Ask RC- What’s the difference between a fundamentalist and an evangelical?

There’s a great deal of history and nuance to this question. One could argue that the terms are identical. Both groups trace their roots to a prior term, and the shift to the new term to the same source. That is, in a very real sense these once were synonyms for the prior term Protestant. At the time of the Reformation Protestants were those who affirmed the solas of the Reformation. That remained true across the board among Protestants until the rise of theological liberalism. Liberalism had its historical roots in Protestantism, but it not only denied the solas, but even creedal affirmations that transcend the Reformation- the miracles in the Bible, the deity and resurrection of Jesus. This is why J. Gresham Machen titled his landmark work Christianity and Liberalism, because he rightly saw them as two different faiths. Now there were two groups among the Protestants, those who affirmed the fundamentals, and those who would not.

So what is it that divides these two groups who affirm the fundamentals? That’s where it gets a smidge fuzzy, more cultural than propositional. Fundamentalists by and large adopted an ethic of separation that evangelicals would not accept. The fundamentalist is one who not only rejects those who reject the fundamentals, but rejects those who will not reject those who reject the fundamentals. Or, to put it in more technical terms, they practice and promote second degree separation.

To grasp this principle, let’s apply it to a contemporary situation. TD Jakes, a wildly popular author, will not affirm the historic doctrine of the Trinity. As such, any confessional person or body ought to see him as outside the universal church. A sound evangelical and a sound fundamentalist would not invite the man to preach in his pulpit. But suppose someone were comfortable inviting the man to come participate in an in-house discussion among brothers about how to do ministry. A sound, historical evangelical would not do this. He would, however, be willing to overlook, or forgive someone else for doing so. The fundamentalist, however, would not only reject TD Jakes for his egregious error, but would reject those who don’t reject him, including the pastor who invited him. Perhaps in turn the fundamentalist would even be willing to reject any who don’t reject the inviting pastor.

This distinction, in turn, may reveal something of a deeper divide between the two groups. One cynical, but perhaps insightful wag once described an evangelical as one who says to the theological liberal, “I will call you brother, if you will call me scholar.” Fundamentalists, to their credit, are not terribly interested in the applause and approval of the world. Evangelicals tend to be more hungry for such. There are other distinctions as well. Fundamentalists tend to adopt a more dispensational eschatology. Evangelicals do tend to be more scholarly. Fundamentalists tend to be more separatist, evangelicals more worldly.

What we have in common, however, is far more than what separates us. And, I would argue, what separates us is where we ought to learn from each other. Fundamentalists would be well served to learn to distinguish between actual guilt and mere guilt by association. They would do well to allow their zeal for the authority of the Word to undo their commitment to that hermeneutic, dispensationalism, which divides and ultimately misapplies the Word. But evangelicals could learn from their brothers a healthy indifference to the approval of the world. We could learn a deeper hunger for the approval of our Lord, who told us that if we are His, the world would hate us as it hates Him. We could learn from our fundamentalist brothers something of the spirit that birthed us both, that we are called to say to the watching world about the Word, “Here we stand. We can do no other.” In the end, where evangelicals are at their best, fundamentalists are on the same page. And where fundamentalists are at their best, evangelicals are on the same page. Evangelicals believe the fundamentals. Fundamentalists are evangelical. And all of us need and rest on the grace of God in Christ alone.