Baptists and Calvinism

The following Baptist leaders from church history, to name just a few, were passionately committed to the Doctrines of Grace: Benjamin Keach, John Gill, Andrew Fuller, Isaac Backus, Adoniram Judson, John C. Dagg, J.P. Boyce, Charles Spurgeon, John Broadus, B.H. Carroll, and A.H. Strong. Perhaps Spurgeon summarized this conviction best when he said, “The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach today, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox’s gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again” (The Forgotten Spurgeon, p. 55-56). May the gospel of sovereign grace thunder through the Baptist pulpits in our nation once again!

It is historically naïve to assume that the recent resurgence in Calvinistic theology in America (specifically the “Founders movement” within the Southern Baptist denomination) does not have historical and theological precedence. There have been English and American Particular Baptists from the very beginning of Baptist life and practice. Baptist churches that are elder-led and that are also Calvinistic in doctrine stand on the shoulders of giants. More importantly, these convictions seem to accurately reflect the theology and practice of the Apostles and the early New Testament church.