Fullness of Grace in man’s human frailty
This is the wonder of Jesus
Laying aside His power and glory
Humbly He entered our world
Chose the path of meanest worth
Scandal of a virgin birth
Born in a stable cold and rejected
Here lies the hope of the world
Fullness of Grace the love of the Father
Shown in the face of Jesus
Stooping to bear the weight of humanity
Walking the Calvary road
Christ the holy Innocent
Took our sin and punishment
Fullness of God despised and rejected
Crushed for the sins of the world
Fullness of hope in Christ we had longed for
Promise of God in Jesus
Through His obedience we are forgiven
Opening the floodgates of heaven
All our hopes and dreams we bring
Gladly as an offering
Fullness of life and joy unspeakable
God’s gift in love to the world
(By Keith & Kristyn Getty & Stuart Townsend)
Timmy,
I tried to e-mail this primary resource [1898] to you, but could not find your e-mail. So I thought I would just post it here. I thought you would like to read it–here it is:
A brother writes to us, “The Methodist pastor at this place surprised our Baptist, Presbyterian and Episcopalian brethren at church to-day, when he told them what their churches believed. He attempted to show the difference between the doctrine of Arminius, of whom the Methodists are a branch, and the Calvinists, of whom the Baptists are a branch, as are also the Presbyterians and Episcopalians, Primitive Baptists and Catholics.
His statements were these:
(1) The Calvinists believe in Predestination.
(2)They believe in a limited atonement and not in a universal salvation: holding that none but the elect can be saved, as these are they for whom Christ died, and none other.
(3) They believe in an irresistible grace: that man is powerless to resist, there being no such thing as free moral agency.
(4) They believe that a man is first converted and then repents of his sins.
The brother sending this information desires us to state how much truth there is in them so far as they relate to the Baptists: and since the Methodist preacher went so far as to say that “we never preach these doctrines during revivals when we were trying to save souls, and that a great many join these Calvinistic churches because they like the members of a particular church and are not informed as to their doctrines,” we deem it worth while to do so.
(1) The Baptists are rightly classified as Calvinists in contrast with Arminians. the Baptists are Bible Christians, whose theology is termed Calvinistic. There are many kinds of Baptists and more kinds of Calvinists. The average Baptists is a medium Calvinist, accepting his general point of view and many of the doctrines that he defined and defended, but refused to go to his extremes.
(2) Baptists believe that the atonement of Christ is sufficient for the whole world, but that it is efficacious only to those who believe. They believe that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” They also believe His words, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15), and they say with Paul that Christ “loved the church and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25). If this is limitation of the atonement make the most of it.
(3) The Baptists believe in free grace: the controversialists against them have demanded that they accept the term “irresistible grace,” and they have accepted it acknowledging the sovereign power of God. They do also believe in man’s free moral agency: but they do not pretend to explain all the mysteries of Divinity or Humanity and therefore do not claim to reconcile these positions.
(4) Baptists believe that all who are saved are saved by grace. It is incorrect to say that Baptists believe that one is first converted and then repents. Baptists hold that repentance is an effect of the Holy Spirit operating on a person in Regeneration. Conversion is the human side; Regeneration is the divine. The divine precedes the human. The Methodist brother uses the word Conversion as meaning Regeneration,–which is wrong.
Not knowing who are elected and who are not, believing that all who are elected will demonstrate it by faith and obedience in this life, the Baptist preach the Gospel to all, urging them to repent, believe and be baptized, promising them eternal life.
From: The Biblical Recorder
Date: January 26, 1898
Editor: J.W. Bailey
Agent and Correspondent: J.C. Caddell