There Is Another Way

Those who signed the “Traditional Baptist Understanding of Salvation” statement took it on the chin during the recent annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Though not mentioned from the platform, many hallway conversations blamed the statement for creating a situation where Calvinism became a front-burner issue. It was not uncommon to hear people say they wished the statement had not been released. 

Part of that reaction is fear of another theological fight. Southern Baptists are still living with the impact of the Conservative Resurgence from the 1970s and 1980s. More recently we have aimed our public guns at cultural and political issues, and many Baptists are growing weary of the continuing confrontations. Thoughts of another round of serious theological conflict are simply less than appealing.

Studies indicate Calvinism continues to grow among Southern Baptists, especially among younger pastors. Anecdotal stories confirm the studies. A growing number of churches face the issue when calling a new pastor or youth pastor. While pockets of Calvinism can be found in most Southern Baptist-related seminaries, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., is most identified with Reformed theology, primarily because of the influence of its president Al Mohler. 

Speaking to the editors of state Baptist papers in February, Mohler said, “When I first arrived at Southern, trust me, if there was a Calvinist on campus I was the one.” Nearly 20 years later, the seminary is widely known for its championing of Calvinistic theology. 

Mohler told the editors he was a five-point Calvinist, a position he has never hidden. Then he added, “Calvinism is the shape of the future because the options otherwise don’t very much exist.” He explained that only Calvinism offers the rational support the younger generation needs for the “far deeper and more substantial doctrinal conversations and theological conversations” taking place as cultural Christianity disappears. 

The Southern Seminary president makes much of the history of Baptist confessions of faith and contends that the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, which he helped craft, is consistent with the Calvinistic heritage of Baptists. 

It was Mohler’s prediction that Calvinism is the only alternative for the future that prompted many signers of the “traditional Baptist” statement to release their public statement May 31. These longtime leaders, including two other SBC seminary presidents, wanted to say there is another way — the traditional Baptist way. 

Interestingly, both sides define the other into their camp. Mohler, for example, says, “There are people in the SBC who in the SBC are called anti-Calvinists or non-Calvinists who, in the larger contexts, would show up and be recognized as Calvinists.” 

In their book “Whosoever Will,” David Allen of Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and Steve Lemke of New Orleans Seminary describe author Richard A. Muller’s definition that true Calvinism requires affirming infant baptism, recognizing the sacraments as means of grace and an amillennial eschatology without which the “famous five” doctrines of Calvinism “make very little sense.”

The writers conclude, “From the perspective of a true Calvinist, Baptists are modified Calvinists at best. Nobody in the SBC measures up to this standard of Calvinism” (page 7). 

The five famous doctrines of Calvinism are often expressed in the acrostic TULIP. The letters stand for: 1. Total depravity; 2. Unconditional election; 3. Limited atonement; 4. Irresistible grace; 5. Perseverance of the saints. 

Like the term “Calvinist,” disagreement over how the doctrines are defined often is the source of contention among Baptists. 

For example, Baptists do not always mean the same thing by “total depravity.” Some Baptists believe that man is so corrupted by sin that disobedience to God is inevitable. Thus they join the apostle Paul in declaring, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Others mean that man is guilty of sin at birth and already separated from God. 

The former group generally holds to the concept of an “age of accountability” for sin, a position that God does not hold one accountable for sin until one is old enough to be conscious of sin. The latter believes one is damned to hell from birth without the remission of sin. That is the reason for infant baptism. Those two positions come into sharp contrast when one stands before the open grave of a newborn or a young child.

Unconditional election holds that before the foundation of the earth, God chose some for salvation. Election is not simply foreknowledge, but an active work by God to choose certain individuals for salvation. It is God’s choice alone who will be saved and who will be lost.  

Other Baptists believe that an all-knowing God knows who will and will not accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior because God sees all of history, from beginning to end, at the same time. Yet knowing the choice of an individual does not make God responsible for that choice. 

Some of Calvin’s disciples went further. They concluded, “If some were chosen before the foundation of the world, others must be left, or passed by, as early.” These pastors teach that God created some for salvation and others for damnation. 

The doctrines of predestination and free will collide here in ways yet unexplained. 

Limited atonement teaches Jesus died for the sins of the elect only. His sacrifice was not for the sins of the world. Others believe “God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). One’s position here impacts evangelism.

Irresistible grace means those whom God created for salvation will respond to God’s call to salvation. They have no choice. Again some of Calvin’s disciples took the teaching a step further. Some refused to extend gospel invitations lest they cast “gospel pearls before swine” and offend God by offering salvation to the nonelect.

In questioning the meaning of the Great Commission in Matthew 28 came the famous rebuke to William Carey when he was told, “Sit down young man, you are an enthusiast. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without consulting you or me.”

Others believe God’s grace is offered to all. The role of preaching is to convey the message of that grace through the death of Jesus on Calvary’s cross so people can freely choose to accept it. 

Perseverance of the saints holds the elect will persevere in the faith to the end. Since it is God who does the saving, His work is always perfect and complete. From here comes the commitment to once saved, always saved.

Calvinism provides a tightly reasoned theological construct devoted to the sovereignty of God. The system also raises many questions, and every one of those questions is being debated in Alabama Baptist churches today. The issues have not been left in history books. That is why “Calvinism is hot,” as former SBC president Bryant Wright said. 

“I don’t think most Southern Baptists are where I am,” Mohler told the editors. He is right. Southern Baptists have always had a mix of Calvinism in their veins. They have also had a mix of other theological understandings. We cannot be conveniently defined into any category other than Baptist. 

Any attempt to force one future on us would be a mistake. That is one reason the “Traditional Baptist Understanding of Salvation” statement was helpful to Southern Baptists. It shows there is another way besides Calvinism.