Thoughts on Baptist History and Calvinism

1. Baptists are first of all Biblicists

What Baptists believed in the past is helpful to give grounding. However, any true Baptist would put the Bible above history

2. Baptist history in England is strongly Calvinist, but not elsewhere 

For instance, those Baptists in Russian countries tend to be predominantly Arminian. To claim the historic Baptist position is Calvinism is to claim that Baptists began in England and not with the earlier Anabaptists.

3. Not all English Baptists were Calvinists, the Regular Baptists believed anyone could be saved

It was the particular Baptists who were Calvinists. The a Particular Baptists eventually overwhelmed the Regular Baptists, changing their name to Grace Baptists.

4. Baptists embraced Calvinism over time in order to become more acceptable with the popular churches in England

Compare the Baptist Confession of Faith in 1644 with the one in 1686 and notice the changes to read like the Westminster confession.

5. Baptists in America began to swing toward the opposite Protestant heresy after the popularity of the Finney revivals

Baptists should embrace neither Calvinism nor Arminianism because Baptists are not Protestants. Our doctrine is the bible, and not the doctrines of men. Confessions and statements of faith, like church history, can be helpful to ground us, but our allegiance must be to the Bible and not the teachings of men about the Bible.

Marvin McKenzie

In the field