KETOCTON REGULAR BAPTIST ASSN. (VIRGINIA) NOT CALVINIST?

 The Ketocton Association of Regular Baptist Churches was founded in 1766. Smith Creek Regular Baptist Church, est. 1756, is the oldest Regular church still in existence in Virginia. They applied for membership in the Philadelphia Association in 1762, but in 1765 they withdrew, along with other churches to form the Ketocton Regular Baptist Association. When they adopted their AoF, they dropped the "certain number" clause found in so many other AoF.. 

Ketocton Articles of Faith 

 1) We believe that the fall of mankind in Adam led to all men’s guilt and condemnation, together with their entire and universal depravity, by which they were utterly alienated from God and are unable in and of themselves to turn to Him.

2) We believe that God, from the beginning or in eternity, chose His people in Christ unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; all of which are set forth and affected through the Gospel.

3) We believe in the special and complete redemption of all the family of God through the blood of Christ by virtue of His vicarious suffering and sacrificial death.

4) We believe that regeneration and sanctification are by direct agency of the Holy Spirit through the instrumentality of divine truth and evidenced by the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

5) We believe that the justification of the ungodly is by grace, through the imputed righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is unto all and upon all them that believe.

6) We believe in the absolute necessity of a holy life in conformity to the life of Christ as the result of faith and the evidence of regeneration.

7) We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the judgment of all mankind, the wicked driven away in their wickedness into everlasting punishment but the righteous received into life eternal.

8) We believe that the commission of our Lord Jesus Christ given to His disciples makes it imperative on their part to preach the Gospel in all the world, to every creature, until the Lord shall come again from heaven to raise His sleeping dead, to change his living and waiting saints and translate them to glory. Furthermore, the revealed will of Christ makes it the indispensable duty of the churches to support the labors of their ministry with their prayers, active cooperation and material contributions.

9) We believe that Christian baptism is an ordinance of Jesus Christ and consists in the immersion of a believer in water, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

10) We believe that the Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of Jesus Christ and is to be observed within the church; and to take part therein, none are entitled except baptized believers.

11).We believe that the officers of the church are elders, or bishops, and deacons, members of the body, who have been ordained by examination and imposition of the hands of a presbytery, under the authority of the church.

12) We believe that a gospel church is the highest earthly ecclesiastical tribunal in no wise subject to any other church or the decrees of associations of councils but dependent for its acts on the Word and Spirit of God alone. The order of its government is congregational, wherein all its members have an equal voice and authority.

13) We believe in the sanctity of the first day of the week and that it should be observed by abstaining from secular employment and occupied in the public and private worship of God and in works of necessity and mercy.

Article 4 of their AoF states 

"We believe that God, from the beginning or in eternity, chose His people in Christ unto salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ; all of which are set forth and affected through the Gospel." 

This is very similar to how it is phrased in the Eastern District Primitive Baptist articles, because of the phrase "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth". Every single association who includes the phrase "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth", has proven to be a non Calvinist association.  

The Ketocton article also has the phrase "Chose his people in Christ" which is similar to the Coosa Association's articles, another Non Calvinist association. This shows that even many "Regular Baptists" rejected portions of the Philadelphia Confession. This clearly shows a corporate election view and the one becomes part of the"elect" through belief. 

Historically speaking, it is recorded that the Ketocton churches requested dismissal from the Philadelphia Association because of the great distance between them. However, it is interesting that once they formed their own association, they deleted the section of the Philadelphia Confession on particular atonement and irresistible grace.  Article 3 refers to "special" and complete redemption". Some will say this means "particular atonement", but notice there are no articles which speak of election. Election is not the same thing as redemption. Election, in the Calvinist sense, occurs before time, redemption does not. This echoes the scripture when it says "we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe." (1Tim 4:10) Also notice  article 5 says justification  "is unto all and upon all them that believe". This, coupled with the absence of particular or individual election, points to a more general view of the atonement. "Unto all" refers to the free offer of the Gospel to all persons, and "upon all" refers to any who receive it. No regeneration before faith is hinted at, with the doubling down of "unto all" and "upon all" is quite a statement. It seems the Ketocton Assn. navigated  a narrow course and a thin line between Calvinism and Non Calvinism rather successfully.

Are my summations accurate? It would seem so, as the Ketoctin Association still exists, none of the churches are Calvinist (by today's usage of the term), and they haven't lost any churches over time due to doctrinal divisions. I have also spoken directly with pastors in the association, especially the pastor of Smith Creek Regular Baptist Church, who affirms what I say.

Another clue is that it has been proven beyond doubt that the Sandy Creek Association was not Calvinist. In Robert Boyle C. Howell’s 1857 history of early Baptists in Virginia" he records that as early as 1769 the "Ketocton, a Regular, or Calvinistic Association in Northern Virginia, addressed the Sandy Creek, a Separate, or Arminian Association" in Southern Virginia and North Carolina about a possible union. (Robert Boyle C. Howell, The Early Baptists of Virginia (Philadelphia: The Bible and Publication Society, 1857), 45-46. This is further proof that the Ketocton Assn. wasn't Calvinist by today's usage of the term. They obviously thought their theology was so close to that of Sandy Creek, that they inquired about a union between the two associations.

 It seems this bunch of Regular Baptists preached what David Benedict said of John Leland when he said "John Leland, although a Calvinist, was not one of the straitest class. Two grains of Arminianism, with three of Calvinism, he thought, would make a tolerably good compound."

Notice how Benedict, still refers to Leland as "Calvinist". The statement can only mean one thing, that Leland denied limited atonement and irresistible grace. If he preached three "grains" of Calvinism, and two of Arminianism, there can be no other way to interpret this.