What do Baptists Believe?
Baptists first hold to the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith. All true Christian denominations hold to the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Baptists believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ, The deity of Christ, The Trinity, God’s Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence, etc. All true Baptists must hold to the Baptist distinctives. Baptists may differ over Calvinism vs. Arminianism, Worship Styles, Bible Translations, etc., but they must adhere to the following to be truly Baptist.
The Bible is the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of God. II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:21 The Bible is without error. “The Bible is our final authority for all matters of faith and practice”, Dr. Jerry Moore. The Word of God is God’s direct revelation to us and thus our supreme authority in all matters.
A Autonomy of the Local Church.
Matthew 18:15-18 Autonomy means self governing. The church governs itself and its members. There are at least 3 main styles of self rule; Shepherd rule, Board rule, and Congregational rule. Shepherd rule is where the Pastor leads the congregation and makes the majority of the decisions. Board rule or Elder rule is where the Deacon board, Elder board, Trustee board, with or sometimes without the Pastor makes the majority of the decisions. The third style is the Congregational rule; the members of the church vote and make the majority of the decisions. Some churches use a combination of these styles or sometimes allow an Administrator to make some decisions. In all cases, the local church governs itself. The local church is not governed by a Convention, Presbytery, Synod, Council, Etc. Some churches voluntarily join a convention that doesn’t rule them, but helps support them such as the Southern Baptist Convention, Conservative Baptist Convention, Etc., while they retain their independence.
We have access into the throne room of heaven. Our lives are to be our sacrifice. Romans 12:1,2 The priest conducted the sacrifices and made the petitions for the people in the Old Testament. With the covenant of grace, Jesus paid the price for our sins, we are made the priests and our lives are to be a living sacrifice to God. We have direct access into the throne room of heaven! Hebrews 10:19 (side note, this is why we are not Catholic, we can pray to God directly without going to confession)
T Two Ordinances.
1. Baptism. Romans 6:1-7 We believe in full immersion Baptism. Since, we are dead to sin, we are to be fully immersed. A burial involves more than sprinkling of a little dirt on the head of the corpse. Even as a dead animal is put completely under the ground, we believe in that full immersion symbolizes our death to sin. (side note, this is what makes the Baptists distinct from the Methodists and Presbyterians who sprinkle)
2. Communion. I Corinthians 11:23-34. The Lord’s Supper is a symbol lesson of what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary.
Each one of us will have to give an account of ourselves to God. We need to be the judge of one another. Matthew 7:1 We shouldn’t enforce our rules of legalism on someone else or vice versa. We can and should correct someone if they are in outright sin though. We need to correct our brothers in a loving a manner. We need to speak the truth in love and is best done going to that brother in private. We need to pray first, to make sure that we ourselves aren’t the one in the wrong. Let’s be careful not to judge, but also not to allow sin in the camp either. We need not impede each other’s soul liberty. Some matters like adultery are worth correcting. Some matters like someone who wears a different name brand of jeans than us isn’t.
S Saved Church Membership.
Before anyone can be a member of a Baptist church, they first must be truly saved. Acts 2:47
T Two Officers.
Pastor, which is the same as the overseer or bishop. He is the elder of the church. In other words, the Pastor is the leader of the church. I Timothy 5:17, I Thessalonians 5:12 A Pastor is worthy of respect and deserves to be paid for the work he does. The Pastor is the servant of God who is entrusted with the awesome responsibility of accurately handling the Word of God. He must have the ability to teach and preach.
Deacons are men who exhibit signs of spiritual leadership. The deacons are servants to the Pastors. Acts 6:1-7 The purpose of a deacon is to relieve the burden on the pastor, so the Pastor can devote his time to prayer and ministry of the word.
S Separation of Church and State.
Matthew 22:21 We believe that church and the government are to be separate entities. We should both pay our tithes and our taxes. God takes precedence over the government.
Note: A sizeable portion of the above material has been borrowed from the writing of the late Dr. Jerry Moore. His son has edited the writing and added new material to it.