Who Is In the SBC Family?

Tom Ascol has his finger on the pulse of the SBC, and has identified what he believes are four distinct types of Southern Baptists today. I think his analysis is right on, and his commentary on the bigger picture of what’s happening in the convention right now is definitely worth a read. Here are the four types:

1. Intolerant Calvinists—These are those who are convinced of the doctrines of grace and believe that anyone who does not agree with their views does not really believe the gospel. Therefore, they are always suspicious and often dismissive of folks who understand issues like unconditional election, particular redemption and effectual calling differently than they do and think that it is unwise at best and most likely impossible to work together with such people.
2. Cooperative Calvinists—These are people who believe the doctrines of grace but recognize that there are other brothers and sisters in the SBC who do not agree with their understanding. They are not mad about the disagreement but believe there can be genuine cooperation on the basis of what is believed in common. They do not think that it is necessary to be a Calvinist in order to “really believe” the gospel and they acknowledge that there are good and godly people who simply disagree with some of the specific tenets of reformed soteriology. They are unwilling to compromise their convictions but do not see cooperating with gospel-believing non-Calvinists as necessitating that.
3. Cooperative non-Calvinists—These Southern Baptists disagree with one or more points of the Calvinistic understanding of the doctrines of grace but do not believe that Calvinists are heretics or believe a “different gospel.” They are open to dialogue about their differences and willing to work with Calvinists and others who might disagree with their views as long as there is agreement on the nature of the gospel. They are not embarrassed about the Calvinistic heritage of the SBC and harbor no paternalistic attitude toward their Calvinist brethren. They are unwilling merely to tolerate Calvinists but desire to work with them in the common cause of making Christ known to the nations.
4. Anti-Calvinists—This group genuinely believes that Calvinism is a serious threat that must be rooted out of the convention or at best, relegated to a “back of the bus” status. They seek to marginalize Southern Baptist Calvinists by actively working to block access to local churches and denominational positions. Those anti-Calvinists who are denominational employees sense a stewardship to stand against Calvinism as well as, with increasing regularity, against those cooperative non-Calvinists who embrace their Calvinist brethren as equals. They believe that by doing so they are protecting the convention.

Like Ascol, I am a type-2 Southern Baptist, which he believes is the fastest-growing group. The vast majority of our church membership probably fall into category #3, though we have our fair share of #4′s as well. I hope and pray that the coming years will see the growth of categories 2 & 3, with fewer and fewer on the fringes who are unwilling to cooperate.

I highly encourage you to read the rest of his article here.

Combing the Net – 6/19/2012

The Libraries, Studies, and Writing Rooms of 15 Famous Men — Trying to reign in my covetousness…

What the Bible Says About the Heaven Books — Tim Challies’ follow-up post to the one he wrote about the new genre of “I went to Heaven” books, which I linked to yesterday.

So what did Don Piper and these other authors experience? And what about the many people who can attest that they experienced something while they were clinically dead or otherwise near death? I don’t know. Some are liars, some are sincere, I am sure. Some have had a Near Death Experience, whatever a Near Death Experience is. We need to be very cautious because the fact is that Satan is capable of manufacturing experiences; I’m sure it is well within his power to convince people of an experience, to give them a kind of assurance that what they have experienced is real. The more variance there is between a person’s experience and God’s Word, the more we are obligated to doubt that experience.

What Is Wrong with Performance-Enhancing Drugs? A Thought Experiment with Robots and Baseball — A thoughtful article by Justin Barnard, who spoke recently in Cookeville at the Humanitas Forum.

God Desires All to Be Saved, and Grants Repentance to Some — John Piper writes an excellent short study on reconciling two difficult texts, which can go a long way to helping us understand the current debate going on within the Southern Baptist Convention about “God’s Plan of Salvation”.

How to create a culture of reading in your church — This is excellent stuff from Mark Dever! (HT: Matthias Media)

Why Local Laypeople Should Care About the SBC Soteriology Debate

Though I’m writing this post specifically for the benefit of members of my own church (Stevens Street Baptist in Cookeville, TN), hopefully this will have broader appeal as well, even outside the Southern Baptist Convention.

“Debate? What debate?”

That’s probably what most people around here would say in response to the title of this article. We tend to steer clear of the various debates that go on within the Convention… like the potential name change (to “Great Commission Baptists”) proposed at last year’s SBC annual meeting, or the Great Commission Task Force debate from two years ago. For better or worse, we don’t get caught up in those conversations.

While I believe there was merit to both of those discussions, they didn’t really mean that much to the average Baptist on the street, so it didn’t matter much that we weren’t paying attention. This year, however, there’s a debate going on that really does matter to Southern Baptists everywhere. It started a few weeks ago, and will probably figure heavily in the events that will take place at this year’s SBC annual meeting, which takes place in New Orleans this week.

Here’s the debate in as close to a nutshell as I can get it:

Ever since the Southern Baptist conservative resurgence that began before my birth — but especially within the last decade — Reformed/Calvinist doctrine has been gaining influence within Southern Baptist churches. The SBC’s flagship school (The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) has had a decidedly Reformed theological bent since Albert Mohler became the institution’s ninth (and current) president in 1993. Increasing numbers of young SBC pastors and lay leaders now identify as Reformed in their understanding of soteriology (the doctrine of salvation).

While there should be no reason that Reformed and non-Reformed Southern Baptists cannot fellowship and serve together in ministry, there has been growing animosity between some (on both sides), which has been thrust into the spotlight by the recent publication of “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation”. This document, which has been signed by quite a few prominent Southern Baptists (including five former SBC presidents and two current seminary presidents; see the list of all signers), aims to draw a distinction to Calvinist doctrine and outline a set of affirmations which they claim represent “the vast majority” of Southern Baptists.

This has sparked a lot of helpful discussion online, and nothing I could write about the document itself would add much, so at the end of this post I will simply direct you to what I have found to be the most balanced and thoughtful contributions. But what I can do is show you why I hope that many members of my church (and others like it) will get involved.

One thing that pretty much everyone who has chimed in seems to agree on is that nothing is more important than the Gospel. Amen! So while as a Reformed Baptist I disagree strongly with much of the content of the statement, I agree wholeheartedly with its authors that how we articulate the Gospel is a critically important issue. Because of this, I am thankful that this much-needed discussion is happening, and that the vast majority of the debate has been civil and charitable.

The real problem in the SBC is quite apparent at the local level, and Stevens Street is no exception: Many Southern Baptists cannot clearly articulate the Gospel. I’m not talking about the distinctions between Reformed and non-Reformed understandings of certain doctrinal points; I mean the bare-bones essentials! Whatever the causes may be, the fact is that the doctrinal literacy of the average SBC church member has become very watered down, leaving countless professing believers unable to discern between orthodoxy and heresy.

This is made painfully clear here in Cookeville by the fact that large numbers of lifelong Southern Baptists have joined churches and/or been influenced by books marked by teaching that is not just contrary to the Baptist Faith & Message, but which stretches the bounds of orthodoxy to the limit. Even larger numbers of church members continue to fill pews in Baptist churches without any real grasp on the Gospel (which does not necessarily mean that the Gospel is not being taught).

So whatever the immediate outcome of the current debate ends up being, I hope that the long-term result is increased clarity and biblical fidelity in the teaching of the Gospel in Southern Baptist churches, and increased doctrinal understanding by lay members of those churches. It’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about The Gospel Project, LifeWay’s new curriculum that looks EXCELLENT, and is sure to be adopted by large numbers of SBC churches (including Stevens Street).

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that “there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized” (1 Corinthians 11:19). I believe that, as painful as it is to have factions within the SBC family, the result will be the advance of the Gospel.

This is a conversation worth having, and if you’re still reading, I invite you to join it. Following are links to the most pertinent articles. I welcome your comments after you’ve had a chance to read up on the debate!

Recommended Reading

• A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation — Straight to the source.
• The FAQ’s — The best summary of the finer points of the debate. Consider this the “Cliff’s Notes” version if you don’t have time to read anything else.
• Southern Baptists and Salvation: It’s Time to Talk — Al Mohler’s response has been the most influential response from a Reformed perspective. Clear, concise, and charitable, he acknowledges the legitimacy of many of the concerns of non-Reformed Baptists, but also points out the errors in their means of addressing those concerns.
  
• It Is Time to Discuss the Elephant in the Room — Jerry Vines, one of the former SBC presidents to sign the document, provided a fitting counterpoint to Mohler’s article by defending the statement against Mohler’s charge of semi-Pelagianism, while affirming Mohler’s call for civil discourse about the subject.
  
• Commentary and Observations from Tom Ascol — For those who really want to get into the nitty-gritty, Ascol’s ongoing response (the final part of which was published today) is very detailed and instructive. He closely examines each of the statement’s affirmations and denials and provides a thorough response.
  
• So Why All the Labels? — Voddie Baucham takes a different approach to the issue, discussing why he feels terms like “Calvinist” and “Arminian” are helpful and clarifying. I agree.
  

Combing the Net – 6/8/2012

Ron Paul’s Secret Weapon — I’m pretty certain Carol Paul would have been one of the most fun First Lady’s ever! Here she shows off her culinary skills for the Wall Street Journal (wearing her “End the Fed” apron, of course!) with recipes appearing in the Ron Paul Family Cookbook.

The Pauls, who are both 76 years old, have been married for 55 years, and Mr. Paul says his wife has never made a bad meal, except for a potato chip-topped tuna casserole that was never repeated.

Rudiments of Anglo-Saxon — Now this just seems like it would be a fun course to take! I’ll probably need to work on my Greek and Hebrew first, but if I ever get a hankering to speak Old English, I think I’ll turn to Douglas Wilson’s book. From the course description: “Altogether, the textbook contains enough material for thirty-two happy weeks spent ransacking the Anglo-Saxon word-hoard.“

Leaders, Read Fiction! — Here are some great reasons to read fiction, and how these reasons help leaders to lead better.

Why All the Labels? — Another addition to the ongoing soteriology discussion in the SBC, this time from Voddie Baucham, pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church. While many have been questioning why people bother to identify themselves by labels such as “Calvinist” or “Arminian”, Baucham defends and affirms the use of such labels as helpful and clarifying. I agree.

The trailer for the forthcoming film based on the book of Job looks promising. Learn more about the movie here.

Book Review: Redemption Accomplished and Applied

“Redemption Accomplished and Applied” by John Murray

This short (under 200 pages) but heavy book has been on my reading list for quite a while. It’s been described by many a pastor as one of the greatest books ever written on the doctrine of atonement, which is absolutely central to the Christian faith. Having finally worked my way through it, I can see why it comes so highly recommended!

The first half of the book builds a foundation for our understanding of atonement. Murray describes the necessity of redemption, and how Christ was the only One who could possibly accomplish it. The work He accomplished was perfect and complete. There is nothing that man can do to add to what Christ has done, nor to take away from it.

This section ends with a very clear and biblical look at the doctrine of “limited atonement”, which is the teaching that Christ died not for the sins of everyone in the world, but only for those of the elect. The “L” in “TULIP”, this is probably the most controversial of the five points of Calvinism, but Murray handles it with aplomb. Essentially, he tells us that atonement is limited not by the efficacy of Christ’s blood, but by it’s application. In other words, if one believes that anyone will spend eternity in Hell, one believes in limited atonement, because atonement has not been applied to that person. What remains, then, is to see how and to whom this redemption which Christ has accomplished is applied. This is the subject of Part II, which accounts for most of the book.

In Part II, Murray gives a very thorough and systematic exposition of the many components of the atonement, as well as their order of application. Though many of these components happen nearly simultaneously, Murray presents them in the following order: effectual calling, regeneration, faith & repentance, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, union with Christ, and  glorification. With the exception of union with Christ — which is not a step in the application of redemption, but something which underlies every step — this is also the chronological order in which Murray places these phases. Some, of course, are one-time events, while others are ongoing processes.

It is this second half of the book which is so valuable. It has greatly enhanced my understanding of the doctrine of atonement, and of the distinctions between the various steps in its application. This understanding doesn’t come easily, though, as it’s a very difficult book to read. Part of the difficulty lies in the language; Murray was a mid-20th century academician (and a Scotsman to boot), and so uses many words that may be unfamiliar to contemporary readers. I consider myself to have a better-than-average vocabulary, but definitely found myself reading this book with a dictionary within reach!

Some of the difficulty also lies in Murray’s writing style. At times his sentence structure seems unnecessarily complex, making it hard to figure out which words modify which. Because of this, I found myself frequently re-reading passages to make sure I really understood the point he was making. He was also fond of using multiple forms of the same word in a sentence, leading to some real humdingers like this:

“To glory in the cross is to glory in Christ as the propitiatory sacrifice once offered, as the abiding propitiatory, and as the one who embodies in himself for ever all the propitiatory efficacy of the propitiation once for all accomplished.“

What a mouthful! Besides these nit-picky things, though, this is a truly great book. The Scripture index and the Subject index at the end of the book will make this a frequent reference tool during future studies.

Anyone looking to undertake a serious study of the doctrine of atonement — and I would hope this would include every Christian! — must read this book. It’s not easy, but totally worth the effort. Buy it here.