MY SEARCH FOR THE CHURCH ON THE ROCK
CHAPTER 5
THE BAPTIST CHURCH
The
definitive work on Baptist history was written by John T. Christian and is
titled "A History Of The Baptists".
This is a two-volume set that covers their entire history. Because there are so
many different kinds of Baptists it does take volumes. For example there are Particular
Baptists and General Baptists.
In the United States these are divided into
Northern, Southern and Colored Baptists churches with each of these
sub-divided
into many different denominations. This makes giving a simple
definition of a "Baptist" almost impossible. Let me list just of few of
the other Baptist
churches and you will understand my problem:
Baptist
Church of Christ
Foot Washing
Dunkards
(German Baptists or Brethren)
Baptism is dunking three times
Freewill
Baptists
Moderate Calvinist: believe in mission
work
Primitive
Baptists (Old School, Anti-Mission, Hard-Shell)
Strict
Calvinists: Oppose missions and Sunday Schools
Old-Two-Seed-In-The-Spirit
Predestinarian Baptists
Two
seeds in man, one is good the other evil
Seventh-day
Baptists
Worship
on Saturday
Six-Principle
Baptists
Use
Hebrews 6:1-2 as their creed
While
it is hard to say, "this is what a Baptist believes" I can give you a simple
history of the movement. We will then try to find a common denominator that all
Baptists share. To make this history easier to understand let us take a quick
look at Baptist beginnings both in England and America.
John
Smyth was a minister in the Church of England who separated from his church
over the issue of infant baptism teaching instead believers baptism. It is interesting to note that English law
prohibited any independent churches. King James I, who authorized the English
translation of the Bible that bears his name, dealt harshly with anyone who
refused to attend the Church of England. To save their lives Smyth and his
entire congregation fled to Amsterdam in 1606. This congregation cannot be
considered "Baptist" as yet but during their time in Holland their doctrines
continued developing. Thomas Helwys led some of these people back home to
England in 1611. Sometime before 1640 they began to preach that baptism could
only be by immersion making it the Baptist Church that we know today. While
Smyth remained in Holland and the Baptist Church appears to have begun in
England I believe we can credit John Smyth's influence for its formation.
However, we also see a pattern of division among Baptists that continues to
this day, especially over Calvinism. The followers of John Smyth were General
Baptists who believe in mans freewill
to determine his eternal destiny. The first congregation of Baptists organized
on strict Calvinist teaching was in 1633. This group called themselves Particular
Baptist from the doctrine that God
sent his son to die only for particular people. These people were those who
were predestined by God before the creation of the world to be saved. The most
famous Particular Baptist was John Bunyan a preacher who wrote "The Pilgrim's
Progress." You may have been required
to read this classic of English literature when you were in school.
Strict
Calvinism teaches that God has already decided who is going to heaven and who
is going to hell. This list of the saved is unchangeable. They also believe
that man is born totally depraved and is unable to obey God without a direct
intervention of the Holy Spirit to change his heart. As you can see this
doctrine makes preaching the Gospel a waste of time, because it is all in the
hands of God. Since the Particular Baptist Church believes in strict Calvinism
it almost died out, and if it were not for the Wesleyan revival (which also led
to the establishment of the Methodist Church) it would have died. Instead the
Particular Baptist Church modified their beliefs, started a missionary society
in 1792 and again started to grow.
Charles Spurgeon
1834-1892
Before
we turn to the history of the Baptist Church in American I must mention the
greatest English Baptist preacher who ever lived. His name was Charles (C.H.)
Spurgeon. Spurgeon preached at the Metropolitan Tabernacle Baptist Church in
London. Few men have lived who preached with such eloquence and passion with
more than 5,000 people in attendance each Sunday. While I disagree with
Spurgeon on Calvinism I give credit where credit is due. He preached at a time
when most people in England were Anglican Catholics. The Church of England had
digressed into a political organization no longer preaching spirituality or
even morality. Charles Spurgeon reminded the English people that true faith in
Jesus Christ changed lives. He spoke and wrote as few men did about walking
with Jesus. When "skepticism" (disbelief in the truth of the Bible) became
popular in the English Baptist Church he withdrew his membership and that of
his congregation from the Baptist Union. Even after all of these years
Spurgeon's writings on Christian thought and living are among the best to be
found.
Roger Williams
Roger
Williams started the Baptist Church in America. Williams was a minister in the
Church of England who fled to the Colonies to escape arrest for being a
Separatist. Separatists are those who left the Church of England. The
passengers on the Mayflower were also Separatist. As Roger Williams studied the
Bible he found that infant baptism and sprinkling were unscriptural. In 1639 he
had a man named Ezekiel Holliman immerse him and then he in turn immersed
Holliman and ten others. This was the start of the first Baptist Church in
America. It is now the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, if
you add together all the different Baptist denominations. However division has
plagued this denomination throughout their history. In addition to the split
over Calvinism they were also divided over the question of slavery. In 1845 the
Particular Baptist split into the American Baptist Missionary Union in the
North and the Southern Baptist Convention in the South. The same year Regular
Baptist also divided but this time into three distinct movements; the North,
the South and churches only for African Americans.
With
such a divided movement what can we say makes a Baptist a Baptist? To some
degree they are all Calvinist but this doctrine divides more than unites them.
They all believe in immersion as the Biblical mode of baptism, but so do other
churches. The one doctrine that is unique is the belief that immersion is not
necessary for salvation! Baptists may be the only people that immerse saved
people! They believe that sinners are saved at the time they believe and teach
that baptism is the "prerequisite to the privileges of church membership". (1) Baptist are to be commended for going back to the
Bible and practicing immersion, as did the first century church. However, the
purpose of baptism is just as important as the mode. Let us open the Word of
God and see why God told us to be
baptized. But let's do this a little differently. Let's first see how a passage
would read with Baptist doctrine and then read what the Holy Spirit actually
said.
BAPTIST VS. BIBLE BAPTISM
BAPTIST TEACH
"He that believeth shall be saved and then is baptized
to enter the church."
BUT THE BIBLE SAYS
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved."(2)
BAPTIST TEACH
"Repent everyone of you for the remission of sins and
then be baptized to show your salvation."
BUT THE BIBLE SAYS
"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins."(3)
BAPTIST TEACH
"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth not save us."
BUT THE BIBLE SAYS
"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us."(4)
BAPTIST TEACH
"Arise because your sins are washed away and be
baptized as your outward sign of an inward cleansing."
BUT THE BIBLE SAYS
"Arise and be baptized and wash away thy
sins."(5)
The
Apostle Paul taught that average people like us could understand God's Word. "Whereby,
when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ."(6) What the
Bible says about baptism is so plain and simple it takes help to misunderstand.
It is as easy as 2+2=4! "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved"(2). Just as 2+0 does not equal 4 so faith without
baptism does not equal salvation. The question is not what God said but our
willingness to obey it! I remember the story in the Old Testament about a leper
named Naaman. (7) He was told that there was a prophet in Israel who
could cure him. Naaman went to see the prophet Elisha and was told "Go and
wash in Jordan seven times ... and thou shalt be clean." (8) Naaman got
angry because he said, "I thought" the prophet would come out, call upon God and wave his hand to heal
me. If he had to wash he believed the waters in his own country were better,
why not go there and be healed? One of his servants went to him and said, "If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done
it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?"(9) When Naaman
subjected his will to the will of God and did what he was told his leprosy was
gone. What lessons can we learn from this? 1. Every Biblical scholar knows that
Bible baptism is immersion. So why do so few churches immerse? Because like
Naaman they say, "I think". 2. Every reasonable person has to agree that the
passages above teach that the purpose of baptism is the forgiveness of sins.
Why then don't Baptist churches practice it? Because like Naaman they say, "I
think". The problem is not understanding what God said but man's willingness to
put aside human wisdom and just obey. Do you remember this old hymn? "For there
is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey."
I commend the Baptist Church for obeying the Biblical
instruction to immerse, however, why do they immerse at all? If they are saved
the moment they believe then baptism is a waste of time and effort. They are
already saved! If, as they preach, the saved cannot so sin as to be lost (10) then
refusing to be dunked in water won't change their eternal destiny. When God's
Word says: "Baptism doth also now save us" (4) and the
Baptist Church teaches "Baptism does not save us" then I know this is
not the church that Jesus built. I must continue my search for the church on
the rock.
FOOTNOTES
Bible
quotes in this chapter are from the King James Version due to the number of
Baptist who believe that this is the only translation that is authorized by
God, referring to themselves as "King James Only." I have a neighbor whose bumper sticker says: "If it ain't
King James it ain't Bible." If this translation came from God then I find it
interesting that the Anglican Catholic Church translated it, they refused to
use the word immersion even though the original Greek did and was "authorized"
by King James I who persecuted Baptist for many years! The KJV is a beautiful
translation and I enjoy reading it however other translations are easier to
understand because of changes in the English language since 1611. I do use it
in this chapter because I do not want to offend my Baptist friends. (LM)
1.
"The Baptist Faith and Message" Adopted by the Southern
Baptist Convention May 9, 1963
2.
Mark 16:16
3.
Acts 2:38
4.
1 Peter 3:21
5.
Acts 22:16
6.
Ephesians 3:4
7.
2 Kings 5:1-27
8.
2 Kings 5:10
9.
2 Kings 5:13
10.
"All true believers endure to the end. Those whom
God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall
away from the State of grace, but shall persevere to the end ... Believers
may fall into sin ... yet they shall be kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation." The
Baptist Faith and Message, SBC, May 9, 1963
Larry A. McKee
"The Parson"