Authority of scripture
While Beasley-Murray begins his treatise on Baptist principles with the subject of religious conversion and baptism, other scholars (for example, Brackney and Nickerson) commence with the authority of the Bible. The early Baptists tested particular doctrines and practices according to whether they were commanded or legitimated by scripture.
From John Smyth on, Baptists "refused to accept any human authority, bishop, church, or decree unless it agreed with scripture," since scripture alone spoke with no uncertain sound on essential matters, and, as the word of God, provided the supreme and ultimate authority for all matters of faith and conduct.
For Baptists, church tradition, creeds, confessions, episcopal pronouncements and conciliar statements all take a secondary place to scripture. Baptists took the Bible literally and specifically, inciting persecution and ostracisation for their beliefs and practices, and prompting detailed exegesis and teaching of its contents and theology. Every historically verifiable emphasis and distinctive identified as Baptist may be traced back to this all-encompassing principle of alignment with biblical teaching.
The doctrines of justification by faith and the accompanying sign of believer's baptism by immersion are clearly taught in scripture. The Baptist understanding of the nature of the church, regenerate membership and the headship of Christ find their source in the Bible, as does the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and the associated eschewal of episcopacy, presbyterial government, a separated order of priests and sacerdotalism.
While the principle of congregational church government does not find explicit endorsement in scripture, in its ideal form it does preserve the biblical principles of the Lordship of Christ and the guidance of a congregation by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The principle of religious liberty was also found to have its basis in scripture and in biblical theology, while its practice permitted the exercise of personal faith even in circumstances where civil or ecclesiastical authorities favoured unbiblical practice.
Through the centuries since 1609 Baptists have usually approached spiritual, political, social and economic issues by resorting to scripture and seeking the mind and will of God through its reliable pages. Thus, if it is proper to speak of a single primary Baptist distinctive, that distinctive would be the conscientious loyalty and trust which Baptists have historically placed in the Christian scriptures.
More in the next post....
Rod Benson is a NSW Baptist minister and ethicist. He attends Dural Baptist Church.
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3 comments:
May I suggest to the blog host that it would be helpful for readers if there were more than just the latest post appearing on the blog, as this limits the readers ability to know of any previous posts he or she may have missed.
At the blogger Dashboard go to settings, archiving, select monthly..
Many thanks,
Steve
Thanks for the tip but all the posts are actually on the blog.
The settings are deliberately set to highlight the latest post on the main panel, with full access to previous posts in the "BLOG ARCHIVE" which is clearly visible on the right hand side of the screen.
I've chosen to archive previous posts according to the day they were posted; if more than one appears in any single day, they appear together on the archive page for that day. This aids search engines and (I think) preserves order. So, for example, you can cite all ten of my blog posts from 25 March with the URL http://baptists-together.blogspot.com/2008_03_25_archive.html, or click on the title of any blog post to go to a unique page for that specific blog.
And for the record, the blog host is Rod Benson (which is also clearly identified on the main page, along with a link to my bio.
On Principles and Distinctives
Elsewhere in comments on this blogsite I've already distinguished between principles and distinctives. I rather suspect that Baptist Distinctives are far less important than evangelical principles. I would want to argue that Baptists are consistent evangelicals. The distinctives are the consequences of consistent application of principles.
I would hardly think that our adherence to scripture is 'distinctive' but I would argue that it is one of our primary principles, a principle which we share with others, and which by God's grace we have been able to apply more consistently in some areas than some of our non-baptist brethren have.
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