Philadelphia Confession

One document that links the early Baptist faith with Wesleyan theology is the Philadelphia confession. It is very close to Wesley in many aspects. We should keep in mind that the first Southern Baptist Convention was based upon this document.

All delegates had come from congregations that embraced this document. You could say the delegation was completely stacked and those who had not officially adopted it were not given voting rights.

One likeness with Wesleyan thought was the idea that in the fall of Adam man became totally depraved, and only with the regeneration of the Spirit could man exercise himself to good again.

Chapter 9

Of Free Will

1. God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice, that it is neither forced, nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil.

(Matt. 17:12; James 1:14; Duet. 30:19)

2. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God, but yet was unstable, so that he might fall from it.

(Eccles. 7:29; Gen. 3:6)

3. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.

(Rom. 5:6, 8:7; Eph. 2:1, 5; Tit. 3:3-5; John 6:44)

4. When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; yet so as that by reason of his remaining corruptions, he doth not perfectly, nor only will, that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil.

(Col. 1:13; John 8:36; Phil. 2:13; Rom. 7:15, 18, 19, 21, 23)

5. This will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone in the state of glory only.

(Eph. 4:13)

The idea of total depravity and regeneration became the guiding thought of Baptist and Protestant theology.

Though I have refuted this in other articles it is right to add other refutations here.

1. Paul said the gentiles did good naturally, so the idea of total depravity was inherintly false. It was a false theology.

Rom 2:14  For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 

Rom 2:15  Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 

All men could do good, but most of their dealings were sinful.

Instead of total depravity it was actually total digression, man had the ability to do good but had digressed morally to the point they didn't.

Rom 3:12  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 

Man was not born depraved but simply digressed into an evil condition and evil way of living.

Digression vs. depravity were different concepts, and the end result led to differing views on infant baptism and other concepts.

One result of the false theory of depravity was that it allowed men to justify God in destroying the world and man. If man was totally evil then God was justified. Yet this was false, God is justified in destroying man for just one sin.

Eze 18:4  Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. 

One sin can bring man's death, as in Adam and Eve, they weren't totally depraved but one disobedient act brought death. One sin as simple as eating a forbidden fruit based upon the prideful assumption they could be like God.

The Hindu and Baha'i idea we are all God's and masters of our destinies.

This difference in needing total depravity for God to be justified, vs one sin, effects the beliefs of many, non-Christian religions adopted the idea that if the balance of your life tended toward love, then you had no need for atonement, men such as Ghandi believed their lives were moral enough to not need Christ.

If only he had realized one sin was sufficient for God to destroy a man, he may have accepted Christ's salvation.