Spiritual authority
Alongside the Baptist belief in a regenerate membership is the strongly-held belief that a local church ought to be responsible to no external authority other than Christ who is the Head of the church.
This principle not only exalts Christ to the highest place in church life; it also disallows the adoption of other common models of ecclesiastical authority and organisation such as episcopacy, presbyterianism and rule by a charismatic pastor. As Beasley-Murray notes, "the church, whether local or universal, is only the church in so far as it relates to Christ as its Redeemer and its Head."
Of course, Roman Catholic and Anglican churches (and most other churches) would agree with this, but it is Baptists - along with Congregationalists, Open Brethren and other non-conformist faith communities - who practice the headship of Christ in a real sense within congregational life. Again, Baptists are not alone in preserving this distinctive principle.
More in the next post....
Rod Benson is a NSW Baptist minister and ethicist. He attends Dural Baptist Church.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
This is yet another necessary but insufficient condition (See comment on Rod's part 2).
Even though I agree with the broad sentiment expressed in Rod's last paragraph above I wonder how defensible is the statement "but it is Baptists ... who practice the headship of Christ in a real sense within congregational life." What Rod means I guess is that it is only Baptists (and other congregationalists (with small 'c')) whose polity allows a congregation its unfettered freedom to follow Christ's lead without having to consult some external authority (bishop, synod, apostolic team).
Baptists have historically maintained a congregational-associational model of inter-church relationships. The only church which could be considered 'above' the local congregation is the church universal (or church eschatalogical) known to Christ. The Union is not a church, but merely a servant of a voluntary union of churches. It is subordinate to the churches.
Post a Comment