What do Baptists Believe about Baptism and the Lord's Supper?

It's pretty obvious that baptism is a pretty big deal for Baptists.

Baptism in the early church was done by immersion. In the New Testament, the word for "baptize" literally means "to immerse." Somewhere along the lines of church history, the Catholic church dominated Christendom, and the Catholics believed in infant baptism. In the 1500s when people began to resist the Catholic church in the Protestant Reformation, the first group to deny Catholics continued to practice infant baptism. These are what we know today as Lutherans and Presbyterians. In Switzerland, the Reformers led the government, specifically a reformer named Ulrich Zwingli. Some of his students, Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz, began to dispute Zwingli in a couple of issues, one being infant baptism. These would be the first anabaptists, and their beliefs led to severe persecution. After they began baptizing adults, they were punished by law, and Manz was drowned.

The idea between infant baptism and adult baptism is still a difficult issue among denominations today. There are still many groups and churches who practice infant baptism, others who aren't baptists who practice believer's baptism, and yet others who practice both. There are some who sprinkle for baptism and some who immerse.

From the Baptist Faith and Message:

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper.

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We do this by immersion because we see baptism by immersion as the precedent set forth in Scripture. Also, the original Greek word for baptism, baptizo, literally means "to immerse." We baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because that is what Jesus commanded in the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20).

Baptism is an act of obedience.
Jesus was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew 3:13-17). Jesus is our example. The early church throughout the book of Acts associated believing in Christ with baptism (Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33).

Baptism symbolizes the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:3-5 states, "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Hm in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection..."

Baptism is a testimony to a new believer's faith in the final resurrection of the dead.
Phil. 3:8-11, "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

One must be baptized before becoming a church member.
Because baptism is one of the first public confessions of faith, one's first testimony to what Christ has done in his life, a person must be baptized before he is admitted to the church. If a person is admitted to the church without having gone through this public confession and testimony, then it is possible the person does not know what Christ has done for him, and really is not saved. On the same coin, many people are baptized just to become members of the church, and they have not really repented and put all faith in Christ, yet they have been baptized. We must be careful to only let those who show fruits of salvation enter the waters of baptism, in which they identify directly with Christ. We must also be careful who we allow to become members of our church.

One must be baptized before taking the Lord's Supper.
Likewise, a person cannot remember the body and blood of Christ unless he does not know Christ personally.

From The Baptist Faith and Message:

The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

The Lord's Supper is symbolic.
There are several streams of Christianity that believe partaking in the Lord's Supper helps bring them sanctification, helps them gain holiness, or even salvation. This believe is never seen in Scripture, as Jesus always says to partake in the Lord's Supper "in remembrance" and never hints that one will gain holiness because he has fulfilled the step of taking the Lord's Supper.

The Lord's Supper is a time of fellowship for the church.
1 Cor. 10:16-17, "Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread."

Luke 22:19-20, "And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood."

Only those that live holy lives reflecting that of Jesus should memorialize the death of the Redeemer.
1 Cor. 11:27-29, "Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. "

When we take the Lord's Supper, we are in essence proclaiming the gospel. We are to do this as we anticipate the Lord's second coming, when he will usher in a new kingdom, holy for the Lord.
1 Cor. 11:26, "For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes."

Easy Version: the church?

I know the last post was a long one, but I was meditating on Ephesians 4, and decided to simplify it all.

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." - Eph. 4:15-16

We are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ...
In everything we do, God is transforming us into the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29). The beginning of the race God has set before us is salvation. The end isn't heaven, but it is us transformed into the image of Christ. So as a group of believers, we are also being transformed--growing--into becoming Christ. We do this not just on Sundays and Wednesdays, but every day. Every day you are a member of the local church to which God has called you.

From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love...
- When each part is working properly, the body grows.
--Are you doing your part to strengthen or cause atrophy to the body of Christ?

So what is the church to do when one part is not working properly?

2 Thess. 3--verses to point out
"Now we command you, brother, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us..." (v. 6)
"For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies..." (v. 11)
"If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother." (v. 14-15)

Paul clearly states that the Thessalonians were to have nothing to do with the person who was feeding off those around him. When a useless part of our body is taking nutrients from every other part, it is cut off so that the body can function. As hard and strange as it seems to us, we should hold each other accountable and do the same.

So--are you being idle or are you doing your part in the body of Christ?

What do Baptists Believe about the church?

OK, this is a really long one, but there's a lot of crucial stuff in here. AND I'm more mentally sane since the last post. (I already hear some of you, "Keyword: more.") SO...hopefully this will all make sense.

NOW...
We've all been taught that the church isn't a building, but the people who gather there. The thing is: is that all a church is?

When five new believers begin to have Bible study and worship together, does that make them a church since they are gathering together to praise the Lord? What is the difference between the two?

From the Baptist Faith and Message:

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

A church is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers.
A church is made up of people who live near one another, who have been baptized upon repentance and faith in Jesus. This means that people who are not baptized are not considered a church, because baptism is always linked with salvation in the New Testament. Does this mean that people who are not baptized are not saved? No, but it does mean that baptism is one of the first outward signs of confessing Christ as Lord and dying to the old nature. In a sense, it is the first way of telling others about your faith in Christ--your first witness. We need baptism in order to identify ourselves totally with Christ's death and resurrection!

Autonomous means "having the right or power of self-government." This means that when believers gather, they are not ordered around by somebody five hours away in another church, but they have the right to make their own rules (what we call bylaws), etc.

A church is associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel.
The baptized believers who come together to make a church have total faith in the gospel, and fellowship with one another according to what Christ has done on the cross. When they come together, they proclaim the gospel to one another because they are thankful for what Christ has done for them.

A church observes the two ordinances of Christ.
By "ordinance" we mean "a prescribed usage." The two ordinances churches should observe together are baptism and the Lord's supper. In baptism, we identify with Christ's death and resurrection. In the Lord's supper, we remember and proclaim Christ's death as we anticipate his coming again. As a church, there is no biblical mandate for other things the church should do together, although some will say that foot washing is an ordinance.

A church is governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word.
A church seeks to follow Christ, and is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23 states, "And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all."). The "Body of Christ" literally means that each person who composes a church is like a member of a physical body: they all need to operate together, and when they do they are like Christ on earth. Each person is different and is gifted differently, so that when the entire church comes together, they are complete, with Christ operating as the head of the body (Col. 1:18 states, "And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent."). For example, let's say someone is sick at church. Member A goes to the hospital and prays with the person. Member B cooks meals for the family. Member C takes care of bills while someone is in the hospital. Member D comes and encourages the person who is ill. Together, they have worked together to be Christ to that person--that ill person needed every one of those members to have Christ minister to them. Thankfully, Christ has given each member of the Body a special gift, also known as a spiritual gift. These are special gifts that God uses in your life to minister to others.

A church seeks to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.
Churches can do this on several levels, some better than others.

• 1) they can pray for the nations and give to the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong offering
• 2) they have been overseas on a missions trip
• 3) they go overseas regularly on missions trips, but not targeted to one specific group
• 4) they pray for a specific people group and seek to minister to that people group

The fourth level is strategic, although all of them show how Baptists participate on at least some level in extending the gospel to the ends of the earth. As a matter of fact, every church gives some money each year to the Cooperative Program, and over 70% of that money goes straight to the IMB and North American Mission Board. Therefore, if our church gives 10% of its tithe to the Cooperative Program (which goes to fund Baptist activities around the country), and that 10% is $1000, then 500 of those dollars will go to the IMB and 200 of those dollars will go to the NAMB.

A church operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes.
According to Southern Baptists, church government is a system where every decision is guided by Christ, but there are issues within the church that are voted on by people in the church. This is what happens at business meetings, etc. In other types of churches, decisions might be made from higher-up bishops or representatives from the church, known as presbyters.

A church's scriptural officers are pastors and deacons.
These are the two types of leadership within a church. The pastor, or elder, serves as a shepherd for the congregation to help grow them into mature Christians (1 Pet. 5:1-5, "So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock."). Deacons are servant leaders who take on servant roles in the church. Another scriptural office is that of an elder, which is similar to a pastor. In some churches there are multiple pastors or elders to help shepherd the church. These elders can have equal responsibility or different roles, depending on the decision of the church. For more details read 1 Tim. 3:1-15.

A church has men serve as pastors, not women.
Many in America will think this is a sexist statement, but Scripture states that pastors are to be men. The good thing is that Scripture doesn't just declare that a pastor should be a man, but there are very specific requirements to even be a pastor. So what about churches that have women as pastors, or a woman who has been called to pastor? One must ask himself if a woman would be called by God to do something contrary to the word of God. In some cases, a woman might even be gifted in preaching, but that does not mean she should serve as a pastor. You can read more about this in 2 Tim. 2.

From The Baptist Faith and Message:

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

All believers around the world from the days of Paul to many years from now, form to make the universal Church. Another analogy we use to talk about the church is to be the Bride of Christ. You can read more of this in Eph. 5:23-32.

THEREFORE...

A church is a group of believers who has local leadership, practices the ordinances provided in Scripture, and recognizes that they are the Body of Christ. They realize that they are responsible for one another, and are members of each other--this means that, in a sense, they are actively involved in each other's lives. Each member is under the authority of his local church, but at the same time it's a good relationship because he chooses the church. This can be five people or two thousand people.

What do Baptists Believe about Grace?

OK guys, this is a weighty topic. Get ready to either ignore the following, or choke on it.

Mercy is when you don't get something that you do deserve, grace is when you get something that you don't deserve.

We've all heard it before, and we know that mercy is when God looks on us and forgives us of our sins. But what's grace? In the song, "Amazing Grace" we're told what it does, but we don't know how it comes around.

If you were going to give a definition of God's grace, what would it be?

From The Baptist Faith and Message:
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

Eph. 1:3-6, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved."

This verse says that:
1) God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
~ before there was a Garden, God planned that we as believers would be saved in the name of Christ Jesus
2) All of this was done according to the purpose of his will.
~ God loved mankind so much that he purposed that they would be adopted as sons and daughters through believing in faith in Jesus Christ

What's this about an election?
He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners by electing us. Of course we think of a political election when we hear the word "elect" but throughout the New Testament, the Bible refers to believers in Christ as "the elect". The Bible does this because all who believe in Christ Jesus have been elected unto salvation.

There are two disagreeing viewpoints, however, on how God elects people in Christ. These viewpoints have been around for hundreds of years, at least, and both views can be found in Southern Baptists

One view, known as Calvinism, claims that God chooses individuals to which he wills to come to Christ (this means that the individuals could only comply with the will of God when believing in Christ). A second view, known commonly as Arminianism but also known as believing in the free-will of man, says that God could never will a person to come to Christ, but instead allows man to choose to believe in Christ, and the whole idea of election is that Christ has been elected, and therefore everyone in Christ is a member of the elect. Calvinists would say that God's grace is so powerful that it is only by God that a person is saved. Those who believe in the free agency of man would say that God has given us grace through Christ, and then we choose to live in the grace God gives us in Christ. (I know this sounds crazy and unfamiliar, but if you have questions about exactly what I'm saying--just ask.)

Regardless, all Baptists believe that it is only because of God's love in sending his son that we could have a relationship with him, and God is much greater than anything we can imagine.

Questions to think about:
1) When we're saved, how much does God will in our salvation and how much is man's will?
2) What do you think election means according to Scripture? (check a concordance for references)

From The Baptist Faith and Message:
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 through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

One Baptist mantra is "once saved, always saved." Another form of God's grace is that once we have received God's grace, there is no way we can fall out of God's grace, which is losing salvation. Because of this, all people who have really been born again will stay believers until they die. In a sense, once you are adopted, you are not going to be un-adopted, even if you become disobedient. In real life, if you have an adopted child, you're not going to kick the child out just because he does disobedient things, and how much greater a Father is God?

This does not mean that just because you pray for salvation OR walk the aisle OR get baptized OR become a pastor that you are saved. Scripture says that those who are saved will persevere to the end, and that is one of the only ways we will know.

So how do we persevere, and what happens if we go for a while without giving God a second thought?
The key to walking in Christ isn't doing all the right things or checking off a list of godly things to do. Instead, the key to walking in Christ is, well, being in Christ. Practicing putting on Christ. Abiding in Christ. As Christians we are like a branch that shoots off of Christ, the tree. Because we are connected to Christ (every moment of every day, in meditation of His Word and in deep times of prayer), we will bear fruit then that is the same fruit of the tree we are connected to. However, if we are not connected to Christ, our tree, there will not be any fruit. So, we don't focus on being gentle, loving, or peaceful. Instead, we focus on abiding in Christ, and then those things will just happen. If you stop being connected to Christ, then you won't be healthy.

That's all for now. There are several Bible verses, and I know I haven't put down hardly any.