Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Recovering the Reformed Roots of Southern Baptists
Have you ever stopped to consider where Southern Baptists actually come from theologically? For many, Southern Baptists are simply “Bible-believing evangelicals” or “mission-minded Baptists” who arose in the American South in the 19th century. That much is true, but it is not the whole story. If you trace the doctrinal DNA of Southern Baptists, you quickly discover that they stand squarely in the stream of the Reformed tradition. This may shock some, especially since many modern Southern Baptists either downplay or outright deny any connection to Reformed theology. But the reality is undeniable: Southern Baptists today stand on the shoulders of theological titans who came before them, men and women who paid a price to preserve and pass down the truths of Scripture.
Many in our churches today are unaware of this heritage, not because it has been lost, but because it has been neglected in our teaching. In that void, Southern Baptist identity is too often reduced to an American cultural tradition rather than embraced as a rich theological inheritance flowing from the Reformation and grounded in the Word of God.. We have inherited a treasure chest of theology, but too often it sits unopened. In this article, I aim to trace the story of how Southern Baptists evolved from the Reformers, through the Puritans and English Baptists, across the Atlantic to America, and ultimately into the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention. Along the way, I’ll also explain why so many modern Baptists have forgotten or even resisted these roots. My prayer is that as we recover our history, we will also recover our identity in Christ, seeing with greater clarity who we are and standing with greater conviction in what God has called us to be.
From the Apostles to the Reformers
The Baptist story, like all faithful Christian traditions, ultimately begins with Jesus Christ and His apostles. The New Testament church was characterized by the supremacy of the Word of God, the sufficiency of God's work, and the sanctity of God's worship. Practically, this highlights the preaching of the gospel, believers’ baptism, and congregational life under Christ’s headship. However, as centuries passed, the church grew increasingly institutionalized, layered with tradition, and compromised by political entanglements, and was often engulfed in pragmatism.
By the Middle Ages, the gospel of grace had been obscured beneath a mountain of ritual and sacramentalism. It was into this world that God raised the Reformers. Men like Martin Luther and John Calvin called the church back to the authority of Scripture (sola Scriptura), salvation by grace alone through faith alone (sola gratia, sola fide), and the glory of God alone (soli Deo gloria). The Reformation was not just about reforming doctrine but about recovering the gospel itself.
While the Reformers did not resolve every issue, such as baptism and church polity, their recovery of gospel truth set the stage for later movements, including the rise of our own spiritual tradition.
Puritans, Separatists, and the Birth of the Baptists
We trace the early stages of Baptist origins back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when the English Reformation, sparked by Henry VIII’s quest for a male heir, led to the establishment of the Church of England. This body retained many Catholic rituals even while adopting elements of Protestant doctrine. Within this environment, the Puritans emerged, seeking to further purify the church according to Scripture. Some remained within Anglicanism, while others (Pilgrims), Separatists concluded the Church of England was beyond reform and chose to leave altogether.
It was from this Separatist stream that the first Baptists emerged. In 1609, John Smyth and Thomas Helwys organized the first Baptist congregation in Amsterdam, emphasizing two convictions that remain core to Baptists today:
Believers’ baptism (not infant baptism) is the biblical pattern.
Religious liberty, insisting that the state has no authority to compel faith.
“These Baptists did not invent anything new; they merely recovered what already existed but had faded into distant memory.”
These Baptists did not invent anything new; they merely recovered what already existed but had faded into distant memory. They were carrying forward the Reformed commitment to Scripture alone and applying it consistently to the church's doctrines.
The Particular Baptists and Reformed Theology
By the mid-1600s, a group known as the Particular Baptists emerged in England. Unlike the earlier General Baptists, who leaned Arminian, the Particular Baptists were thoroughly Calvinistic in their theology. They held to the doctrines of grace, the sovereignty of God in salvation, and a covenantal framework for understanding Scripture. In 1689, they published the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, which closely mirrored the Westminster Confession of Faith (Presbyterian) and the Savoy Declaration (Congregationalist). This confession became the gold standard of Baptist orthodoxy and reveals just how deeply Baptists identified with the broader Reformed tradition. They were Baptists in practice, but they were Reformed in doctrine. More than a century later, Baptists in America would adopt the New Hampshire Confession of 1853, a streamlined but still Calvinistic statement of faith that served as the foundation for the Baptist Faith and Message
Baptists Cross the Atlantic
As Baptists migrated to the American colonies, they carried their convictions with them. Roger Williams founded the first Baptist church in America (Providence, Rhode Island) in 1638, championing both believers’ baptism and religious liberty. Later figures, such as Isaac Backus, carried forward Baptist convictions through the colonial period, intertwining them with the growing American emphasis on the liberty of conscience.
During the First Great Awakening (1730s–40s), Baptists were profoundly shaped by revivalist preaching particularly the ministry of George Whitefield. The Awakening spread evangelical fervor and conversion-centered preaching, which resonated deeply with Baptist churches. By the time of the American Revolution, Baptists were one of the fastest-growing denominations in the colonies.
The Southern Baptist Convention (1845)
In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was formed in Augusta, Georgia. While the circumstances of its founding were tragically entangled with the defense of slavery, the theology of the early Southern Baptists was thoroughly confessional and Reformed.
The Abstract of Principles (1858), the confessional document for Southern Seminary, is explicitly Calvinistic. Early leaders like James P. Boyce and John L. Dagg taught the sovereignty of God in salvation, the necessity of conversion, and the authority of Scripture. Missions and evangelism were not seen as conflicting with Reformed theology, but rather as the natural outworking of it.
In short, Southern Baptists began as Baptists of the Reformed tradition, standing on the shoulders of the Reformers, the Puritans, and the early Baptists.
Why Have Southern Baptists Forgotten Their Roots?
If all this is true, why do so many modern Southern Baptists deny or downplay their Reformed heritage? The reasons are several:
Revivalist Influence – In the 19th and 20th centuries, revivalism swept through American evangelicalism. Preachers like Charles Finney emphasized human decision and emotional appeals. This shifted Baptist preaching toward free will and away from the doctrines of grace.
Cultural Individualism – American culture prizes autonomy and personal choice. The idea that God sovereignly elects and draws sinners to Himself runs counter to this cultural narrative, leading many to resist or reject it.
Educational Drift – For much of the 20th century, Southern Baptist seminaries and institutions leaned away from historic confessionalism. As a result, generations of pastors were trained without exposure to their Reformed heritage.
Label Confusion – Many Baptists resist the term “Reformed” because they associate it with Presbyterians or paedobaptists (infant baptism). They forget that one can be Baptist in practice (believers’ baptism, congregational polity) while still Reformed in doctrine (doctrines of grace, God’s sovereignty).
The result is that many Southern Baptists today believe their movement originated independently, rather than seeing themselves as heirs to a rich theological lineage.
Addressing Common Misconceptions
Before closing, it is worth addressing some common misconceptions that keep Southern Baptists from embracing their Reformed heritage. For many of my Southern Baptists reading this today, when they hear the word “Calvinism,” it is often associated as a dirty word, associated with fatalism, cold theology, or even the idea that evangelism isn’t necessary. (As I explain more fully in Unpacking Calvinism: What History and Theology Really Teach Us, these doctrines are not fatalistic or anti-evangelistic but deeply biblical and historically Baptist.) The problem of cultural individualism has distorted our Southern Baptist heritage as America prides itself on free will, choice, and autonomy. However, when one truly understands the doctrines of grace (not Calvinism), which emphasize biblical teachings and convictions on God’s sovereign election and perseverance, it sadly runs counter to the way many Baptists have been led to believe that faith is all about “my choice for Jesus.”
For over a century, Baptists have been deeply influenced by revivalism and decisionism pioneered by Charles Finney, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham. That has created deep grooves in Southern Baptists' minds of an identity of “making a decision” more than confessing God’s sovereign initiative in salvation. Others believe that if one uses the term “Reformed,” it immediately makes one Presbyterian and that one believes in infant baptism or rigid church structures. Many do not realize you can be fully Baptist in practice (believer’s baptism, congregational polity) while still maintaining Reformed doctrine (doctrines of grace, confessionalism).
Sadly, much of the 20th century, many Southern Baptist churches prioritized pragmatism, church growth, and programs over doctrinal depth. However, if Southern Baptist pastors would incorporate teaching church history, members would continue to assume Southern Baptists were always just “American evangelicals” rather than heirs of the Reformation. To forget our Reformed heritage is to lose sight of who we are, but to embrace it is to recover the strength and clarity we need for faithfulness today.
Why This Matters Today
“Recovering our Reformed heritage is not about labels; it is about faithfulness. ”
Recovering our Reformed heritage is not about labels; it is about faithfulness. Southern Baptists are not called to idolize the Reformers, Puritans, or early Baptists. But we are called to recognize that we did not invent our theology in the 19th century. We are part of a great story of God’s faithfulness, carried forward by men and women who treasured His Word and proclaimed His gospel.
When we remember our roots, we:
Gain clarity about who we are.
Recover a deeper confidence in the sovereignty of God.
See missions and evangelism not as opposed to Reformed theology but as fueled by it.
Stand humbled and grateful for the heritage we have received.
When you follow the trail of Baptist confessions, the continuity is stunning. The 1689 London Baptist Confession gave Particular Baptists their theological backbone; the 1742 Philadelphia Confession carried it into colonial America; the 1833 New Hampshire Confession simplified but still reflected Reformed convictions; and in 1925, Southern Baptists formally adopted the Baptist Faith and Message, which was revised in 1963, 2000, and remains our doctrinal standard today. In other words, from 1689 to the present, our confessional lineage has consistently flowed out of the Reformed tradition. For many Southern Baptists, realizing this lineage—stretching from London to Philadelphia to New Hampshire and finally into the Southern Baptist Convention—should be nothing short of eye-opening.
Conclusion: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Southern Baptists today face many challenges: cultural hostility, doctrinal drift, and generational apathy. The temptation is always to reinvent ourselves to stay relevant. But the wiser path is to recover who we already are. We are heirs of the apostles, the Reformers, the Puritans, and the early Baptists. We are a people whose roots are in the Reformed tradition, even if we have forgotten it.
So let us not be ignorant of our heritage. Let us open the treasure chest, learn from those who have gone before us, and recommit ourselves to the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ. In doing so, we will not only honor our past but strengthen our future. Southern Baptists did not spring out of thin air; we were carried here by the providence of God and the faithfulness of His people. And for that, we can only say: Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone be the glory.