Are Baptists the only Christians? And are Baptist churches the only organizations that can rightly be called “churches”? Why all this emphasis on being a Baptist, anyway? Isn’t it enough to just call ourselves Christians? And don’t the distinctive beliefs of Baptists limit our opportunities for fellowship and ministry partnership? These are all good questions, which may come to mind with our recent discussion of what makes a church baptist.
First, if you just look at the distinctives as we have articulated them over the past few months, you will see that none of them apply directly to the core doctrines of Christianity. There is nothing inherently baptistic about one’s doctrine of God (theology proper), his Christology (doctrine of Christ), pneumatology (doctrine of the Holy Spirit), soteriology (doctrine of salvation), anthropology (doctrine of man), hamartiology (doctrine of sin), angelology (doctrine of angels), or eschatology (doctrine of last things).
The only major doctrine that is affected by one’s view of these things is ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church). But I would argue that someone may be truly born again and yet have an inaccurate or even unbiblical understanding of the church. So while Baptists believe that theirs is the type of church which most closely and consistently follows the Scripture’s teaching, we do not kick all non-Baptists out of the family of God. It’s a good thing, too, since we benefit greatly from the contributions of brothers and sisters from various other denominations and traditions throughout church history. Most of those people lived and served and died before Baptists as we know them ever existed! So, of course, we do not believe that Baptists are the only Christians, or that Baptist churches alone have the right to be called “churches.”
Now some would prefer that we do not focus on distinctives but rather on our common ground. “After all,” they reason, “Jesus said his followers would be known by their love, and what is more loving than getting along, shaking hands with one another as brothers, and joining in the worship of God side by side in spite of our differences?” And that’s all well and good, except it stumbles at the point of implementation.
It is neither healthy nor beneficial to jettison one’s convictions in order to have a broader field of fellowship or ministry.
Let me explain. As Baptists we have no problem affirming that our Presbyterian friend is a brother in Christ, if he confesses (as we do) that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world to save sinners, and that men are saved when they personally believe in Jesus alone, repudiating any and all other means of redemption. But let’s imagine how a joint Baptist-Presbyterian ministry might look the moment that a young family brings their newborn infant into the church and asks the pastor to baptize him. The Baptists would balk at such a request, and rightly so, as it is contrary to our understanding of Scripture on the subject. Such a joint ministry would be difficult to maintain, unless one side or the other (or both?!) is willing to forego his biblical convictions for the sake of fellowship. This is both unwise and dangerous. It is not a move forward toward unity, but backward toward disobedience to the word of God.
Or consider another example: let’s say an Anglican-Baptist fellowship. Who has authority over the congregation, its teaching, its pastors, and its fellowship and ministry network? The Anglicans defer to their bishops or to the Provincial Council which oversees the church hierarchy, yet Baptists believe that the local congregation has the right and responsibility to determine its own doctrines, choose its own leaders, and fellowship with churches and ministries as they see fit. Indeed, we believe that this is true not just of the congregation as a whole but of every believer who stands as a priest before God and must some day give account of himself to the Lord. It is hard to imagine that the Baptists would submit their choice of elders to a regional Bishop for approval, nor should they, because this would violate their biblical convictions.
Other examples could certainly be given, but the purpose of these is simply to demonstrate that it is neither healthy nor beneficial to jettison one’s convictions in order to have a broader field of fellowship or ministry. And unless one is willing to act contrary to his own beliefs or ignore clear biblical duties, it is not really feasible to simply call ourselves Christians and brush all other differences aside. Again, we should not view all disagreements as denials of the faith, but neither should we try to find the lowest common denominator in our worship and obedience to a holy God.
Do Baptist distinctives limit our opportunities for fellowship and ministry partnership? Yes. I think I have already demonstrated why this is so, and why it ought to be so. Does this honor the Lord? I believe it honors God when we take his word seriously, genuinely study it and develop convictions based upon it, and then fashion our lives and churches accordingly.
When Jesus told his disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20a), he did not leave room for them to decide that some commands are not important enough to believe and carry out.
So what do we do when we disagree with another Christian about something Jesus has commanded? We pray. We study. We obey according to our understanding. But we dare not set these things aside simply because of a disagreement. To do so is to show disdain for this most basic command of Jesus. Better for each of us to live by convictions which are informed by the diligent study of God’s word, and trust God to bless our brothers and sisters with whom we disagree, while recognizing the limits of our fellowship and cooperation. This, I believe, honors God far more than a so-called unity brought about by minimizing doctrine.
In his sovereignty, the Lord has chosen to use a variety of church traditions to accomplish his work on earth. If it does not appear to us to be the most efficient or outwardly appealing way to do the work, we must walk by faith and not by sight in trusting the wisdom and goodness of God. As Baptists we are committed to remain within the limits of biblical authority (our first distinctive), when pragmatism would lead us to push the boundaries. Let us be satisfied with the approval of God rather than men.