John Hannah (1940–) on Issues of Calvinism at DTS and S. Lewis Johnson’s (1915–2004) Departure

I am including this quote in order to let people read about Dr. Johnson’s departure from Dallas Theological Seminary over the issue of the extent of the atonement. One can see the confusion that existed there at the time, and some of this confusion still remains, even in the language that Hannah himself uses to describe the different positions regarding the atonement (“effective extent of the atonement,” for example, is misleading). Though Hannah is merely being descriptive with this Walvoordian language, I’ll add that the difference was not in Johnson’s embracing of so-called “Dordtian Calvinism” (since the moderate orthodox view was also present at the Synod of Dort), but in his adoption of the higher orthodox or strict position present at Dort, which taught a limited imputation of sin to Christ, or a limited substitution (i.e., Owenism).

The usefulness of this quote is not that it will help one to properly understand the categorical differences in the debate about the extent of the atonement, but rather that it will help one to understand the historical circumstances and issues surrounding Johnson’s departure from DTS.

Hannah wrote:

The Issue of Calvinism. Clarification of doctrinal issues is usually a product of challenges and controversy. The institution historically described itself as within the Calvinistic tradition, and distanced itself from the Arminian tradition. Walvoord was willing to speak for the ailing Chafer, stating, “Arminianism is a departure from the faith.”¹⁵³ The creed of the seminary makes this clear by affirming such doctrines as the total corruption of all human faculties because of Adam’s first sin in which the race was implicated; the priority of divine grace in salvation rooted in divine, unconditional election and predestination; the creature as the respondent to grace, not the cause of grace; and eternal security. The consistent designation for the kind of Calvinism expressed in the creed is most appropriately “moderate Calvinism.” The moderation stemmed from two factors: first, the school consistently affirmed an unlimited purpose in the atonement of Christ. The position was rooted in a firm belief that this is taught in Scripture, and a limiting of the atonement would limit the Great Commission, leaving the relationship of the free offer of salvation to all and divine election as “a great mystery.”¹⁵⁴ Second, the dispensational premillenarian position of the seminary made it historically an uneasy fit in Calvinism.

Conflict emerged when a prominent teacher at the seminary embraced a more strident form of Calvinism, dubbed “extreme Calvinism,” “strict Calvinism,” or “Dordtian Calvinism.” S. Lewis Johnson came to the seminary as a student in 1942, completing the ThM in 1946 and the doctorate in 1949. He eventually became the chair of the department of New Testament studies, replacing J. Dwight Pentecost, who would chair the department of Bible exposition. He began his teaching career at the seminary in 1946; it would span thirty years. As the years passed, however, Johnson became increasingly uncomfortable with the seminary’s moderate Calvinism as well as the general academic direction of the institution. Writing from Europe, where he was on study leave, Johnson expressed concern that the curriculum revisions of 1973 weakened the academic strength of the institution (he perceived a weakening of language requirements and theological instruction). Further, he felt the faculty to be generally in need of strengthening at that instruction should be taught through a comprehensive worldview of life (which he considered to be completely lacking). “The change needed at Dallas is a change from emphasis upon one level to another deeper level of learning. Let us not abandon the practical emphasis which has been a winning thing for us, but let us deepen our approach to the Word of God. I am for beefing up our program at Dallas, not thinning it down.”¹⁵⁵

Walvoord’s reply constituted a denial of Johnson’s assertions (the institution was not weakened by the 1973 curriculum revision, the professional purpose of the institution was consistent with a greater emphasis on the practical, and the school does present a world and life view to the students, though he conceded that the faculty could be strengthened). At this point, Walvoord raised the issue of doctrinal deviation, based on hearsay, particularly Johnson’s view of the extent of the atonement.¹⁵⁶ Johnson made it clear that he had embraced the view he was accused of affirming and was willing to resign. However, Walvoord stated that Johnson’s view was not contrary to the school’s creed, if held in moderation. “Our traditional point of view has been unlimited atonement as you know, but I do not believe that our doctrinal statement prohibits the limited atonement view unless it is unduly pressed.”¹⁵⁷

Johnson must have taken Walvoord’s comments as offering no hindrance to his return to the school, in spite of his more-than-moderate Calvinism. Walvoord’s view was that Johnson was expressing theological issues that he was still in the process of resolving when he returned in 1973 (and later took a strident Calvinistic position); Johnson’s view was that he had expressed himself clearly before returning to the school and he was accepted. Subsequent correspondence suggests that the charge that brought about Johnson’s resignation was that he “pressed” his view inordinately to the detriment of the institution.¹⁵⁸

The doctrinal issues were two: the effective extent of the atonement of Christ and the relation of divine regeneration to human faith. Johnson argued that placing faith before regeneration decays absolute human inability, resulting in a loss in the vitality of Christianity. Walvoord responded that such views were contrary to the doctrinal statement, adversely affecting the student body, and would prove a disruptive influence among the churches that trusted the seminary to supply pastors reflective of the seminary’s doctrine. More importantly, “We believe that extreme Calvinism goes beyond what the Scriptures teach, affirming that Christ died only for the elect.”¹⁵⁹

Johnson was granted a leave of absence in the fall of 1977, and when his contract expired in December of that year, it was not renewed.¹⁶⁰ The Board of Regents minutes states that the reason for the nonrenewal of his contract was the embrace of five-point Calvinism; in particular, it was noted, “He is in agreement with Dordtian Calvinism, and holds that Christ died for the elect and that regeneration precedes faith.”¹⁶¹ The issue of the relationship between regeneration and accenting faith is more difficult to untangle. A phrase in the doctrinal statement (“When the unregenerate believes...”) seemed to be a flashpoint. Johnson argued that it is impossible for the unregenerate to believe, because to do so would reduce the wonder of redemption to a bilateral contract, denying that grace is without condition.

There is evidence that the administration sought to accommodate Johnson on the first issue, but his position on the second was too much.¹⁶² This is interesting because Walvoord had expressed himself earlier to the effect that faith does not precede regeneration; the two occur simultaneously: “The Calvinist position is that regeneration is simultaneous with salvation.”¹⁶³ It is easy to gain the impression that the controversy was a battle of two friendly titans, one desiring to narrow the school’s theological creed (perhaps sensing also a decline of a rigorous Calvinism on the part of faculty and boards) and the other seeking to preserve the school within “moderate Calvinism.” The president had the tradition of the institution and the creed on his side. Though the parties may not have separated in the most amiable of circumstances, in 1987 Johnson was accorded the title of Professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis, Emeritus, in recognition of his contribution to the school.
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153. Letter, John F. Walvoord to Arthur F. Williams, Dallas, Texas, 14 April 1948, ADTS. Later he wrote, “As our doctrinal statement indicates, we are in the Reformed tradition of theology” (Letter, John F. Walvoord to J. J. Barnhart, Dallas, Texas, 29 October 1949, ADTS).
154. Letter, John F. Walvoord to Mr. and Mrs. Jim Halston, Dallas, Texas, 5 April 1982, ADTS. Walvoord extended the same “mystery” to the relationship of evangelism to predestinarianism. It seems accurate to say that the practical missions concerns of the seminary’s leaders were a paramount motive in maintaining these tensions.
155. Letter, S. Lewis Johnson to John F. Walvoord, Basel, Switzerland, 30 April 1973, John F. Walvoord Papers, ADTS.
156. Letter, John F. Walvoord to S. Lewis Johnson, Dallas, Texas, 10 May 1973, John F. Walvoord Papers, ADTS.
157. Ibid., 5.
158. Letter, S. Lewis Johnson to John F. Walvoord, Dallas, Texas, 2 October 1977. John F. Walvoord Papers, ADTS. Wrote Johnson, “I had expressed such views to you about four years earlier in a letter to you. It was your view that such a deviation from the doctrinal statement was not sufficient to prevent one from teaching at the institution, and I taught at the seminary for the intervening years under the impression that my deviation was not so serious as to preclude faculty service.” See also Letter, S. Lewis Johnson to John F. Walvoord, 17 October 1977, John F. Walvoord Papers, ADTS (“I have taught for four years with the assurance that you stood behind your words to me in 1973”).
159. Letter, John F. Walvoord to Terry Branscombe, Dallas, Texas, 3 October 1979, ADTS. See also Letter, John F. Walvoord to Alvin L. Baker, Dallas, Texas, 23 November 1981, ADTS; and Letter John F. Walvoord to Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Salser, Dallas, Texas, 15 May 1979, ADTS. Further see Letter, S. Lewis Johnson to John F. Walvoord, Dallas, Texas, 14 January 1977, John F. Walvoord Papers, ADTS.
160. Minutes, Executive Board of Regents, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas, 7 March 1977, 129; Minutes, Board of Regents, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas, 13 October 1977, 137; and Minutes, Board of Incorporate Members, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas, 14 October 1977, 117.
161. Minutes, Board of Regents, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas, 13 October 1977, 137.
162. Ibid.
163. Letter, John F. Walvoord to Howard Gould, Dallas, Texas, 26 September 1947, ADTS. He wrote further, “Simultaneously the individual believer is regenerated, repents, is justified, adopted, and positionally sanctified. I do not believe that there is any possibility of working out satisfactorily the logical order of all these elements.”

John D. Hannah, An Uncommon Union: Dallas Theological Seminary and American Evangelicalism (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 174–76.

S. Lewis Johnson (1915–2004) on the Universal Offer and God’s Desire for the Salvation of All Men

Fifth, the gospel is offered indiscriminately, because God desires that every man believe. God should be guided by his own inner feelings, if I should use that term of God, not by those of sinful man. Why can he not say, as the Bible suggests, “Turn ye, turn ye. For why will ye die?” If a man has a kind and compassionate nature, it's unreasonable to require that he suppress it's promptings in case he sees a proud and surly person who is unwilling to accept a gift. The fact that men are unresponsive does not mean that God should thereby not be compassionate. Good and kind offers may be offered and be sincere, even though those to whom they're given may be individuals of whom it is known that they will reject. The universal offer of the benefit springs out of God’s will of complacency. The Bible says he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Further, God may properly call upon the non-elect to do a thing that God delights in simply because he does delight in it. The Divine desire is not altered by the Divine decree of preterition. Resistance does not diminish His desire. There exists in God the desire that men be saved. There exists in God the will, assuming this position, that the elect be saved. These, the will and the desire, exist simultaneously in God, and they do not contradict one another.

Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, The Suffering Savior (1974)—The Design of the Atonement: For Whom Did Christ Die? - IV

After this section, Johnson goes on to approvingly quote R. L. Dabney’s work on the will of God in God’s Indiscriminate Proposals of Mercy, though Johnson (a strict Calvinist) never seemed aware of Dabney’s moderate atonement views. The same can be said about his references to W. G. T. Shedd in the same series.

S. Lewis Johnson on George Ladd and the Spiritualization of the Prophetic Scriptures

Download Here

S. Lewis Johnson (1915–2004) on God’s Love and Grace

There is, of course, a twofold love of God, that for the non-elect and that for the elect. While great benefits accrue to the non-elect from Christ's atoning work, including the blessings of common grace and coming to high expression in the entreaties, the overtures, and the imperatives of gospel preaching, there is nevertheless a radical difference between the benefits of divine love as they pertain to the non-elect and the elect. The difference lies in the distinguishing love that ensures for the elect that they will be partakers of the atonement. It corresponds to the distinguishing nature of divine election.

S. Lewis Johnson, “Foreward,” in Gary Long, Definite Atonement (Rochester, NY: Backus Book Publishers, 1977), xi–xii.

Dr. Johnson held to a strictly limited view of Christ’s substitution, but he strongly affirmed God’s universal love and common grace. He also affirmed the well-meant offer.

Johnson on Johnson

Phil Johnson has posted on Dr. S. Lewis Johnson here:

Here's a Real Gold Mine

It's good to see that more people are being introduced to the excellent audio teaching of Dr. S. Lewis Johnson. If people had only been reading my blog, they would have known about this sooner! hahaha

The King Crucified

One of my favorite sermons is now posted at Believers Chapel. It's from the Matthew series, and it is entitled The King Crucified by Dr. S. Lewis Johnson.

Streaming Version Here

Download in Low Res Here

Download in High Res Here

S. Lewis Johnson on The Divine Purpose

After some pressure and begging from me, Believers Chapel has uploaded The Divine Purpose series by Dr. S. Lewis Johnson in MP3 form. This is probably Dr. Johnson at his best. He investigates the history, theology, and distinctive features of Covenantal and Dispensational theology, and then he exegetes the crucial passages in light of the various theological approaches. Eventually, I hope to type the outlines and notes for these lectures. I highly recommend this entire series.

Click Here for The Divine Purpose Audio Lectures

A Tribute to Dr. S. Lewis Johnson

Since I live in the Dallas area, I had the honor and priviledge of meeting Dr. S. Lewis Johnson in person. I first heard of his teaching through the book Continuity and Discontinuity: Perspectives on the Relationship Between the Old and New Testaments, and then on a local radio program. I was delighted to hear the fine examples of careful biblical exposition. After my conversion in 1990 at age 20, I was hungry for in-depth exegetical teaching. I listened to other teachers on the radio and noticed a lack of care and theological precision. Also, I wanted to hear someone with a thorough understanding of the entire bible, not merely a New Testament teacher. I longed to hear a biblical scholar with the qualities of honesty and humility. I found such a man in Dr. S. Lewis Johnson.

Believers Chapel is in the process of putting all of his audio teaching online, so bookmark the site and check for updates. I have listened to all of his teaching in audio form (about 826 cassettes with 2 messages per tape usually), and I was amazed by the content. If you long for in-depth exegetical teaching, then listen to this man. Not only was he a fine scholar, but he modeled sound doctrine by his life.

Fred G. Zaspel has written (back in January 30, 2004) a tribute to Dr. Johnson that is worth reading. He says this about Dr. Johnson:

On January 28, 2004, Dr. S. Lewis Johnson passed away at age eighty-eight. He was a Biblical scholar and theologian of rare abilities and of international renown, and he was a beloved friend. His influence on my own ministry would be difficult to measure. The hundreds of tapes of his preaching and teaching have gone free of charge to thousands of people all over the world, and it was by means of these tapes that I first became acquainted with him. When he first came to preach for me I asked the congregation if any had previously heard him. No one had, but I was quick to assure them all that they had indeed heard him often! Over the years he came to speak at our church and at our pastors' conference many times, and even in his latest years it was challenging and blessed to hear him expound the Word of God with such precision and clarity.

Dr. Johnson was born in Birmingham, AL and grew up in Charleston, SC. He was always quick to assure everyone that his smooth, dignified, and pleasant southern accent was actually "English in its pure form." He graduated from the College of Charleston with an B.A. degree in 1937 and was converted through the teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse while in the insurance business in Birmingham. He left the insurance business in 1943 to enter Dallas Theological Seminary, from which he received the Th.M (1946) and Th.D. (1949) degrees. He completed further graduate work at the University of Edinburgh, Southern Methodist University, and in the University of Basel. Remaining at Dallas Seminary Dr. Johnson was Professor of New Testament from 1950 to 1972 and Professor of Systematic Theology from 1972 to 1977. He later served as Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL, and as Visiting Professor of Systematic Theology at Tyndale Theological Seminary, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Dr. Johnson preached and lectured in many places, large and small, taught countless home Bible studies, and was involved in starting several churches. In 1963 he and others planted Believers' Chapel in Dallas, and it is from the Chapel that so many thousands of his tapes have gone to the benefit of countless people.

He was in so many ways a man to emulate. He was a true gentleman. He was always personable and a great delight in conversation. His humor was always good, and his wit was always quick. He was a careful student of the Scriptures with unusually superior abilities as an exegete and theologian. His abilities with the original languages were clearly superior, and when discussion began he would always lead from his Greek and Hebrew text. He was a man of conviction, willing to step down from a noted career rather than surrender his beliefs. He was passionate for the gospel, and his heart was always hot for Christ. He was a humble and godly man. I have said many times that if God would allow me to grow old as gracefully and as saintly as Dr. Johnson I would become proud and ruin it. He was a model scholar, a model teacher, a model preacher, a model friend, and a model Christian. He was that rare combination of so many abilities and virtues. I thank God for him and feel much the poorer without him.

Among his greatest passions was the faithful expounding of the nature of Christ's atoning work. He clearly cherished any and every opportunity to demonstrate from the Scriptures the success and effectiveness of Christ's death as a substitute for His people. And when it was his turn to listen, elderly though he was, he would sit right up front with his Greek and Hebrew Bible in hand. And though virtually every speaker he would hear would necessarily be a man of comparatively inferior abilities, he seemed always just to delight in hearing the Word of God preached. And afterwards he was always eager to fellowship with younger preachers and laymen alike and discuss the things of Christ and examine the Word of God together.

The last time I spoke with Dr. Johnson, about a month or so ago, it was evident that he was growing tired and frail. He fell ill earlier this month, but his illness was brief before the Lord took him home to glory. He leaves behind him his wonderful wife Martha whom we love dearly also, and our prayers are now for her. By his tape ministry I came to love Dr. S. Lewis Johnson before I ever knew him, and I count it a great blessing to have known him. Probably no one outside my own father has taught me more, and few could ever be more beloved. I praise the Lord for him.

I praise the Lord for him as well, and I encourage you to listen to his teaching. Phil Johnson was also acquainted with his teaching, and he bookmarks the Chapel with the following comment:

Selected articles and other resources from Believers Chapel in Dallas—best known for the excellent teaching of the late Dr. S. Lewis Johnson. You'll find some excellent material on key doctrines here.