On the eve of what many believe will be a historic Southern Baptist Convention, an article titled “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation” has been drafted, published, and signed by many SBC pastors in our convention. This letter is tragic on the basis of fellowship and doctrine as listed below. As we move forward, do we want to be considered the “Fightin’ Baptists” or the “Religious version of the Hatifelds and McCoys?” Sure there is a reason to fight, a time to fight, and most present day SBC pastors would agree that the “Conservative Resurgence” was a worthy cause as many faithful men such as Adrian Rogers, Jerry Vines, Paige Patterson, W.A. Criswell, and others faithfully stuck their necks on the line for the inerrancy of Holy Scripture. The question is, are we ready to fight again, fight brothers and sisters, fight churches, split churches, end friendships, be distracted away from missions, and spill much blood in the process?
Tragedy #1: Divisive Agenda
According to Scripture, brothers and sisters in Christ are to “love one another.” The lost world has grown accustomed to seeing people fight and oppose one another in the world, but should that be the view that our people have of us in our communities? Should that be the “gossip” among the community that First Baptist is fighting Second Baptist in town over Calvinism? How much will that help our agenda to reach the community for Christ?
1 John 4:7-11 is abundantly clear on this issue:
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. [9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
When I read some of the Calvinistic blogs, I don’t smell the aroma of 1 John permeating from the computer screen! That same thing is true when I read this letter by Dr. Eric Hankins. Furthermore, when SBC pastors, leaders, and professors sign this letter, it’s almost as if a line is being drawn in the sand and a request is being made for action. What should the action be? Would anyone who signed this list support the following reactions by the Calvinists in the SBC?:
- Take up the sword and fight it out to the death through blogs, creeds, resolutions, angry SBC annual meetings and political maneuvers that would result in votes that would split our convention down the middle?
- A massive exodus by all Calvinists who are tired of being labeled as “heretics” by those who are supposed to be brothers and sisters in Christ.
Most people understand that these two possible reactions would be detrimental to our convention. So, the next question should be asked to Dr. Eric Hankins and those who have signed their name to the letter - What is your purpose in this letter? Is it to do any of the following:
- Officially label Calvinism as a heresy?
- Officially ban any and all Calvinists from serving in the SBC?
- Sniff out Calvinists and cause them to lose their churches and prevent them from being called to churches based on their Calvinistic doctrine?
What exactly is the purpose of this letter? Have we forgotten our history as Southern Baptists where we had Calvinists such as Lottie Moon, James P. Boyce, John L. Dagg, A.T. Robertson, John A. Broadus, and many others who served in our convention along with those who were less Calvinistic (Reformed) in their doctrine? They didn’t fight over it, throw mud, and pull out the heresy sword to use on one another. In recent history we have had Albert Mohler serving together with Adrian Rogers. Why are we headed down the broken road of schism over Calvinism today?
We must ask some important questions:
- Does this honor God? Is this fight a necessary schism over essentials that would cause one of the two camps to be considered heretical?
- Will it help us reach more people for Christ?
- Are we prepared to announce that Lottie Moon, Adoniram Judson, Charles Spurgeon, John Newton, Jim Elliot, John Bunyan, and a long list of others are officially labeled as heretics who preached a false gospel? Is that where these men such as Dr. Eric Hankins want to lead our convention?
Tragedy #2: Doctrinal Ambiguity
The letter claims it was drafted for the purpose of doctrinal clarity on the “traditional understanding” of salvation by Southern Baptists. However, if you read the language contained in the letter, it creates greater ambiguity than clarity on the doctrines, and it openly contradicts the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 (hereafter referred to as the BF&M).
Ambiguity on the Free Will of Man
The letter states the following regarding the free will of man in article eight:
We affirm that God, as an expression of His sovereignty, endows each person with actual free will (the ability to choose between two options), which must be exercised in accepting or rejecting God’s gracious call to salvation by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel.
The BF&M Article IV on Salvation states the following regarding regeneration:
Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.
The BF&M makes it clear that regeneration (being born again) is an act of God whereby He changes the sinful heart of man. While man responds to God – it was God who initiated the work in the beginning to that specific person. Nowhere in the BF&M does it suggest that all people without exception are moved upon in that specific way by God. So, that leaves us with this reality – unless God does this special work of regeneration – sinful man will not respond to God (John 6:44). Is man ultimately free to come to Christ or must be be drawn by the Father? How does that drawing work take place? When was it planned?
Furthermore, this letter aligns more closely with the National Association of Free Will Baptists than it does with the Southern Baptist Convention’s BF&M. The reality is – this article clearly violates, denies, and contradicts the official stance of the BF&M on the doctrine of salvation and should be rejected by SBC pastors, professors, and leaders as a divisive agenda that will harm our convention in the area of fellowship and doctrine. This letter has a divisive agenda that will harm pastors and churches in our convention. Should we separate certain SBC institutions that are more Calvinistic from our “family” and mission? Should we allow the language of heresy and division to continue among us as Southern Baptists in relation to Calvinism? I will not be signing this letter because I believe it’s clearly divisive and it openly contradicts the BF&M that I embrace.
This letter deserves a response – one far greater than this blog post – and it is my prayer that many people in the life of the SBC will take immediate action against this divisive agenda. We are not Free Will Baptists – we are Southern Baptists – and there is a clear difference as we examine our doctrinal statements and history. As Southern Baptists we are not afraid to take bold stands, but when it comes to taking bold stands in the wrong direction, we need someone to sound the alarm! God spare us from infighting and the destructive behaviors of the Hatfields and the McCoys. May God be pleased to spare the SBC (and the churches that represent the SBC) from a civil war!
Let’s build bridges, lock arms together, and impact our world with the gospel of Jesus Christ!
For His glory,
Pastor Josh Buice
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14 Responses to “A Response to “A Statement of Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation” – The Religious Version of the Hatfields & McCoys”
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greatly appreciate this response
Pastor Josh Buice, I appreciate your need to respond the article in the SBC press and your thoughtful responses, however, after reading it, I believe you to be reactionary and the very essence of the divisive nature you are calling attention to. I am not a seminary trained minister and only have a lay-person’s knowledge and grasp on theology and the gospel, but I would offer that we serve a God who we cannot fully understand. I would say that based on my limited understanding of the issue, I am a combination of both Calvinist and arminianism. If this makes me non-commital, so be it. Further more, your assertion that the article was an attack on calvanists is sensational at best.
Thank you for your reply, but my desire in the response wasn’t to attack. My goal was to show the need for unity rather than an aggressive effort to run all Calvinists out of the convention as if they are heretics. There is a time and season for fighting, and this is not the right one….I assure you!
Beloved brethren, Who is right and who is wrong? The Word of God stands as testimony to the truth.
In the Psalm of King David:
Behold, how good and how pleasant [it is] for
brethren to dwell together in unity!
Psalm 133:1
Jesus the Christ in his prayer to the Father
before his crucifixtion:
“Now I am no longer in the world, but these are
in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father,
keep through Your name those whom You have
given Me, (*meaning his disciples)that they may
be one as We [are]…
…”I do not pray for these alone, but also for
those who will believe in Me through their
word; “that they all may be one, as You,
Father, [are] in Me, and I in You; that they
also may be one in Us, that the world may
believe that You sent Me.
John 17:11, 20-21 (*emphasis mine)
Paul to the Corinthian church:
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the
same thing, and [that] there be no divisions
among you, but [that] you be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same
judgment. For it has been declared to me
concerning you, my brethren, by those of
Chloe’s [household], that there are contentions
among you. Now I say this, that each of you
says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or
“I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is
Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or
were you baptized in the name of Paul? …
…you are still carnal. For where [there are]
envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you
not carnal and behaving like [mere] men? For
when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I
[am] of Apollos,” are you not carnal? Who then
is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers
through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to
each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God
gave the increase. So then neither he who
plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God
who gives the increase. Now he who plants and
he who waters are one, and each one will
receive his own reward according to his own
labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are
God’s field, [you are] God’s building.
According to the grace of God which was given
to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the
foundation, and another builds on it. But let
each one take heed how he builds on it. For no
other foundation can anyone lay than that which
is laid, which is Jesus Christ. …
…Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among
you seems to be wise in this age, let him
become a fool that he may become wise. For the
wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
For it is written, “He catches the wise in
their [own] craftiness”; and again, “The LORD
knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are
futile.
Therefore let no one boast in men.( ** ) For
all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos
or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or
things present or things to come–all are
yours. And you [are] Christ’s, and Christ [is]
God’s. …
…Now these things, brethren, I have
figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos
for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to
think beyond what is written, that none of you
may be puffed up on behalf of one against the
other. …
1 Cor 1:10-13; 3:3-11,18-23; 4:6
**[It is] better to trust in the LORD Than to
put confidence in man.
Psalm 118:8
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test
the spirits, whether they are of God; because
many false prophets have gone out into the
world. 1 John 4:1
Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and
Silas away by night to Berea. When they
arrived, they went into the synagogue of the
Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in
Thessalonica, in that they received the word
with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures
(***) daily [to find out] whether these things
were so. Acts 17:10-11
(***-this refers to the Tanach or the Old
Testament)
This is just a gentle reminder to us all that we must stop trusting in men who cannot help and quibbling among ourselves, but instead put our noses to the grindstone and dig into the perfect Word of God to find our answers. We can find them if we diligently seek them there with the Holy Spirit’s help. The New Testament testifies to this. (James 1:25)
Regarding the issue at hand: Here is a hint:
And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;…Romans 11:26
Selah
Thanks for this blog. As a reformed Southern Baptist I couldn’t agree more. My heart hurts at the thought of division and strife. I am hopeful that we can unite for the Kingdom! There are souls to be impacted NOW!
I thank you Mr. Buice for this piece.
As a 5 pointer, I appreciate that while many in the SBC do not agree with me, I am glad that we all believe in the security of the true believer.
And while i will gladly defend my beliefs, i am not looking to fight just to fight.
I belong to a church where the pastor and many, if not all, the deacons hold to the Doctrines of Grace. We are mission minded, in prayer, in giving, and in going ourselves. We are evangelistic in our community, and we have ministries that aid the poor both of our church and of the surrounding community.
We preach the crucified and risen Savior – Jesus the Christ.
Why do some in the SBC want us gone?
I believe it’s a power issue. Many non-Calvinists are fearful of losing power, jobs, and control of direction within the SBC life. Just look at the signatures on the article. While some are good men who work well with others in the Calvinistic camp, many are very aggressive anti-Calvinists who actually believe that Calvinism is a heresy and that all Calvinists are heretics. ……. Ummmm Do we need to inform them of Lottie and Spurgeon or should we let them continue their mission offerings and Spurgeon quotes?
This is unnecessary. We are attempting to “once and for all” settle theological questions that cannot be settled this side of heaven, and then they won’t matter and we won’t care to even know the answer. We have far too much in common to risk such a divisive action as this. Most Southern Baptists do not care which “side” anyone is on. Many of us in the ministry do not honestly even know what “side” we are on. If this is pursued it will definitely be a “preacher’s fight”. And it will never be over. Something will always be next if we do not nip this “non-controversy” in the bud and let the Calvenist/Arminian pendulum swing as it may. ext?
So long as we are all passionate about seeing the lost saved and the gospel proclaimed to all the ethnos I really do not think we have a “problem” worth addressing. LEAVE IT ALONE!
With all due respect to Mr. Buice, if I still chose to be involved in SBC business matters like this, I would sign the document proposed by Mr. Hankins. Truth is, I don’t believe there is a place at the table for a guy like me (too radical/ contemporary for the traditionalists; too traditional/ stuffy for the Acts 29 group/ contemporaries) But that’s another subject, ………… I simply don’t get why we are a ‘people of the book,’ yet it seems the name Calvin is mentioned on web sites/ blogs like this one and others more than the names of Christ, Paul, Moses, etc, ……. Someone seriously explain why these teachings are held so high. I honestly don’t understand.
Shelvin, don’t listen to me, listen to Charles Spurgeon…
http://www.spurgeon.org/calvinis.htm
I think it should also be remembered that most people who view themselves as “reformed” or as believing in “the doctrines of grace” do not call themselves “Calvinists” and often don’t evoke his name at all, unless quoting him. (I don’t) The truth is, Calvin believed some things I don’t believe, not the least of which is infant baptism. So, I wouldn’t call myself a Calvinist. Also, the 5 points, referred to as TULIP by many, were not even written by Calvin. They were written as a response to his beliefs by his opponents and are not really worded well to convey the true teaching. To sum it up, it is the Gospel… pardon my crude explanations below.
Total depravity: Man is born in sin. He is unable to save himself, indeed he is unwilling to choose repentance or submission to a Lord because of his fallen nature. He is not as evil as he could be, but he can in no way attain to the glory of God apart from God’s gracious intervention.
Unconditional election: God chooses who will be saved. He has chosen them from before the foundation of the earth. This does not negate the need for man to respond in repentance and faith, but God chooses them, not based on any good thing He finds in them, but based on his own grace and sovereign choice.
Limited atonement: The death of Jesus Christ on the cross atoned for the sins of God’s children completely. His atonement is perfectly efficient. It is sufficient for all but it is efficient only for the elect.
Irresistible grace: God’s grace always triumphs in saving whomever He wills. This does not mean that man does not resist His grace (because he does, continually) but it does mean that God’s grace will ultimately triumph is bringing the sheep into the fold.
Perseverance of the Saints: All those whom God has predestined, called, and justified will persevere in faith until the end of their lives. Those whom the Father has given the Son will not be lost.
When Roger Olson couldn’t sign a doctrinal statement because it’s too semi-pelagian, you know there’s a major problem.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/rogereolson/
On behalf of Mormons, JH, and Universalists everywhere…thank you for this document. Now, if we could just elect a president that… uhhh…errr…shhhhhhhhhhhhh.
In reality, this document was so poorly-written, weakly-argued and sadly unsupported, it make me sad to be a lifelong SBC member. Listen to the founders spinning in the grave.
Yeah tell me about it. Look at the verse used to support article two. Most do not even refer to the subject of the article.
Agreed! Point two is simply unbiblical! It is just the opposite of what the bible teaches!
Half of their cited verses have nothing to do with sin and judgement. Those that do if taken without the context given by Paul would support their point BUT scripture, ALL relevant portions, interperates scripture. We must take the whole council. Article two denies what Paul teaches in Romans and it denies what Christ says in John 3:17,18, 19, AND 20. which is the context that Jesus gives to 3:16. That demonstrates the limitlessness of God’s grace and under scores what Paul says, for while we were yet SINNERS Christ died for the ungodly. Paul’s says we’re saved not from sin but the wrath of God due us, we are saved from the wages of our sin!
Although I’m very closely aligned with reformed Baptist theology—I’m not a hard core 5-pointer—However—such a proposal as Eric Hankins has suggested is dangerous! Not b/c it under minds Calvinism, but b/c it takes away the freedom of Baptist theologians to use Scripture as their guide when it comes to certain difficulties within biblical soteriology. Especially when considering that terms such as election, predestination, & foreknowledge are all biblical, yet difficult to define exactly! The truth of the matter is—we are commanded to fulfill the Great Commission & let the world know about the sacrifice that our Lord & Savior made that allows the opportunity to have eternal life, when one has saving faith in his obedient life, sacrificial death, & glorious resurrection—why muddy the waters with details that do not determine one’s eternal placement! If Hankins real agenda is to prevent Calvinism from becoming the standard for all southern Baptist to adhere by, then I have no problem—but it certainly seems that there is a much more sinister reason for his actions—as a SBC minister I will NOT be signing his letter—& I hope other SBC minister’s will recognize that this sounds much more like free will Baptist theology—than it does the Southern Baptist Convention’s BF&M that I personally hold to so dearly! Very good response Dr Buice—I just pray it can prevent the civil war that Hankins has begun!