THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES AND "DOCTORS OF DIVINITY"...

Can someone be formally trained to be a man of God?  Can academic training produce men called to the ministry?

The short biblical answer is no.  When one is called to the ministry, he is called of God.  He is directed by the Spirit of God and taught by this same Spirit into all spiritual knowledge.

THE HISTORY OF THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION AMONG THE BAPTISTS
Among some Baptists since the early 1800s, there has been a tradition that says that men who feel they have been called to the ministry, must receive formal academic training through a theological seminary.

Francis Wayland (1796-1865)

In 1856, Francis Wayland, the second president of Brown University (the first Baptist College in America, formerly the College of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations) wrote a series of letters published in a biography titled, A Memoir of the Life and Labors of Francis Wayland, which were intended to:

...merely represents the views which have generally been held by Baptists, as things taken for granted, and which had never before been reduced to regular form... 

Wayland goes on to say speaking of the number of Baptist churches who were destitute of Gospel ministers:

He was of opinion that this want should be supplied, in part, by encouraging every Christian, whether ordained or not, to use all his powers for the service of Christ and the salvation of souls.  Further, the number of laborers in the ministry would be enlarged, by encouraging persons engaged in secular business, yet possessing gifts of persuasive speech, to devote a portion of their time to evangelical labors.  And the number of persons consecrating their whole time to the single work of preaching the gospel would be increased by removing any restrictions which had insensibly grown up (not warranted by Scripture, nor by the primitive usage of the denomination), and by allowing everyone called of God to the ministry, to enter on the work of preaching, with such a degree of theological learning as the providence of God places within his reach.  If he were able to devote a long series of years to preparation and study, let provision be made for him to do so.  But if from age, or want of aptitude for study, or from poverty, or domestic circumstances, or from any other cause, such a course be out of his power, then let him diligently and conscientiously use such means of improvement and culture as God has made possible for him, and proceed in the work to which he has been divinely called, trusting in the promised aid of the Holy Ghost.

Mr. Wayland sees those with the gift of "persuasive speech" as being fit for the "evangelical efforts."  We confess, we do not recognize this gift from any scripture passage we can recall except one where Paul tells us, "My message and my preaching were not with wise persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power". (I Corinthians 2:4)   It would appear that Wayland here sees the ideal preacher of the Gospel to be an educated one having a high degree of "theological learning".  Again, he uses a term we cannot locate in scripture, except for a passage which seems to point in a different direction not only for preachers, but for Christians in general,

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong, so that no one may boast before him. (I Corinthians 1:26-29) 

Paul however was educated in the finest Jewish education under Gamaliel that one could receive at the time.  He was also a Roman citizen which was a privilege granted to those of some importance in society.  What did Paul say about his education?

...though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. (Philippians 3:4-6)

Yet he said, But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ. (vs. 7-8)

John Rippon (1751-1836)

But the true origins of theological education began long before the split in America between Old & New School Baptists in 1832.  By 1679, a school had been formed by Baptists in Bristol, UK.  That school is still in existence.  John Rippon, a well known English Baptist, wrote a history of this institution in 1795, titled, Towards A History of Bristol Baptist College, England, which we will quote to understand the history of this institution.  By 1661, three laws had been passed by the English parliament, The Act Of Uniformity, The Test Act and The Corporation Act.  These three laws effectively prohibited anyone who was a dissenter from, or did not agree with, the Church of England from graduating from Oxford or Cambridge Universities.

This situation encouraged some among the Baptists and the Presbyterians to start privately training those interested in going into the ministry in Greek and Hebrew languages.  Despite their differences with the infant-sprinkling-Presbyterians, some of these Baptists sent their young men to be taught by the Presbyterians (this tradition still exists even in America where Baptists often attend Presbyterian Schools, considered by them as second class citizens).

The earliest Baptist preceptor of whom I have any account, is the famous Mr, John Tombes, of Bewdley, Worcestershire -- a man whose attainments fitted him for any station in which learning and piety were requisite. The noted Mr. Wall, in his elaborate History of Infant Baptism, says, that "of the professed Anti-pedobaptists, Mr. Tombes was a man of the best parts in our nation, and perhaps in any other." And Dr. Calamy's honorable testimony of him is, that he was a person "whom all the world must own to have been a respectable man, and an excellent scholar." This learned divine, about the year 1650, took under his tuition three amiable young men -- Mr. Boylston, of whom no particulars are in my possession, Mr. Richard Adams, and Mr. John Eccles. Mr. Adams, in 1662, was ejected from his living at Humberstone, in Leicestershire, was afterwards pastor of the Baptist church near Devonshire Square, London, and at length died in a good old age. Mr. Eccles became pastor of the Baptist church at Broomsgrove, suffered much for non-conformity, preached the gospel there and at Coventry near sixty rears with reputation, and died honorably in the year one thousand seven hundred and eleven.

So the issue of the baptism of believers, of considerable importance to Baptists, was shoved under the carpet in the interests of an education.  Perhaps this should not surprise since, John Tombes himself who believed in believer's baptism and founded a Baptist church remained in the Church of England until his death.

By 1675, there was a letter sent to many baptist churches in England, 

...to form a plan for the providing an orderly standing ministry in the church, who might give themselves to reading and study, and so become able ministers of the New Testament. This letter is signed by most of the London pastors, among whom were the learned Daniel Dyke, William Collins, Henry Forty, and William Kiffin.

We find the phrase "...orderly standing ministry..." to be quiet questionable.  What makes them orderly?  An education?  No.  The calling of the God to the ministry.  No amount of knowledge of Greek, or Hebrew, or liberal education, can ameliorate this deficiency.

In 1689, at the meeting Baptist assembly in London, the teaching of students was considered but with no decision taken.  Earlier in 1679, Edward Terrill, an elder at the Broadmead Church had made a will leaving his property to the minister of Broadmead on condition that he should devote three half-days a week to the instruction of young men not exceeding twelve in number, in the original languages of scripture.  This money became the basis for the first Baptist college in the world.

It was not until 1720, that this "college" really got underway through the efforts of Bernard Foskett and the Bristol Baptist College was an ongoing enterprise.  Perhaps Daniel Goodwin, professor of History at Crandall University captures what was happening among the Baptists, not only in the UK but also in America Canada from the 1700 to 1840s.  Speaking of a pastor named Samuel Elder, dying of consumption at the age of 34 who asked "Was ever a ministry more barren than mine?"  Barrenness was the Arminian-New-School meaning for a small congregation.  Goodwin writes: "Having been raised in the revivalistic and enthusiastic religious tradition of his denomination, he was well aware that “barrenness” meant a preacher’s failure to trigger conversions in significant numbers."

But Goodwin goes on to capture the essence of the spirit of the times, at least among missionary Arminian baptists:

On one side the rural grassroots majority embraced the traditional 18th-century revivalist and anti-formal faith inherited from New Lights who became Baptist between the 1790s and the1810s.They were opposed by a small but powerful Baptist minority of colonial professionals from the petite bourgeoisie class who gained power in larger centres During his lifetime, however, his wish to synthesize learned and polite Baptist faith with traditional revivalism was incomprehensible to many of his contemporaries. Samuel Elder ultimately reckoned himself a failure because he was unable to reconcile the anti-formal religion of his youth with the genteel evangelicalism he aspired to as an adult.

This is the same sentiments wonderfully expressed by Gilbert Beebe sarcastically in an article posted titled, Remarks on Religious Revivals (June 1, 1862):

The antiquated notion that it required grace to save sinners, where money was plenty, and that “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” was thought to belong to a former age, was not adapted to this day of improvements. Baptist meeting houses now began to wear steeples and towers, or domes of imposing dimensions; bells were found necessary to drive the bad spirits away and call the multitudes together; a learned but graceless ministry filled the pulpits, and the Baptists began to look respectable in the adulterous eyes of the world. Now to fill up these costly and splendid edifices with paying converts something more attractive to the world than the preaching of Christ and him crucified, was deemed necessary. Protracted meetings, anxious benches, exciting appeals to the carnal passions of men, women and children were regarded as the most effective agencies, and hence they were brought into requisition. Much experimenting was required to demonstrate the comparative efficiency of the new inventions. Union prayer meetings, monthly concerts of prayer, with numerous other contrivances of men, were tried, with a view to either scare people into religion, or to scare religion into the people. At the time of the introduction of these new things among professed Baptists, the party in favor of them was in the minority, but with all this machinery under their control they were soon multiplied into an overwhelming majority, and as there was no legitimate affinity between the old primitive order and these machine-made Baptists, a formal separation became inevitable, and ultimately took place. In the division the old order was called by a number of names, among which were, Old School or Primitive Baptists; the new order are known as New School or Missionary Baptists.

As has been pointed by greater men than we, the Lord did not pick many learned men to be his disciples, that the glory and power of God might be made manifest.  He picked the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.  He picked poor unlearned fishermen and yet through the power of God they spread throughout the Roman Empire, even to household of that evil tyrant Nero!

THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES
The academic or as Beebe would have called it a scientific study of the scriptures is NOT the same as a call to the ministry.  Even Samuel Trott took lessons from the pastor of the First Baptist Church of New York City, William Parkinson in 1812 in Hebrew.  This was an academic study.  One does not need the Spirit's ministry to learn Greek or Hebrew.  An unregenerate mind can comprehend the mere facts of scripture.  He can understand the substitutionary atonement of Christ; he can grasp the predictive prophecies of the coming Messiah in the Old Testament; he can point to the passages in the bible, no doubt in the original languages where Christ's blood had to be shed for sinners; he can even grasp the teachings of unconditional election and absolute predestination.  What he cannot do is embrace them spiritually.  He can think them fairy tales, or he can even believe that all the events in the Gospels actually happened as historical events.  None of this matters.  Satan believes the historical truth of all the events in the Gospel.  He understands the limited atonement, the fact that all has been things have been absolutely predestined by God before the foundations of the world.  But does not have a saving knowledge of these events, because it has not been granted to him by the Spirit just like in the case of the unregenerate.

Thus, an academic knowledge of the Bible is not wrong to have.  But it is totally unnecessary to the Gospel ministry.  This is not to say that knowledge of the original Greek or Hebrew will not bring light to certain passages of scripture.  But the light that it may bring is not essential to an understanding of any passage.  If it was, then it would be tantamount to saying that Spirit of God is not enough to bring the true light of any passage in the Bible.  There is nothing wrong with a Gospel minister or any Christian learning these languages.

The world of academics and scientific study of anything including the Bible is by its very nature tentative, subject to change, subject to revision.  A new paper, or book, can alter views and theories.  But the world that a believer lives in is a world of truth and stability.  We serve a God who does not change, a God for whom nothing is impossible.  We serve a Lord who will not lose a single one whom the Father has given Him.  He breathes life into all that is.  This will sound foolish to some, but to us it is the power of God unto salvation.

Paul had a scientific understanding of the Bible before his conversion.  Afterwards, he counted all that knowledge as nothing compared to the knowledge of Christ.  Yet he did quote a Roman poet on Mars Hill.  He put all his knowledge under submission to the Gospel of Christ, knowing that knowledge puffeth up, but Christ calls all of His children to be servants, not lords.

Where did this hundred years of emphasis on ministerial education lead?  In 1971, Michael Taylor, President of the Baptist Union's Northern Baptist College addressed the London Baptist Assembly on the theme, “How much of a man was Jesus?”  His words were, "I believe that God was active in Jesus, but it will not do to say quite categorically: Jesus is God."  What was the conclusion of the Australian Beacon in 1986 about the Baptist Union's refusal to rebut Taylor's comments?

It is a Union which harbours apostates and succors infidels while ostracizing faithful servants of Christ. It is a friend of Rome, a bed-fellow of idolaters and spiritists in its membership of the World Council of Churches. No true man of God could remain within it in good conscience (Australian Beacon, No. 240, July 1986).

This where all education in a person without the new birth leads.

Although there is value for education and learning in the form of history and languages, we caution that they are not the same as spiritual knowledge.  Gilbert Beebe said it best when he stated:

A collegiate or classical education never has led to unanimity of sentiment, or we should not find, as now we do, giants of literature distributed among almost every religious sect in existence. So far to the reverse of this, there are very few religious sects, heresies, or speculations, which may not be traced back to some profoundly learned man. We might here name a catalogue of them, such as Luther, Calvin, Cromwell, Wesley, Priestly, Gill, Fuller, &c. Why so much discord among these worldly wise men, if much learning tends to unanimity. If a thorough knowledge of the original language in which the scriptures were written, will enable men more readily to understand these scriptures, why were not the Jews, who understood their own language, the first to understand what the prophets had written! And why was the gospel, as preached by Paul and his brethren in the primitive church, foolishness to the Greeks. The truth is, the gospel of Jesus Christ is, at this day, as great a stumbling block, and as great foolishness to our Hebrew and Greek scholars, generally speaking, as it was in the apostolic day to the Jews and Greeks; because it has seemed good, in the sight of God, to hide these things from the wise and prudent, and to reveal them unto babes. No man can therefore admit that the scriptures are truth, without denying that human wisdom or education can assist its possessors to understand, from the scriptures, the things of the Spirit; things which can be known only as they are spiritually understood, by a spiritual people, or a people born of the Spirit of God.

NOTE: The Polemic Series are articles which are intended to show Old School Baptist Distinctives - the things that separate Old School Baptists from others calling themselves Christians.