Book Review

God So Loved the World: Traditional Baptists and Calvinism

Fisher Humphreys and Paul E. Robertson, New Orleans: Insight Press, 2000, 102 pp.

This booklet (102 pages) was co-written by Humphreys (theology professor at Beeson Divinity School) and Robertson (theology professor at New Orleans Baptist Seminary) to warn laymen about what they perceive to be the recent encroachment of Calvinism in Southern Baptist life. The authors contrast Calvinism with what they call “Traditional Baptists.” With limited space, the issues are simplified and, in this reviewer’s opinion, largely distorted.

The basic thesis of the booklet is that “Traditional (read: Arminian) Baptists” are being challenged in modern times by a resurgence of “Calvinism (read: hyper-Calvinism).” The Calvinism described in the booklet is unloving, anti-missionary, and anti-evangelism. This thesis is worth challenging on several grounds: historical, biblical-theological, and missiological.

First, on historical grounds it seems questionable to challenge the influence of the Reformation on the Baptist movement and its theological roots. The Particular Baptists in England were deeply influenced by the teaching of the Reformers (including Calvin). The Second London Confession (1677, 1688) was a Baptist rendering of the Westminster Confession. This reformed confession then influenced American confessional statements such as the Philadelphia Confession (1742) and the New Hampshire Confession (1833). At long last, we see the shadow of Westminster in the SBC’s Baptist Faith and Message (1925, 1963, 2000). Reformed theology (i.e., Calvinism) is not a new influence in Baptist life. What Baptist child has not learned “once saved, always saved” as a cardinal Baptist tenant? This is the “P” in TULIP!

Second, on biblical-theological grounds, Humphreys and Robertson obscure the teachings of Calvin. Granted, space for treating complex ideas is limited in this brief tract, but all the more reason for caution. In attacking the idea of double predestination, for example, they argue that all Calvinists picture God as “unloving.” Hence, their frequent reference to John 3:16 as a kind of scriptural “trump card” to defeat Calvinism. In reality, the doctrine of predestination is simply a coming to terms with the biblical teaching of God’s perfect foreknowledge (i.e., God knows all things) and the fact that the scriptures teach that not all human beings will be saved. In counterpoint to Humphrey and Robertson’s simplification, one might ask why, if God is all-powerful and loving (according to their definition), he does not choose to save all human beings, regardless of their response to him. This, of course, is the error of universalism to which the early General (Arminian) Baptists and their heirs were prone.

Finally, the arguments presented in the booklet can be challenged on missiological grounds. Humphreys and Robertson seem to present Calvinism as a “straw man,” a distorted form of Calvinism, known as hyper-Calvinism. They imply that Calvinism is dangerous, because it leads to lack of zeal for missions and evangelism. But what do they make of towering figures from the past like pioneer missionary William Carey or evangelistic preachers like C. H. Spurgeon? Or with contemporary figures like the irenic systematic theologian Millard Erickson or the vibrant pastor-scholar John Piper (on missions, see his Let the Nations Be Glad)? All these are thoroughly reformed (Calvinistic) in theology, and yet they express a zeal for missions and personal evangelism.

In conclusion, this booklet seems to be a misguided attempt to resist the rediscovery of the Reformation roots in Baptist life. It begins with Humphreys recounting a call from a person questioning him about conflict in a local church related to a new pastor who was a Calvinist. Perhaps Calvinism was the issue. If this pastor was preaching a harsh and unloving God in a harsh and unloving manner, then his message was truly a distortion of scripture. It may just be, however, that the Pastor was standing for the authority of scripture (sola scriptura), for salvation by faith alone (sola fide), for the biblical notion of our being saved “by grace” (sola gratia), for the centrality of Christ (solus Christus), and for the supremacy of God in all things (soli Deo gloria), and this was not well accepted by his culturally conditioned congregation. If he was merely standing for the core Reformation (biblical) ideas, should he be resisted as a Calvinist wolf in sheep’s clothing?

In many ways this booklet is not a flattering offering to the Christian laymen to whom it is presented, in that it oversimplifies (“dumbs down”) and distorts both Calvinism and Arminianism. Why not challenge laymen, not to mention their pastors, to struggle in detail with these great issues? In these days, our churches need not be protected from theological thought but encouraged to seek doctrinal definition. Calvinism is not heresy, nor is it a threat to our churches. Rather, it has provided a biblical-theological framework through the years for many, including many Baptists Christians, to develop a more thoughtful and committed understanding of the faith.

Jeffrey T. Riddle
Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church

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