People of the Book
Ask ten people what a Baptist is and you may hear ten answers. Some will mention immersion. Some will picture a white church with a steeple, a long invitation, or a potluck. Some will think of strict rules, and others of the hymns they sang beside a grandmother. Those are memories of Baptists. They do not tell us what makes one.
At its simplest, the name describes Christians who believe what the Bible says and try to live by it. Baptists have been biblicists, people who treat the Bible as the final authority in every matter of faith and practice. We owe our allegiance to the Word of God, to the mission Christ gave His church, and to one another. No label, hierarchy, tradition, or creed may take that place.
A Christian who holds the Bible as the only final authority for faith and practice, who was baptized by immersion after he was saved, and who belongs to a self-governing local church under Christ.
Look at the first church in Jerusalem on the day it was empowered, and you will see why that definition has the shape it does.
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”ACTS 2:41–42 · KJV
Most of what Baptists hold is already in those two verses. The people gladly received his word, so the Word came first, and each one answered it personally. Then they were baptized, after they believed. They were added, so the church knew who belonged. And they continued stedfastly in doctrine, fellowship, the Lord's Table, and prayer. No bishop from another city stands in that picture, and no ruler is ordering anyone into the water.
If someone asked why you are a Baptist, could you answer with an open Bible?
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For Deeper Study
- A Glorious Church: A Study of the Origin, Identity, Heritage, and Integrity of the New Testament ChurchAmazon Mike GassA study of the New Testament church from an independent Baptist publisher.
- A History of the BaptistsAmazon John T. ChristianAn older two-volume history of believer-baptizing churches. We hold perpetuity, not a traceable chain, so read its stronger claims with care.
- The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist WitnessAmazon H. Leon McBethA thorough standard history. It places Baptist beginnings in English Separatism, and we differ on that.
- Baptist Confessions of FaithAmazon William L. LumpkinThe standard collection of Baptist confessions, useful for reading what Baptists have actually said.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Bible, Our Only Final Authority
The Bible is the only final authority for what Christians believe and how churches and believers live, so every tradition, teacher, experience, and confession must answer to it.
Open Doctrine