Some Hardshell Baptists have embraced the doctrinal error of what is called "eternal justification," a teaching that says that the elect were justified in eternity past since it was in eternity past that God made the decision to justify the elect through the work of Christ. This was an error that some embraced in the 17th century, such as Joseph Hussey, Samuel Richardson, and later by John Gill in the 18th century.
The "Primitive Baptists" (Hardshells) however have historically claimed allegiance to the 1689 London Confession of faith. They had a convention in 1900 in Fulton, Kentucky where they stated that they still held to that confession. Yet, as we have seen, they began to deny many of that confession's teachings so that many of them today no longer claim what their forefathers claimed in the "Fulton Confession." This is true with the question of eternal justification, an error that is denied by the 1689 confession. Hardshells have been eager to embrace this error because they have digressed so far that they now believe that one does not have to be a believer in Jesus (have evangelical faith) in order to be saved and justified. The older divines who embraced eternal justification, however, did not go so far as to deny the necessity of faith in Christ for salvation.
Here is what the 1689 Confession says:
"God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did in the fullness of time die for their sins, and rise again for their justification; nevertheless, they are not justified personally, until the Holy Spirit in time does actually apply Christ to them." ("Of Justification" chapter 11)
The Hardshells today say that "justification by faith" as taught in Romans and elsewhere has nothing to do with being eternally saved. That, however, is no minor error.
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