In the Historical Introduction to Luther’s Bondage of the Will the writers say this: “These things need to be pondered by Protestants to-day. With what right may we call ourselves children of the Reformation? Much modern Protestantism would be neither owned nor even recognized by the pioneer Reformers. The Bondage of the Will fairly sets before us what they believed about the salvation of lost mankind. In the light of it, we are forced to ask whether Protestant Christendom has not tragically sold its birthright between Luther’s day and our own. Has not Protestantism to-day become more Erasmian than Lutheran? Do we not too often try to minimize and gloss over doctrinal differences for the sake of inter-party peace? Are we innocent of the doctrinal indifferentism with which Luther charged Erasmus? Do we still believe that doctrine matters? Or do we now, with Erasmus, prefer a deceptive appearance of unity as of more importance than truth?”
Are Reformed people in the SBC trying to minimize and gloss over the differences for the sake of inter-party peace? That is a very Erasmian thing to do if it is being done. In one sense it is true that some people are “atheological,” but in another sense that is very wrong. All people are inescapably theological at the heart level. All men know that there is a God by the way they were created and through nature, or at least that is what Romans 1:18-32 tells us. Men suppress the truth in wickedness and one way to suppress the truth is by avoiding theology. Men have to be theological in order to suppress the truth about God and by avoiding theology they are avoiding that which they hate. We must be direct in dealing with the differences and show others what they are suppressing.
What the above paragraph shows is why some people want to gloss over theology. Glossing over and minimizing theology is one way for the heart to suppress the truth. People hate the light and love the darkness. Another reason that we minimize and gloss over differences is because men like to be liked and love to be loved. It is hard to step out and stress what some people consider fine points if it irritates other people, especially if the other people are known, respected and liked in many circles. However, a love for the glory of God and for the Gospel requires that we get down to the fine points and drive them home. We should not assume that just because a person is a respected denominational leader or pastor that the person is truly converted.
Let us be very blunt and get down to the crux of the issue. Another way to put it would be to say that we must not minimize and gloss over the differences in order to obtain inter-party peace. Martin Luther said that he would be willing to keep the pope if the Gospel would just be preached. He did not want to divide from Rome but he had to over the Gospel. His real issue with Rome was over the Gospel and in particular the real issue for Luther was over the bondage of the will and salvation totally by grace. Let us make no mistake about this point. This was the crux of the issue at the time of the Reformation and it is still the dividing line today. We must never minimize this issue or we will be minimizing the Gospel. It matters not whether one goes under the title of “Reformed” or “Arminian”. What really matters is whether Christ has saved that person wholly of grace and lives in that person’s heart.
The Arminian system in name is the prevalent system of thought in the SBC. It is preached far and wide that man has free will and can use that free will to choose Christ as he wills. That was a denial of the Gospel to Martin Luther. That makes man depend on himself for faith and is no different in principle from relying on oneself for works. The difference between works for salvation and works after salvation is on whether man is depending on himself or Christ to do them. Can one really believe in Christ alone if he is trusting in himself to come to Christ? Can one really trust in Christ alone if he has come up with the faith himself? Can one really trust in Christ alone if he trusts in his own work to be saved? We see then that it does no good to gloss over the Arminian system at all. It does no good to minimize the differences. However, what we must be aware of is that there may be many people who are Reformed in name who are really Arminian in reality and practice. There might also be some who are Arminian in name and are Reformed in reality and inconsistent in practice. The pioneer Reformers were adamant that the Arminian system was a rejection of New Testament Christianity. If it was then, it still is. If we don’t face up to that issue, then we are minimizing and glossing over the differences. We must stand for the truth of Gospel and let the chips fall where God causes them to fall. We must stand here or we will not be standing at all. What are we standing for if not the glory of God’s grace in the Gospel?
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