Religious denominations are an important fixture in American culture. For many the name of the denomination outlines the scope of one’s religious family. As Baptists, for example, we cooperate with churches that are of “like faith and order.” Religious distinctives are important to us.
Unfortunately commitment to a denomination sometimes blinds us to our indebtedness to others for their contributions in shaping what we as Baptists believe.
For example Baptists say in the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) that the Bible is “the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds and religious opinions should be tried.” The Bible has been called “the sole authority for (Baptists’) faith and practice” (1963 BF&M).
But Baptists were not the first to make this faith declaration about the Bible. Nearly 100 years before Baptists emerged in Europe, Martin Luther stood before church councils and argued for “sola Scriptura” — Scripture alone.
Luther denounced church traditions that contradicted biblical teachings. He argued against papal proclamations superceding what the Bible taught. So powerful was the influence of Luther that much of the Reformation was marked by his emphasis on the authority of the Bible.
For some Baptists it comes as a surprise to learn we are indebted to Lutherans for helping shape this part of our doctrinal confession.
Authority of Scripture is not the only teaching Luther helped mold. While studying the Book of Romans, the Roman Catholic monk was struck by the statement, “the just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). This startling statement stood in marked contrast to the theology of earning salvation by purchasing indulgences or performing good deeds — both prevalent teachings of that day.
Justification by faith alone
Luther’s study formed the foundation of the doctrine that came to be known as justification by faith alone — another foundational position of Baptists today.
Luther also was the first to lay out the case for the priesthood of all believers, again a doctrine that is a hallmark of Baptists.
A contemporary of Luther, John Calvin, helped form the understanding of Church embraced by most modern-day Baptists. Prior to Calvin the primary teaching about the Church was what Baptists often call the “universal Church” — God’s one true Church comprised of all believers. In Calvin’s day that Church was symbolized by the Roman Catholic Church.
Calvin offered a different understanding. He taught that wherever the Word of God is preached, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper administered and church discipline applied, there was the Church. That position was embraced by Huguenots in France, Presbyterians in Scotland and Reformed in the Netherlands.
‘A local body’
In time it became a core teaching of Baptists among whom a common definition of church is “a local body of baptized believers.” Today Baptists think primarily about the Church in local terms with little attention to the universal Church.
Who makes up the Church was an issue that caused some people to lose their heads, literally.
In the early stages of the Reformation, Anabaptists began teaching believer’s baptism. This stood in opposition to infant baptism which, in many places, required that every child be baptized into the state church.
Menno Simons, a contemporary of Luther and Calvin, became the most noted advocate of this position. Over time he moved from being a Catholic priest like Luther to being the best-known advocate of believer’s baptism and leader of a group that came to be known as Mennonites.
Baptists later embraced this doctrinal understanding. The 2000 BF&M declares, “Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit … .”
With a new understanding of the Church came concern about how the Church should be governed. Various models emerged. One style advocated by a branch of Puritans known as Independents favored local church autonomy. These early Puritans argued that each congregation should have the final word about church affairs. The officers of the church, they said, were pastors and deacons.
That position finds expression in the 2000 BF&M, which reads, in part, “Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacon” (Article VI, The Church).
Thomas Helwys, an early Baptist, is credited with being the first advocate of religious liberty and separation of Church and state. For this he was imprisoned by King James I and died in London’s Newgate Prison in 1616.
Helwys’ position did not die with him. Rather his writings helped influence what came to be known as the Enlightenment that emphasized, among other things, natural rights and God-given liberties. One can almost hear the echoes of Helwys in the famous words of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
When religion became academic a movement called Pietism responded with an emphasis on religious experience expressed through prayer, Bible study and lay-led small groups. That sounds like a modern-day prescription for a fledgling church but it is hundreds of years old.
Most scholars agree that Baptists hold no cardinal doctrine that is theirs alone. Baptists draw from Luther, Calvin, Simons, Puritans and others. We hold much in common with other Christian denominations.
John Wesley, the great hero of the Methodist Church, recognized that reality when he said, “[I] … refuse to be distinguished from other men by any but the common principles of Christianity. … But from real Christians, of whatsoever denomination they be, [I] earnestly desire not to be distinguished at all. … Dost thou love and serve God? It is enough. I give thee the right hand of fellowship.”
Simply being a believer
In foreign fields where followers of Christ are few and far between, that kind of spirit often prevails. There is little time for the niceties of theological debate when simply being a believer in Jesus Christ can result in martyrdom.
But in the United States we are prone to gather in our faith families and act as if we are sufficient unto ourselves. Perhaps it would be wise this Christmas season to give thanks to God for the faith gifts He has blessed us with through those we normally consider beyond our traditional faith family. It could be a first step of a rewarding journey.
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