F. Leroy Forlines: Theology for All of Life

Posted By Jackson Watts on Feb 25, 2013 | 5 comments

Few people have had more influence over the theological commitments of Free Will Baptists than Leroy Forlines (1926-present). While the inclusion of a living person in FWB Heritage month will strike some as odd, it is certainly appropriate when one considers Forlines’ impact on the Free Will Baptist denomination and Arminian theology at large. His multi-generational impact will be considered in this essay.

Personal Background

Franklin Leroy Forlines was born and raised on a tobacco farm in eastern North Carolina on November 14, 1926. As a child of the Great Depression, he knew both the realities of economic hardship, as well as the uniqueness of being a part of the aptly-named “greatest generation” [1]. Though raised in the Bible-belt, it wasn’t until age 17 that Forlines was converted during a revival meeting (1944). Feeling the Holy Spirit’s leadership in the subsequent years, Forlines made the pilgrimage to Free Will Baptist Bible College in 1948 to begin studies. He would graduate in ’52 in the second graduating class to receive bachelor’s degrees.

Four years later he met and married his future wife—Carolyn Le Fay Gilbert. Ironically, she was introduced to Leroy by their boss, L. C. Johnson. They raised two sons, Jon and James, who have both been long-time leaders in Free Will Baptist churches and institutions. Even now, some 50+ years later, the Forlineses are a mainstay at National Conventions and other denominational functions.

Academics: Background, Influences & Achievements

It has been common for students throughout the years to refer to Forlines as “Doctor” as opposed to “Mister,” though he never earned a doctorate. The mistake is understandable, given his passionate intellect and academic achievements.

While many conservative Baptists were gravitating toward schools such as Bob Jones University, Forlines traveled north and earned his first masters degree at the Winona Lake School of Theology in 1959. Four years later he earned a Bachelor of Divinity from the Northern Baptist Theological Seminary [2]. Still later, rather than pursuing a doctorate, Forlines earned the only other terminal theological degree (Th.M.) at the distinguished Chicago Graduate School of Theology (1970). These degrees not only gained Forlines membership in organizations like the Evangelical Theological Society. They equipped him for unique scholarship and ministry.

Without question, Forlines will forever be thought of as a professor-scholar. He taught Bible and theology at Welch College when it was still Free Will Baptist Bible College. Over the span of 50+ years, Forlines taught courses like Romans, Biblical Ethics, Eschatology, and most notably, Systematic Theology. Because systematics is required for all ministry majors (and an elective Bible credit for others), Forlines taught well over a thousand students in this course alone! To say he is the principal theological influence on most Free Will Baptists would be no overstatement [3].

Much of Forlines’ published work arose out of his academic course-load. Not only did he teach ethics, but he published Biblical Ethics in 1973. This work included a distinct critique of cheap-easy believism, and an exposition of the four basic ethical values [4]. But it was Forlines’ book Biblical Systematics (1975) that became the definitive Free Will Baptist doctrinal book for the next 25 years. Its influence was only slowed when its contents took fuller form in The Quest for Truth (2001). Originally the subtitle was “Answering Life’s Inescapable Questions,” but later became “Theology for a Postmodern World.” This reflects that Quest doesn’t only go deeper on soteriology, but also introduces important concepts such as worldview, epistemology, and apologetics to many readers.

Forlines belongs to an older breed of theologians. This is evidenced by both his influences, as well as his writings. He was influenced by luminaries of the Evangelical Renaissance such as Kenneth Kantzer, the British scholar H. D. McDonald, and Carl F. H. Henry. Henry’s fingerprints aren’t difficult to find in Forlines’ writing, both theologically and stylistically.

Forlines was like a previous era of theologians who published both a systematics volume as well as a biblical commentary: Romans (1987). The Quest for Truth, though, is perhaps the most fruitful work to read if one must select a single book of his to read. Readers encounter his passion for truth, a biblical understanding of conversion, and his distinct “total personality” approach to theology. For many Free Will Baptists, including myself, Forlines became a gateway to understanding that theology is for all of life. He engaged destructive worldviews (postmodernism), non-Arminian theologians (Hodge), and his neo-orthodox contemporaries (Brunner). The belief that orthodoxy shapes and is shaped by orthopraxy is one that permeates his work.

For those outside of the Free Will Baptist movement, Forlines’ name (alongside his colleague Robert Picirilli) has become synonymous with Classical or Reformed Arminianism. Thus, many greatly welcomed Forlines’ Classical Arminianism: A Theology of Salvation (2011), an edited volume which consisted of earlier published material on Calvinism and Arminianism. It has since been reviewed by many Arminian bloggers. Though Forlines no doubt learned from others, his outlook was always rooted in Arminian thought, cognizant of wider cultural changes, and tailored for a mid-late 20th-century conservative Christian audience.

Serving God’s People: Ministry and Leadership

Mr. Forlines has always manifested a deep concern for the spiritual lives of his students. Though he only served as a pastor for a short time in the early 1950s, Forlines exercised spiritual oversight as Dean of Men and Women at Welch College for 17 years. Furthermore, it was not uncommon for Forlines to visit with struggling students in his office. The pastor’s heart never went away, despite the fact that his calling was exercised more behind a lectern than a pulpit.

An easily overlooked role that joined the academic with the pastoral was his service to the Commission for Theological Integrity for over 50 years [5]. While his role as chairman would be considered an academic one, it is without question a leadership role that touched (and continues to touch) countless local churches. Integrity, the Theological Symposium, and the annual lecture at the National Convention (all of which bear his fingerprints) are ministries designed to benefit pastors, and by extension, lay persons. Leroy and Fay even spent significant time in the former Soviet Union training pastors in the late 1990s.

Work Left to Do

The label “retired” doesn’t quite fit Mr. Forlines. As he told one interviewer in 2006, “I’m just getting into overdrive” [6]. He hopes to complete a lengthy project on the roots of secularism in America this year, as well as a book on eschatology and covenantal theology. Receiving the title “Professor emeritus” in 1992 never slowed him. Though he has passed the instructor-baton of his two-semester systematic theology course to two former students, he still teaches eschatology occasionally [7]. In this he leaves behind a great legacy to build upon, one that he himself inherited from figures like Paul Palmer, John L Welch, and L. C. Johnson.

Many students remember Forlines for the imaginary snowballs tossed at sleeping students. Others remember the efforts to keep the “boys downstairs” and the “boys upstairs” working in concert [8]. Yet his legacy includes published works, an annual lecture series at Welch College named for him, and many competent pastors. In sum, his most valuable contribution was a theology that is big enough, deep enough, and meaningful enough to impact all of life.

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[1] This phrase of course is derived from Tom Brokaw’s award-winning book by the same name, published in 2004. Brokaw was referring to the WWII generation of who fought, served, and started families following the war.

[2] For contemporary readers, it will be helpful to know that the “Bachelor of Divinity” (B.D.) in those days would be the equivalent of today’s “Master of Divinity” (M.Div.).

[3] Some will immediately question how this can be since many Free Will Baptist ministers did not receive their education at FWBBC/Welch College. However, many still purchased and read his many pamphlets, and landmark books—Biblical Systematics and The Quest for Truth.

[4] Forlines’ work with the commission began when it went by the name “The Commission for Theological Liberalism.”

[5] “Making Doctrine Practical” from his articles on Christian Doctrine in Contact.

[6] Jack Williams’ excellent interview/essay can be found at http://www.onemag.org/no_excuses.htm, accessed 29 January 2013.

[7] http://www.onemag.org/news_education40.htm accessed on 29, January 2013.

[8] This was a reference to the subconscious versus conscious minds. Sometimes Forlines referred to his own, and sometimes his students. But the “boys” represented the sort of mental team that worked on two levels for the human mind/personality to function.

**Some of my insight was drawn from the above-cited sources. The rest is drawn from personal contact and conversation with Forlines, and his other students particularly. Specifically, we had a recent conversation on Friday, January 29, 2013 in preparation for the publication of this essay.

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Pamphlets/Articles by Leroy Forlines

“What Must I Do to Be Saved?” (1953)

“The Bible College Approach to Education” (1965)

“Issues Among Evangelicals” (1968)

“Christian Doctrine” (1970-1981, Contact)

 “Evolution” (1973)

“Morals and Orthodoxy” (1974)

“Cheap-Easy Believism” (1975)

“Inerrancy and Scriptures” (1978)

“Christian Standards and Convictions Without Legalism” (1981)

“The Prophets of Prosperity” (1982)

“The Doctrine of Perseverance” (1986)

“A Plea for Unabridged Christianity” (2003)

Many presentations at theological conferences and meetings

Years of Randall House curriculum

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