Calvary Road Baptist Church
A young London Baptist pastor named C. H. Spurgeon once said in a sermon,
“We believe that the Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the Reformation, we were Reformers before Luther or Calvin were born; we never came from the Church of Rome, for we were never in it, but we have an unbroken line up to the apostles themselves. We have always existed from the very days of Christ, and our principles, sometimes veiled and forgotten, like a river which may travel underground for a little season, have always had honest and holy adherents. Persecuted alike by Romanists and Protestants of almost every sect, yet there has never existed a government holding Baptist principles which persecuted others; nor I believe any body of Baptists ever held it to be right to put the consciences of others under the control of man. We have ever been ready to suffer, as our martyrologies will prove, but we are not ready to accept any help from the State, to prostitute the purity of the Bride of Christ to any alliance with the government, and we will never make the Church, although the Queen, the despot over the consciences of men.”
Years later, the same now acclaimed and more mature Baptist pastor preaching to the same congregation declared,
“History has hitherto been written by our enemies, who never would have kept a single fact about us upon the record if they could have helped it, and yet it leaks out every now and then that certain poor people called Anabaptists were brought up for condemnation. From the days of Henry II to those of Elizabeth we hear of certain unhappy heretics who were hated of all men for the truth’s sake which was in them. We read of poor men and women, with their garments cut short, turned out into the fields to perish in the cold, and anon of others who were burnt at Newington for the crime of Anabaptism. Long before your Protestants were known of, these horrible Anabaptists, as they were unjustly called, were protesting for the ‘one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.’ No sooner did the visible church begin to depart from the gospel than these men arose to keep fast by the good old way. The priests and monks wished for peace and slumber, but there was always a Baptist or a Lollard tickling men’s ears with holy Scriptures, and calling their attention to the errors of the times. They were a poor persecuted tribe. The halter was thought to be too good for them. At times ill-written history would have us think that they died out, so well had the wolf done his work on the sheep. Yet here we are, blessed and multiplied; and Newington sees other scenes from Sabbath to Sabbath.
As I think of your numbers and efforts, I can only say in wonder - what a growth! As I think of the multitudes of our brethren in America, I may well say, What hath God wrought! Our history forbids discouragement.”
What Mr. Spurgeon’s sentiments were my sentiments are. Therefore, it is because I am a convinced Bible believer and classical Baptist pastor of forty-five years, and a student of God’s Word of more than forty-eight years, that I being to you this fleshed out message based upon the skeleton lesson I developed and delivered two nights ago on October 31, 2022, the 505th anniversary of the generally accepted start of the Protestant Reformation.
This message is titled “Celebrating The Reformation, With Some Baptist Caveats.” My message consists of two main points:
First, THE LEAD UP TO THE REFORMATION
For my purposes, I will present 1500 years of Church history superficially to provide you with the briefest overview of events that no one disputes. I beg your forgiveness if I do not include something you feel was important enough for me to have included.
First, three centuries of premillennialism. Although it is disputed by many, it is indisputable that premillennialism prevailed for the first three centuries of the Christian era, to the extent of “the almost universal Pre-Millenarianism of the early Church.” I point this out because Christian orthodoxy was under attack from the very beginning of the Christian era, as the New Testament shows, of which premillennialism is but one example of orthodoxy that was under assault. In his massive “The Theocratic Kingdom,” George Peters recognized how understanding became dislodged from Bible truth:
“In this study of Scripture, reason and faith must be joined together in order to make it effective. The two cannot be separated without serious injury; this is God’s own arrangement, and, to ensure success, it must be followed. They are inseparable, for there can be no faith without reason first perceiving the truth and its adaptability to man, so that faith may appropriate it. Reason may refuse faith, can exist without it, but faith cannot live without reason... Faith must have knowledge, for we must know the things that we are to believe, and hence it is also represented as “seeing” (John 6:40, Heb. 11:27).”
Next, Constantine’s “conversion” and the subsequent merging of Church and State, in 312 AD.
“Constantine as the first ‘Christian Emperor’ introduced the ‘Constantinian Change’ to the ‘Church.’ This was the concept of a State Church in which every New Testament and Gospel principle would be modified to suit the monolithic system and the ‘Church’ would receive the protection and power of the State. This State Church system existed until the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century when it was rivaled by the ‘Neo-Constantinian’ system of the Reformers and their State Churches.”
Third, there followed Augustine (354-430 AD), the bishop of Hippo. He was a champion of infant baptism, a popularizer of replacement theology with his book “The City of God,” and the Latin Father who severely distorted the doctrine of forensic justification by his egregious misinterpretation of the Greek word δικαιόω. In his era, the State Church began to condemn to death those who, like us, “rebaptized.”
A thousand years passed before Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453 AD. But the consequence of Constantinople’s imminent fall was the evacuation of thousands of Greek manuscripts (that had been housed in the city for centuries) into Europe, where they were put to good use by scholars with ravenous appetites for previously unavailable New Testament Greek texts. God’s Providence was at work.
Fifth, to orient you to secular history events, Columbus sailed to the West in search of India in 1492. Instead, he found what was, to him, the New World. During this time, a lad was growing up and attending school. In time the lad Martin Luther (1483-1546) would complete his studies, become an Augustinian friar in the Roman Catholic Church, and relentlessly pursue his interest in God, Jesus, sin, and salvation.
A quarter century after Columbus’ discovery, another scholar, Erasmus, who was a textual critic, compiled a complete Greek New Testament text from the collection of incomplete manuscripts he had access to because of the flood of Greek manuscripts into Europe. He published his Greek New Testament in 1516, making it even more widely available than it had been.
Historians usually date the start of the Protestant Reformation to the 1517 publication of Martin Luther’s “95 Theses,” when he nailed his Latin manuscript to the wooden door of the Wittenberg University, where he was a professor, to instigate a debate among educated men. He had no idea what a firestorm he had ignited.
The St. Bartholemew’s Day massacre, 8/23-24/1572, with as many as 70,000 slain by Roman Catholic priests, nobles, took place in Paris and beyond against French Huguenots. “The news of the massacre was welcomed by Philip II of Spain, and Pope Gregory XIII had a medal struck to celebrate the event.” And who were the French Huguenots? Protestants. That was enough, it seems.
Next, THE LEGACY OF THE REFORMATION
There are things for which we give thanks to God. It is popular in some quarters to be skeptical about the Protestant Reformation. Such skepticism is almost universally the consequence of profound ignorance among those who do not realize God’s sovereign willingness to pour out revival at different times and places where Gospel purity is to be found. Since the Protestant Reformation, we know of revivals in the 18th century among the Anglicans, the Congregationalists, the Presbyterians, and the Baptists. In 1905, God visited the Korean Peninsula with revival among the Presbyterians and the Methodists, and in Wales, the Methodists and the Presbyterians enjoyed a revival in the same year. In 1972, God sent revival to the Dutch Reformed Churches of eastern Indonesia. These are just a few places where a record exists of Holy Ghost revival poured out by God where the Gospel was preached straight. So, yes, we do celebrate the Protestant Reformation. For the revival, we give thanks.
Revival poured out by God, and so many were saved. Yes, the Protestant Reformation was a great revival. God poured out revival on Europe when the Gospel was proclaimed to a vastly wider audience than was accessible to our Baptist forebears who were already in Europe, embracing the Gospel and living for Christ. Yet these groups, sometimes called Anabaptists, were restricted by significant and profound prejudices from preaching the Gospel to a wider audience. So, God did what only God could do, overcoming many social barriers to penetrate a broader audience in Europe using such men as Martin Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox, and others. With the revival beginning among a much more highly educated group of men than existed among those already believers in Europe, the Protestant recovery of Bible truths provided by God resulted in improved doctrinal clarity that those now become Protestants had not possessed. They are usually known as the five Solas:
SOLA GRATIA - “Grace Alone”
SOLA FIDE - “Faith Alone”
SOLUS CHRISTUS - “Christ Alone”
SOLA SCRIPTURA - “Scripture Alone”
SOLI DEO GLORIA - “To the Glory of God Alone”
While filled with profound gratitude for God’s sovereign blessings, let us not be blind to the things for which we should, but frequently do not exercise proper caution. This would include the bad baggage the Reformers, though eminent men, brought with them from Rome. No child of God is spiritually mature when they first come to Christ. Neither do they grasp the implications of Bible truths they are exposed to with a now enlightened understanding of truth. We recall that the Apostle Paul seems to have been a believer for about a decade before he began to provide spiritual leadership to others. Here, then, are some of the profoundly unscriptural notions brought into Protestantism from Roman Catholicism:
- No separation of Church and State. Is this not one possible explanation for pastors’ utter collapse of spiritual discernment during the Covid-19 lockdown, a predominately Protestant tendency to bow to governmental diktats that those well-schooled in Baptist principles are somewhat more resistant to? Some might argue some that the separation of Church and state is embraced by American Protestants. Yet Europe is filled with state churches, showing that separation of Church and State is not antithetical to Protestantism as with Baptists. I would argue that theoretical values are one thing, while practices during crises tell the accurate tale. Baptists who locked down during the Covid-19 government mandates betrayed their alleged Baptist convictions and showed themselves to be Protestants in practice, at least on that occasion.
- Replacement theology, post & amillennialism. Owing, no doubt, to the influence of Augustine and other Latin Fathers, I am unpersuaded Covenant Theology is entirely unaffected by some measure of anti-Semitism. Granted, many Protestants no longer adhere to Covenant Theology. But most continue to do so and have done so since bringing replacement theology with them from Catholicism.
- Thomas Aquinas’ 3-fold use of the Law. Since when do Christians take lessons on the use of the Law and a strategy for sanctification from the preeminent Roman Catholic theologian? The Protestants are utterly to blame for this and would do well to carefully read David H. J. Gay’s Christ Is All.
- Paedobaptism. There is no excuse for not calling every Protestant on the issue of infant baptism, whether an individual Protestant continues to practice infant baptism or not. They at least tolerate the inexcusable laxity practiced by those who violate Scripture regarding the mode of baptism, the candidates for baptism, and the Scriptural authority to administer baptism. How dare any Christian claim to believe and obey God’s Word while violating or tolerating disregard for the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ in this regard? And how do they accomplish this sleight of hand? They treat as literal what is symbolic, Spirit baptism, while claiming to be symbolic what is literal, water baptism! Even those who embrace water baptism so often continue to tolerate this sleight of hand when it comes to Spirit baptism.
- Disconnecting ekklesia from a gathered congregation. As convincing as the Scriptural evidence is that baptism is always immersion, so is the Scriptural evidence that ekklesia is always a visible gathering. Yet the Protestants concocted some nonsense about a universal, invisible church that tears the guts out of the base meaning of the Greek word as used by Greeks for no other purpose than as a debate strategy against the counter-Reformation. As my book shows, the disconnect of ekklesia from a gathered congregation is a Protestant invention that does not stand up to scrutiny.
- Unregenerate membership. As bad as a disregard for the spiritual condition of those taken in as Church members in infancy, as Protestants have done for centuries in imitation of the Catholic Church for approaching two millennia, is the current practice of even Baptists in imitating the slack Protestant pattern. How many lost Church members are found in the first five books of the New Testament? Judas Iscariot, Ananias and Sapphira (possibly), and Simon Magus in Samaria? In the rest of the New Testament, you have the Corinthian fornicator, Hymenaeus and Alexander, Alexander the coppersmith, and Diotrephes? Even if I have left someone out of this shortlist, the point is that not very many lost were among the earliest Christian congregations, while in our day it is estimated by some that more than half of most congregations are comprised of lost members.
Then there were the wrong reactions the Reformers had against Rome. I recognize the subjective nature of the following two comments, as opposed to the more objective evaluations already mentioned.
- First, pastoral ministry to the lost and the learning. Reacting against the Catholic priesthood, Protestants seem to tolerate a far more diminished role for gifted men than is warranted in the New Testament. I have surmised a pendulum swing by the Reformers against the interposition of the Roman priests between God and sinners. By attending to First Timothy’s emphasis that there is only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 2.5, they too often employ an approach to the Gospel ministry that is somewhat more impersonal, distant, and uninvolved than I understand the activities of an under-shepherd and gifted man to be. Thus, I think Protestant ministers (and Baptists influenced by Protestant practice) somewhat overreact from the balanced approach to spiritual leadership advocated by Paul, Peter, and John. A wonderful example of New Testament practice in more recent times was C. H. Spurgeon’s during his tenure at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Despite his oversight of the largest congregation in the world for decades with a single full-time secretary and a part-time associate pastor, Spurgeon’s practice with inquirers was far more reflective of the New Testament than Protestant practices, as this excerpt illustrates:
The methods used by the prince of preachers, C. H. Spurgeon, are well worth reviewing in this day of apostasy. Here is the way he added members to his vast congregation:
Candidates for church membership have an interview with one of the Elders, some of whom attend the Tabernacle for that purpose every Wednesday evening. A record is made by the Elder of the result of that interview in what is called the Inquirer's Book. If satisfied with the candidate, he gives a card, which qualifies for direct intercourse with Mr. Spurgeon, who devotes a fixed portion of that time to his office. If Mr. Spurgeon thinks favorably of that individual, the name is announced at a church meeting, and visitors are appointed to make the most careful inquiries into. the whole circumstances connected with the application (for membership). If this investigation is satisfactory, the candidate appears at a church meeting where he is examined by the Pastor, after which he retires, and the visitor gives his report upon the case. It is then proposed to the Church for his adoption, and if approved, the Pastor gives the right hand of fellowship. As soon after this as convenient, the candidate is baptized,' and on the next first Sabbath in the month ensuing, unites in the Communion Service, having first been recognized before the whole Church by again receiving from the Pastor the right hand of fellowship.
Without going into great detail in reviewing this description, I think you will see instantly that it stands in stark contrast to the decisionist way of receiving people for baptism today. I would recommend that you read the paragraph again - slowly. Think about the way people are received and · baptized into your church. Then ask yourself if more effort in spending time with those seeking salvation might not produce more real converts in your church.
Spurgeon's procedure of counselling inquirers was typical of early nineteenth century Baptists, before Finney’s false view of conversion came in. Eric W. Hayden gave the great preacher's system of interviewing inquirers in an article on Spurgeon's weekly schedule.
After the Sunday services he often remained at the Tabernacle for another hour while he interviewed enquirers...from seven until half-past eight at night (on Mondays) he would be interviewing enquirers prior to-the Monday evening prayer meeting at the Tabernacle. Talking with enquirers he called “glorious work.”
I have read elsewhere that he often spent time on other nights of the week “interviewing enquirers.” Remember, Spurgeon baptized no one into his huge church without being certain that the man or woman was converted himself.
I am convinced that there needs to be a return to this sort of personal work by pastors. This was done by Jesus Himself. In John 3:1-21 Jesus gave a personal interview to Nicodemus. In John 4:7-30 Jesus gave a personal interview to the woman at the well. These were exactly the kind of interviews our old Baptist … pastors gave to inquirers before the change under Finney’s decisionism ruined evangelicalism.
There are many other instances of such personal interviews with Jesus and the Apostles recorded in the Bible. How can pastors today do the work of Jesus and the Apostles without following the example of Jesus and the Apostles on this matter? Pastors must spend much time individually with each lost person. The necessity of pastoral guidance for inquirers is given in these words of Spurgeon, taken from his autobiography:
When talking with anxious enquirers, I am often amazed at the ingenuity with which they resist the entrance of faith into their hearts...After I have proved to them the demonstration that it is the most reasonable and fitting thing in the world for them to trust themselves with Christ, they ask, “How is this to be done?” or “How is that to he accomplished?” and they argue, first one way, and then another, all against their own best interests. Often, I go patiently through the whole process again and again; and even when that has been done, there comes another objection. I have tracked these people to their holes as diligently as if I had been a fox-hunter, and have tried to unearth them from their hiding places...
Close personal work by the pastor is very uncommon today, but it should not be. We should follow Spurgeon's example and give pastoral counselling after we preach. And it should not be delegated to many others. Only highly trained people should he allowed to do this work, and the pastor should at least double-check the testimonies of the people very carefully before baptizing them.
Though space limitations restrict me to Spurgeon’s personal interactions with inquirers, the same pastoral philosophy was applied to believers and their need for personal and pastoral discipleship to equip them for ministry. Contemporary pastors typically deny congregants such intimate access, reflecting Protestantism more than the New Testament.
- Finally, ecclesiology. The Protestant notion of an invisible ekklesia is a contrivance. It is as much a contrivance as an absent father who seeks to comfort his child by saying, “I am there for you.” No, to be there you must actually be there. And to be an ekklesia it is required there be an assemblage, with the presumption of visibility since what are assembled are people. Yet Protestantism has foisted upon so many well-intentioned believers the idea of a non-gathered gathering, an unassembled assembly, that is jarring to anyone not conditioned to overlook the obvious. This, in my opinion, has resulted in a whole host of ills that produce secondary ill effects that leave many congregations less than optimally healthy.
What, then, are we left with? I cannot presume to know what you are left with, but I can testify to my own conclusions. I see the Protestant Reformation against the backdrop of the Lord Jesus Christ’s promise never to leave Himself without witness. Throughout the dark ages of Roman Catholic domination of Europe and the spiritual darkness that covered the continent, there were always congregations of faithful Christians who embraced Gospel truth and lived for, loved, and served the Lord.
However, whether they were called Anabaptists, Waldensians, Albigensese, or Petrobrussians, persecution and the struggle to stay alive had so isolated the believers of that day that they had minimal contact with, and therefore a very small impact on, the population at large. But God decided He wanted to send a revival.
He accomplished this by allowing the Ottoman Turks to overwhelm the holdout city of Constantinople finally. Knowing the city was about to fall, clerics in the city fled to Europe, taking their Greek manuscripts and other documents with them. The influx of Greek manuscripts and documents set the stage for the Protestant Reformation.
God then raised up an extremely well-educated German named Martin Luther, providing him with the theological training and the language skills to study the Greek New Testament. He was also a man of great physical courage. He would need that courage. Then the Spirit of God breathed into Martin Luther new life in Christ as he studied the Word of God and came to an understanding of justification by faith.
God did a wonderful and miraculous thing with Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the other Reformers. Only an ingrate and a fool would wrinkle his nose at the astonishing display of God’s grace and majesty through the Protestant Reformation. But God did not do everything when He did what He did in the Reformation. Therefore, every year on October 31st, we should celebrate Reformation Day and express our praise and thanks to God for what He did. At the same time, we should acknowledge the truth God has revealed to us since then.
Sadly, some are opposed to replacement theology, who value the separation of Church and state, who are opposed to paedobaptism, and who embrace the notion of a regenerate Church membership, and who are Scripturally baptized, who discount the profound significance of the five Solas. That is a tragedy that must not be allowed to stand.
The Reformers were among the greatest of God’s saints. Let us recognize them as trophies of God’s grace, who were wonderfully used to the benefit of the cause of Christ. Rather than stand off to one side and discount the contribution God used them to make, let us stand on their shoulders and benefit from the use God made of them.
We should not revert to a Protestantism that reflects the baggage they brought from Catholicism when they turned to Christ or their reactions to Catholicism. I fear this occurs when young Baptists become aware of the five Solas they were not exposed to growing up and during the early years of their training for the ministry. Recognizing the significance of the Solas and rushing to embrace those important truths, they sometimes abandon Baptist principles to identify as Protestants. In doing this, they follow the examples of others who have abandoned Baptist distinctives that are Scriptural.
This is a mistake. Let us, rather, apply the great truths the Reformers were used by God to bring to light once more by the Protestant Reformation without abandoning Baptist principles. As foolish as it is for Baptists to ignore the five Solas, so it is erroneous for anyone to abandon Baptist convictions to recover the significance of the five Solas.
I advocate for the Christian faith as it is revealed in the New Testament. That is why I am a Baptist, a Baptist who embraces the five Solas without reservation or hesitation.
I cannot be a Protestant based on what I know about the shortcomings of Protestantism. But I can be a Baptist who appreciates the Protestant Reformation.
1 From The New Park Street Pulpit, Vol. VII, page 225.
2 From The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1881, Vol. 27, page 249.
3 See https://www.calvaryroadbaptist.church/documents/what-is-a-classical-baptist-church.php
4 George N. H. Peters, The Theocratic Kingdom, Vol I, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1978), pages 21, 51, 284.
5 Ibid., page 137.
6 See footnote 147, W. R. Downing, The New Testament Church, (Morgan Hill, CA: PIRS Publications, Revised 2006), page 122.
7 David R. Anderson, Free Grace Soteriology, (Grace Theology Press, Revised Edition edited by James S. Reitman, 2012), page 96.
8 Ibid., page 124.
9 https://www.britannica.com/event/Massacre-of-Saint-Bartholomews-Day
10 Joseph Tracy, The Great Awakening, (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1976) and Iain H. Murray, Revival & Revivalism, (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1994)
11 David Matthews, I Saw The Welsh Revival, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1957) and Thomas Phillips, The Welsh Revival: Its Origin & Development, (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1989)
12 Kurt Koch, The Revival In Indonesia, (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1972)
13 David H. J. Gay, Christ Is All, (Bedford, UK: Brachus, 2013)
14 John S. Waldrip, The Church of Jesus Christ: 28 Truths Every Christian Ought To Learn, (Monrovia, CA: Classical Baptist Press, 2019), pages 23-31.
15 R. L. Hymers, Jr. and Christopher Cagan, Preaching To A Dying Nation, (Los Angeles, CA: Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles, 1999), pages 195-196.
16 Spurgeon’s Tabernacle was (and is) a Baptist Church. These “elders” did not govern the church. Their duties were confined to counselling and visitation work. They were elected annually to attend to these duties. Spurgeon’s church did not have elder rule.
17 The prayer meeting was held on Monday evenings at the Tabernacle. Wednesday night was largely devoted to dealing with anxious sinners.
18 “Metropolitan Tabernacle Statistics,” in The Sword and the Trowel, Volume One: Years 1865, 1866, 1867 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1975), year 1865, p. 19.
19 The word inquirers was spelled “enquirers” in 19th century England.
20 Eric W. Hayden, “Spurgeon’s Working Week,” from the jacket of Volumes 62 and 63, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1916-1917 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1980). .
21 C. H. Spurgeon, Autobiography (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, reprinted 1976), pp. 243-244.
22 R. L. Hymers, Jr. and Christopher Cagan, Preaching To A Dying Nation, (Los Angeles, CA: Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles, 1999), pages 201-203.
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