BAPTIST DISTINCTIVES - REV. KEVIN SMITH, FBC KINGSTON

I was asked to serve on the BCOQ Baptist Distinctives and Polity Advisory Team. This has resulted in reading over what have historically been the Baptist distinctives within the world-wide Baptist community. In summary, I would to offer them in the acronym BAPPTISTE. It is good occasionally to remember who we are. Here are the Baptist distinctives!

Believer’s Baptism by Immersion -
The qualification for baptism is not a matter of age but of faith. In some religious traditions,
there is pressure to sprinkle the child early in life so that if anything should happen to the child, that she or he would be ensured of going to heaven. In other traditions, baptism is seen as a right
of passage. Baptists believe differently. It is not a rite which creates faith. For us, the qualification for baptism is personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Baptism follows trust in Christ. That is why we speak of regenerate church membership. Each member must experience spiritual regeneration (be born from above). A subject for baptism must be old enough to understand the decision of faith in Christ and must have made that decision before
he or she is baptized. We believe immersion constitutes New Testament baptism. It is only this form that properly fulfills the symbolism of dying, burial, and rising with Christ (Romans 6). Baptists reject infant baptism in favour of believer’s baptism, not only because of their understanding of the New Testament precedence, but also because this practice is more consistent with their understanding of individual competency, the nature of the church, and the significance of the ordinances. Baptism does not save. If a person is not physically able to be baptized, he or she may still be saved. In such cases of physical handicap, under the direction of a doctor, churches have been known to pour water over the baptismal candidate.

Accountable to Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Church
Baptists believe that Jesus Christ, being eternally God, only begotten Son, and the visible expression of the invisible God, effectively procured salvation for all creation through his death, burial, and resurrection. He is the one assigned by God the Father to rule with authority over all creation. Every area of the believer’s life and the life of the church is to be subject to the Lord as he is revealed to us in the Scriptures.

As the supreme head of the church, Jesus Christ must be Lord of every programme and actions of each church. No group or individual can dominate the wishes of other members within a Baptist church. All are accountable to and under the direction of Christ. No action of the church should be contrary to His will. The late William Cleaver Wilkinson, a well-known Baptist in his day, wrote in a large book titled The Baptist Principle, “the true organizing principle of Baptist churches may be stated in three words: Obedience to Christ.” This principle expresses the submission of believers to the supreme headship of Christ. Such obedience controls the glorious
liberty that is ours as Christians following the New Testament pattern.

Primacy of Scripture -
Baptists believe that God communicates His will through the inspired Word of God. For Baptists, the Bible is the final authority in matters of faith and practice. This conviction was given classic formulation in 1833 in the first article of the New Hampshire Confession of Faith:
We believe the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without
mixture of error, for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge us; and therefore is, and shall remain to the end of the world, the true centre of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be tried.

Ultimately, primacy is given to Scripture because of its unique relationship to the Holy Spirit. In the past the Spirit was involved in the composition of the Bible by means of inspiration. Because
God’s Spirit was operative in the formation of Scripture (2 Peter 1:19-21), the documents themselves are “God-breathed” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). In the present the Spirit continues to be involved in the understanding and application of Scripture to each succeeding contemporary situation by means of illumination. The Spirit of Christ directs the Christian and the community by speaking through the pages of the Bible.

Baptists maintain that the Spirit speaking through the Bible must always be given preeminence in Christian life, although tradition, reason, and experience are not to be discounted. This emphasis on the sufficiency of Scripture is especially significant for the question of the use of church creeds. Although Baptists have repeatedly followed other groups in summarizing their convictions in “confessing the faith” for apologetic and instructive uses, these have been seen as valid and helpful only to the extent that they succinctly reflect scriptural teaching. In short, Baptists have sought to stand consistently with Luther’s position, as he purportedly outlined it for the Diet of Worms: Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture or by evident reason - for I confide neither in Pope or a council alone, since it is certain that they have erred and contradicted themselves - I am held fast by the Scripture adduced by me, and my conscience is taken captive by God’s Word. [Roland Bainton, Here I Stand (New York: Mentor Books, 1950), p. 144]

Priesthood of All Believers and Individual Competency -
The Bible affirms the value of each person as having been created in the image of God, and also declares each person morally responsible for his/her own nature and behaviour.

Baptists believe that inherent in the worth of each person is also the right and competency of each individual personally to deal directly with God through Jesus Christ. In essence, each person, by faith, becomes his/her own priest before God; hence, the cherished term “priesthood of all believers”. This implies that all believers share as equals in Christ’s Body, the church. We are called by God to exercise a priestly role toward each other.

A further extension of this principle means that Baptists believe that no group or individual has any right to compel others to believe or worship as they do. Baptists ideally are champions of the cause of religious liberty.

True Believers only in Church membership -
Baptists follow their Congregationalist forebears in accepting the principle of regenerate church membership, or the pure church ideal, as it is sometimes called. This principle articulates a fundamental understanding concerning the nature of the church, namely, that it consists in a people standing in voluntary covenant with one another and God. This outlook suggests further that, as far as possible, church membership, as participation in this covenant company, must be limited to those persons who are truly converted (true believers). Of course, the pure church ideal remains always an ideal. A pure congregation consisting only of regenerate members cannot be established by human beings, since no one can see the heart of another and thereby determine with certainty the status of the other before God.

In contrast to the mixed-membership practice of certain other bodies, Baptists have continually sought to take seriously the New Testament understanding of the church as the company of the redeemed. The teaching of the Scriptures, they maintain, is clear: church membership is to follow, not precede, personal faith and baptism (Acts 2:41).

Interdependent Congregational Government -
Baptists have always adhered to a congregational form of government. Each local church, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, and the authority of Scriptures seeks to govern its own body by the priesthood of all believers. Christ, present in the lives of congregational members, leads them corporately to discover and obey his mind and will.

While there is a certain degree of autonomy and freedom from coercion by other bodies, this does not mean that churches work in isolation. Churches work with one another in a voluntary
denominational affiliation for the sake of effective witness and service to the world. Avenues of collaborative work include home missions, overseas missions, camping ministry, refugee ministry, training of those in ministry, and chaplaincy services. Baptist churches also recognize the need to temper the exercise of their autonomy in order to associate with a larger body of churches.

Separation of Church and State -
A further extension of the principle of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the priesthood of all
believers is to be found in the Baptist conviction that there must exist a separation between the church and civil governments. There is the easy recognition that God has given legitimate roles to both church and state, but also the deep conviction that neither is to encroach upon the rights or obligations of the other. They are, however, under obligation to recognize and reinforce each other as each seeks to fulfill its divine function. The function of individual believers and the church is to become part of the conscience of the community and nation.

Two Ordinances -
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church: baptism and the Lord's Supper. We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in
water into the name of the triune God. We believe that the Lord's Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death, to offer thanksgiving for His sacrifice, and to look forward to Christ’s return to earth. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Evangelization of the World is Our Task -
Baptists take seriously the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Each member is responsible for the task of witnessing. The remarkable growth of Baptist groups worldwide is the fruit of constant and varied evangelism endeavours. This emphasis also accounts for Baptists’ strong emphasis on missions and distinguishes us as outstanding at recruiting young and old volunteers for Christian service.