Featured The Influence of John R. Rice in the SBC

He was a Baptist evangelist (1896-1980), an author of 200 or so books with great influence among independents, large influence in the SBC, minimal influence among American Baptists and virtually no influence among Primitive Baptists and similar groups.

 

After JRR's funeral, the Jan. 23, 1981, issue of Christianity Today ran an article about his ministry, "Fundamentalist Preacher and Editor John R. Rice Dies," by Tom Minnery. In it Graham associate Cliff Barrows is quoted as saying, "We are grateful for the heritage and the legacy of John R. Rice. With his passion for souls, his emphasis on prayer, and his evangelism, he has been a great encouragement to us, and these areas are still our main emphases."

The article went on to say, "Barrows remembered Rice warmly...for his cooperation during a Graham crusade in Scotland in1955, when Rice came as an observer and lent the weight of his reputation to the fledgling Graham organization when it was being criticized on several fronts. Barrows said, 'He observed, he prayed with us, he spoke at our ministers' meeting, and the very fact that he would come, representing the older school of evangelism, was a great encouragement to us. In his personal relationships with us he was always a man of gentle heart and nature, and through the years we have esteemed him highly.'"

 

That was, as you know, the number one emphasis of his whole ministry.

 

I had thought of discussing here the friendship of JRR and Jerry Falwell, but Falwell was an independent (Bible Baptist Fellowship) all through that friendship, and only became Southern Baptist later. So technically he was not part of the Rice influence in the SBC.

Let me jump to Adrian Rogers, a major leader in the SBC conservative resurgence. Keith Bates discusses Rogers and Rice in Ch. 6 of his dissertation, mentioned above. (It's hard to give the correct page due to peculiarities in the MS Word version I'm quoting from.)

Bates is quoting from a letter written by Rogers to Rice in 1972. That letter is in the Rice papers currently being collated at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Their final destination is Southwestern, where JRR attended. Ironic, isn't it, that the papers are in SBC institutions rather than IFB ones! Also interesting is that when I saw the papers last year the Francis Schaeffer papers were being collated on another table in the same room!

Here is that passage from Bates' dissertation:

"Adrian Rogers was one of the conservatives who expressed his appreciation directly to Rice. Noting that he had first heard of The Sword of the Lord when he was studying to become a minister, Rogers explained that Rice had remained an 'inspiration' to him throughout his career. While The Sword of the Lord was the chief conduit of Rice’s influence, Rogers also noted how Rice’s books had helped to shape his own theological positions. Specifically, he explained that he became 'a confirmed pre-millennialist' after reading The Coming Kingdom of Christ, that he 'first learned of the power of the Holy Spirit' through Rice’s The Power of Pentecost, and that his personal prayer life deepened after reading Prayer–Asking and Receiving. Rogers then added: 'I suppose, Dr. Rice, that you have had as great an influence upon my life as any other man living or dead.' He concluded his letter by assuring Rice that he and his church were with the editor in his stand against liberalism."

 

More about Adrian Rogers later. :type:

 

John R. Rice was born into the family of a Southern Baptist lay preacher named Will Rice. He was saved as a SB, baptized as a SB, educated as a SB, called to preach as a SB and served God as a SB. He wrote, "Now, the truth of the matter is, I have earned the right to speak among Southern Baptist (sic)--I am a graduate of Decatur Baptist College and Baylor University; I did graduate work in the University of Chicago; I attended Southwestern Seminary; was a pastor; was moderator of my association; was an evangelist. I have turned many tens of thousands of dollars into Southern Baptist causes. I have turned literally thousands of converts into Southern Baptist churches" (Southern Baptists and Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, p. 81).

What changed? In the fall of 1926 and spring of 1927 he began calling Baylor U. to task on KFQB radio for allowing Dr. Samuel Dow, the sociology prof, to teach evolution. A committee of 3 came to call consisting of Southwestern professors E. L. Carnett and T. B. Masten, and Pastor Williams of the Seminary Hill Baptist church. They told him that if he didn't get off the radio "the matter would be brought to the Baptist Associational Meeting in Tarrant County and pastors would be warned not to have him hold revival campaigns in their churches. They said the seminary students would be warned against him and a statement would be published in the official Baptist state paper, the Baptist Standard, warning churches against having him preach in revivals. They told him he would not be able to continue his work as an evangelist, could not educate his children, and would be forced out of the ministry" (Man Sent from God, by Bob Sumner, p. 99).

So JRR was thus blackballed out of the Texas Baptist Convention and forced to go independent. However, he didn't lose his burden to fight the liberals in the SBC and bring it back to the narrow way. Thus he began writing about the problems in the SBC in his paper, The Sword of the Lord, and writing books. One of these was Twelve Tremendous Themes (1943), the first two chapters of which were about verbal inspiration and science in the Bible. He got noted SBC evangelist R. G. Lee to write the intro, which ended with, "This book honors God, honors the Christ who is God, honors the Holy Spirit, honors the church, honors the Gospel, warns the wicked, invites the sinner to accept Christ--and comforts all who believe the Bible to be the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God" (p. 5). There is little doubt that this book was aimed at the SBC, since independent Baptists have never had a problem with the issues discussed in several chapters of the book.

Even after becoming an independent Baptist JRR kept his many friends in the SBC and continued to work against liberalism in the convention and its schools. Besides the above book he edited a book of sermons and articles on the Bible called A Coffer of Jewels About the Bible in 1963, with contributions by SB stalwarts such as W. A. Criswell, J. R. Graves, B. H. Carroll and R. G. Lee. Pamphlets were written such as Verbal Inspiration of the Bible and its Scientific Accuracy (1942). Other books such as Earnestly Contending for the Faith had chapters on inspiration. His final greatest book on the Bible was Our God-Breathed Book the Bible in 1969, just before the issue really began to heat up in the SBC. No doubt heating up the issue was one of his goals with this book!

 

Some may wonder at how JRR could keep close friendships with SBC people after he became an independent Baptist. They may reason, "After all, don't IFBs separate from everyone they don't agree with?" The truth is, as one of the above-mentioned dissertations points out, Rice had a moderate view of separation.

In the fall of 1970 I entered Bob Jones U. as a freshman, knowing that the three generations, Bob Sr., Bob Jr. an Bob III were all friends of my grandfather, and not only this, at a dinner with the family Bob III himself had graciously assured me of a wonderful academic career at BJU. What none of us knew was that a storm of controversy was about to erupt between Bob Jr. and JRR. The main subject was what Rice called secondary separation. (Another issue was Rice's view of inspiration, which people from BJU, including Prof. Stewart Custer, believed to be "mechanical dictation.")

In JRR's view, secondary separation was the act of ecclesiastically separating from anyone who had anything to do with liberals and any other heretics. He believed in primary separation, which was the act of separating from liberals and heretics. However, he refused to cut his ties with people he considered to be sincere and godly believers who had not yet come to his position on separation. One of his favorite verses was Psalm 119:63, "I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts."

On the other hand, BJUs position about Rice's friendships with SBC people was that the fundamentalist should separate from anyone in what Bob Jones Jr. called an apostate organization if that person was not prepared to leave such a group. In Jones' words, "I cannot...be consistent and go into a church affiliated with an apostate religious organization or denomination in order to increase its membership or encourage converts to join with it, nor can I go there to condone or encourage the church's affiliation with apostasy; but I will go there to denounce it if the pastor desires my help in getting his church out of the apostate affiliation" ("Scriptural Separation" leaflet, p. 3-4, 1972).

The issue all came to a head when JRR planned a world evangelism conference for 1971, inviting W. A. Criswell and R. G. Lee. This conference was opposed by Jones Jr., and never took place. It escalated in my sophomore year at BJU in 1971-72, so you can imagine my feelings at hearing my grandfather's name in a negative context from the chapel pulpit! The rest of my college career continued at Tennessee Temple College, where Dr. Lee Roberson, though an independent Baptist, held similar views to JRR. There I heard sermons by several SBC pulpiteers such as "Payday Someday" by R. G. Lee and "God's Three Deadlines" by J. Harold Smith.

Next time, I'll describe JRR's plan to change the SBC, and how he carried it out.

 

Robison must have come after my time. I don't remember him preaching.

 

Now the question is, what did JRR want for the SBC and his friends in it? Should they all come out of the Convention? Not necessarily in his mind. He did believe that they should fight liberalism in the SBC and seek to eject it. But he did not believe that all conservative pastors and churches should exit the SBC and become independents, though he did welcome those who did so. In this he differed from Bob Jones Jr. and III, who believed the SBC had become apostate and all conservatives should come out of it.

Here is an extended quote about the position of JRR:

"Would you fellowship with a man in the Southern Baptist Convention? Suppose he supports the Convention program. (Because of long experience with my Southern Baptist people and because I was trained in Southern Baptist schools, pastored Southern Baptist churches, I use them as an example.) Could you fellowship with such a man in a revival campaign, if he is for Christ and the Bible, if he is right on the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection, blood atonement? Is he standing up for the Bible? Yes. I am sorry that he supports some things he ought not support. Perhaps he does not know as much as I do about it. In any case, if he makes no divisive issue over that co-operation, I would say go along with him. Let him come in the revival and help.

"Again you ask, 'Dr. Rice, could you fellowship with a man who stays in, we will say, the Southern Baptist Convention?' Again I mention that group since I am familiar with the work of my Southern Baptist Convention friends. Now no man should ever stay anywhere where he has to go against convictions to stay in. No man should stay in anywhere when he has to compromise what he thinks is right. But if a man can preach the whole truth, can support only what he ought to support, can oppose anything he ought to oppose and maintain his place as a called preacher of God, subject to Christ; if he can keep the church as it ought to be – an independent church according to Christ and the Bible, and standing true – yes. If he has fellowship in the Convention and if he supports only those things he feels certain will please God, he might stay in. But if it becomes a matter of strife and he cannot stay in without some compromise or division and strife, then by all means he should come out. I am saying that Christ and the Bible are the center" (Christian Cooperation and Separation, 1959, pp. 6-7)

 

Throughout the '40's into the '70's, JRR sought to influence the SBC through his paper and publishing company. His paper, The Sword of the Lord, at its height had over 200,000 subscribers, many hundreds of which were SBC pastors and laymen, including the leadership of the convention. His goal was educate Baptists so as to (1) help Baptists see the dangers of modernism/liberalism, (2) help Baptists renew the convention by putting conservatives and fundamentalists in key positions, and (3) help those fundamentalists exit the convention who had come to a crisis of conscience over supporting the liberalism in the seminaries, publishing arm, Cooperative Program, etc.

Here are the books and pamphlets that he wrote aimed directly at the Southern Baptists.

1. Southern Baptists and Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
2. Southern Baptists Wake Up! (This one had sold 13,369 as 1970, according to the biography written by Bob Sumner, Man Sent from God.)
3. Southern Baptist Leaders Approve Liberal Commentary (pamphlet)
4. Southern Baptist Leaders Now Committed Liberals (pamphlet)

Other books were not specifically aimed at the SBC but were about problem areas in the SBC. The most important of these was his magnum opus about the Bible, Our God-Breathed Book, the Bible (402 pages about verbal inspiration). This book had already sold 10,004 only a year after it came out, according to Bob Sumner's biography (p. 261). In it he specifically mentions the SBC and its liberals in various places. I'll try to point those out next time I can write. (It's the weekend, plus I have a funeral Monday.)