Sorry it has been a while since I blogged. Baseball with three boys on three different teams is a killer! One of the many questions that I am asked frequently is, “What does it mean that you are a Reformed Baptist?” I thought I would take a moment and answer that question. The word “reformed” can carry with it a lot of baggage, especially in Baptist life. Some people think “reformed = elitist” or “reformed = not evanglistic.” Neither of those assumptions is true. Being a Reformed Baptist means that I am committed to the central truths of the Protestant Reformation. The Biblical truths such as Sola Fide (justification by faith alone), Sola Gratia (salvation by God’s grace alone), Sola Scriptura (the Bible alone is the basis for faith and practice), Solus Christus (salvation through Christ alone), and Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone be the glory) are essentials to Reformed theology.
M
ore than that, Reformed doctrine is expressed in what has been called through the ages, “The Doctrines of Grace.” What that refers to are Scriptural truths that describe the moral depravity and spiritual inability of man, the unconditional nature of election, the definite nature of the atonement, the irresistibility of the effectual call, and the perseverance and preservation of the saints. As a pastor who holds to Reformed theology, I am most concerned with God’s glory in His church, in our families, and consequently in our communities and the world. I believe in the importance of a holy life before God, the authority and power of God’s Word, the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, the centrality of Christ in worship, the radical nature of salvation, and in preaching the gospel to all people regardless of nation or language and praying that God would give my hearers eternal life through faith in Christ.

Rather than being tagged with the name “Calvinist” which I am not (don’t believe in infant baptism, unity of church and state, don’t agree with his eschatology, do not agree with covenantal theology, do not agree with rigid clericalism, do not agree with the use of the sword, or dagger, on those with opposing theology,etc), I prefer to take the approach of Charles Simeon who referred to himself as a “Bible Christian.” Like Simeon, I simply want to be faithful to preach the Bible in its fullness. Simeon’s conviction can be witnessed in a well-known dialogue between himself and the Arminian John Wesley:

[Simeon:] Sir, I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions. Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart?

[Wesley:] Yes, I do indeed.

[S:] And do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?

[W:] Yes, solely through Christ.

[S:] But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?

[W:] No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last.

[S:] Allowing, then, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?

[W:] No.

[S:] What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother’s arms?

[W:] Yes, altogether.

[S:] And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom?

[W:] Yes, I have no hope but in Him.

[S:] Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election, my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things wherein we agree.

Likewise, I am not ready to draw daggers, but by God’s grace and by His Spirit I will give myself to preach the entire counsel of the Bible and trust God to do the rest. Preach the gospel to all, invite all to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and praise God for those who respond, grow disciples and edify the saints through preaching and teaching the whole counsel of God; that is my calling.

Please understand with me, nobody gets saved by a proper understanding of the doctrines of grace. It is not that these issues are not Scripturally true or important to teach as a part of teaching the whole counsel of God, but a proper and complete understanding of them is not the essence of the gospel. I believe the Puritan, John Bradford had it right when he said, “Let a man go to the grammar school of faith and repentance, before he goes to the university of election and predestination.” Just as it is folly to subtract from the Gospel message, so it is wrong to add to the Gospel message. That is not to say that the doctrines of grace are unimportant, on the contrary I believe they are clearly taught in the Word of God and should be taught to our churches, are essential to understanding the fullness of our salvation and the character and nature of God, and they safeguard so much of the Christian faith, but the minute that someone makes mandatory for salvation the correct understanding of election, effectual calling, or the extent of the atonement, they are guilty of adding to the gospel. I never want to do that.
I have never and will never use one’s understanding of the doctrines of grace, or lack thereof, as a determining measure of fellowship, despite pressure from some Reformed Christians to do that very thing or the response of opponents of Reformed theology who may desire to terminate fellowship with me. I have dear friends, whose ministry God has blessed and who give evidence of a deep and growing relationship with Jesus Christ, with whom I do not agree in regard to the doctrines of grace. I have no doubt that they are brothers in Christ and that they love Jesus, and I love them and pray for their ministries. Just as Dr. Al Mohler (reformed) and Dr. Paige Patterson can be brothers in Christ in the leadership of the SBC with divergent views of the doctrines of grace, so can I share brotherhood in Christ with one who disagrees with me. If a man can faithfully preach salvation from the wrath of God as being by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, and solely because of His work on the cross without any mixture of human ability or merit, and without obscuring the cross, I can call him my brother.

Let me close this by offering one more quote from a Baptist preacher whom I greatly admire and esteem. The 19th century prince of preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon offered this wisdom from the pulpit: “We give our hand to every man that loves the Lord Jesus Christ, be he what he may or who he may. The doctrine of election, like the great act of election itself, is intended to divide, not between Israel and Israel, but between Israel and the Egyptians – not between saint and saint, but between saints and the children of the world. A man may be evidently of God’s chosen family, and yet though elected, may not believe in the doctrine of election. I hold there are many savingly called, who do not believe in effectual calling, and that there are a great many who persevere to the end, who do not believe the doctrine of final perseverance. We do hope that the hearts of many are a great deal better than their heads. We do not set their fallacies down to any willful opposition to the truth as it is in Jesus, but simply to an error in their judgments, which we pray God to correct. We hope that if they think us mistaken too, they will reciprocate the same Christian courtesy; and when we meet around the cross, we hope that we shall ever feel that we are one in Christ Jesus.” (New Park Street Pulpit [London: Passmore & Alabaster, Vol.6] p.303)

On His grace alone I am wholly dependant…

Soli Deo Gloria Nick

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