The Baptist Distinctive
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Baptists are Baptist because…? Is there an answer to be found for that question? Do you know what makes us Baptists? What distinguishes us from all other denominations? If we say we are Baptist because we immerse, what shall we say of many other denominations and movements which also baptise by immersion. Jehovah’s Witnesses baptise by immersion, as do most other cults, many evangelical movements of recent vintage, and most Pentecostal groups. Even Luther and Calvin acknowledge that immersion was the ancient mode of baptism and did not speak vigorously against the practise. Obviously, logic would lead us to say that baptism by immersion is not the distinguishing mark of Baptist people.
Perhaps it is our insistence upon believer’s baptism which distinguishes us? However, virtually all churches which require or practise baptism by immersion, with the possible exception of Orthodox churches, require a credible verbal confession acceptable to the particular religious group from those who would be baptised. Again, virtually all ecclesiastical historians are in agreement that the ancient church restricted baptism to those individuals of mature age. There must be a doctrine which distinguishes.
Catholics are generally distinguished by allegiance to papal authority, but they are especially marked out by their allegiance to the ever-evolving traditions of that church. Anglicans are distinguished by their claim to apostolic succession through the English churches. Presbyterians are distinguished by their insistence upon adherence to the Westminster Confession, especially as it develops around covenant theology and their great cry of Sola Fides and Sola Scriptura. Methodists trace their roots to the Anglican Church and distinguish themselves by the methodical study of Scripture. All contemporary denominations, save one, would accept that they have roots within Mother Church – the Roman Catholic Organisation. Baptists stand alone in insisting that throughout history are found churches which, regardless of name assigned, held to one great doctrine which distinguished them from the hierarchical connection to Rome.
I sometimes remind people that in the Gospels they will meet John the Baptist. You will never read of John the Anglican. You will never read of John the Presbyterian, John the Catholic, or John the Methodist. John was identified by an action, but it was a doctrine which distinguished him. We who wear His name do so by accident and not by design, though we, like him, are identified by an act and distinguished by a truth.
We Baptists did not choose the name we wear; it was given us by those fundamentally opposed to our insistence upon one great doctrine. Just as the first saints were called Christians in derision [cf. Acts 11:26], so Baptists received their name in mockery. Those pædobaptists associated with the various European State religions – Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Anglicans, were enemies of those who refused to receive an imposed salvation. Because they were said to rebaptise, the pædobaptists called them rebaptisers – Anabaptists. They did not actually rebaptise – they baptised. Anabaptist was in time shortened to Baptist, the name by which we are now known.
No one should ever apologise for holding to Baptist convictions. The name we bear is an honourable one distinguished by adherence to biblical truth. By the same token, I caution that no one should assume that the name Baptist is divine … that somehow there is merit in bearing that honourable name. It is not the name which is important; the doctrine which distinguishes is vital, however, for it is that doctrine which is central to the Faith once delivered to the saints.
Statement of the Doctrine — In theological terms, the doctrine which distinguishes us as Baptists is usually referred to as the Priesthood of the Believer. Properly understood, this doctrine imposes responsibility and accountability before God upon each person. Remember that in Old Testament theology and under the Law of Moses, the priests of God were responsible for the services in the Tabernacle and in the Temple. Those priests fulfilled two great functions – representing man to God and representing God to man. They fulfilled these tasks through the presentation of prayers and offerings to fulfil the Law and through presenting the Word of the Lord to worshippers. The priests functioned as a bridge between man and God. This is the role of a priest.
We have each no doubt read Peter’s words concerning our ministry which are presented in his first epistle general. We acknowledge that those words must be true and inspired of God, but we are likely to be uncomfortable with the responsibility imposed by those same words. The reason for our discomfort is that the heart of the doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer is imposed upon us through those stunning words. Consider again the words which are written in 1 Peter 2:4-10.
As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him — you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone,”
and,
“A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message — which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
There is no division of the people of God when it comes to the divine designation. We are each divinely designated as priests of God. This is tragically taken by some who are given to self-glorification to mean that we may each be set apart to holy orders. The point is not that we are each liable to ordination, but it does mean that each Christian stands complete before God to plead for mankind and to answer for himself or herself.
Each Christian is capable of offering to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess His Name [Hebrews 13:15]. Among the Psalms is one which exemplifies this sacrifice which is so pleasing to the Lord our God. Turn to Psalm 54:6,7 and read.
I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
I will praise your name, O LORD,
for it is good.
For he has delivered me from all my troubles,
and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.
The Psalmist is saying that his sacrifice to God is praise to His Name. It was a freewill offering presented because God has delivered him from all his troubles. In the same way, we, when we confess His goodness and His glory, are functioning as priests of God to offer a sacrifice of praise.
Having received mercy and having become a people marked out as belonging to God, we are now responsible to represent His interests in the world in which we live. This is precisely the argument which the Apostle Paul presents in 2 Corinthians 5:11-21. Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
So we are priests of God and each believer has part in this priesthood. We also know something of the role we are responsible to play as priests of God. This all began at the cross where an amazing event transpired which is altogether too easily ignored. The Gospels present the fact that the curtain of the Temple was torn in two. Read Matthew 27:50,51 with me. When Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
What was happening? At the moment of Jesus’ death the curtain was ripped, exposing the most holy place to the gaze of all worshippers. More than that, the priests were no longer the sole members of the race to enter into the mysterious presence of God. With the tearing of the curtain God was saying in the most vivid fashion imaginable that the way to God was no longer restricted … the way to God was now open to all mankind. All people were now able to approach the Living God. The Old Testament priesthood was abolished, and a new and living way to God was open.
This is the message of Hebrews 10:19-25. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
It is important that we understand that it was Christ Himself who opened the way into the presence of God. This was a transition as the old order passed away and a new order began. In fact, it was His action as our Great High Priest, ensuring that the veil was torn in two, which marked the transition between the dispensation of law and the dispensation of grace. On the cross He was both High Priest and the eternal sacrifice. We are comfortable speaking of Christ as our sacrifice for sin, and we may even think of Him as our High Priest when we think along such lines; but we do not often think of the two functions in the same moment.
Christ is our Great High Priest as is stated in Hebrews 4:14,15. Since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. Our Great High Priest is distinguished from all other claimants to the title, however, since He also is able to make atonement for the sins of the people [cf. Hebrews 2:17]. The sacrifice which this priest offered is forever sufficient. There is no other sacrifice for sin which could be offered and this one is eternally complete. Listen to an extended passage of the Word.
When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance — now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgement, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him [Hebrews 9:11-28].
What has this to do with our text? That text in the Ephesian letter is well known as one which speaks of salvation without works. Where is this priceless doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer in that text? Consider the text for what it says and focus on the final verse of the text. Deeds as a means to obtain merit before God is utterly excluded by this text. Every labour is excluded as a means by which we may approach God. We are called to salvation and we respond in faith to the call we receive. All this is by grace and we can but believe that which we hear. Having received the gift of life in Christ the Lord, we are then equipped to do the works which please our Father.
That final verse is vital, for within those words is the teaching that we are equipped to do what we could not otherwise accomplish. The works we do are performed – not in order to obtain grace, but because we have already obtained grace. Christians labour for the cause of Christ because we are now set free from condemnation. We can never perform deeds in our own strength to please God. If our work earns merit with God, how much labour is sufficient to propitiate God? What is the relative merit of our various labours? Such questions must be answered if we wish to earn merit.
Any Communion which teaches that human deeds may obtain merit with God are excluded as confessing the Priesthood of the Believer. The Catholic Communion teaches that we may perform certain deeds to obtain merit with God. In fact, by their teaching baptism and observance of the mass obtains merit. Even the reading of the Bible is a meritorious deed, providing an indulgence. Other deeds which may be meritorious before God include such efforts as prayer and even visiting Rome itself. Salvation, then, by Catholic doctrine is in measure earned through our deeds. Those who are redeemed are not priests of God. Likewise, those Communions which directly trace their origin from the Catholic Faith, hold in greater or lesser measure to those self-same doctrines of meritorious effort.
Any Communion which teaches that I may be saved by faith and yet lose that salvation because I fail to hold on to that faith, implicitly deny the doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer. They make it necessary to perform certain works to continue in grace. With the Apostle I register my astonishment at such teaching by asking them to think. You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing — if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard [Galatians 3:1-5]?
Historically, it was our Anabaptist forebears who taught this doctrine and who adhered to it in the face of unrelenting opposition from both papists and pædobaptists. Today, the vast majority of evangelicals will at the least pay lip service to the doctrine, but I insist that it is the practise of the doctrine and not the pronouncement which is vital to honour God who gives His Word.
Import of the Doctrine — The doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer is foundational to our faith and practise, both as Baptists and as evangelical Christians. Consider the practical importance of the doctrine. This doctrine says that we have direct access to God. If we are saved by grace – God reaching out to man – we likewise have access to His throne by grace. We no longer need another to intervene when we approach God, but we are invited to come directly before Him. How comforting is the encouragement we have received. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need [Hebrews 4:16].
We reject every mediator save for the One Mediator provided by God Himself. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men — the testimony given in its proper time [1 Timothy 2:5,6]. There is no mediatrix, no mediator, but we are invited to approach God directly. We do not pray to the dead, whether saints or otherwise, nor do we even consider any other mortal worthy of receiving homage as one who intercedes for us before God. We are privileged in this life to intercede for one another, but Christ alone serves as our Advocate.
The Priesthood of the Believer implies that we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in our walk before the Lord, to teach us of all that He would have us know, and to empower us in our service to Him. As He prepared His disciples for His exodus, Jesus spoke of the ministry of the Holy Spirit who was to be sent after He had left them. One of the ministries of the Spirit of God is to guide the believer. Listen to the words of Jesus.
I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you [John 16:12-15].
The Spirit of God teaches us what we should know as part of His ministry of directing us in the path pleasing to the Father. Jesus is recorded in John 14:26 as saying the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. It is but an iteration of His earlier teaching. When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say [Luke 12:11,12].
John, long after Jesus gave these comforting words, wrote of the divine anointing. I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit — just as it has taught you, remain in him [1 John 2:26,27]. The anointing does not obviate our need for teachers, but it does say that we can understand the will of God for ourselves and we can discern truth from error for ourselves.
The Spirit empowers us for service. One of the great verses of the Word of God, and one which is too easily perverted by ignorant and unstable people, is Acts 1:8. In that verse, Jesus promised power to His disciples after the Holy Spirit descended. They did receive power, but I would have you note that the power of the Spirit was always manifest in boldness in witness and in praise to God. Those who receive the Spirit’s power are enabled to speak freely of Christ and their words have a great impact in the lives of those who hear them. The Priesthood of the Believer teaches, then, that we do not need a second work of grace, but that the Spirit of God is with us from the time we believe to guide us, to teach us, and to empower us for service.
Again, the doctrine implies the responsibility of knowing God’s Word. If I am a priest of God, I am responsible to know the mind of God. In the Bible I have received a perfect revelation of God’s will. I do not need someone tell me what I should think, I need to know the mind of God as revealed in His Word. It is the Word of God which is living and active. It is the Word of God which is sharper than any double-edged sword. It is the Word of God which is capable of dividing soul and spirit. Before the Word of God every thought and motive is exposed. Nothing is all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account [Hebrews 4:12,13].
You do not win souls through winning arguments. You win souls through faithful presentation of the Word of the Living God. I recall the story of a little boy in China whose father had captured a tiger. Kept in a bamboo cage, the great cat had grown old. Other children laughed at the beast, but the little boy, faithful to his father’s instructions, warned the other children away from the cage lest they be hurt.
The children of the village were merciless in taunting both the boy and his tiger despite his pleas for them to keep their distance. At last one day the little boy warned the children that the tiger had great teeth, that his claws were sharp and capable of tearing flesh, that he was strong. When the children persisted in their taunts, the child placed his hand on the latch of the cage and calmly said, “Want to try my tiger?”
Don’t debate the Word of God; declare it! If it is the Sword of the Spirit, unleash it and employ it skilfully to accomplish that for which it was intended. This imposes responsibility on you to know the Word and to apply the Word.
The Priesthood of the Believer also imposes the responsibility of evangelising the lost. If we are priests of God, surely we are responsible to plead with the lost to hear our message of life. That great commission is meaningless if it has no application to each one of us. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age [Matthew 28:19,20]. Don’t think of claming the final promise if you reject the previous command. If Christ is with us, then we are responsible to make disciples.
We are responsible to engage in intercessory prayer by virtue of the doctrine. Our evangelistic effort must be marked by prayer for the lost in addition to our prayers offered up for the saints. We are taught to pray for fellow believers. Pray for each other, says James [James 5:16]. Paul pleaded with believers to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests [Ephesians 6:18]. He invited the Colossians to pray for his missionary band that they would speak boldly and powerfully [Colossians 4:2-4], just as he pleaded with the Thessalonians. [1 Thessalonians 5:25; 2 Thessalonians 3:1,2].
Perhaps the greatest responsibility of the Believer-Priest is the offering of sacrifice to God. Among the greatest sacrifices is the offer of our bodies as living sacrifices to God. All of us have no doubt read Romans 12:1,2 at some time. The passage teaches us of this responsibility if we accept the Priesthood of the Believer. I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will. The sole basis for making a plea for a holy life is be the doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer.
Application of the Doctrine — The hour is late and I am compelled to make specific application so that none miss the import of the message. I urge you to apply this great teaching to the doctrine of salvation. Are you saved? If so, you are saved without work on your part. You have placed your hope and confidence in Christ the Lord and you are complete in Him. That salvation will be revealed through the manner in which you live your life and through the deeds you perform. I urge you to examine yourselves to see whether you are in the Faith [1 Corinthians 13:5]. I urge you to test yourselves. If you have begun by faith you will discover Christ in you. If you fail the test, understand that you must believe this Good News and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you are saved by faith, you have discovered that Christ invested His life in you for a purpose. You are saved to the glory of God. You are responsible to unite your life with others of like faith to serve in unity of the Spirit to fulfil the purpose of His salvation. The expression of faith is that we confess Him, identifying with Him in baptism as He has taught us. Then we place our life in the fellowship of that assembly where He has brought us. As together we labour and work we ascribe glory to His Name. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen [Ephesians 3:20,21].
All that you believe, and especially all that you do in your Christian life and service, is bounded by the doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer. Your prayers, your pleading with the lost, your perseverance in the face of opposition, your presentation of Christ’s love … all reflect your acceptance of and understanding of the doctrine of the Priesthood of the Believer. It is this doctrine which is the Baptist genius. It is this doctrine which distinguishes us from all other historic groups. It is this teaching which makes us who we are and which keeps us true to the Faith one delivered to the saints. Amen.