#4 Baptist Doctrine
BAPTIST DOCTRINE for Landmark, Missionary, Independent, Local Church Believes.
**NEED OF ARTICLES OF FAITH**
Memory Verse:II Timothy 2:15
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
**NEED OF ARTICLES OF FAITH**
The purpose of having articles of faith is that the members of the church might be built up in the faith and that they might become more firmly acquainted with the great doctrines of the Bible:
Jude
1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Second Peter 1:1-13
1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them,
and be established in the present truth.
13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
Matthew 28:19-20
9 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
How wonderful it is that God has given to His people the Bible. He has also given us His church, of which it is a privilege to be a member and learn how to worship and serve Him. The church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15), is the body of the Lord. The church is to teach “all things of the Lord”.
It has often been said that the Bible is the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice. Doctrine referred to means teaching, primarily what the church believes the Bible to teach. All who believe the Scriptures to be divinely inspired consider them the fountain of religious truth. The Bible contains the revelation of God to man.
It is a duty incumbent upon all to” search the Scriptures” and learn what they teach. This duty cannot be faithfully performed unless prejudices and preconceived opinions are laid aside.
Because of human imperfection, there is not a uniformity of belief as to what the Scriptures teach. There is a deplorable variety of religious opinions throughout Christendom. Different sects, professing to take the Word of God as their guide, contend as earnestly for their distinctive views as if they had different Bibles.
Jude says that we are to contend for the faith. If we do, we will have to know what the ” true faith” is. It was delivered to the saints in the Lord’s churches (Baptist). There is but “one faith”. The Lord had reference to this faith when He said, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find “faith” on the earth?”.
Luke 18:8
“I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”
The Spirit of God in the Bible has never given the church or the body of saints, any authority to add to the body of truth “once delivered to the saints”, or to delete any portion from it.
REVELATION 22:18-19
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Many are deceived by those who do add or delete from the Word of God, such as Mormonism, Christian Science (Eddyism), or various forms of Progressive Christianity. True, we grow in grace and in better knowledge of the great truths of Christianity, but there has been no change or alteration of these great truths. The “faith” came from God and was delivered to the saints.
As there is such a diversity of opinion in the religious world, it is eminently proper for those who appeal to the Scriptures as the fountain of truth to declare what they believe the Scriptures teach. To say that they believe the Scriptures is to say nothing to the purpose. All will say this, and yet all differ as to teachings of the Bible.
There must be some distinctive declaration. What a man believes the Bible to teach is his Creed, either written or unwritten. Some don’t want to use a creed, but a difference of religious opinion has produced creeds.
The meaning of CREED is a brief authoritative formula of religious belief.
As to the “declaration of faith”, it must always be understood that they are not substitutes for the Scriptures.
They are only exponents of what are conceived to be the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God. Among Baptists,
as their churches are independent, it is optional with each church to have a declaration or not, and how that declaration should be worded. Some of the most common confessions of faith are
(a) the New Hampshire Confession,
(b) the Philadelphia Confession,
(c) the London Confession, and
(d) the Orthodox Confession.
There must be a “thus saith the Lord” for all we do. We dare not organize a church, a Sunday School, a prayer meeting, a school, or anything else without “thus saith the Lord”, because the Scriptures “thoroughly furnish us unto all good works”
2 Timothy 3:17.
“That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”
Reason and common sense (even sanctified common sense) shall not be the rule of any part of faith and practice.
Therefore, the Baptists and Roman Catholics (even most Protestants) are poles apart in our faith and practice.
If we were to forsake the Word of God, we would soon be at sea without chart or compass.
There are many religious groups (even some Baptists) who talk about the fundamentals of the faith but actually oppose the revealed truth from God’s Word. The Lord’s churches today will be teaching what the churches taught in the first century.
There are many truths which we as Baptists teach that others believe also, but there are also some distinctive principles held by Baptists. The two most important truths concern the “Way of Salvation” and the “Way of Baptism.”
Other great truths that we will contend for are
(a) the Lord’s Supper,
(b) the King James Authorized Version of the Bible,
(c) the sovereignty of God in all matters of creation, unconditional election to eternal salvation, and providential care,
(d) church government,
(e) future events,
(f) Baptist Bride of Christ,
(g) mission work.
In the 19th century, Ingersoll, Payne, Huxley and others belittled the Bible and fought God’s truth outside of the professing church. Thousands listened to their ungodly speeches and read their unbelieving writings and turned their backs on Christ. But, alas, these “certain men” (Jude 4) have crept inside the professing
church and often found prominent pulpits and have deceived many with their eloquent language and pagan ethics instead of the gospel of God’s grace. We find their kind of spurious believers in our visitation efforts.
We cannot get them to the Savior until first we get them lost. So it is especially important that we as members of this church learn what we believe and why we believe what we believe. It does make a difference what we believe. There are to be special rewards in faithfulness to following “the faith”. I have always said that truth has a special ring to it that error does not have.
The proof is abundant that if it is Baptist doctrine, you can find it in the Bible. Therefore, we need to study and learn the truths and doctrines of the Bible. The Lord Jesus Himself said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” You cannot keep the commandments without being an instructed Baptist. So, love for the Lord Jesus and love for the truth will make every born-again soul in the world a Baptist, if they would obey the Book.
**Discussion Questions:**
1. Why should Baptists acquaint themselves with what Baptists believe?
2. Why should Baptists make a declaration of faith and publish it?
3. Is the appeal of Baptists to their Articles of Faith or to the Word of God? Why?
4. Is there any particular need today for Baptists to have Articles of Faith?
5. Do we sometimes need to restate our Articles of Faith?
6. Does truth ever change?