BAPTIST DISTINCTIVES
I have been a
Baptist all my life. I have a cradle roll certificate from a Baptist church. My
father and grandfather were Baptists. I
graduated from a Baptist Bible College and seminary. I am an ordained Baptist
minister and I have been a pastor in several Baptist churches. This may be why
my son asked me to blog about Baptist distinctives.
It is not
surprising that I thought that I had a pretty good idea of what it means to be
a Baptist. However, when I looked up Baptist Distinctives on the internet, I found
surprising results. One common idea was to use the acronym B.A.P.T.I.S.T.S. to outline
eight Baptist distinctives.
Biblical Authority
Autonomy of the
Local Church
Priesthood of the
Believer
Two Ordinances:
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Individual Soul
Liberty
Saved, Baptized
Church Membership
Two Offices in the
Church: Pastors and Deacons
Separation of
Church and State
This sounded too American to me so I looked up a Canadian Baptist
website (baptist.ca)
and found a slightly different set of distinctives.
1. Jesus is Lord
2. The Word of God is the
Authoritative Rule of Faith and Practice
3. The Priesthood of All
Believers
4. A Believers’ Church
5. Believer’s Baptism by
Immersion
6. Congregational
Government
7. Separation of Church and
State
It does not use
the handy acronym, but it is more in line with what I have always believed.
This is the set of distinctives that I will be commenting on in this blog.
Question: What do you
see as the major difference between these two sets of distinctive?
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