect. Calvinists do not believe, however, that the atonement is limited
in its value or power (in other words, God could have elected everyone and used
it to atone for them all), but rather that the atonement is limited in the
sense that it is designed for some and not all.
Step (Point) 4: The doctrine of Irresistible Grace (also called "efficacious grace") asserts that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save (that is, the elect) and, in God's timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith.
The doctrine does not hold that
every influence of God's Holy Spirit cannot be resisted but that the Holy
Spirit is able to overcome all resistance and make his influence irresistible
and effective. Thus, when God sovereignty purposes to save someone, that
individual certainly will be saved.
Step (Point) 5: Perseverance (or preservation) of the saints is
also known as "eternal security." The word saints is used in the
Biblical sense to refer to all who are set apart by God, not in the technical
sense of one who is exceptionally holy, canonized, or in heaven (see Saint).
The doctrine asserts that, since God is sovereign and his will
cannot be frustrated by humans or anything else, those whom God has
called into communion with himself will continue in faith until the end. Those
who apparently fall away either never had true faith to begin with or will
return. [Note: I believe in eternal security but in the manner of Eph 1:13-24.]
Calvinists
basically believe that in the Fall of Adam and Eve, all sinners lost the desire
and ability to come to Christ. So, God graciously gives to some (the Elect) both the desire
and ability and the faith to freely have Christ. The others (the Unelected) God withholds that desire and ability
and faith but is glorified in sending these humans into
hell (Calvinism). This is not the Bible. This is not Jesus’
teaching. (John 3:15-18 RSV) "that whoever
believes in him may have eternal life." {16} For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but
have eternal life. {17} For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the
world, but that the world might be saved through him. {18} He who believes in
him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he
has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." Believing has no
sense, no rational meaning, if it is
not a freewill action by a sinner. Calvinists believe God forces a sinner to
have faith. They dismiss the Baptist Faith and Message as a mere statement of
consensus of various views and as being unbiblical in such areas as Salvation and God’s Grace of Purpose. They say Jesus’ words above have meaning
only to the Elect. The Baptist Faith and Message rejects Calvinism. The SBC
web site rejects Calvinism. LifeWay
rejects Calvinism. Dr. Herschel H. Hobbs rejected Calvinism. He was the
chairman of the 1963 committee which updated the Baptist Faith and Message. Dr.
Charles Stanley and his
I hold to the
Baptist Faith and Message and its purpose as stated by the SBC web site.
Quote: “The 1963 committee rightly sought to identify and affirm "certain
definite doctrines that Baptists believe, cherish, and with which they have
been and are now closely identified." Our living faith is established upon
eternal truths. "Thus this generation of Southern Baptists is in historic
succession of intent and purpose as it endeavors to state for its time and
theological climate those articles of the Christian faith which are most surely
held among us." Unquote. I hold to the statement
“There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.” in
the Salvation statement.
Personal faith can only meaning an individual choice not done or forced by God.
I agree with the Baptist
Doctrine Study 2008: The Baptist Faith & Message
from LifeWay.
Therefore
for biblical Southern Baptists this lesson has meaning in several ways.
Personal choice and the need for every single human being
to make a choice about Jesus with Soul Competency is the
heart of the Lottie Moon and Anny Armstrong Offerings (and they themselves). It
is about Missions. It is the
heart of the WMU, Mission Friends, GAs, RAs, AWANA, etc. It is what I believe.
I believe that God wants every human
to be saved and He has extended this
opportunity of Grace to every human being without exception. I believe the
need to do Matt 28:19 is vital. One of the finest
books on this critical subject is the book by Dr. Roy T. Edgemon, The
Doctrines Baptists Believe, Convention Press, 1988. Here is a key
statement from it, page 82 “Saving faith is volitional. Volition relates to the
will and indicates that salvation is a matter of conscious choosing.” A note:
Dr. Edgemon thought that in 1988 that Calvinism was a thing of the past in the
SBC (page 83): “The old arguments concerning predestination are rarely heard
today.” Oh that this was still true! What has happened to us? We are talking
about the handling of the souls of humans who are not
believing in Jesus. (John
The
slow demise of the Southern Baptist effort today is due to the lack of careful
study and the desire to know and apply correct doctrine in the lives of members
and their churches. The growth of Calvinism in our churches, in the seminaries,
in our prime leadership is a visual showing of this lack of doctrinal
scholarship by SBC Christians. More and more SBC Christians are neglecting and
ignoring the fundamental Baptist beliefs and tenants such as the Priesthood of All Believers
and the Infinite Worth
of Every Human to God. They are turning over personal thinking to the
church leaders and SBC leaders and thus voice agreement with whatever they say.
This is what Old Israel did with disastrous results. If the Bible is a guide in
this, God will not long tolerate such lack of Priesthood and Bible Correctness
in the 21st Century within Southern Baptists.
SBC
Christians must Make Up Your Minds about being individual priests unto God. (Rev 1:6
RSV) "and made us a kingdom, priests to his God
and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." The
Lost must Make Up Your Minds about what to do
about Jesus and God’s offer of Salvation in Jesus through Faith. (Eph 2:8 RSV)
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own
doing, it is the gift of God--"