April 17, 2000
EDITORIAL:
Do we need slaves and a pope?
___Watch for an attempt to undermine Baptists' hallmark doctrine--the priesthood of all believers--when the Southern Baptist Convention considers a new statement of faith this summer.
___Al Mohler, a member of the committee that is drafting revisions to the Baptist Faith & Message, recently set out to dissemble Baptists' touchstone doctrine and cast doubts upon the contributions of its greatest 20th century advocate, E.Y. Mullins (see related stories).
___Mohler could be discounted if he were not a member of the Baptist Faith & Message revision team. Since he became president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1993, he has espoused five-point Calvinism. His presence on the committee has left observers wondering if his Calvinistic views of God's election and human freedom will prevail, thus changing the tone of the Baptist Faith & Message. And if Mohler does not prevail upon the committee, some have wondered, will he present a minority report?
___Five-point Calvinism holds, among other things, that God chooses, or elects, who will receive salvation and who will not. It also maintains people who are elected to salvation cannot resist God's saving grace. Cal-vinism always has been present among Baptists, including the founders of Southern Seminary. However, many other Baptists always have believed God chose that all people should be saved but gave them free will to decide. Thus, each believer is a "priest" before God, free to approach God directly in matters of faith and practice and also responsible to God and other believers.
___Mullins, who was president of Southern Seminary from 1899 to 1928 and president of the SBC from 1921 to 1924, falls under Mohler's criticism at two primary points.
___First, Mullins simultaneously steered the seminary and the SBC off the course of their founders, who were decidedly Calvinistic, Mohler claims. Second, Mullins' insistence on the priesthood of all believers introduced an "autonomous individualism" that has "infected" the SBC to this day, driving Southern Baptists from the word of God.
___The first charge is true only to a degree, and the trouble with that which is true is questionable. While it is true that Southern Seminary's founders, particularly James Pettigru Boyce and John Broadus, were Calvinists, Mohler ignores the strong presence of free will throughout Baptist history.
___So, Mullins did not so much depart from Baptist tradition. Rather, he emphasized a different strain of Baptist tradition than did his teachers and predecessors at the seminary.
___Moreover, one must not assume just because Boyce and Broadus founded Southern Seminary they were infallible. Certainly, they were dynamic, faithful, committed Christians who preserved the seminary through the Civil War and Reconstruction. But Boyce came from a slave-holding family in South Carolina. Many founders of the SBC held slaves. They were not perfect. If we were to follow their example without exception, we might fly Dixie flags over our churches in remembrance of the days when deacons owned black people.
___The second charge either misunderstands or distorts the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. The doctrine does indeed affirm the individual believer's right to approach God directly without an intermediary and to search the Scriptures. However, the doctrine also affirms the individual believer's responsibility before God and accountability to the church, the body of other believers. The priesthood of all believers is not a "Lone Ranger" doctrine, which licenses Christians to do whatever they wish. It is a doctrine of sacred, sanctifying consequence.
___Has the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers been abused? Of course, as has every theological proposition ever stated. Calvinism has been abused by those who claim Christians have no obligation to fulfill Christ's Great Commission. But that does not mean the entire system of thought is fatally flawed. It means its adherrents, as with all others, are flawed.
___The claim that Mullins and his thinking have led Baptists away from the authority of God's word, the Bible, has intriguing ramifications. Without the responsibility/accountability of believers, led by the Holy Spirit, to encounter and interpret the Bible, the only way for Christians to know how to follow and interpret the Bible would be for them to have an authoritative human guide.
___What do we call such an authoritative guide? A pope. Who has a pope? The Catholic Church. Who called the Catholic Church a "false church"? Al Mohler.
___ Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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