John Piper is A Hyper-Calvinist!

John Piper is a hyper-calvinist -- at least according to Dr. Emir Caner, dean of The College at Southwestern (TCS) on the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and former professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He made this accusation as a part of a series of posts by him and his brother, Dr. Ergun Caner, Dean of the Liberty Theological Seminary on the official blog of the Founder's Ministry, authored by Dr. Tom Ascol. His exact comments were as follows:

Also, is it true Bethlehem Baptist has revised their hymnal to fit the mold of their hyper-Calvinist pastor? I hear they now sing, "Jesus loves some of the children, some of the children in the world..."

Dr. John Piper is the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, a growing congregation located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is most definitely not a hyper-calvinist. His church excels in missions, fully sponsoring over a hundred missionaries currently on the field. But, just in case one still thinks Dr. Caner may have a point, let me lay out the distinctions of hyper-calvinism in order to see how ridiculous this charge is.

According to Phil Johnson in his "A Primer on Hyper-Calvinism", A hypercalvinist is a person who denies at least one of the following statements:
1. That the gospel call applies to all who hear.
2. That faith is the duty of every sinner.
3. That the gospel makes any "offer" of Christ, salvation, or mercy to the non-elect (or that the offer of divine mercy is free and universal).
4. That there is such a thing as "common grace."
5. That God has any sort of love for the non-elect.

I think you will find that even a cursory study of John Piper's writings and sermons will demonstrate that this term does not in any way describe Dr. Piper. But what this does reveal is the growing dislike for Calvinism among the SBC elites and the willingness they have to discredit those with whom they disagree. This is a sad situation. We should all be praying for the future of the Southern Baptist Convention.