The Southern Baptist Convention comprises over 47,000 self-governing Baptist churches that are in line theologically, missiologically and minstrilly with the convention. It is the world’s largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. However, the debate over Calvinism and Armininism continues to cause problems in the Southern Baptist Convention and could ultimately lead to the dissolution or splitting of the convention. This debate raises physical, metaphysical, moral issues, and questions. Through first hand pastoral interview responses and secondary sources, it is evident that this is a divisive topic that is splitting the Southern Baptist Convention and the churches, pastors, and members within it.
The beliefs of the men that have influenced Southern Baptists must first be put in perspective. John Calvin, Jacobus Arminius, and even John Wesley’s beliefs built and are continuing to split the Southern Baptist Convention. John Calvin was born in 1509 in Noyon, France. He became marked as a “Lutheran” and when persecutions began to arise in Paris he fled to refuge in Basel. There he wrote the first edition of one of the most important books that would ever effect Western history. The Institutes of the Christian Religion was written as a manual for those who wanted to know about the Gospel and what it meant or as Calvin said, “the whole sum of godliness and whatever it is necessary to know about saving doctrines (Christianity Today). He also later added that his reasoning of writing the books was that. “I labored at the task especially for our own Frenchmen, for I saw that many were hungering and thirsting after Christ and yet that only a very few had any real knowledge of him.” Calvin laid out his views on the church, the sacraments, justification, Christian liberty, and political government. His theme throughout his God’s sovereignty and that the original sin took away man’s free will. Even though he is most widely associated with predestination, he only touches on the issue briefly. When he does though, he develops his ideas of election and the indefectibility of grace that will never be taken from the elect (Calvin 59).
Jacob Arminius started to question Calvin and his ideas presented in The Institutes of the Christian Religion, especially his ideas of predestination and grace. He believed faith was the cause of election and stated, “It is an eternal and gracious decree of God in Christ, by which he determines to justify and adopt believers, and to endow them with eternal life but to condemn unbelievers, and impenitent persons.” He was accused of Pelagianism, which is an overemphasis on free will, and other charges, but his critics could not find any evidence to this claim. After Arminius died, his followers later wrote the Remonstrance, which were theological propositions that addressed the Arminian theology. This theology explained that Christ died for all, individuals can resist grace and lose their salvation. These ideas would later influence people like John Wesley (Christianity Today).
John Wesley rejected predestination and Calvin’s beliefs entirely and believed in the universality of grace. He thought that grace was not irresistible and that it undermined the human moral agency that was crucial for humans to be made into God’s image. Wesley believed the nature of salvation was in the aspect of universal grace. While not denying God’s sovereignty through grace alone, Wesley put the emphasis on God’s love. (Knight). He preached that the will of man is by nature free only to evil, but that every man has a measure of free-will restored to him by grace. That there is a sense of complete dependence on God with a sense of man’s complete responsibility and makes the universality of God’s redemptive plan over the limited number of the redeemed (Wesley).
The roots of the present day problem lie in the history of Southern Baptists. During the sixteenth century in England, the Reformation was beginning and many began to see the need to return to the New Testament view of Christianity. John Smyth, a prominent reformer, was an advocate for adult baptism, believing that the traditional infant baptism was a sin and that the Bible teaches only baptism for those who have out their faith in God. In 1609, he re-baptized himself and others, which gave way to the beginning of the first English Baptist church. Smyth’s theology also included the Arminian tradition that God’s grace is for everyone and He does not choose certain people to Heaven and Hell. By 1644, John Smyth and Thomas Helwys had began over fifty Baptist churches in England. Roger Williams, among others, fled to America to escape religious persecution and established the first Baptist Church in America in 1638 in Providence, Rhode Island (Fairchild). In the 1740s the Great Awakening transformed the Baptist movement and led to a new beginning of Calvinist Baptist also called the Separate Baptists. These Separate Baptists were theologically Calvinist, as were the pastors who ushered in the Great Awakening such as Jonathan Edwards. By 1793, there were 1,032 Baptist churches in America, with 956 of them being Calvinist. However, with the American Revolution and the growing idea and focus on liberty the traditional Calvinist churches began to experience a birth of “free will” theology. Although, Calvinism still remained dominant well into the nineteenth century (Kidd). By the 1830s, tension had increased between the Northern and Southern Baptists over the deeply rooted issue of slavery. Northern Baptists held to the beliefs that God would not allow the unequal treatment of races, whereas Southern Baptists believed that God created the races to be separate. In May of 1845, the Southern Baptists split and created the Southern Baptist Convention (Fairchild).
Calvinism has been growing in the Southern Baptist Convention over the last thirty years, but the issue has become much more decisive over the last ten years. The ideas of unconditional election can be seen as the foundation for Southern Baptist. Hymns, confessions, catechisms, and doctrinal standards set forth by Baptist seminary professors and Southern Baptist leaders acknowledge the doctrine of unconditional election (Selph). However, today the Southern Baptist Convention is splitting on the one of the very foundations it was built upon. In 2012, Frank Page, the president and CEO of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention addressed the issue of Calvinism as one of the greatest challenges facing the Southern Baptist Convention. He said, “At some point we are going to see the challenges which are ensuing from this divide become even more problematic for us, I regularly receive communications from churches who are struggling over this issue.” (Carter) The Southern Baptist still has not fully taken an official stance on the Calvinism and Arminianism debate, however, the revised 2000 Baptist Faith and Message states:
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility. All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. (SBC)
This statement acknowledges election and the grace of God, yet also shows the importance of mans choice in the decision. It also addresses God’s sovereignty and the perseverance of those who are saved. So even though the Southern Baptist Convention has not taken an official statement they have laid out their theological interpretation of the soteriology. Which is they believe in predestination and God’s sovereignty in choosing the elect, but not unconditional election, which is one of the five points in the T.U.L.I.P of Calvinism. Therefore, since the Southern Baptist Convention does not support all five points on Calvinism, which is total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and preservation of the Saints, they cannot fully be considered Calvinists. However, the cannot fully considered Arminian or Wesleyan. This interpretation presented by the Southern Baptist Convention in the Baptist Faith and Message leaves room for both interpretations to coexist.
Throughout the history of Baptist churches, there have been shifts from Calvinism to Arminianism, but now there are almost equal numbers of both based on a LifeWay survey. They presented a set of statements about Calvinism to randomly selected senior pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention to try and understand their theological beliefs and concerns with Calvinism in the convention. Sixty-six percent did not consider their church Reformed, thirty percent said their church was theologically Reformed or Calvinist and four percent were not sure. However, sixty-four percent also said their church was not theologically Arminian or Wesleyan, thirty percent classify their church as Arminian or Wesleyan and six percent did not know. The survey also showed more than sixty percent of pastors agreed they were concerned with the impact of Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention and thirty percent disagreed. When asked about being five-point Calvinists, seventy-eight percent said they were not, while sixteen percent said they were. The last step in the survey was to ask more direct theological questions besides just yes or no to Calvinism or Arminianism. When presented with the statement “Christ died only for the elect, not for everyone in the world”, sixteen percent agreed and more than eighty percent disagreed. For the statement related to irresistible grace, there was a split among the pastors surveyed. Over two-thirds of pastors strongly disagreed with the statement, “Before the foundation of the world, God predestined some people to salvation and some to damnation.” Also, more than ninety percent strongly disagreed that “it diminishes God’s sovereignty to invite all persons to repent and believe.” Whereas, ninety-four percent agreed you cannot lose your salvation (Rankin). Ed Stetzer, a theologian and researcher said,
There appears to be a lot of concern among Southern Baptist pastors on the impact of Calvinism, but the beliefs in these doctrines at least measured by these questions, show quite a mix of beliefs. Most Baptists are not Calvinists, though many are, and most Baptists are not Arminians, though many are comfortable with that distinction. However, there is sizable minority that see themselves as Calvinist and holds to such doctrines and a sizable majority that is concerned about their presence. That points to challenging days to come.
These statistics show how divisive this issue is becoming in the Southern Baptist Convention and a large amount of pastors are concerned about this, but there is not an answer on how to solve this issue.
For my own research, I sent a survey to several local Southern Baptist pastors that I knew. The survey included several questions that related to the Calvinism and Arminianism debate within the church to understand first hand how this is effected the church. The questions were their position on the issue, its effect in the churches they were/are at, ways for the two beliefs to coincide in harmony, if either position is unbiblical, and how to settle the issue as a convention. The two pastors that I was able to receive research on were Dr. Ricky Cummings and Mr. Steve Miller. Dr. Ricky Cummings graduated from New Orleans Baptist Theology Seminary with a Ph.D. in Preaching and a minor in Evangelism and is the senior pastor at Vidalia First Baptist. Mr. Steve Miller went to Mid-American Seminary to obtain his MDiv then transferred to Dallas Theological Seminary where he received his Masters in Education. He was the Associate Pastor of discipleship at First Baptist Church Bolger, then the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church Butler, and then the Senior Pastor at Reidsville Baptist Church.
Dr. Ricky Cummings said he believes God is sovereign, you cannot lose your salvation, and man is depraved and in need of a Savior. He also said he does not consider himself a Calvinist or a follower of Arminian, but rather a follow of Christ. On how it has effected the Southern Baptist Convention, he stated that the labeling of people has only caused more negativity in churches and the convention. He explained how this debate caused problems at church he previously served in, because people began to put labels on him as a Calvinist simply because he preached a message on God’s sovereignty. He said that people make assumptions and labels based on terminology they do not fully understand. On the issue of if the two can both coincide in harmony he said some of the issues are exact opposites, for instance if you can lose your salvation or not, so it is difficult to have harmony. However, he said the best way to have harmony is to let the pastors preach the text of Scripture and let it speak for itself, rather than labeling people into certain categories. He believes that preaching that God is not sovereign and that you can lose your salvation is unbiblical and that the convention needs to stand on the Word of God and let it be the deciding factor.
Mr. Steve Miller leans strongly towards Calvinism, although he said he does not like the label. He said he believes in the sovereignty of God in every aspect of theology. That God created humanity as rational beings who are able to make moral choices. He explained that he views himself more as a antinomist that a Calvinist, which means that divine sovereignty and human free will are twin threads woven through the tapestry of Scripture. That they seem to contradict themselves to finite humans and we are unable to rationalize it in our minds. He said that God chooses and elects, yet man is responsible for the decision he makes concerning the Gospel. Regarding how it has effected the Southern Baptist Convention, he said that it is terribly divisive and is ripping apart and unity that may have existed in the past. He said that both sides have been guilty of vilifying the other, but that he believes the anti-Calvinists have been more rabid and divisive in their goal to eradicate those who emphasize God’s sovereignty over man’s free will. Mr. Miller explained how his last pastorate ended primarily over this debate. That he felt his views were attacked by a very small, but vocal minority within the church. He said that he is moderate on the Calvinsim-Arminianism spectrum, but there were those were vicious in their portrayal of his views as extreme on the subject. He says he sees very little hope for harmony prevailing in the convention. However, he said he also thought there was a very large part of pastors and churches that occupied the broad center of the spectrum that are willing to accept those that do not necessarily agree on over point. He stated that the problem is those who are at the extremes on both sides who claim to speak for “most” Southern Baptist. On the issue of if either position is unbiblical he explained that preaching that overemphasizes the free will of man leads towards gimmicks and emotional manipulation to get people to “say yes” to the Gospel. He said that examples can be seen of pastors using questionable means to get people to “walk the aisle” or “pray the sinner’s prayer” to increase their reported baptisms and church membership. He said that preaching on God’s power, holiness, and grace will keep the Gospel God-centered rather than it devolving into man-centeredness. However, there is an extreme of Calvinism that is unbiblical as well. When it is preached that it does not matter whether Christians share their faith, evangelize, or engage in missions because God has predestined who will be saved no matter what we do. Mr. Miller went on to explain that the doctrine does not mean fatalism, where we are just puppets in an elaborate drama with God pulling all the strings. He said that he is also pessimistic about the future of the Southern Baptist Convention. But, he said whatever happens will happen at an individual church level not at the convention level. That the convention does not dictate what the church believes, but is instead an association of churches built around principles shared in common. Which is why he believes the convention will eventually split since this issue is a major foundational and doctrinal issue.
Southern Baptists have been influenced strongly by Calvinism throughout their history. This issue has also been causing struggles within the convention and has been continuing to split churches. Based on my understanding of the Scriptures, the pastors I have talked to, the history of Southern Baptists, and prominent Southern Baptist theologians it is evident to me that the Southern Baptist Convention should hold to its history of the sovereignty of God in predestination. I believe if the Southern Baptist Convention does not properly address this issue there will be another splitting in the convention like before.