Why Primitive Baptists are not Calvinists
By Elder Gary Harvey
Introduction
The article you are about to read was originally presented at the North Georgia Preachers' Meeting, held at Boiling Springs Primitive Baptist Church, in November of 2023. Elder Randall Cagle pastor at Boiling Springs, had asked me to speak on the subject, "Why Primitive Baptists Are Not Calvinist’s." I thought then and still do, that this was a very important topic to consider, because many people genuinely think that we are Calvinists. I understand this because we do hold some of the doctrines that Calvinists advocate too.But even though that is true, the differences between us are profound, and needed to be
explained. That is what I have tried to do.
I try to explain these differences between the primitive faith and practice of the first century church—which is what Primitive Baptists seek to preach and preserve--and Calvinism, or Reformed theology, which advocates the teaching of Calvin and perhaps Luther both reformers of the Catholic Church. I also address Arminian doctrine in the article, because Arminian doctrine flourished as a reaction against Calvinism, and in our day is one of the
most widely spread theological systems, taught in many churches.
The gist of this booklet, I can give you in four statements.
1. The Lord's New Testament church still exists today. Our Lord Himself promised the
perpetuity of His church in Matthew 16:18.
2. This church can be identified by its primitive faith and practice. This church will preach
the doctrine of Christ and the Apostles, as it was taught in the first century. It will practice
the simple, non-ceremonial, spirit and truth worship of the first century church as well.
These things are either true, or Christ bore false witness in Matthew 16:18.
3. This church is neither Catholic nor Protestant. It existed long before either of these.
4. This church is neither Calvinist nor Arminian. Its doctrine was intact and well
documented long before these men lived. If I had to say the single man, other than our
Lord, who systematized and wrote out what the doctrine of this first century church was
and is, more than any other, it would be Paul. I would say, then, that the doctrine of this
first century church was Pauline, riot Calvinist or Arminian. But of course, this doctrine
was given to Paul directly by Christ Himself. So it is really Christ's doctrine, not Paul's. Paul
acknowledged this during his entire life and ministry. And Christ admitted during his own
ministry that his doctrine was given to Hirn by God Himself. I submit that when the New
Testament canon was completed, the doctrine and practice of the Lord's church was laid
down for all ages. It has not changed in the two thousand years that have passed. Of
course, I am speaking of the ordinances of the church here. These have not changed,
even as practical matters such as church buildings and other amenities have changed, as
the centuries have passed. There was no such thing as live-streaming in the first century.
There was such a thing as the Lord's Supper and the feet washing service. That day, in
November of 2023, I was given two slots, and you will easily see that this article is divided
into two parts. As I worked on this presentation, I eventually came to think of Part 1 as the
explication, and Part 2 as the application. I still feel that way, about this somewhat
expanded article. It is pretty much what I said to my brethren in Atlanta, but I have
expanded it for the sake of the lay person. The flowchart of church history that I handed out
that day is included in the appendix.
Not All Tulips Are The Same.
One reason this subject is so important is that both Primitive Baptists and Calvinists use the acronym TULIP as a means of ordering or teaching their doctrine. So it is understandable that people would think of us as Calvinists. But the truth of the matter is that the two tulips are not the same. And the difference lies in the "P".
Primitive faith asserts the preservation of the saints. That God's children are kept by the power of God, that they are preserved in Jesus Christ. We are taught that God's children are in his hand and that no man can pluck them out of his hand. We affirm that neither our lives nor our deaths can separate us from the love of God. The preservation of the saints does not assert that it is our works or our righteousness that keeps us. It is only the
imputed righteousness of Christ that keeps us.
Calvinists usually assert the perseverance of the saints, and this is a drastically different doctrine than the preservation of the saints. I assure you, my friends, this is not a mere matter of semantics. The perseverance of the saints is the idea that all the elect will hear the gospel, and obey the gospel, and persevere in obedience to the gospel throughout their lives. Calvinists usually assert that this is all predestinated, and thus land themselves in
the camp of fatalists, believing that God has ordained all things whatsoever come to pass. Thus we see that the two tulips are actually poles apart, doctrinally speaking.
The Baptist Name.
For literally centuries, there was only one Baptist church; I mean by this statement that all the Baptist churches pretty much adhered to the Pauline doctrine contained in the New Testament scriptures. It is true that the primitive church has gone by other names down through history, but Baptist eventually became the name used by them. When the primitive church came to America, it was known as Baptist. It was even then distinct from the
Puritans, or Reformers.
So the Baptists were fairly monolithic, as a people. Until, that is, the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries when the great split in the Baptist family occurred. It is sad beyond words that this happened, but it did happen. And here is what caused it: Arminian doctrine and the general atonement theory, accompanied by the idea that the gospel was used in the eternal salvation of people. This is the false idea that people had to respond to the gospel in order to be born again. Which certainly is not primitive faith. Primitive faith says loud and clear that we must be born again first, that people who are dead in sins cannot understand or believe the gospel. Arminian doctrine was fairly young in the late seventeenth century. Thus the churches that adopted the new doctrine were labeled the "new school" Baptists. Those bodies who continued in primitive faith and practice were called "old school," or "primitive" Baptists.
This split in the Baptist family explains how there are so many Baptist churches in America who hold to the doctrine of Arminianism, even though Arminianism teaches salvation by works. And recently there has been a great shift in many Arminian churches toward reformed theology, or Calvinism. I know of Southern Baptist churches, as well as independent Baptist churches, that hold to Calvinistic doctrine. They go by the name "Baptist," even though the doctrine they hold is actually Presbyterian.
This confusion explains even further why I believe this article is so important. It breaks my
heart that it is so.
On that Wednesday in November, after I finished my presentation, several of my fellow
ministers told me I should make a booklet out of it. I wish to thank them. This booklet
would not exist had it not been for their encouragement. However, I alone am responsible
for the content of it. I pray that it is true and will be of benefit to the cause of Christ. I beg
God and the reader to forgive any errors in it. Like all other writings of men, including
creeds and confessions, it must be measured by the truth of the scriptures alone.
Part One: Only One Gospel.
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18.
I. The Historical Argument.
In preparing for this presentation, I have consulted a book or two. One of them is The Presbyterians by William Thomson Hanzsche, published in 1934 by The Westminster Press. I quote one sentence from him to begin. He is speaking of the settling of America in the early seventeenth century.
English colonists migrating into New England brought not only Congregationalism but a
newer sect, the Baptists. (p 58).
I hope you are astonished by that, by the profound historical ignorance of this man. He would have us all believe that the seventeenth century Baptists were a new sect, that the Puritans and Pilgrims were older than the Baptists. Let me assure you that the Baptists that Mr. Hanzsche claimed to be new in the seventeenth century were then and are now the primitive church of the first century, passed down through an unbroken chain of local
assemblies to our day.
Let me explain further. I refer you to the flow chart in the Appendix.
The church at Jerusalem was the first New Testament church, and it was established approximately 30 A.D. Sometime later, we are not sure exactly when, the church at Rome was established, a daughter church of the first church in Jerusalem. Through an unbroken succession that has continued for two thousand years now, Point Remove Primitive Baptist Church in Russellville, Arkansas was established in 1833. She still exists. I present for your consideration the historical fact that Point Remove Church has a lineage all the way back to the church at Jerusalem, as established by Christ and the Apostles. I do not say this with pride or Pharisaism, but in much fear and trembling, with humility and thankfulness. I am fully aware also that this unbroken succession cannot be proven using the historical documents of men, although men have tried to do that very thing. The Baptist Church--and I mean the local assembly when I say that--has existed now for two thousand years, and it will exist until the end of time. Christ promised this perpetuity of the church in Matthew 16:18.
Sometime after Paul wrote his great epistle to the Romans (approximately 56 A.D.), the church at Rome apostatized. This apostasy continued for roughly six or seven hundred years, until we see the Catholic Church come into existence, and I mean with Popes and cardinals and hierarchy and political clout and everything. It took a lot of apostasy for the church at Rome to become what we now mean by the term Catholic. But seven hundred
years is a long time.
Thus we see that the Baptist Church is far older than the Catholic Church. Six or seven hundred years older in fact. Further, it is the Catholic Church that is the Protestant Church, not the Baptists. It should be apparent to you also that Catholics came out of the Baptists, not the other way around. This is why, if I am asked whether I am Catholic or Protestant, I say, "Neither. I am Baptist."
And then the Catholic Church apostatized further still, and did so for roughly another thousand years. Can you even imagine living through the terrors of the Renaissance Popes? Pope Innocent III set up the Holy Office for the suppression of heresy and the punishment of heretics in the thirteenth century; thus the Inquisition was begun and continued apace for years. Innocent and his successors were Hitlers before Hitler. They out-Hitlered Hitler. They perpetrated unspeakable horrors on those they deemed heretics, and, yes, that included the Baptists of that day, often called Anabaptists.
And it was somewhat later, on July 10, 1509, that John Calvin was born. Calvin died on May 27, 1564, and he is the founder of the Presbyterian Church of the Old School. We would call them fatalists. This is the very church that Mr. Hanzsche, in his book, claims to be older than the Baptists. A claim that is historically inaccurate. John Calvin never was a Baptist. He hated our Anabaptist forefathers with a vengeance. He persecuted them in a manner similar to how the Catholic Church he wanted to reform persecuted the Protestants and the Baptists. He never understood salvation by grace. He always added a back-door works system to it. He claimed he believed in "faith alone," but then said you must persevere throughout life, or you were never born again in the first place.
It was then through this Presbyterian Church, not the Baptists, that we eventually got the Westminster Confession in 1644 and the London Confession of 1689. Neither of these confessions is a Baptist confession. That is just all there is to it, even from this historical perspective alone. The Baptist churches do not exist anywhere on this earth as a by-product of the Reformers. I hope you are seeing by now that the Baptists were not even in
the same lineage as the men we currently call Reformers, Calvin and Luther. Baptists preexisted the Reformation, and the Reformers, and Reformed theology. The primitive church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had been going strong for fifteen hundred years before John Calvin was ever born. Do you see that, my friend? Primitive Baptists are not Calvinists.
II. The Doctrinal Argument.
In the light of what I just said, I want to ask you. What is the big deal about Reformed Theology? It is only 1500 years too late to be Apostolic doctrine and practice. This may shock some of you, but I would not give you a plug nickel for all the Reformed theology you can pile up, unless it harmonizes with the doctrine of God's word and the gospel of Christ and Paul, which is the only gospel there is. There is no other. Reformed theology is simply too young to be primitive. There truly is only one gospel. And John Calvin never preached it. Neither did Martin Luther. Nor is this primitive gospel preached by John MacArthur, or John Piper, or Martyn Lloyd-Jones, or Alistair Begg, or R. C. Sproul, or Voddie Baucham, or Jay Adams, or Arthur Pink. And I have read the works of these men.
Romans 11:6 forbids us to add any works to grace. Any works of any kind! Or in any quantity! And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. Amazing, isn't that? We are here forbidden to add works, when it comes to the eternal salvation of souls. The moment we say, "Salvation is by grace, but here is what you must do to get it," we have annihilated grace. It is just that simple. That is what Paul is saying in Romans 11:6. Grace and works are mutually exclusive when it comes to eternal salvation. We are not allowed to say, "It is by grace, but here is what you must do to get it." Nor can we say, "It is by grace, but here is what you must do to keep it." We are not even allowed to say, "You must do this, but it is not really you doing it; it is Christ in you doing it." No. That is still salvation by works. Do you understand, my friend?
Prevenient grace is no grace at all.
We are Biblically forbidden to add works to grace, but folks keep doing that all the time, don't they? John Calvin and Jacob Arminius sure did. Let me here make the mistake of trying to define the garden-variety Calvinism and Arminianism. I recognize that there are many shades and varieties of Calvinism and Arminianism, but I am going to try anyway. And although Arminius came after Calvin, and reacted against Calvinism, I begin with Arminianism.
Arminianism is the idea that Christ died for all men but did not actually secure the eternal salvation of any person He died for. He just made their salvation a possibility. Each person Christ died for must do something to get eternal life. Or bum in hell.
Now, of course, the catch is that among folks who teach this theory, there are many
variations about what exactly it is you must do to get eternal life. Some say you must
accept Christ as your personal Savior. Some say you must be baptized in water. And some
of these will actually go so far as to say it must be their preacher and their water. Some say
you must repent of all your sins. And often these are accompanied by the idea that you
must do this with your whole heart; you must believe it to the point that you no longer have
any doubt. I submit that these last two ideas are asking of us the impossible. Some of the
more charismatic groups are now saying that you must speak in tongues to be saved. And
they will sign you up for a class to teach you how to do just that, speak in tongues.
Arminianism is not the doctrine of the Bible. It is salvation by works. I do not believe that
the Lord is the author of such widespread doctrinal confusion.
If anything, Calvinism is even worse. Calvinism does hold to a form of unconditional election, and this is what makes it more dangerous than Arminianism: it can fool a Primitive Baptist far more easily than Arminianism, which rejects unconditional election. But even though Calvinism does teach election, it turns around and says what these elect people must do and will do to be eternally saved. And the conditions that Calvinism requires of the sinner include pretty much everything Arminianism includes, with the horrible addition of the perseverance of the saints. This is the idea that each of the elect will hear the gospel, obey the gospel, and persevere in obedience to the gospel throughout their lives. Calvinism teaches that this is all predestinated. The elect may stray for a while, but they will always come back to obedience. And if they don't come back to obedience, and die in an unrepentant state, they never were God's children in the first place, no matter how much fruit of the Spirit they bore in their lives!! They were "false professors." According to Calvinism, true believers will get better and better, progressively more and more sanctified in their daily lives. Or bum in hell.
Frankly, it is amazing to me that such circular reasoning ever passes for a theology in the first place. I don't say that to be mean, but I do want to be clear. Calvinism is not the doctrine of the Bible either. It is not primitive faith. It is not the gospel preached by Christ and his holy apostles. It too is salvation by works.
There truly is only one gospel.
Now I want to commit another unpardonable sin and tell you which of these two I think is worse. To me it stands to reason that if a theological system places requirements on the dead sinner in order to be saved, the more requirements so placed, the fewer we can logically assume will be eternally saved. Right? If one system says that the sinner must do a in order to be saved, it seems logical that more will be saved than in the system which says
the dead sinner must do a, b, c and x, y, and z to be eternally saved. Now does not that stand to reason?
Thus I conclude that Calvinism is worse than Arminianism for the simple reason that it can logically expect far fewer to be saved! I ask you, Do not some Calvinists themselves claim that only a few of practicing Christians will be saved? Of course they do. I have heard them do it. I will give them credit for at least being honest to that painful degree. And, sadly, some of these even seem to take pride in the fact that only a few will make it to heaven.
But let me reverse my logic here and says this. If all of this be true then it is also true that the theological system that requires no works whatsoever of the dead sinner is the system that will see the most eternally saved! Right? And is not that the truth of the matter? No man-made works system can possibly land as many in heaven as the truth of God's free and sovereign grace! It is just that simple. Primitive faith is the only faith in which Christ will have the preeminence in all things! It is the only faith that can ever allow for more people in heaven than in hell!! There truly is only, one gospel!
Primitive Baptists are not Calvinists, although we are sometimes falsely accused of being so. We believe far more are going to heaven than any Calvinist (or Arminian either, for that matter) could ever conceive of! A number no man can number (Revelation 7:9). As the stars of heaven and the sands of the seashore (Genesis 15:5, in conjunction with Galatians 3:29). Out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation under heaven (Revelation 5:9). Church and unchurched. Civilized and uncivilized. Glory to God in the highest!
How can I say such things? Because their eternal salvation is not based upon their works. It is not contingent upon their works in any way. It is based upon one thing and one thing only: the shed blood of Jesus Christ our Lord!
III. A Few Doctrinal Specifics.
1. Calvinism (and Arminianism) errantly places faith before regeneration, or at the very best simultaneous with regeneration. They make faith a requirement for eternal salvation. But the scriptures are abundantly clear that regeneration comes before faith in the life of every single child of God. I mean in real time. And I mean every time. Faith is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). All men have not faith (II Thessalonians 3:2). The dead baby m
Ezekiel 16 certainly did not exercise faith in order to receive life. In verse 6, God passes by the dead baby for the first time. He sees the dead baby and then utters the irresistible creative command of divine power and love. God says to the dead baby, "Live." And that baby lived! She grows up in the rest of the chapter, but what I have just described to you may be the clearest, most concise, most accurate picture of the very moment of regeneration in all the Bible. And it was not based on any works performed by the baby. God did the work. I hope you see that.
God knows that a person dead in sins cannot do anything acceptable in His sight, whether man knows that or not. God knows better than to require spiritual action from the dead person prior to regeneration. Please notice again that God does not ask the baby to do anything in verse 6. My friends, I think what I have just tried to describe to you--that faith follows regeneration--is one of the primary, bedrock, fundamental theological differences between primitive faith and all errant doctrine, including Calvinism.
2. Calvinism, consequently, has no accurate understanding of the Bible doctrine of justification by faith. It is of course impossible for a Calvinist to understand this if he thinks a person must exercise faith in order to be born again. Classical Calvinism would have the dead in sins exercising faith, and then being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And amazingly enough, they refer to Romans 4 and Abraham in Genesis 15, as if that were the moment when Abraham was born again.
An adherent of primitive faith knows that Genesis 15:6 is most certainly NOT the moment when Abraham was born again. We know, for example, that Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees by faith (Hebrews 11:8). This means that Abraham was, without question, born again before he ever left Mesopotamia. Do you see that, my friend? He was in possession of faith. Faith was a fruit of the Spirit in Abraham's life, just as it is in all of God's children! In Genesis 15:6, Abraham believed the word of God, which he could not have done had he not already been born again. And so we see that Abraham was not made just then, but that he was declared just in his own heart and mind by his belief in the word of God. That is the Bible doctrine of justification by faith. Since faith follows regeneration, justification by faith is not and cannot be a requirement for being eternally saved. To say such is to get the cart
before the horse.
In fact, when we take even a cursory look at the life of Abraham before Genesis 15, it becomes obvious that he was saved from the time God called him out of Ur in Genesis 12. Abraham obeys God and leaves Mesopotamia in Genesis 12:1-3. He leaves his own father and departs from Haran in Genesis 12:4. He follows God, not knowing whither he went, to Canaan and God promises the land to him. Abraham builds an altar at a place called
Bethel and "calls upon the name of the Lord" (Genesis 12:8). Note that Abraham is worshipping God here! Does that sound like a spiritually dead person? I think not. He then goes down into Egypt during the famine, and comes back up in Genesis 13. He worships again at Bethel. Then comes the strife with Lot's herdmen. They separate. In Genesis 14 Abraham rescues his nephew Lot, and on the way home from the slaughter of the kings meets Melchizedek. They have what looks to me like a communion service. And Abraham gives him tithes of all.
All of this occurs before Abraham is justified by faith in Genesis 15. Is it not obvious that he
has been a born-again child of God all this time? Of course. These are not the actions of a
spiritually dead person. And it is therefore obviously incorrect to claim that Abraham was
born again in Genesis 15:6. But Calvinists do it all the time, and so do Arminians.
Have you ever considered how interesting it is that Christ told Nicodemus, "You must be born again," not, "You must get born again"?
3. Calvinism, further, has no notion or cognizance of time salvation, or conditional time salvation. And my friend, I simply cannot imagine trying to rightly divide the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15) void of the knowledge that there is a salvation in time that a born-again child of God can possess by understanding and following after the primitive gospel of Christ. The truth of God's sovereign grace will save us from error and from giving God's glory to men. It
will save us from sin and moral error in our lives as well. It will save us from worshipping God in a false manner or in a way that is not pleasing to Him. We can be delivered from so many things by the truth of God's word! These are all conditional salvations, and I hope you see by now that our eternal salvation to heaven is not conditional on our part. Thus the difference.
But Calvinists almost never recognize this clear Bible distinction. I have even heard Calvinist-leaning brethren say that the gospel is part of the whole package of eternal salvation, much to my chagrin. This, once again, is to incorporate the gospel in the eternal salvation of sinners. It goes back to what I said earlier about illogically placing
requirements on the sinner to be eternally saved. Are you seeing then, the importance of keeping this distinction clear in our minds as we read scripture? If we don't, we may very well confuse eternal and time salvation, thus dishonoring God and placing laws upon people that God never intended.
No, my friend; we must not do this. I heard Elder Charles Sandage say forty years ago, "To incorporate the gospel in the eternal salvation of sinners in any way is to completely destroy grace." I say Amen to that. To do so actually decreases the number of people that we can logically assume will be saved. As I have told the folks at Point Remove over and over, the gospel has not always existed. The Bible has not always existed. The church has not always existed. Therefore these things cannot be used in the eternal salvation of men, and all men be born of God in the same way! And we know of a surety that all men are born of God the same way because of John 3:8. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”
4. Calvinism confuses regeneration with conversion, claiming these are one and the same thing. But nothing could be further from the truth, Biblically speaking. Regeneration is the instantaneous, immediate, sovereign creative act of Almighty God in imparting eternal, holy life to an elect person. I say regeneration is immediate; this means that God does not use any means or mediator other than Himself. He performs the work of regeneration directly, alone, just as He performed the creation of this world Himself. Regeneration is an eternal act in that it is irreversible. It cannot be reversed or negated or cancelled, even by the actions of the person so born again. Further, from the Biblical point of view, regeneration is predestinated (Romans 8:29-30). “They shall all know me from the least to the greatest” (Hebrews 8:10-12). Regeneration is also a glorification, in which the new creature is
created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:24, Romans 8:30), and is thus fitted to live with God in heaven from the moment of regeneration. The new creature does not need anything else done to it, after regeneration, to be ready to enter God's presence! Finally, regeneration is "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13). I say again, man no more assists God in this creative act than he assisted God in the creation of this universe. The born-again person is the passive recipient of this cosmic act of divine omnipotence.
Conversion is not at all the same thing. Conversion is the willful act of th born-again person in turning away from sin and the world toward God and righteousness. Man's will is certainly involved in this, where it is not at all involved in regeneration. Further, conversion is something that should occur in our lives repeatedly, whereas regeneration is a one-time event in the life of the heir of promise. I would say that we probably need conversion every single day of our lives! I need to be converted from a bad attitude every day, and even many times a day. I need to turn away from evil and toward God daily. Peter, an apostle at the time, had to be converted from his Judaism, didn't he? It took a trip down to Cornelius' house to accomplish this (Luke 22:32, Acts 10).
As I say, regeneration is in no way a function of gospel means. Conversion most certainly is a function of gospel means. Thus the difference. To say these two are the same thing is to seriously misunderstand and misinterpret the scriptures themselves. But Calvinists do it all the time, I am sad to say.
5. Calvinism teaches the errant doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, rather than the primitive doctrine of the preservation of the saints. And let me assure you that these are not the same thing at all. Jude 1 says that we are preserved in Jesus Christ. I understand that to mean that we are preserved from sin and the evil influence of sin--even our own sin--in Christ. He is the preserving agent, even if we don't persevere in obedience.
I remind you of the many, many times that God has threatened to destroy His own people down through history. And how He has destroyed them, over and over and over. He has killed them in some pretty spectacular ways too, hasn't He? The Flood comes to mind. Sodom and Gomorrah too. In Matthew 11:23, Christ indirectly proved that there were children of God that died in Sodom. He says that if the people of Sodom had seen the mighty works performed in Capernaum, they would have repented, and the city remained. I remind you also of Korab and all those that appertained unto him, as we read in Numbers 16. The earth opened up and swallowed them. Uzzah, who in ignorance touched the Ark to steady it, was smitten and died (II Samuel 6:1-9). Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu changed the recipe for the incense and offered this "strange fire" before the Lord in Leviticus 10. And
there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord (verse 2). These two men were priests of the Lord too.
Yet each of these, if they were God's elect, was eternally preserved from the sad effects of
their sin. I hope you can see this, my friend.
Further, God has taken the gospel from some of them and given it to others. See the Lord's own words to the chief priests and Pharisees in Matthew 21:33-45. And I consider this condemnation to be worse than corporeal death. God has removed the candlestick from rebellious and disobedient churches too (Revelation 1-3). He has destroyed and overthrown nations. I remind you that God did not give the land of Canaan to Israel because they were so good. He gave it to Israel because of the abominations that the Canaanites were guilty of for many generations! See Genesis 15:16 for that fact. This explains why God told Israel to leave none of them alive when they finally entered Canaan.
I hope this helps you see the difference between being preserved in Christ, and persevering in obedience. They certainly are not the same. To teach the preservation of the saints is to teach salvation by grace. To teach the perseverance of the saints is to teach salvation by works.
6. Calvinism, since it insists on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, has no understanding of the fact that God turns His own children over to a reprobate mind, to do those things that are not convenient, if they rebel against Him to a gross degree. This is the Bible doctrine of reprobacy. A child of God can rebel to such a degree that his conscience is seared with a hot iron (I Timothy 4:1-5), and he becomes past feeling (Ephesians 4:17-19). This means that their conscience, given in regeneration, can cease to properly function, due to the deadening and numbing effects of sin in their lives. I trust we all know that this can happen, and that it has happened to folks in the Bible. I cite Romans 1:18- 32 as perhaps the primary passage that teaches reprobacy in the New Testament. That these people are children of God should be obvious to us all, if we understand what it means to be dead in sin. They hold the truth (v 18). God has showed it to them (v 19), so we know this is not talking any innate knowledge of man. They understand His eternal power and Godhead (v20). They know God (v 21). They even worship God (v 25). But these people also begin a terrible downward spiral into gross sin that, according to verse 32, is worthy of death. God gave them over to a reprobate mind, another theological absurdity if this passage speaks of the dead in sins: they have never had anything other than a reprobate mind.
I will cite also, in this context, Hebrews 6:4-8. This passage asserts that people who have been incredibly blessed and have even "tasted... the powers of the world to come" can fall away into sin (as did the Jews of the first century) to such a degree that it is impossible to renew them again to repentance. I think I have seen children of God get themselves into just such a fix. John 15:1-8 teaches that some branches in Christ--they are born of God
then--can bear no observable fruit in their lives and be broken off and burned. This is not talking about them going to hell after death; it is talking about them being burned here in time, as far as any future fruitfulness is concerned.
And I must mention Numbers 14, where God did not let the children of Israel repent at Kadesh Bamea. God had been preparing Israel to cross into Canaan for centuries. In Numbers 14, God told them to cross, but they refused. God passed judgment upon them that very day that they would wander in the wilderness for forty years. Then, on the very next day, they "rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up into the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned" (v 40). But God refuses to let them. He will not let them repent. It was too late for them. This Old Testament episode is referred to over and over in the New Testament as a warning that we should not rebel as they did. I think it harmonizes perfectly
with Hebrews 6, teaching there is a point beyond which God will not allow His child to repent. And that flies in the face of Calvinism's perseverance. Did not God tell Jeremiah not to even pray for the nation of Israel? That He would not hear the prophet even if he did?
What shall we say to these things?
Let me state this same thing in a positive light. You and I, when we see a person who has destroyed their life with drugs or drink or illicit sex or even homosexuality, do not have the right to automatically condemn that person to bum in hell. I say even that there might be times when the actions of a child of God would be very little different than those we normally attribute to the unregenerate. Remember Lot, as well as his wife. I will ask you, if we didn't have that passage in II Peter 2:7-9, how would we ever know he was a child of God, just looking at his actions in the Old Testament? Do you see? We must not adopt the Pharisaical attitude toward these people and judge them as damned. Which of course is exactly what Calvinism tends to do. We should, rather, say, "There but by the grace of God go I." I submit that when we see such a person, we should rather see one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel! And leave the final judgment of their souls to God.
7. Calvinism has very little if any understanding of the Bible doctrine of justification by works. This is rooted in their ignorance of time salvation, and also in their insistence that progressive sanctification is predestinated. But Jesus Christ Himself taught the doctrine of justification by works in Matthew 5:16. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven.” We are to maintain good
works in our lives so that others can see our works and declare us to be God's children. We are declared just before men by our good works.
But sadly this is almost totally lost on most Calvinists. In fact, Luther did not believe the book of James to be canonical because it teaches the doctrine of justification by works, and he could only see justification as an eternal thing. Imagine that. He could not understand James, but rather than search his own doctrine for error, he just threw the whole book of James out! Imagine, Luther could not understand that Abraham was justified by works in Genesis 22, when he offered Isaac upon the altar. He could not see that Abraham's incredible obedience to God proved Abraham to be a true and faithful servant of the most high. Nor could Luther grasp how Rahab the harlot was justified by works in the book of Joshua. Rahab gave tremendous evidence of being a child of God and a profound believer. She made a profession of faith to the spies, and became part of the Old Testament Church. Amazing. Both she and Abraham are still being declared just by their works all these centuries later! But all of this was lost on Luther. It is to me unspeakably sad that so many Reform theologians see so little of this glorious doctrine.
8. I introduce my final point in this section with something I said to Point Remove Church not too long ago.
Eternal salvation is in no way a collective human achievement. It is not something we achieve by our efforts individually or collectively. Yet eternal salvation is a human achievement, in that it was procured and effected completely by the man Christ Jesus. He, and He alone wrought salvation! He by Himself purged our sins.
Neither Arminianism nor Calvinism can agree with that statement. They both make the eternal salvation of sinners the collective work of God and man. I say again: even when we say that it is not we who do these things, but Christ in us, we have still incorporated the actions of men in eternal salvation. I say with all the love in my heart, God forbid!
The eternal salvation of souls is the work of God and God alone. He does it all. This is theologically why God will not give His glory to another. It is why He is a jealous God. Man does not assist God in this work in any way whatsoever, because if he did, he would of necessity have a right to share God's glory. Again I say, God forbid. Only the primitive faith of Christ and the apostles gives God all the glory for eternal salvation (Romans 3:27), sees
Christ as the only mediator between God and men (I Timothy 2:5), and accepts the fact that Christ bought and paid for the redemption of all of them in His vicarious suffering on the cross (I Corinthians 6:20).
IV. Conclusion.
My friends, there is only one gospel. Paul declares this in Galatians 1. I do not claim that I understand all of this gospel, and I am not sure anyone has since Paul. But I insist nevertheless that there truly is only one. Just as there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Ephesians 4:5). And this gospel is not the one preached by Arminians or
Calvinists. Again, I say this with great fear and trembling: I am painfully aware of our own Primitive Baptist failings to preach this one gospel as clearly and purely and consistently as we should. I would even say we have failed to so preach it, and at times failed miserably. But that does not change the fact that there is only one gospel of God's truly sovereign grace.
I would even say that we have been allowed of God to be put in trust with this gospel according to I Thessalonians 2:4. That scares me half to death, I assure you. God has entrusted us to spread this gospel to the world, in an unbroken chain of local churches, from the days of Christ and the apostles until now. This gospel saves God's born-again children from so many things. It is the only gospel that will save an Arminian. It is the only
gospel that will save a Calvinist.
Primitive Baptists are not Calvinists. At least they should not be.
Part Two: Only The Gospel.
I begin this second part with something I said to Point Remove Church on April 2, 2023.
If the power and purity and unction of the gospel of Christ will not motivate a person to
serve God, it is certain that nothing earthly, or carnal, or psychological, or charismatic will
do it.
Only the gospel of Christ will do it. Further only the gospel of Christ will motivate us to
serve God out of a heart of love, instead of serving God in order to get to heaven, or as a fire
escape. In fact, we shouldn't be serving God out of selfish motives at all, should we?
I refer you to Galatians 1:6-9.
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another: but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
That, my friends, is how seriously Paul took the gospel. There IS only one. Do not listen if anyone ever preaches any other gospel unto you. To embrace any other gospel is to be removed from Christ. If anyone preaches any other gospel to you, let him be accursed. That means excommunicated. Notice also that Paul says false gospels are a perversion of the true gospel, and those who preach them trouble the Lord's people. Fundamental truth,
and the finished work of Christ, and the absolute certainty of the elect being redeemed by the blood of Christ without the loss of one meant that much to Paul. It should mean that much to us too. He would not tolerate any addition of works in the doctrine of eternal salvation. Neither should we.
In Galatians 2, Paul speaks of false brethren who troubled the church in Jerusalem. Here
are verses four and five.
Who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: TO WHOM WE GAVE PLACE BY SUBJECTION, NO, NOT FOR AN HOUR; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
That is how seriously Paul took the gospel. I get the impression here that he simply would not tolerate a false gospel, not even for an hour. He knew that any works system is a bondage, not freedom. And he did this so that the true gospel would continue with the Lord's people.
Later, in Galatians 2:21, he says, I do not frustrate the grace of God. That is, I do not mix it with works in any way. To do so is to render grace ineffectual, to neutralize it, to counteract it, to make it null and void. For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. I understand this last statement to mean that if it had been possible for God to give man a law to keep to go to heaven, Christ would not have had to die for us. Do you see the weight
of that? This is one way we know that God did not give man a law to keep to go to heaven; which, again, would be salvation by works, not by grace. That is how seriously Paul took the gospel.
Still later, in Galatians 3:1, Paul asks the church who has bewitched them, that they should not obey the truth. In 4:9-11, he asks them how they could tum from the true gospel of Christ to the weak and beggarly elements of the law. Paul says, Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. They were still trying to continue in the ceremonial law, including its sabbath keeping according to the phases of the moon, and the various Jewish feasts, even after Christ's death had abolished all of these. By the way, such things are still going on today! And it is a horrible bondage for God's children.
In Galatians 5:8 Paul tells them point blank, This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. Incredible. I will ask you then, Of whom then did it come? A frightful question and answer, that! And still later, in 5:12, the Apostle says this: I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
Strong language, isn't it? That is how seriously Paul took the gospel. And it is how seriously we should take it too.
I submit for your consideration that this gospel is the only thing we need. It is all we need. This gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes it. I submit further that it is all we should be preaching too. We must preach nothing else: no near approximation, or reasonable facsimile thereof, because there really is no reasonable facsimile thereof. They are all quite unreasonable. Just the gospel of Christ and the apostles as it is delineated in God's word. Because in this gospel are found the things that will save us from so many errors and false doctrines and false practices and heartaches and sicknesses and even diseases and an untimely death. Yes, the gospel can save us from these dreadful things! It is so pure and so holy and so precious that we, like Paul,
should desire it and only it. We should yearn for it as a starving man yearns for food and water. We should preach nothing else: I will even go so far as to say that this gospel, preached in biblical punty and anointed with the power of the Holy Ghost, will keep us all sane! Even in a world growing more and more insane every day!
Further, we should search for it diligently, as the most precious commodity on this planet, as a treasure hidden in a field. And I will tell you that it is found in the scriptures themselves, especially m the New Testament scriptures, and it is preached in the Lord's church, which must still exist on earth or Christ lied in Matthew 16:18. It is in this gospel that God reveals what was kept secret from the foundation of the world (Matthew 13:35 Romans 16:25). It is in this gospel that we learn things that the angels themselves desire to look into (I Peter 1:12). It is the gospel that the prophets of old understood not (I Peter 1:10-12). It is the gospel as preached by Jesus Christ Himself and by His holy apostles. This gospel contains the doctrine of Christ, which He told us was not his but His Father's. My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me (John 7:16). Thus we know that this gospel is approved by the God of heaven, incredible as it may be to say such a thing. It is not found in creeds or confessions, and I hope you see that by now: not even the 1689 London Confession. Incidentally, I have often thought how ridiculous it is to refer to the Apostles' Creed as the Apostles' Creed. No apostle had anything to do with the writing of it. It came
along 150 or 200 years too late for that. And it contains the horrible doctrine of the harrowing of hell a false doctrine if ever there were one, and one eventually adopted by that apostate Catholic church I told you about earlier.
My friends, I repeat: There is only one gospel. We should yearn for it and seek it with all our hearts and minds and strength, and preach it with all the skill and power and urgency within us.
And here's why.
ONLY THE GOSPEL drives home the truth of an individual's individual salvation. So that they know it and can rest in it and rejoice in it. Beloved, now are we the sons of God (I John 3:2). That means right now. Oh yes! There is no rest, or any lasting joy in a false gospel advocating circumcision, or accepting Christ as your personal savior, or the perseverance of the saints, or any other "requirement" to being saved. Only the gospel, which tells you that you could not and did not do anything to be eternally saved, will assure you fully and finally that you actually are eternally saved! It will tell you that you are in possession of the fruit of the Spirit, that you have been brought from death in sins to life in Christ. Only the gospel will elaborate the evidence whereby you can know you have eternal life. It is the spiritual DNA test whereby you can know that God is your father! I John 5:13 says, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God: that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. So the scriptures tell those who believe on the name of the Son of God (they are born again already) that they are eternally saved! May I change one word of that passage to drive home my point here? These things have I preached unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. What a perfect description of the utility of the gospel, as revealed in scripture. I hope you see clearly by now that the gospel does not bring eternal life to any
person: only the power of God does that. But the gospel does bring our eternal life and immortality to light (II Timothy 1:10). Only the gospel of Christ will do this.
ONLY THE GOSPEL comes in much assurance (I Thessalonians 1:5) to the child of God, assuring him that he is truly secure in Christ. The gospel assures us of these things, of our unmerited but certain eternal security. It assures us that our eternal security is in what 20 Christ has done, not what we are supposed to do! But a false gospel produces the very opposite effect. A constant fear and fretting over whether I have done what is required, and have done enough of what is required, and to the extent required, as well as the fear and fretting over whether those that I love have done so. My friends, that is a bondage of cosmic proportion, not assurance, and I have seen it in the hearts of God's people trapped in Arminianism and Calvinism. Only the gospel will deliver the child of God from this bondage of the fear of eternal death (Hebrews 2:15).
ONLY THE GOSPEL does not threaten the child of God with hell. Only the gospel of Christ teaches that Christ delivered all his elect from the wrath to come by His atoning, substitutionary death on the cross (I Thessalonians 1:10). Only the gospel will assert the imputed righteousness of Christ for all the sheep, whereby they will stand, each and every one of them, before God as pure as Christ Himself! Only the gospel of Christ will proclaim
that it is actually impossible for any person Christ died for to go to hell. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? (Romans 8:33).
ONLY THE GOSPEL does not adopt a "wait and see" attitude about a child of God's eternal salvation. There is no waiting to see if he is a ''false professor" or not. No! No waiting to see if the individual dies in full triumphant faith in their last hour. No! We can know we are God's children now, so that we can wait for His Son from heaven. We also know that every one of us is, or has been, and probably will be a false professor to some degree, for the
simple reason that we can never get it totally right while we live. We all make mistakes, both practical and theological. We will, as long as we inhabit these earthen vessels, as long as we dwell in our mortal bodies which were not changed in regeneration. But even our inability to get it totally right does not make us fear for our eternal lives! Paul says in I Timothy 1:15, "I am the chief of sinners." I believe he really meant that. But he still declares
in Galatians 2:20, "God loved me and gave himself for me." Glory to God in the highest!
ONLY THE GOSPEL of Christ asserts that the gospel has nothing to do with one's obtaining eternal salvation. Only the gospel says that heaven will be just as full and complete and perfect IF NO ONE EVER PREACHES ANOTHER WORD OF THE GOSPEL. Further, only the gospel will ever dare to say that all of the false gospels taught in the world will have no effect whatsoever on the eternal salvation of God's elect. And yet further, only the gospel
will admit that even if only false gospels are preached on this earth, heaven will be just as full, just as complete, and just as perfect because of the efficacious sacrifice of Christ our Lord! Christ's death atoned for the sin of not preaching the gospel. It atoned for the sin of preaching a false gospel, and the sin of believing a false gospel just as surely as it atoned for every other sin those elect will ever commit. I stand in awe of such grace and mercy!
ONLY THE GOSPEL preaches "One Way." One way for all of God's children all over the world and in all ages of time. One way for the unborn. One way for babes and sucklings, out of whose mouths God hath perfected praise (Matthew 21:15-16). One way for children up to and after the age of twelve. One way for Jew and Gentile. For Old Testament and New Testament saints. For Adam and Eve, and for you and me! One way for folks in the most
ancient dynasties of China. One way for the most ignorant, backward and uncivilized. One way for those with the most severe mental handicaps. And yes, one way for the churched and the unchurched. And that "one way" is the blood of Jesus. Plus nothing.
"One way'' because only the gospel advocates NO BACK UP SYSTEM. NO SPECIAL CASES. NO CASES MORE DIFFICULT THAN OTHER CASES. For the simple reason that they are all impossibly difficult except through the imputed righteousness of Christ! Only the gospel declares no need to catch folks who, so to speak, fall though the gospel cracks. Only the gospel assures us that God needs no back-up system on grace, because God's covenant of
grace is perfect, perfectly designed, perfectly executed and gets the job done every time, no matter what silly fallen man may do or not do! Whose praise is not of men but of God! (Romans 2:29).
ONLY THE GOSPEL does not try to mix grace and works in eternal salvation. Again, we are forbidden to do this in Romans 11:6, but theologians keep doing it anyway. Only the gospel will proclaim "Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9) and put a period after saying it. Full stop. Only the gospel will make that statement without following it up with a laundry list of things you have to do to obtain this salvation: a salvation that is allegedly FREE! Only the gospel
will not contradict itself by saying you must do this to be saved, but it is not really you doing it but Christ in you. Think about that, my friend. That is saying that Christ is in you before you are saved. No, my friends. Only the gospel will admit that such a person, who is seeking the will of God, is saved already! Eternally, irrevocably, unchangeably, everlastingly, radically, scandalously SAVED!
ONLY THE GOSPEL does not say, "Well, it is up to you." It certainly is not. Think about that. If it were up to you, your fallen, depraved will could over-ride or negate God's sovereign and holy will! What horrible doctrine! But folks advocate such all the time. Of course such is not true. It is and always has been up to God and Christ, and I rejoice with all my heart that it is. Do you not trust Christ more than you trust yourself? Only the gospel leads us to fully
trust in Christ. False gospels invariably lead us to trust in ourselves too, giving man the glory that rightfully belongs to God alone.
ONLY THE GOSPEL will teach Romans 8:38-39 and really mean it. Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Only the gospel will teach that your life cannot separate you from the love of God. If that were possible, we would all be separated from the love of God. Only the gospel will teach that your death cannot separate you from the love of God. Even if you do not die in full triumphant faith. Even a self-inflicted death will not separate you from the love of God. Only the gospel will claim that neither your life nor your death can keep you out of heaven if you were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Only the gospel declares that all the Lord loves will be with Him in heaven. The gospel never alleges
that God will have no choice but to send people He supposedly loves to bum in hell! I ask you, is that really love after all?
ONLY THE GOSPEL will account for or explain how there will be far more in heaven than in hell. Only the gospel will declare that Christ will indeed have the preeminence in all things (Colossians 1:18). Only the gospel can account for the eternal salvation of people before the existence of the gospel of Christ. How did Job know that his Redeemer was alive and would come to earth? How was he saved before there was a Bible or a church or a Levitical priesthood or a tabernacle or a temple or a nation of Israel? How were Adam and Eve regenerated in the Garden of Eden? I remind you again, the more requirements there are for a person to be eternally saved, the fewer there would logically be in heaven. Thus it is apparent that free grace--where there are no requirements, no works of righteousness to be eternally saved--means the maximum number in heaven and Christ has the preeminence in all things.
ONLY THE GOSPEL gives God all the glory for eternal salvation. None to man or men. And yes, that includes the will of man. The new birth is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Eternal salvation is not and logically cannot be according to the will of fallen man. Thus we see it is all according to the will of God. I mean, whose idea was it anyway?
If either Arminianism or Calvinism were true, man would take some of the glory for his eternal salvation. They may not mean to do this, but they do. When I worked for the funeral home, I heard dozens and dozens of funeral sermons from Arminians and Calvinists. In every single one, the preacher stated why that person was in heaven. And it was always because they had accepted Christ as their personal savior. Even men that I knew were Calvinists said the same thing. Almost never did the preacher mention the blood of Jesus! These things ought not to be. It is giving man some of the glory that rightly belongs only to the God of heaven. Only the gospel of Christ does not do this.
For all of these reasons and more I say, ONLY THE GOSPEL will properly humble us under the mighty hand of a mighty God. Only the gospel will call from the depths of our souls, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts (Isaiah 6:5). Only the gospel can reduce a prideful, arrogant human to that level of humility. No false
gospel will do that. Only the gospel will lead a person to bow his stubborn neck and say, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. Once I have spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice, but I will proceed no further. (Job 40:4-5). I will proceed no further in self-justification. I will proceed no further in declaring my own righteousness. I will proceed no further in thinking for an instant that God needs my help.
I was talking to Elder Dickie Halbgewachs not long ago and he sent me this: "The gospel is a proclamation, not a proposition." That is so true. The gospel proclaims the finished work of Christ. And because it is finished, it should be apparent that we are not called upon to finish it. The gospel proclaims the absolute certainty of the salvation of all of God's elect. We should accept it and no other gospel. We should accept it, believe it, live by it, and
proclaim it to others.
After all, it the gospel of GRACE! And grace is not just a buzzword. No, my friends, grace is just wild. Grace is unsettling to the flesh. It is radical. It breaks down the boundaries of human perceptions. It is such an extreme concept that, if we are not really careful, we will say it is just plain unfair. Which, of course, it is. It is grace. It is God saying to us: I have loved you with an everlasting love, and you do not deserve it, have never deserved it, cannot now or ever deserve it. But I have loved you anyway, in Christ! And it is an unwavering, non-contingent, never varying, full throttle I-know-all-about-you-but-love-you-anyway love.
Here is just how radical grace and the imputed righteousness of Christ actually are. Imagine with me a pygmy somewhere in the dark recesses of Africa two or three hundred years ago. He has never seen a Bible or a preacher or a church. He has never heard a sermon of any kind and never will. His everyday life consists of practices abhorrent to civilized men. But he is nevertheless one of the Lord's elect, for whom Christ died and imputed His own righteousness unto. And this African pygmy, when he gets to heaven as he surely will, will be absolutely equal with Moses and Paul and all the saints of all the ages. That, my friends, is the message of the gospel of Christ.
Conclusion.
In 1994, Elder Mike Ivy published what I deem to be one of the most important books in this subject: Welsh Succession of Primitive Baptist Faith and Practice. Here is his conclusion, which I will take as mine.
There is great need for revival in the church today. She is under attack, and Satan is using his most subtle and effective weapons. We all seek spiritual revival. However, conforming ourselves to the teachings of Protestant reformers is not the answer... Calvin, Owens, and Edwards or even Philpot or Spurgeon are not our role models ...Our true role models are
first, Jesus Christ, next the apostles, next the first century church and then New Testament
saints such as Stephen, Timothy, Cornelius, Priscilla and Eunice.
The true creed of Primitive Baptist doctrine and practice is not contained in uninspired
articles of faith. Our standard for belief is the inspired word of God, the Bible ...
True revival can occur. But...The false religion of rigidly enforced ethical creeds will never
effect true revival. Only when the true gospel is coupled with the godly righteousness of
true religion, which is in Christ Jesus, will God so bless us.