What Makes One a Baptist

What Makes One a Baptist

Because Baptists believe in “the priesthood of believers,” some observers sometimes conclude that one can be a Baptist and believe anything he desires about God and the Christian faith. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

That faith commitment to “the priesthood of believers” means that each person is accountable directly to God for his belief, faith and conduct. Only the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, stands between God and humankind. No other human being, no matter what office he might hold, can stand in that sacred space. Nor can any institution. It is reserved for Jesus alone.

Priesthood of believers holds that individuals have direct access to God through Jesus Christ and God has direct access to all individuals through the work of His Holy Spirit. Each individual is accountable directly to God for himself or herself, and no one can be accountable to God for another.

From the moment one accepts Christ as personal Lord and Savior, that believer functions as a priest. Not only does he have direct access to God, but the believer also carries the responsibility to discern the will of God as well as to share and do the will of God as he understands it.

Alongside this commitment to personal priesthood, Baptists have provided confessions of faith to help clarify what they believe. This was done precisely because the faith group was sometimes accused of absurd beliefs and gross practices because the commitment to priesthood of believers allowed freedom for individuals to err.

Through the centuries, Baptists have adopted hundreds of confessions, declarations, proclamations or other such items. They all had one thing in common — affirming what a group of Baptists believed at a given time in a given place. A creed, on the other hand, sets forth what members have to believe. Baptist confessions did not take on the characteristic of creeds.

Noted Southern Baptist historian Leon McBeth of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, reviewed the early confessions and identified 10 common areas of Baptist belief.

The confessions usually began with the doctrine of God. Baptists affirmed the Holy Trinity, proclaiming God revealed Himself to mankind as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They also affirmed the work of the Holy Spirit, such as inspiration and comfort, and the full deity and humanity of Jesus, the son.

Early Baptists agreed on the truth and final authority of Scripture. “What does the Bible say?” and “Is it taught in the Bible?” were questions Baptists asked of every Christian belief and practice, McBeth pointed out.

Concerning the atonement, Baptists did not agree. The so-called General Baptists believed that Christ died for every person and that all who believe in Jesus Christ can be saved. Another group, known as Particular Baptists, followed the teaching that before the creation of the world, God decided, or predestined, the fate of every person who would ever live — some were chosen for salvation and others for damnation. This disagreement continues in Baptist life to this day.

Baptist confessions show concern about the nature of the church. Much of the Baptist movement can be traced to a belief that only those who have a personal faith in God through Jesus Christ make up the church. That was a radical notion 400 years ago. Baptists understood the church as true believers observing the gospel ordinances and obeying the commands of Christ.

Baptists agreed on two offices of ministry. A Baptist confession of 1612 voices what was generally accepted by saying, “Christ hath set in His outward church two sorts of ministries: some who are called pastors, teachers or elders, who administer in the word and sacraments, and others who are called deacons … whose ministry is to serve tables and wash the saints’ feet.”

Believer’s baptism was a defining point for Baptists. This, too, was a radical departure from churches that practiced infant baptism, but because of a faith commitment to personal priesthood of all believers, Baptists, by the early 1600s, insisted on baptism of believers only by total immersion.

Baptists regarded the Lord’s Supper as a memorial supper to recall and reflect upon the death of Christ. Probably, McBeth noted, this was a part of each Sunday’s worship. What Baptists could not agree on was who should partake of the ordinance.

Some argued that any professed Christian should be welcome. Others felt that only believers who had been baptized a believer should partake.

Relationship to government was a troublesome issue. Some Baptists placed a high value on political loyalty and patriotic participation in civil affairs. Others pledge loyalty to the government but refused to take oaths of loyalty or bear arms.

Religious liberty was another mark of Baptists that distinguished them from most Christians of their day. English leaders such as John Cotton insisted that the church and magistrates had a duty to see that basic doctrines of Christianity were accepted by the people, even if force was necessary to accomplish this task. Against this prevailing position, Baptists argued for complete religious liberty for themselves and others.

Religious uniformity was not necessary for domestic tranquility, they contended. Religious liberty and the separation of church and state came directly from the Bible and nature of the Christian experience, Baptists said.

Baptists believed in the bodily return of the Lord Jesus. Early confessions spoke of a resurrection of all men who appear before the judgment seat of God. The godly would be invited to life eternal; the wicked “tormented everlastingly in Hell.”

This quick review of early Baptist teaching is incomplete, but it demonstrates that Baptists have always had a body of beliefs that helped clarify who they were as a faith community.

Simply believing in the priesthood of believers did not make one a Baptist, but every Baptist did believe in the personal priesthood of every believer.