Akin on Calvinism
The Olive Press Online has a very revealing and informative interview with SEBTS President Dr. Danny Akin. One of the questions that OP posed Dr. Akin was centered around Calvinism and its perceived threat to the SBC.
OP: Is Calvinism a threat to the evangelistic fervor of the SBC? Why or why not?
Dr. Akin: Let me begin by clearly stating that I am not a 5 point Calvinist, but I do not believe that Calvinism as a theology is the real threat to the evangelistic fervor of Southern Baptist churches. I think the greatest threats to evangelism in Southern Baptist life are cold hearts, laziness and a lack of priority on the Great Commission. For whatever reason, we have become indifferent to the destiny of the souls of lost men and women. As a denomination, we need to be far more aggressive in carrying out evangelism and missions. With that said Calvinists “with an attitude” are not helpful, but neither is a dispensationalist with an attitude. And, there is an extreme form of Calvinism that is not good for the work of God’s kingdom. That type of Calvinism will never be at home in the Southern Baptist Convention. There is, though, a healthy reformed theology that recognizes and affirms the great mystery between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility to repent and believe the gospel, and that is very much a part of our Southern Baptist heritage. I am not in favor of trying to excise out of the Southern Baptist Convention a healthy reformed theology. I actually think its presence is quite beneficial. Personally I affirm the great “solas” of the Reformation. I believe that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. The tent of Southern Baptist doctrine is well-defined by the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, and under that theological umbrella there is room for diversity in terms of methodology, size of churches and even emphasis. The crucial issue for us at this particular time in our history is that we are intentionally biblical in everything that we do. We must always be Scripture-driven and Scripture-guided.
Dr. Akin's response is one of Christian maturity. I am not a 5-point Calvinist either. However, I agree that Calvinism has brought a lot of issues back into perspective, such as the comforting doctrine of God's sovereignty. It is good to hear of a leader in the convention who neither advocates a complete overhaul of the SBC to Calvinism or seeks to squash any Calvinistic thought at every turn.
posted by Charlie Wallace at
3:20 PM
6 Comments:
I think an historical case can be made that Calvninism prevents evangelism.
I do not think Calvinist views of sovereignty are at all helpful. I think they end up distorting Biblical views of God's sovereingty.
Every Blessing in Christ
Matthew
One could also make a historical case that Calvinism encourages true evangelism (Calvin's Geneva, Edwards and The Great Awakening, etc.)
Hey Jason,
Welcome to the blog. Thanks for visiting.
Jason,
In theory, the idea that Calvinism encourages evangelism is probably true, but it would be wrong to interpret the historical events you mentioned in this way. Calvin's Geneva was a result of the concept of the territorial church, which simply means that everyone in a given region belongs to the church. The idea was also prevalent in the Catholic, Lutheran, and Zwinglian churches in Europe. The Great Awakening was a large movement participating in by a wide variety of men with differing theological views. Edwards was a major figure in the movement (probably the most important), but it would be wrong to suggest that his influence was nationally pervasive. With that said, I see the Great Awakening as proof that people with a variety of theological beliefs can work together to create revival. The one thing that everyone in the Great Awakening agreed upon was that lost people need a savior and that Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, do not forget that missionary work by Protestants was almost unheard of before the 19th century. This is the big scandal that Evangelicals like to forget about. Of course, Calvinism might be only one of a number of reasons for this, but it probably had soem effect.
The Great Awakening was hardly a representative sample of Calvinist activity in church history.
Every Blessing in Christ
Matthew
Matthew you said,
I think an historical case can be made that Calvninism prevents evangelism.
I am sure one could argue almost anything historically if you tried hard enough to skew the facts in a certain direction. That was obviously the case in Dave Hunt's infamous work, What Love Is This. However, I don't think the issue is "what soteriology encourages the most evangelism?" or "what soteriology can be most effectively used to discourage evangelism?"
William Carey's application of Calvinism led him to become the first Baptist missionary and John Gill's application of Calvinism led him to become the leading advocate of Hyper-Calvinism, denying the Gospel call to his hearers. I agree with Carey's position, but I cannot deny that Gill was an incredibly influential Christian (and continues to be today).
I think a lot of Evangelism comes down to how we apply our theology. It could be argued that radical free-will theology leads to non-Evangelism in a postmodern culture devoid of the concept of absolute truth. And what we may eventually see is just that among groups like the Emergent Church movement who focus on existential expressions of Christianity and tend to downplay propositional truth (which is essential for the presentation of the Gospel).
So in any doctrinal system, we must find room to obey all the commands of God, while at the same time honoring God by exegeting his Word properly. And we all need to rememeber to be responsible in doing this, regardless of whether we are Calvinist, Arminians, Amyraldians, or something in between them all.
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