J. C. Philpot (1802-1869) "was known as “The Seceder”. He resigned from the Church of England in 1835 and became a Strict & Particular Baptist. While with the Church of England he was a Fellow of Worchester College, Oxford. After becoming a Strict and Particular Baptist he became the Editor of the Gospel Standard magazine and served in that capacity for twenty years."
From his Meditations on Ephesians 1 & 2 comes this gem on ch. 2:8:
Now, by this grace or pure favor of God we are saved through faith, faith itself being the special gift of God; and thus the very medium by which we receive salvation, and become manifestly interested in it, is not of ourselves. The eye which sees salvation in the person and work of the Son of God, the ear which hears and receives the glad tidings, the hand which lays hold of and embraces the Savior in his atoning blood and justifying obedience, are all the special gift of God. Do we see Jesus and salvation in and through him? God has opened our eyes to see. Have we heard his blessed voice? God has given us ears to hear. Have we laid hold of him, and brought him into our heart in all his saving benefits and blessings? God gave us that faith by revealing his dear Son in us, and making him spiritually and experimentally known to our souls. Source.
Les,
ReplyDeleteI have been following your interaction with the Trads over at SBC Today. In full disclosure, I am 35, Reformed, graduate of MABTS, SBC ordained, licensed, endorsed by the NAMB as an Army Chaplain and serving on active duty. Obviously, the whole Calvinism/Traditionalism debate in the SBC is not something that I face in my mission field of Army Chaplaincy. We face other issues namely, the exclusivity of Christ and the gospel. I work in a pluralistic religious environment so it is refeshing when I meet other evanglelical Chaplains who claim Christ regradless of where they fall on the Calvinist Arminian scale.
The whole debate brings many things to mind. My real issue that I keep going over and over is the whole labeling thing where the Trads claim not to be Calvinist or Arminian but Baptist. From a broader evangelical scale this looks either silly or arrogant. The labels Calvinist and Arminian are not perfect and they are not airtight but they are the terms that evangelicalism uses to describe soteriology.
I think this current debate also highlights that there are some in the SBC that see themselves above Evangelicalism. Instead of seeing themsleves as a piece of the larger evangelical movement, they are defining themselves as if they are standing above evangelicalism with their views of Baptism, church polity, and now soteriology. I wonder if in the future there is the hope that the categories of salvation will be listed as Arminian, Calvinist and Baptist:) ?
What the Trads are doing reminds me of the Churches of Christ in the Restoration movement. The C of C claimed that they are true the church with a true understaning of salvation. The Trads have not gone that far but they do make comments that sound similar. I certainly get from the Trads that there is no need to work within the larger evangelical community or at least with those who hold to Reformed doctrine on salvation or church polity.
I would be interersted in dialoguing with you further. Here is my email mbwoodside1995@yahoo.com
I will be praying for wisdom as you engage those at SBC today.
SDG,
CH (CPT) Matthew Woodside, US Army
Matthew,
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting. Dealing with those discussions has been adventure, that's for sure. MABTS? When did you finish there. I graduated in 1987.
I can see where your day to day interactions would not find this kind of debate on your radar. In some ways I am in a similar boat. I lead a ministry to orphans in Haiti. In my time there and interactions from here with the pastors, the Calvinism has not once come up. They are very busy every day doing the work of the church in discipling and caring for the poor. Not that they don't care about theology. They do. But this kind of debate just isn't anywhere near to their daily interests.
"I think this current debate also highlights that there are some in the SBC that see themselves above Evangelicalism. Instead of seeing themsleves as a piece of the larger evangelical movement, they are defining themselves as if they are standing above evangelicalism with their views of Baptism, church polity, and now soteriology. I wonder if in the future there is the hope that the categories of salvation will be listed as Arminian, Calvinist and Baptist:) ?"
I can so much see that and agree. That's why some are calling them neo-trads. It's as if they've discovered something no one else has ever hit upon. It's really sort of sad to see this happen. In fact, though they won't acknowledge it, some see what the objections are to #2 of the statement and just cannot bring themselves to admit that #2 is sloppy and unclear at best. But they've dug in.
Thanks for your prayers, not only for the debate, but I would appreciate prayers for our ministry in Haiti. I will be sure to pray for you brother.
BTW, I have two sons in Army ROTC. They love it!
God bless,
Les
les@haitiorphanproject.org