James Petigru Boyce (1827-88)

James P. Boyce was the founder and the first president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1859-88). His Abstract of Systematic Theology was the foundational textbook of theology for Southern Seminary for decades after his death and is still in print today.

When I think back to the example left by Boyce, I am encouraged by his devotion to the local church. He taught Bible classes at Broadway Baptist Church for many years. He was a firm believer in giving ministers of the gospel a sound theological education.

It would be foolish of me to spend this week glorifying Southern’s forefathers as if they were all saintly heroes. Boyce agreed with many of his fellow Southern Baptists that slavery was acceptable. But lest we consider ourselves more righteous and holy today, let us be remember that we all have problems in applying the gospel we proclaim.

If anything, Boyce would agree that he should not be held in high esteem. Praise is reserved for Jesus himself. We are sinners. He is the Savior. And yet, we today are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses - those sinner/saints who have gone before us, doing their best to live faithfully the gospel of God’s saving grace.

One of Boyce’s students recounts the following conversation:

‘We heard the greatest sermon of our lives today.”
“Who preached it?”
“Jim Peter” (Boyce)
“What was his text?”
“God”
“What was his theme?”
“God”
“What were the divisions of the discourse?”
“God”

May the same be said of us.