Reformed fundamentalism

Reformed fundamentalism arose in some conservative Presbyterian, Reformed Baptist, and other Reformed churches, which agreed with the motives and aims of broader evangelical Protestant fundamentalism. The fundamentalism of the movement is defined by a rejection of liberal and modernist theology, and the legacy of The Fundamentals, published at the start of the twentieth century. The Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy, and the Downgrade Controversy in the United Kingdom, shaped reformed fundamentalism in the United States and United Kingdom.

Some of the better known leaders who have described themselves as both Calvinist and fundamentalist have been E. J. Poole-Connor, Carl McIntire of the American Bible Presbyterian Church, Thomas Todhunter Shields of Jarvis Street Baptist Church, D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Ian Paisley of the Northern Irish Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster and J. Oliver Buswell of Wheaton College. J. Gresham Machen, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, J. I. Packer and John Stott were Protestant theologians sympathetic to reformed fundamentalism, but resisted the label, preferring the descriptor, 'conservative evangelical.'

Those in the reformed fundamentalist tradition draw upon the lives and works of Protestant ministers, particularly from the Anglosphere, of sundry centuries. John Calvin, Martin Luther, Matthew Henry, Charles Spurgeon, J. C. Ryle, John Wesley, George Whitefield, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, John Bunyan, G. Campbell Morgan, were inspirations for McIntire, Paisley and others.

Theological and doctrinal positions

The teachings of the Protestant Reformers, in particular John Calvin, the Puritans, non-conformist evangelicals, classic fundamentalists and those of Old Princeton, have shaped reformed fundamentalist theology. The tradition is as much a rejection of modernist theology and western liberal attitudes to life, as it is a strong re-affirmation of conservative evangelical and reformed identities. 'Scripturalism' and 'Bible Protestantism,' were commonly-used epithets to describe the tradition.

Evangelical and fundamentalist theology, are partially summarised below and the distinctives of reformed theology have been omitted blow. However, covenantalism, TULIP, election, predestination and preordination, Kingdom theology, eternal security, and the sovereignty of God, are dear beliefs and tenets of reformed fundamentalists. The covenantalism of reformed fundamentalism stands in contrast to the dispensationalism of wider Christian fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism (reactionary and re-affirming):

• Christology – the supremacy and deity, co-equality and consubstantiality (with the Father and the Spirit), authentic and sinless humanity, virgin birth, ministry of miracles, substitutionary and expiatory death, bodily resurrection of Jesus, physical ascension of Jesus, exclusive mediatorial intercession and the visible and audible second coming of Jesus.
• Christianity as supernatural. That is, God intervenes in human affairs, miracles happened (Egyptian plagues, parting of the Red Sea, healings, the incarnation, bodily resurrection, preservation of individuals etc.) and the reality of the supernatural kingdoms (kingdom of God, and the kingdom of darkness).
• The verbal plenary inspiration (VPI) of the (original) Scriptures and conferred inspiration of faithful (formal equivalence) translations. God providentially prepared the individual backgrounds, personal traits, and literary styles of the biblical writers and superintended the process mysteriously, so that every word written was the exact word God wanted to be written, free from all error.
• The chief, and periodically definite, preservation of the Scriptures (VPP). Every inspired word in the original languages that God intended for future generations has been preserved (or retained) in the libraries of manuscripts. Typically, the practical out-bearing is that one text-type tradition followed, with sometimes occasional reference to others.
• The severity of sin and the need for living righteously before God, and a high view of the eternal righteous Law of God. This is voluntarily performed, borne of grace, and not of legalism.
• The practice of believers to contend against evil and the 'deeds of darkness' (Eph. 5.11). See the Church Militant. Christians are encouraged to hold their governments to righteous account.
• The belief that sex and intimacy, must only occur within a life-long heterosexual marriage between two believers in Christ Jesus.
• The historicity of the persons and events in the Book of Genesis (e.g. literal Adam and Eve created by fiat decree, Noahic deluge, Tower of Babel, the life of the patriarch Abraham etc.), and a general re-affirmation of the literal method of interpretation. Reformed covenantalism necessitates historical persons.
• The Gospels (the Synoptics and John) as historical biography of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ
• The absence of contradiction between true religion and true scientific findings

Evangelicalism (historic):

Pertaining to salvation and the gospel:

• Christocentric (a special emphasis upon Christ in preaching, interpretation and practice), and 'crucicentric' (a special emphasis on the atoning work of Christ on the cross)
• The perspecuity or clarity of scripture for salvation
• The distinction of mankind from the rest of the created order, as mankind is created in 'the image and likeness of God' (imago Dei)
• The original sin and Fall (of Adam and Eve), and the subsequent universal sinfulness of all human persons
• Two eternal realities and destinies: the eternal life that is realised in the present by faith in Jesus Christ and that ends with the believer in the presence of the Lord after bodily death, and eternal death that is realised in the present through slavery to sin and spiritual blindness and that ends with the unbeliever outside the presence of God after bodily death in hell. Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:13-14 distinguishes between the 'broad way that leads to destruction,' and the 'narrow way that leads to life.'
• Christian exclusivism (also called 'Christian particularism') - salvation is in Christ alone and none other. Jesus, as the Son of God, has unique access to God the Father, and so all persons who would be saved and reconciled to God must believe upon and surrender to Christ.
• Emphasis upon the prophetic fulfilment of the Scriptures in Christ Jesus. For example, the Messianic Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in Jesus Christ (e.g. Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Micah 5:2, etc.), and the fulfilled prophecies of Jesus (siege and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, emergence of false messiah-claimants, increase in earthquakes, persecution of believers, etc.)
• Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
• The Protestant 'old perspective' doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone
• Soul winning and evangelism

Additional:

• Emphasis upon the believer's dependence on the Spirit
• Emphasis upon the need for Christian faith and practice to spiritually soften and clean the heart of the believer (see, the Puritans' religion of the heart)
• Emphasis upon the grace (unmerited favour) of God, particularly the grace and forgiveness that comes through the redemption that is found in Christ Jesus.
• God as Triune (Trinitarianism)
• The Protestant canon (39 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament)
• Scripture as the supreme and final authority in faith, practice and life
• Gymnobiblism - the belief that the bare text of the translated vernacular Bible, without commentary, may be safely given to the unlearned as a sufficient guide to religious truth. Good teachers are valued, but by gymnobiblism are to an extent judged, evaluated and corrected. The common church-goer can attain salvation, grow in faith, and fulfil a regulative function in the church.
• The five solae– scripture alone (sola scriptura), grace alone (sola gratia), faith alone (sola fide), Christ alone (solus Christus), glory to God alone (soli Deo Gloria)
• The self-authentication (autopiston) of the Scriptures
• Creation from nothing (creatio ex nihilo) and the single account in the first two chapters of Genesis as historical.
• The ordination of human government, government that ought to be respected and obeyed in so far as it is in obedience to the law of God
• The 'chief end' of man to 'glorify God, and enjoy Him forever' (WSC Q1)
• Protestant non-conformism (or 'dissenterism'), doctrine of separation and ecclesiastical separatism
• Priesthood of all believers
• The 'good works' of believers
• Protestant work ethic

Church Practice:

• Expository preaching
• Communal prayer
• Congregational singing
• Male eldership in the church (borne out of a complementarianism)
• The two sacraments of communion and believer's baptism (credobaptism)

Creedal and Confessional:

• Creedal: Nicene Creed, Apostles' Creed, Athanasian Creed (and Chalcedonian Definition). The first four ecumenical councils of the early Church (i. e. ancient catholic orthodoxy) are positively viewed and acknowledged.
• Confessional: Westminster, London Baptist, Thirty Nine Articles, Methodist Articles, Calvinistic Methodist

The Scriptures

Further information: Biblical inspiration

Reformed fundamentalists believe in the inspiration (theopneustia) and preservation of all scripture. The forerunning debates in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries resulted in the formulation and clarification of the doctrine of the 'verbal plenary' inspiration of the Scriptures, a doctrine differentiated from the doctrine of 'mechanical' inspiration.

The reformed fundamentalist view of inspiration, held by other Protestant denominations and churches, maintains that the individual backgrounds, personal traits, and literary styles of the writers and compilers were authentically theirs, but had been providentially prepared by God for use as His instrument in producing Scripture. The words in the autographs (original writings that are considered without error or falsehood), as well as the concepts, were given by inspiration, an inspiration unable to be dissected into substance and form. For reformed fundamentalists, inspiration does not stop at the autographs . The translations of the Greek New Testament and Hebrew Old Testament are considered the inspired word of God to the extent that they are a close, accurate rendering of the Scriptures. Wherever the English version of the testaments lies fairly within the confines of the original, the authority of the latest form is as great as that of the earliest. In other words, inspiration is not considered as 'limited to that portion which lay within the horizon of the original scribes' (C. H. Waller). Additionally, the evidence of inspiration is something revealed by the Holy Spirit only to the believer, who has been gifted the Spirit at salvation. Attempts to prove Scripture by reason alone are considered mistaken.

Protestant defenses of VPI by the likes of François Gaussen (Theopneustia: The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures), Dean Burgon (Inspiration and Interpretation), Charles Henry Waller (The Authoritative Inspiration of Holy Scripture, as distinct from the Inspiration of its Human Authors), William Kelly (God's Inspiration of the Scriptures), and others, have been highly praised. Aspects of historical criticism (e.g. speculative redaction criticism) violate the integrity of the doctrine of VPI, and are rejected accordingly.

Through faithful textual criticism and study, the Christian's access to God's Word becomes identical to God's Word ontologically.

Preferred Bible translation(s)

Some discussion surrounding the dominant usage of an English translation exists, but largely centres on the New Testament, since great agreement exists between Masoretic Texts (e.g. ben Hayyim-Bomberg edition, and Biblia Hebraica editions) due to their common textual sources (i.e. the Ben Asher texts, the Leningrad Codex and Aleppo Codex). The discussion concerns formal equivalence translations since dynamic (also known as 'functional') and optimal equivalence translations are typically dismissed as too eisegetical.

Early fundamentalists exalted the 1769 King James Version, and held that the Textus Receptus (TR) was reliable over Greek New Testaments based upon the Alexandrian (critical) text-type (for example, the Westcott & Hort and Nestle & Aland). It must be noted, the TR is now generally applied to the family of similar Byzantine-text Greek New Testaments, for example, the editions of Erasmus (first edition, Novum Instrumentum omne, 1516), Beza (first edition, Octavo, 1565) and Stephanus (notable third edition, "Editio Regia", 1550). The editions published by Abraham and Bonaventure Elzivir, almost identical to the texts of Beza, became known as the Textus Receptus ('Received Text') due to a note in Heinsius' preface ('Therefore you have the text now received by all in which we give nothing altered or corrupt.'), but Textus Receptus has also been applied to the 1550 Stephanus edition. The translators of the 1611 KJV used the texts of Erasmus, Stephanus and Beza, and the revisionists of the KJV in 1762 and 1769, used the slightly revised Greek editions of the New Testament and made alterations to reflect changes in English grammar and language.

The publication of the New King James Version (1982) has been a minor development within fundamentalism. The NKJV, like the Authorised Version, uses the TR as the same New Testament Greek text as the 1769 KJV, and modernises the English found in the 1769 KJV, but unlike the Authorised Version, uniquely includes in the footnotes where the TR differs from the other Greek NT texts (i.e. the 'Critical Text' (NU-Text) of Nestle & Aland and the United Bible Societies, and the 'Majority Text' (M-Text) of Hodges & Farstad's). The accommodation to include references to the critical editions in the footnotes is met with differing opinion. Likewise, there has been some doubt about the M-Text despite its obvious similarities with the TR. Some fundamentalists do use translations based upon the Alexandrian manuscripts (e.g. ESV, NRSV, NASB etc.) but the KJV and NKJV remain popular, notably since the transmission tradition of Alexandrian manuscripts is weaker. The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible, a distinct revision in line with the 1611 translators, has drawn some recent scholarly attention.

A considerable number of fundamentalists today do believe in Byzantine priority and that the TR is a representative-standard for the Byzantine tradition. Others also favouring the Byzantine tradition, favour or utilise recent Majority Texts. Ministers have been known to consult variants from other manuscript traditions on occasion (e.g. Spurgeon, F. F. Bruce, Lloyd-Jones etc.). All fundamentalists do generally affirm the stylistic distinction of the 1769 Authorised Version and the great effect it has had on the church and history. Fundamentalists see themselves as 'people of the Book,' and desire to know the incarnate Word (Jesus) more deeply. through his written Word. Many contemporary fundamentalists on both sides of the discussion desire unity, and condemn any unnecessary division e.g. (N)KJV-preferred not KJV-only.

Principles of biblical interpretation

• The necessity of Divine illumination by the Holy Spirit
• Christocentrism and typological interpretation
• Historical-grammatical method and 'plain meaning'
• Sensitivity to literary genre (e.g. prophetic, poetic, apocalyptic, Gospel etc.)
• The analogy of faith or 'scripture interprets scripture' (scriptura sui ipsius interpres)
• The principle of non-contradiction
• The preference for the literal/historical interpretation over tropological, allegorical, and anagogical interpretations
• The mediation of scripture through secondary authority (e.g. tradition, experience etc. )
• Scripture as 'finitely plastic,' and not as a 'wax nose.'
• Searching in concentric circles (e.g. verse, paragraph, chapter, book, genre, testament etc.)
• Appropriate consultation of the original languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic)

Contemporary evangelicalism and the second coming of Christ

Paisley and others believed that the evangelical church was turning away from Divine revelation, and was falling into apostasy, an apostasy that might ultimately lead to the coming of the 'man of sin' (2 Thess. 2). The perceived rise of unbelief, lawlessness and immorality in the western world, and the creeping persecution of Christians, has further led believers to expect a soon return of Jesus Christ. The return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel has further excited an expectation of the close of the age. Paisley also expressed his opinion that American fundamentalism was deteriorating.

The theology rejected by reformed fundamentalists is substantial (e.g. classical heresies, Romanism, human evolution of Adam and Eve, higher criticism of the Bible, panbabylonism, biblical minimalism, comparative mythology, doctrines of partial inspiration, apostate ecumenism, unitarianism, pantheism, universalism, Barthianism, New Perspective on Paul, the social gospel etc.), but what is accepted is emphasised more greatly.

Reformed fundamentalists have often aligned themselves against classical Marxism, central planning, moral liberalism and now more recently, critical theory and the apocalyptic climate movement.

Congregants have been encouraged all the more to testify to Jesus, share the gospel, stand for righteousness, and live upright and holy lives.

Affiliated denominations, churches and colleges

• Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster
• Free Presbyterian Church of North America
• Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America
• Foundations Baptist Fellowship International
• Fundamental Methodist Conference, Inc.
• Evangelical Methodist Church
• International Council of Christian Churches
• American Council of Christian Churches
• Confessing Movement
• Orthodox Presbyterian Church
• Bible Presbyterian Church
• Grace Community Church
• Life Bible-Presbyterian Church
• Faith Theological Seminary
• Whitefield College of the Bible

See also

• Epistle of Jude
• Evangelicalism
• Conservative evangelicalism
• Calvinism