Last
week, I began a blog series called, “Too Reformed to be Baptist.” Please
understand that in most circles I am too reformed to be Baptist, Catholic,
Methodist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Non-denominational,
etc. The title of the article has
nothing to do with bashing a particular denomination or lack thereof. The
article has to do with an outright rejection of that which is “reformed” or orthodox
to the Christian faith and particularly the Reformers like Martin Luther and John
Calvin. In fact, the original article has to do with a particular rejection
from a Southern Baptist leader specifically because of the word “covenant”
which might and does correspond with reformed teaching. Today, I want to
address what it means to be reformed.
While there are many denominational teachings on reformational thinking, we must understand that all reformation began with Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany in 1517. Whether any denomination wants to acknowledge it or not, the religious freedom that we have and practice is much owed to Martin Luther and his firm stance for truth and against the prostitution of the grace of God to parishioners by church leaders. Reformation is a word that in itself brings cringes to some because it dictates that something someone or some group or organization is doing is flawed. Reformation as defined is:
The act of
reforming; correction or amendment of life, manners, or of any thing vicious or
corrupt; as the reformation of manners; reformation of the age; reformation of
abuses; by way of eminence, the change of religion from the corruptions of
popery to its primitive purity, begun by Luther, A.D. 1517 (American Dictionary
of the English Language, 1828).
As I stated above, the word reformation in itself denotes that something is inherently wrong with what is going on, it is tainted and for it to pure and right and holy, it must return to its original state. This is why I believe there is great opposition among many Baptists, particularly Southern Baptists, today. When someone insinuates that what they are doing is flawed, of course they will come to the defense of their belief regardless of evidence presented. It is a natural reaction to defend your plot of worldview. In fact, in many ways it is somewhat Biblical. Doesn’t 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 (ESV) say, “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete…”? I must commend anyone that at least questions teaching contrary to what they believe. It is absolutely the thing to do, but what about when our belief doesn’t hold up in the light of Scripture? What happens when our beliefs and our perspective is skewed by lackluster denominational teachings, rather than orthodoxy of Christianity? We must ask ourselves, has the Word of God and the doctrinal teachings changed or have we changed the Word of God and doctrinal teaching for our benefit? I believe it is the latter.
Now
please hear me out. I was raised in Southern Baptist churches all of my life.
All of my ministry has been in Southern Baptist churches, but in light of
Scripture, God has systematically changed my perspective. I went from being an Arminian
Southern Baptist, to a Calvinist Reformed Baptist, to a full-fledged Reformed
Christian. Why? It is because in light of Scripture, outside of the filters of
denominational affiliation, I could see only one thing to be true…God’s Word! I
am convinced that God’s Word is enough for all things (2 Timothy 3:16-17). I am
not the only one that has seen this. There are many great Reformed Baptists out
there that agree regarding almost every area of Scripture except that which is
in regards to baptism, which is one of the most highly contested and divisive
areas in Christendom which we do not have time to discuss at this time. So what
is the ruckus all about regarding being reformed? Well, it comes to down to foundational
doctrine and a good example has to do with salvation. It is a debate between
Arminianism and Calvinism. Here is a simple graph depicting the difference
between the two.
| Arminianism | Calvinism |
| Free-Will or Human Ability Although human nature was seriously affected by the fall, man has not been left in a state of total spiritual helplessness. God graciously enables every sinner to repent and believe, but He does not interfere with man's freedom. Each sinner possesses a free will, and his eternal destiny depends on how he uses it. Man's freedom consists of his ability to choose good over evil in spiritual matters; his will is not enslaved to his sinful nature. The sinner has the power to either cooperate with God's Spirit and be regenerated or resist God's grace and perish. The lost sinner needs the Spirit's assistance, but he does not have to be regenerated by the Spirit before he can believe, for faith is man's act and precedes the new birth. Faith is the sinner's gift to God; it is man's contribution to salvation. |
Total Inability or Total Depravity Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free, it is in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not - indeed he cannot - choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit's assistance to bring a sinner to Christ - it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God's gift of salvation - it is God's gift to the sinner, not the sinner's gift to God. |
| Conditional Election God's choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world was based upon His foreseeing that they would respond to His call. He selected only those whom He knew would of themselves freely believe the gospel. Election therefore was determined by or conditioned upon what man would do. The faith which God foresaw and upon which He based His choice was not given to the sinner by God (it was not created by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit) but resulted solely from man's will. It was left entirely up to man as to who would believe and therefore as to who would be elected unto salvation. God chose those whom He knew would, of their own free will, choose Christ. Thus the sinner's choice of Christ, not God's choice of the sinner, is the ultimate cause of salvation. |
Unconditional Election God's choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely in His own sovereign will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response of obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. These acts are the result, not the cause of God's choice. Election therefore was not determined by or conditioned upon any virtuous quality or act foreseen in man. Those whom God sovereignly elected He brings through the power of the Spirit to a willing acceptance of Christ. Thus God's choice of the sinner, not the sinner's choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation. |
| Universal Redemption or General Atonement Christ's redeeming work made it possible for everyone to be saved but did not actually secure the salvation of anyone. Although Christ died for all men and for every man, only those who believe on Him are saved. His death enabled God to pardon sinners on the condition that they believe, but it did not actually put away anyone's sins. Christ's redemption becomes effective only if man chooses to accept it. |
Particular Redemption or Limited Atonement Christ's redeeming work was intended to save the elect only and actually secured salvation for them. His death was substitutionary endurance of the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified sinners. In addition to putting away the sins of His people, Christ's redemption secured everything necessary for their salvation, including faith which unites them to Him. The gift of faith is infallibly applied by the Spirit to all for whom Christ died, therefore guaranteeing their salvation. |
I wrote in my book, The Breaking of the Strong Man: How Autonomy is Killing the Church, that :
Arminianism
was submitted in Holland in 1610 but was rejected in 1619 on the ground that it
was unscriptural and heretical by the Church at the Synod at Dort. Why then do
people believe such things? People can believe such things because of the assumed
autonomy of the believer: “That is what they believe, but I believe this
instead.”
The
Church stood against Arminianism with more than just doctrine, but the Word of
God. Some think that the five points of Arminianism were trying to debunk
“Calvinism” or the claims of predestination unto salvation. However, it is to
the contrary. The five points of Calvinism, which were not formulated by Calvin
himself, but by the Synod at Dort, were used to show that what was proposed by
the Remonstrants of the Arminianist view was unbiblical. As a result over 300
ministers were expelled from the Dutch Church for their disagreement with the
orthodox doctrinal teaching of the Church as heretics.
What causes quarrels and what
causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within
you? You desire and do not have,
so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do
not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because
you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
When
it comes to salvation, what men want is a God they can fathom and believe in
that offers salvation to everyone and damnation is only the result of the
individual's rejection rather than a just and holy who reveals that we ALL are fallen and by His sovereignty alone chose some unto salvation. Folks, I do not have the time to go through all the Scripture that
tells us that the Arminian view is falsehood, but here are a few for your reading pleasure:
Total
depravity—man
because of his fallenness is unable of himself to savingly believe the
gospel...he is not free, but in bondage (Romans 2:12, 5:12, 3:9-24).
Unconditional
election or God’s election—God’s choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the
foundation of the world was based on His own sovereign will (1 Thessalonians
1:4; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Ephesians 1:3-5, John 1:12-13).
Limited
or Particular Atonement—Christ’s
redeeming work was intended to save the elect only and secured salvation for
them alone (John 6:37-40, 10:27-28; 17:6-9).
Irresistible
grace or effectual calling—although there is an external call to all who hear the Gospel, the
Holy Spirit extends to the elect and inward call…the external call can be and
often is rejected, but the internal call made to the elect cannot be rejected (Philippians
2:12-13; Acts 13:42-38).
Perseverance or preservation
of the saints—all who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given
faith by the Spirit are eternally saved without ability to lose that which is
done in them and for them (1 Peter 1:22-25; John 10:25-30).
Reformation
for many of these Baptists and evangelicals would possibly mean that they would
have to limit their altar calls and just call people to “be reconciled to God”
(2 Corinthians 5:17-20) recognizing that their responsibility is to be a
mouthpiece of our Lord Jesus Christ and not play the role of the Holy Spirit
leading, guiding, convicting, and convincing the hearer of the truth. They might
have to remove their ABCs of becoming a Christian from their Vacation Bible
Schools and just teach the same truth or better yet, allow their parents to
lead to that truth. What then would they report on their annual church profiles?
I
do not know what the complete answer is, but without a doubt, there needs to reformation
in the Church today. We have cheapened and prostituted the grace of God making
Jesus no more than our “yes man” while we live out our desires and our agendas
rather than a different, separate, and sold out people unto Him. The
reality is that there are many that sit in the pews of congregations around our
nation that think they are saved because they walked an aisle and said a prayer
one day at church or at a Vacation Bible School or at a revival or at a church
camp, but they are lost without Jesus because they have never heard the call of
God and surrendered to Him. They have “saved” themselves which is no salvation
at all. The reality is that most pastors will not call them out to true
salvation or call their churches to true reformation because of the fear of
losing their “jobs” for doing so. The reality is some pulpits are filled with
pastors who themselves are not saved and are blind guides leading the blind
right off into the depths of hell. We need reformation in the Church today. We
need Jesus and those who are afraid that it might come to their church, reveal
their real fruit (Matthew 7:15-28).
Because Christ’s love compels,
Russell
Traweek
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