11 - Lewis Sperry Chafer and the Baptism of John: a Lesson in Theological Method

A Word to the Wise:

There is a danger in reading the theologies of our favorite authors in that we tend to accept their opinions as gospel without feeling a need to do a biblical double check on the jots and tittles of their work. It is the intent of this paper to demonstrate this by examining a few statements of the spiritual father of the seminary, Lewis Sperry Chafer himself, and at the same time achieving the noble goal of showing the superiority of the methods taught at his namesake seminary toward a refined biblicity of thought and action. The refined methods help prevent the transmission of error from one generation of theologians to the next, giving a better foundation for new men who take up the mission of grounding believers in biblical orthodoxy. The author does not intend to demonstrate a general laxity or tendency toward error on the part of L.S. Chafer. Far from it! But if an examination of a great man’s error leads to an affirmation of belief in sound method, then a great purpose is served. ...