Primitive Baptists Believe What?!

 

Elder R. Keith Hamilton

 

This is a general statement of what most Primitive Baptists believe. With a few minor differences, there is some diversity among the convictions of our people. This is written with the hope that it will be a blessing to both the reader and our people.

 

 

            We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. God purposed in Him, even before the Creation of the World was begun, to redeem a people to salvation.

 

            All men are condemned under the penalty of death from Adam’s Sin. Adam, from whom all humanity has descended, committed a trangression of disobedience against God. This altered man forever, causing a different nature to arise within the framework of man. A nature alien to the “image of God” as man was created. This new nature is always contrary to the Will of God; in man’s actions, thoughts, and will.

 

            Everyone born upon the face of the Earth, including the Child of God, is born under this nature, alien from God and despising of His righteousness. Further, man is totally incapable and unwilling to recover himself from this lost and ruined condition. As such, salvation must be purely and righteously an Act of God.

 

            The purpose of Christ was to redeem a particular people from that condition and restore them to the favor of God. God appointed this people to be the recipients of Christ’s salvation even before man walked upon the face of the Earth. This “choice”, God made by His Sovereign Hand under His Divine Will without any regard of the individual. Particular and unconditional, it was simply a decree of our righteous God.

 

            Under the penalty of Adamic Sin, all men were condemned to death; All men were Hellbound, but God purposed out of a great love within Himself to draw out of that condemnation a remnant of His creation. In Christ’s blood, He preserves them unto Himself as a peculiar treasure out of the Earth.

 

            To all those whom He chose, God has given the gift of eternal salvation. Likewise, He has predestined that they will ascend to Heaven, and that they will be conformed to the Image of His Son in this life.

 

            All children of God are born under the burden of humanity’s depraved nature. Even though they are children of God, they are not aware of their redemption nor are they inclined to seek after God. Only at the point in their life at which the Holy Spirit works the regeneration of the heart will the Child of God be empowered to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

            As a result of regeneration, the Child of God will feel the desire to follow after Christ and strive for obedience to God. Conversion is the process in which the Child of God changes from a life of sin and disobedience to a life of faith and service; a life in which obedience and the pleasure of God are of foremost importance. Conversion can take place only after the Child of God has been regenerated by God.

 

            In the experience of Salvation and Christianity, God’s intervention always precedes a person’s action or desire. A saved person will love God and seek after Him, only because God first loved His children and sought them out while they yet remained in depravity and alienation due to their nature.

 

            Everyone whom God appointed to eternal salvation is noted in the record of His Divine Will called the Lamb’s Book of Life. This “book” was recorded and sealed prior to the beginning of the Creation of the Earth. Christ, as He created the Universe and as He walked in this World, knew specifically for whom He would die. Those for whom He died have a certain and secure salvation. Never will anyone or anything remove their redemption nor cast them again into eternal disfavor with God. Only those of record are saved in Christ. All others are consigned to the final result of Adam’s Sin and man’s natural disobedience, eternal damnation.

 

            All of humanity, both the saved and the damned, will be resurrected at the Second Coming of Christ. Those chosen of God will receive pardon in the blood of Christ and will inherit Heaven and immortal glory. Those whose names are not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life will stand under the judgment of God and will be banished along with Satan and his angels.

 

            Out of all of this, God inspired men to write His Holy Word as a testimony of His great love and amazing grace. The Bible is that Word. Infallible and without error, it is the only basis for prescribing the faith and practice of God’s children.

 

            The Bible was written strictly for the benefit of God’s Chosen while on the face of the Earth. From it, the believer gleans encouragement and instruction for prosperous and fruitful living.

 

            The purpose of preaching is to teach the Child of God the expectations God has for His children and the obligations of the Redeemed to live a righteous, God-fearing life. Preaching is also to inspire and encourage believers through times of adversity and tribulations.

 

            The Church is established for the purpose of strengthening the faith and conviction of God’s children. This union of faith serves to draw the Redeemed into a closer nearness to God and ultimately to obedience.

 

            Neither the Holy Word of God, preaching, nor membership in any church has ever saved a single person. All are simply instruments of faith for the benefit of God’s people. Salvation is only in the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and its application by the Hand of an Almighty God.