Charles Spurgeon and Modern Day Evangelicals

While many modern evangelicals abhor Reformed theology, those who do so also unwittingly revere many godly men who embraced the doctrines of grace (i.e. Calvinism). It is interesting to note that those who are the most strident in their opposition against Calvinism are also those who think fondly of men who held firmly to the Reformed faith. One such example of this is the Prince of Preachers, C.H. Spurgeon. Many, particularly in the Southern Baptist Convention, laud this man with the highest accolades but are ignorant of what he believed. Was C.H. Spurgeon a five-point Calvinist? Did he teach limited atonement? Let's examine a few quotes:

Spurgeon taught that Calvin's gospel was Paul's gospel:

The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again. -"A Defense of Calvinism"

Spurgeon taught Limited Atonement, contrary to what naysayers have alleged:

Some persons love the doctrine of universal atonement because they say, "It is so beautiful. It is a lovely idea that Christ should have died for all men; it commends itself," they say, "to the instincts of humanity; there is something in it full of joy and beauty." I admit there is, but beauty may be often associated with falsehood. There is much which I might admire in the theory of universal redemption, but I will just show what the supposition necessarily involves. If Christ on His cross intended to save every man, then He intended to save those who were lost before He died. If the doctrine be true, that He died for all men, then He died for some who were in hell before He came into this world, for doubtless there were even then myriads there who had been cast away because of their sins. Once again, if it was Christ's intention to save all men, how deplorably has He been disappointed, for we have His own testimony that there is a lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, and into that pit of woe have been cast some of the very persons who, according to the theory of universal redemption, were bought with His blood. That seems to me a conception a thousand times more repulsive than any of those consequences which are said to be associated with the Calvinistic and Christian doctrine of special and particular redemption. To think that my Saviour died for men who were or are in hell, seems a supposition too horrible for me to entertain. To imagine for a moment that He was the Substitute for all the sons of men, and that God, having first punished the Substitute, afterwards punished the sinners themselves, seems to conflict with all my ideas of Divine justice. That Christ should offer an atonement and satisfaction for the sins of all men, and that afterwards some of those very men should be punished for the sins for which Christ had already atoned, appears to me to be the most monstrous iniquity that could ever have been imputed to Saturn, to Janus, to the goddess of the Thugs, or to the most diabolical heathen deities. God forbid that we should ever think thus of Jehovah, the just and wise and good! -"A Defense of Calvinism"

Spurgeon said that there was "no soul living" who held more firmly to Calvinism than he:

There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer—I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them, and rejoice to avow it. -"A Defense of Calvinism"

Spurgeon called Calvinism a nickname for the gospel:

I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor. -"A Defense of Calvinism"

Spurgeon claimed that the doctrines of grace had been affirmed by the godly since the apostolic age:

We have gone back to the old school; we can trace our descent from the apostles. It is that vein of free-grace, running through the sermonizing of Baptists, which has saved us as a denomination. Were it not for that, we should not stand where we are today. We can run a golden line up to Jesus Christ Himself, through a holy succession of mighty fathers, who all held these glorious truths; and we can ask concerning them, "Where will you find holier and better men in the world?" -"A Defense of Calvinism"

It is clear then that what fueled C.H. Spurgeon's burning, evangelistic zeal was a deeply entrenched belief in the doctrines of grace. Spurgeon's robust theology of grace would be abhorrent to most evangelicals today. The same men who laud him would be the ones who drove him out of their church for exalting the electing, sovereign love of God! So if you are a Southern Baptist who hates Calvinism and believes it to be a smear on the church, do not claim to love C.H. Spurgeon. Spurgeon understood that the doctrine of salvation that most extolled the grace and glory of God was Calvinism. He would have reproved the man-centered gospel presentations that plague the church today. He would have reminded Southern Baptists that the lost men are dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1), unable to understand spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14), unable to submit to the law of God or please him (Romans 8:7-8), and unable to change his sinful nature (Jeremiah 13:23). How then can a dead, unregenerate man make a "decision for Christ?"

Spurgeon loved grace and he loved evangelism. If you are antagonistic to Calvinism, then do not claim to love Spurgeon. If you hate Reformed theology, do not succumb to using the weak, straw men argument that Calvinism destroys evangelism. Most men who make this claim are not half the evangelist Spurgeon (or other famous Calvinists throughout church history, for that matter) was. To oppose Calvinism is one thing, to use dishonest argumentation is another. As Christians, we should have a high alleigance to the truth. Let us continue to honor Christ by being truthful in representing the opposition even when we believe them to be in error. Soli deo gloria!