Soul Liberty. Soul Liberty: A Baptist Distinctive. Definition

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1 Soul Liberty What is Liberty? Liberty is, no matter the application (civil, religious, political, etc...) the freedom from restraint, in a general sense, and applicable to the body or to the will or mind. The body is at liberty when not checked or controlled. A man enjoys liberty when no physical force operates to restrain his actions or volitions (Webster s 1828 dictionary). LIBERTY: Freedom of the will; exemption from compulsion or restraint. Soul Liberty: A Baptist Distinctive You will often see this principle set forth as Individual Soul Liberty when reading those who have written about the main items of belief and practices which have separated Baptists throughout history with those professing some sort of Christianity. I have no quarrel with this. Some writers, as I have done here, simply shorten it to Soul Liberty. To say that a soul is unique to each individual should go without saying. There is not one soul shared between two or more people. There is no record of a decidedly Baptist group persecuting someone for what they believe nor attempting to force them to believe what they do. The method employed is simply an appeal to their conscience, mind, and soul, with God s Words (the Bible) Definition It is ever so important to define the words we use and we will do so here. I m sure most people can see the Bible connection just by the introduction above, but let s allow a definition given many centuries ago: However, it is a fundamental human right, a privilege of nature that every man should worship according to his own convictions; one man s religion neither harms nor helps another man. It is assuredly no part of religion to compel religion to which freewill and not force should lead us the sacrificial victims even being required of a willing mind. You will render no real service to your gods by compelling us to sacrifice. For they can have no desire of offerings from the unwilling, unless they are animated by a spirit of contention, which is a thing altogether undivine (Tertullian: A.D.) 1 P a g e

2 Other churches may employ carnal weapons, and inflict pains and penalties, to promote their prosperity; but Baptist churches, if they flourish, must succeed by moral suasion and the grace of God (Jeremiah Jeter) The Bible Clearly Speaks to the Individual Surely the Scriptures are replete with appeals to the individual conscience of every person to respond to God in his directives. Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Titus 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Acts 17:29-30 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. The term freewill is actually used in multiple places in the scripture. The most prevalent is the use of this term in relationship to offerings such as: Deuteronomy 16:10 And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the LORD thy God, according as the LORD thy God hath blessed thee Giving of praise: Psalms 119: I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word. Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments. 2 P a g e

3 The individual is clearly referenced in confession and belief: Romans 10:8-13 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. John 12:44-46 Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. The individual is also clearly referenced in unbelief: John 12:47-48 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. Notice here that Jesus plea to people he physically ministered to while upon the earth was not coerced or forced by any means. There was no threat made by Jesus for unbelief other than the judgment of the last day. Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Notice that it is an individual that must be born again: John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. We have only time to speak of one point more: LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. Baptists have always been champions of religious liberty. No page of their history has been stained by the blood of an opponent. With them, Church and State are forever divorced. The Bible is to be put into the hands of every individual, and he is responsible to God only, how he interprets it. And no man or body of men has a right to interfere by any coercive measure. It is the privilege of every man to come to Christ for himself, without priest or candles, and be God s free man. (Pastor Isaac Butterfield from his sermon The Baptist Church and Its Mission 1860 s) Question? 3 P a g e

4 What beliefs and practices have we studied that would violate the scriptural principle of Soul Liberty? What Soul Liberty is NOT There is a phrase that is bantered about much in our day and age which is often misused. That term is Christian Liberty. People will teach that they have liberty in Christ, which is true. The entire book of Galatians concerns itself with the liberty that Christ secured for us on the cross to not be in bondage to the old testament law. Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. But, notice the warning: Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. What are we at liberty to do when God gives us a directive (command) to follow when correctly understanding the scriptures in context we understand applies to us today? Can we do whatever we want because Christ has made us free? Believe it or Not! Violations of Soul Liberty Believe it or not, there are those who promote systems of theology in which is taught that the individual actually has NO will of their own (free will) but that everything we do, good or bad, is decreed (ordered / ordained) from eternity past by God. Unfortunately, even some Baptists have adopted this idea which has its origin in Catholicity and later in Protestantism (Reformed Theology). Here is an example from the Baptist Confession of 1689: Men who are not elected,.cannot be saved, because they are not effectually drawn to Christ by the Father, for which reason they neither can, nor will, truly come to Him This statement is saying that unless you are one of the special ones that God wants to be saved you do not have the Soul Liberty to be saved even if you wanted to. Well, I guess you couldn t want to in their minds because God wouldn t allow you to want to. This is utter chaos of the scripture. God s address is to the individual s responsibility to turn to Christ and repent of their sins. 4 P a g e

5 (II Peter 2:1) But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. If the Bible taught that salvation of an individual was actually a matter of God choosing teams, one saved team and one lost team, the individuals having nothing to do whatsoever with which team they were on, then that certainly would be a gross violation of the principle of Soul Liberty. You would either be lost of saved based on God s decree for you to be on one team or the other, and God would then NOT desire that all men be saved. He would desire for only the saved team to be saved. What about the lost team? Well, it was simply his desire that they be lost according to this heretical teaching. Fortunately, the Bible in no way shape or form, teaches this. In fact the Bible teaches beyond a shadow of a doubt that God s desire is for ALL MEN TO REPENT AND BE SAVED! (Acts 17 shown above illustrates this). Consider what the Bible says in the following passages. Write or think about what words describe the scope of the audience God is addressing. John 1: Cor. 5: Tim. 2:1-6 1 Tim. 4: Peter 3: John 2:1-2 John 3:16 Luke 2:8-14 Eph. 3:7-12 Luke 19: John 4:10-15 Augustine and Rome Compulsory Compliance, No Soul Liberty In letters written back and forth between a group of Baptist type people called the Donatists, Augustine shows how he supported the use of force for compliance: I hear that you are quoting that which is recorded in the Gospel, that when the seventy followers went back from the Lord they were left to their own choice in this wicked and impious desertion and that He said to the twelve remaining 'Do you not also want to go?' But what you fail to say is that at the time the Church was only just beginning to burst forth from the newly planted seed and that the saying had not yet been fulfilled in her All kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve him. It is in proportion to the more enlarged fulfillment of this prophecy that the Church now wields greater power so that she may now not only invite but also compel men to embrace that which is good. (Augustine's Letter to Donatus, No. 173) 5 P a g e

6 Nicolaitan Attacks on Soul Liberty Mentioned only in Rev 2:6 and 2:15, we are told only that the deeds of these ones are hated by the Lord. Word structure is nikao (to conquer) and laos (people). The meaning then is to conquer or rule the people or as is oft heard, the laity. When you have a ruling priesthood or clergy over the common people, then you have Nicolaitanism. You are told what to do, what to think, and what the scriptures mean. In general this type of structure through history has discouraged and at times even prevented with force the common people from having a Bible or reading it in their own language. This type of thought does not just violate the Baptist practice of Soul Liberty, it of course violates the very scriptures themselves. Instructions to the Elders (Pastors) (1 Peter 5:1-5) The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Instructions to the Individual (2 Timothy 2:15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (1 Thessalonians 4:11) And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; (Joshua 1:8) This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. 6 P a g e