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 John
Bunyan was born in Bedforsdhire, England
in 1628. Like Andrew Fuller, Bunyan
came from the working class and understood poverty early in
life. His early life included a good deal of degradation as
well as a stint in the army. Even after he had married, Bunyan
was what we would call today a wayward Christian. He later
realized he was no Christian at all. The story is oft told
of how Bunyan heard a sermon one Sunday morning against the
evils of Sunday sports. That afternoon, while playing "cats",
Bunyan heard a voice in his heart which said, "Wilt thou leave
thy sins and go to Heaven, or have thy sins and go to hell?"
Those words would not leave him over the next few months.
In one of God’s divine encounters, John Bunyan began to turn
from religion in form to Christ in fact. One day Bunyan tried
to join in on a conversation about religion with several poor
women he heard talking as he walked down the street. He thought
himself to be quite knowledgeable about such things so he
attempted to reason along with these godly women. Instead,
Bunyan had no idea what they were speaking of. He wrote:
"Their
talk ... was about a new birth, the work of God on their
hearts, also how they were convinced of their miserable
state by nature. They talked how God had visited their souls
with His love in the Lord Jesus, and with what words and
promises they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported
against the temptations of the devil." 1
Later
those same women introduced Bunyan to their pastor, John Gifford.
While not Baptist, Gifford and the church he pastored were
definitely congregational and definitely not "high church."
The church was comprised of both Congregational and Baptist
believers. It was under Gifford’s preaching and teaching that
Bunyan at last came to Christ. Bunyan's, Grace
Abounding is his own spiritual biography. In it
he tells how the verse, "He hath made peace by the blood of
His cross" (Colossians 1:20), finally broke through to his
heart and he was truly saved.
Several
years (1656) after coming to Christ, Bunyan began to preach
at the same church which Gifford had pastored. He was above
all a preacher who would proclaim God's Word anywhere and
everywhere:
"He
himself ... went out to preach the Word in the open air
on village greens, in barns, in private houses, and sometimes
even in parish churches. Bedfordshire and neighboring shires
are full of traditions of his preaching, and several Congregational
and Baptist churches claimed to have been founded through
his preaching." 2
It was not long before Bunyan’s willingness and drive to preach
the gospel everywhere got him into trouble. By 1660, Anglican
royalists had stepped up their attacks on non-conformist preachers
(Baptists, Congregationalists, and Puritans in general). It
became illegal to preach in non-sanctioned places. So on Nov
12, 1660, John Bunyan was arrested for preaching in a field
near a farmhouse. Upon his arrest, Bunyan was informed that
if he would apologize to the magistrates and refrain from
preaching, he would be released. Bunyan replied that such
a promise was not possible and thus began a twelve year imprisonment.
His refusal to cease preaching reminds one of Peter and John's
reply to the Jewish leaders when they were instructed to refrain
from preaching:
Acts
4:18-20 - "Then they called them in again and commanded
them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
But Peter and John replied, 'Judge for yourselves whether
it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God.
For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and
heard.'"
During
those 12 years of imprisonment, Bunyan wrote Grace
Abounding, Confessions of Faith, and A Defense of the
Doctrine of Justification by Faith. Ernest Bacon speculates
that it was in the last part of his imprisonment that Bunyan
began to formulate his greatest work, Pilgrim's
Progress.3
Finally, King Charles II released most religious prisoners
including John Bunyan. Bunyan emerged a leader among non-conformist
and the pastor of the church at Bedford. He wouldn't have
long to spend with his wife and seven children, however. On
Feb 1675, Charles II changed his mind and Bunyan along with
others was arrested again. This time more legally minded friends
accomplished the release of Bunyan after a short time. On
leaving prison this second time, Bunyan released for publication
part one of his monumental The Pilgrims Progress in 1678.
What
may seem like a question for church historians and no one
else is whether Bunyan was really a Baptist at all. The answer
is important to modern Christians as you will see. There can
be no doubt that Bunyan had little use for denominational
titles. He once said:
"As
for those titles of Anabaptists, Independents, Presbyterians,
or the like, I conclude that they come neither from Jerusalem
nor from Antioch, but rather from hell and Babylon, for
they naturally tend to division."4
In
fact, it would probably be safer to call Bunyan a baptist
rather than a Baptist. He was baptized as a believing adult
and often taught that baptism should be administered only
to those who had heard and embraced the gospel. At the same
time, Bunyan did not believe that either baptism or the Lord's
Supper should divide true Christians. "Instead of accenting
the differences … he emphasized the fundamentals of the faith
which all true believers shared. He defended the gospel as
the basis of Christian unity … When he involved himself in
controversy, he did so because he saw a challenge to the gospel
itself."5
Bunyan was a baptist in the sense that he held to what became
the foundational tenets of Baptists. He was committed to God's
Word first and foremost; he held to a congregational form
of church government; and he strongly emphasized justification
by faith alone.
Bunyan
certainly was in sympathy with the Particular Baptists in
his firm grip on the Doctrines of Grace. We, of what is sometimes
called the Reformed Faith, could learn much from John Bunyan.
He was far more interested in God's glory and man's salvation
than he was in restrictive denominational tags.
By the time of Bunyan’s death in 1688, eleven editions of
The Pilgrim’s Progress had been published with over 100,000
copies in print. He left a legacy of many other great books
and poems. None of these, however, are his greatest legacy
to us. Bunyan’s greatest gift to the church was his demonstration
that the Doctrines of Grace are not static or cold. The gospel
is not predestination - it is Christ! Grace is how God brings
us to Christ. Above all Bunyan loved Christ. He preached Christ
and exalted Christ.
"There
was first and foremost in John Bunyan a deep personal love
for his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ ... Bunyan's books
are full of Christ - His welcome, His unshakable truth,
his advocacy for sinners ... His preaching and writing were
Christ-centered, and it was this that carried men's hearts
captive to Christ. If our present day preachers and theologians
had the same emphasis a very different spirit would prevail
in both the Church and the State." 6
Check out these works by Bunyan On-Line
Grace
Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
Justification by an Imputed
Righteousness
The Acceptable Sacrifice
Return
to Portraits Page
1
John Bunyan: Pilgrim and Dreamer by Ernest W. Bacon, Baker
Book House: Grand Rapids, MI, 1983., p. 65
2
ibid., p. 79.
3
ibid., p.118.
4
A Confession of My Faith by John Bunyan, 1672, v. 191.
5 Baptist Theologians by Timothy George and David S. Dockery,
Broadman Press: Nashville, TN, 1990, p. 26.
6 Bacon, p. 178
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