The term ‘Reformed Baptist’ best refers to those who adhere to the Second
London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689) in practice as well as in theory.
Reformed…
The name ‘Reformed’ refers to the distinctive historical and theological
roots of these Baptists. There is a body of theological beliefs commonly
referred to as the ‘Reformed’ faith. Such great biblical truths as sola fide
(justification by faith alone), sola gratia (salvation by God’s grace alone),
sola scriptura (the Bible alone is the basis for faith and practice), solus
Christus (salvation through Christ alone), and soli Deo gloria (the fact that
God alone is to receive glory in the salvation of sinners) are all noted
hallmarks of the Protestant and Reformed faith.
Yet, the Reformed faith is perhaps best known for its understanding that
God is sovereign in the matter of man’s salvation. This is to say that God has,
before the foundation of the world, chosen or elected certain
sinners for salvation. He has done so sovereignly and according to His own good
pleasure. Additionally, the Reformed faith teaches that, in time, Christ came
and accomplished salvation by dying for the sins of those elected by God. Furthermore,
the Reformed faith teaches that the Holy Spirit, working in harmony with the
decree of the Father and the death of the Son, effectually applies this work of
redemption to each of the elect in their personal conversions. As a
result of this emphasis on the sovereignty of God in salvation, the Reformed
faith also promulgates the ‘doctrines of grace’: doctrinal truths which set
forth the total depravity of man, the unconditional nature of God’s election,
the limited or particular nature of Christ’s atonement, the irresistibility of
the effectual call and the perseverance and preservation of the saints.
The Reformed faith, however, touches on far more than these foundational
truths regarding God’s glory in salvation. It is also concerned with God’s glory
in the church, in society, in the family and in the holiness of the believer’s
life. The Reformed faith has a high and God-centered view of worship, regulated
by the Word of God alone. The Reformed faith embraces a high view of God’s law
and of His church. In short, the Reformed faith is no less than a comprehensive
world and life view, as well as a distinctive body of doctrine.
Out of this theological understanding came a great stream of confessions
and creeds: the Synod of Dort, The Savoy Declaration, The Westminster
Confession of Faith and The Heidelberg Catechism. Similarly, this Reformed
tradition produced some of the great names of Church history. John Calvin, John
Knox, John Bunyan, John Newton, the famous Bible commentator Matthew Henry, the
great evangelist George Whitefield, the great American theologian Jonathan
Edwards, Adoniram Judson, William Carey, C.H. Spurgeon, A.W. Pink and a host of
others all held tenaciously to the Reformed faith. We must underscore that
Reformed Baptists do not hold these truths because of blind allegiance to
historic creeds. Nor, do Reformed Baptists hold them merely because great men
of church history stood in this tradition. Rather, Reformed Baptists hold these
truths because Jesus and the apostles so clearly taught them.
The confession of faith embraced by Reformed Baptist churches takes its
place among, and is deeply rooted in, these historic Reformed documents. In
most places the 1689 Confession is an exact word for word copy of
the Westminster and the Savoy. Consequently, the term
‘Reformed’ Baptist is not a misnomer. Reformed Baptists stand firmly on
the solid ground of the Reformation heritage.
Baptist…
The name ‘Baptist’ summarizes the biblical truths concerning both the
subjects and the mode of baptism. To speak of the ‘subjects’ of baptism, we
refer to the truth that baptism is for disciples only. Reformed Baptists owe a
great debt to the Reformed paedobaptists because their writings have shaped,
challenged, warmed, and guided them again and again. Yet, the Bible is not
silent about the issue of baptism. The fact that baptism is for disciples only
is the clear and indisputable teaching of the Word of God. The subjects of
baptism are not to be discovered in Genesis but in the Gospels and in the
Epistles. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Covenant which must be understood
in the light of New Covenant revelation. There is not one single shred of
evidence in the pages of the Old or New Testament to support the notion that
the infants of believers are to be baptized. Every biblical command to baptize
and every biblical example of baptism, as well as every doctrinal statement
regarding the symbolic nature of baptism, proves that it is for disciples only.
The Bible is equally clear concerning the mode of baptism. The term ‘mode’
refers to the fact that baptism is properly and biblically administered by
immersion in water. The common Greek word for immersion or dipping is the word
used in the New Testament. The argument that the word has an occasional
historic example meaning ‘to pour’ or ‘to sprinkle’ is surely special pleading.
There are perfectly good Greek words which mean ‘to sprinkle’ and ‘to pour.’
Yet, the New Testament employs the word for immersion.
The name Baptist is also meant to convey that only those who are converted
and baptized have a right to membership in Christ’s church. This is often
referred to as a regenerate church membership. A careful reading of the NT
epistles shows that the Apostles assumed that all the members of Christ’s
churches were ‘saints,’ ‘faithful brethren,’ and ‘cleansed by Christ.’ Sadly,
many Baptist churches today are more concerned with having a ‘decisioned
membership’ and a ‘baptized membership’ rather than a regenerate membership. It
is the duty of the pastors and people of true churches to ensure, according to
the best of their ability, that no unconverted person makes his or her way into
the membership of a church.
Reformed
Baptist…
Reformed Baptists are distinguished by their conviction regarding the
sufficiency and authority of the Word of God. While all true Christians believe
in the inspiration and infallibility of the Word of God, all do not believe in
the sufficiency of the Bible. All true Christians believe that the Bible was
‘breathed out’ by God and that it is infallible and without error in all of its
parts. To deny this is to call God a liar, and hence, to lose your soul. But
while all true Christians believe this, all do not seek to regulate the life of
the church in every area by the Word of God. There is a common belief, whether
it is clearly stated or not, that the Bible is not a sufficient guide to tell
you ‘how to do church.’ This is behind much of what we see in the modern church
growth movement and it is founded by and large upon a belief that the Bible is
silent regarding the nature and purpose of the church. It is for this cause
that many feel the freedom to ‘reinvent the church.’ For some reason, many
believers seem to argue that God has no principles in His Word concerning the
corporate life of his people! In these days, the clarion cry of all
Christ-appointed shepherds of sheep needs to be that of the prophet Isaiah: “To
the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word it is
because there is no light in them.”
Reformed Baptists have a conviction that the Bible and the Bible alone
defines what a church is. The Bible and the Bible alone defines the offices of
the church. The Bible speaks of their number (two offices–elders and deacons),
their qualifications and their function. The Bible is a sufficient guide
regarding what worship is and how it is to be given, as well as who can be a
church-member and what is required of those members. The Bible is also
sufficient to instruct about what the church ought to do, how to cooperate with
other churches, how to send out missionaries, train men for the ministry and a
host of other things related to God’s will for His people.
Reformed
Baptists are distinguished by an unshakable conviction that the church exists
for the glory of God. Because the church exists for the glory of God, the
worship of God and the Word of God are central to its life. The church is God’s
house and not man’s. It is the place where He meets with His people in a
special way. However, this does not mean that it is to be a dull, grim,
unfeeling, insensitive place. The place where God dwells is the most glorious
place on earth to the saint and it is an oasis to the thirsty soul of a sinner
seeking the grace of God. However, the place of God’s dwelling is also solemn
and holy. “How awesome is this place, it is none other than the house of God
and the gate of heaven,” was Jacob’s exclamation in Genesis 28. It is this
conviction that explains the reverence and seriousness of the Reformed Baptist
worship of God.
Reformed Baptists are distinguished by their conviction that the local
church is central to the purposes of God on the earth. The present time is the
time of parachurch organizations. It is the time of independently-minded
Christians who float from place to place without ever committing themselves to
the church. This attitude is not only spiritually dangerous, but it is
thoroughly contrary to the revealed mind of God. While many have rightly
diagnosed the failure of the church to do its mission, the answer is not to
abandon the church, but rather to seek its reformation and its biblical
restoration. The church alone is the special dwelling place of God upon the
earth. The great commission of the church is fulfilled as preachers of the
gospel are sent out by local churches to plant new churches by means of
conversion, baptism, and discipleship. Many well-meaning organizations are
seeking to take upon themselves the task that the living God entrusted to His
church. To whom has God entrusted the missionary mandate? To whom did God give
instructions for the discipleship and encouragement and shaping of believers?
To whom did God entrust the equipping of the saints and the training of men to
lead the next generation? If the all-sufficient Bible answers that all these
are the responsibilities of the local church, we are not free to ignore it in
light of the status quo.
Reformed Baptists are distinguished by their conviction that preaching is
foundational to the life of the church. How is God most often pleased to save
sinners? How is God most often pleased to exhort, challenge, and build up his
saints? How is Christ most powerfully displayed to the mind and heart? It is
through the preaching of the Word of God! Therefore, Reformed Baptists reject
the trends of the day toward shallow teaching, cancelled preaching services,
the giving of the services of worship over to testimonies, movies, drama,
dance, or singing. The Word of God is to be central in the worship of God. Paul
warned of the day that would come when professed churchmen would no longer
tolerate sound doctrine. He stated that according to their own desires they
would heap up for themselves teachers who would tickle their itching ears. The
apostolic command thundered forth to Timothy, that in the midst of such mindless
drivel he should ‘Preach the Word!’
Reformed Baptists are distinguished by the conviction that salvation
radically alters the life of the convert. It is tragic that such a thing needs
to be mentioned. Today is the day of decisionism. The idea is that one prays a
certain formula prayer and is therefore declared to be saved. It matters not
whether one breaks with sin or pursues holiness. One can live like hell and go
to heaven! What a bargain! Many popular Bible teachers claim this as a great
defense of the grace of God. This is a “turning of the grace of God into
licentiousness.” When Paul describes the conversion of the Ephesians he uses
the greatest antonyms in the human language: “you were darkness but now you are
light in the Lord.” And in 2 Corinthians 6:14 Paul asks the rhetorical
question: “What fellowship has light with darkness?” Jesus is a great Savior.
He does not leave His people in their lifeless condition. Jesus came to save
His people from their sins. If anyone is in Christ he is a new creature. Jesus
came to make a people zealous for good works. It is an unbiblical notion that a
man can embrace Christ as Savior and reject His Lordship. The word of God
nowhere teaches that Christ can be divided. If one has Christ at all, one has
received a whole Christ–Prophet, Priest, and King.
Reformed Baptists have a conviction that the Law of God (as expressed in
the Ten Commandments) is regulative in the life of the New Covenant believer.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:19 that, “Circumcision is nothing and
uncircumcision is nothing, keeping the commandments of God is what matters.”
The present age is an antinomian (lawless) age of Christianity, which makes no
demands on its ‘converts,’ but God’s way of holiness has not changed. The law
written on the heart in creation (Romans 2:14, 15) is the same law codified in
the Ten Commandments on Sinai and the same law written on the hearts of those
who enter into the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:33 and 2 Corinthians 3:3). The
Apostle John wrote “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” Jesus told His disciples
that the way in which they would demonstrate that they truly loved Him was by
obeying His commandments. Jesus said in Matthew 7 that many professing
Christians will find themselves cast out on the last day because they were
“practicers of lawlessness” who did not do the Father’s will. Among the laws of
God none is so hated as the thought that God requires believers to give of
their time to worship him and to turn from worldly pursuits. In recent years
many have leveled an unrelenting attack upon the Fourth Commandment. The
Presbyterian pastor and Bible commentator Albert Barnes once wrote, “There is a
state of things in this land that is tending to obliterate the Sabbath
altogether. The Sabbath has more enemies in this land than all the other
institutions of religion put together. At the same time it is more difficult to
meet the enemy here than anywhere else: for we come into conflict not with
argument but with interest and pleasure and the love of indulgence and of
gain.”
John Bunyan wrote, “A man shall show his heart and life, what they are,
more by one Lord’s Day than by all the days of the week besides. To delight
ourselves in God’s service upon His Holy Day gives a better proof of a
sanctified nature than to grudge at the coming of such days.”
Modern man is so addicted to his pleasures, his games and his entertainment
that the thought that he must give them up for twenty-four hours to worship and
to delight in God is seen as legalistic bondage. It is a particular grief to
see those who profess to love Jesus Christ shrink from turning from their own
pleasures. To God’s people, who love His law and meditate upon it to the
delight of their blood-bought souls, such a commandment is not bondage, but a
precious gift.
Reformed Baptists are distinguished by a conviction regarding male
leadership in the church. This age has witnessed the feminization of
Christianity. God created two sexes and gave to each a different corresponding
role. While the sexes are equal in Creation, the Fall and Redemption, God has
nonetheless sovereignly ordained that leadership in the home, the state and the
church is to be male. Those whose minds have been unduly influenced by this
generation find Reformed Baptist worship, leadership and family structure to be
jarring. When the Bible speaks of husbands and fathers leading the home it is
not culturally conditioned. When the Bible speaks of men leading in prayer,
teaching, preaching and serving as elders and deacons, Christians must bow with
submissive and dutiful hearts.
Culture must not carry the day in the church of Jesus
Christ!
Reformed
Baptists are distinguished by a conviction regarding the serious nature of
church membership. Reformed Baptists take seriously the admonition of Hebrews
10:24, 25 to “stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together.” Reformed Baptists take seriously the duties and
responsibilities of church membership. In other words, membership actually
means something in Reformed Baptist churches. There ought not to be a great
disparity between Sunday morning and evening attendance. The same membership is
expected to be at all the services of the church. It is impossible for one to share
in the life of the church in the manner which God intended and yet be willingly
absent from its public gatherings. Few churches would make such a demand, but
biblical churchmanship presupposes such a commitment to God, the pastors and to
the brothers and sisters.
(Adapted
from a sermon by Jim Savastio, Pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of
Louisville, KY. Edited by Francisco
Orozco).
