The Baptists

Southern, American, National, Regular, Landmark and Primitive Baptists: churches of believers immersed on their own confession of faith, each congregation governing itself under the Bible and answering to no bishop, creed or state.

Southern Baptist Convention, The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, full text (Articles I–XVIII)

Southern Baptist Convention, The Baptist Faith and Message: preamble and landing page

Southern Baptist Convention, resolution "An Affirmation of a 'Sinner's Prayer' as a Biblical Expression of Repentance and Faith" (New Orleans, June 2012)

Southern Baptist Convention, Fast Facts (2024 Annual Church Profile; page updated 9/1/2025)

Southern Baptist Convention, SBC President Willy Rice

Lifeway Research, "Lifeway Surveys Lord's Supper Practices of SBC Churches" (17 September 2012)

Lifeway Research, "Southern Baptist Pastors Offer Varied but Regular Gospel Invitations" (12 November 2025)

Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, Tennessee, Worship page

American Baptist Churches USA, What We Believe

American Baptist Churches USA, What We Believe: the Bible

American Baptist Churches USA, What We Believe: Local Churches

American Baptist Churches USA, Our History

American Baptist Churches USA, home page

The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 (Second London Confession), reprinted at A Puritan's Mind

The New Hampshire Baptist Confession of Faith (1833), Wikisource transcription

General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, About (Articles of Faith and Baptist distinctives)

General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, home page

National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., home page

National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., What We Believe (Articles of Faith), as archived 29 February 2020

Progressive National Baptist Convention, home page

Progressive National Baptist Convention, Women in Ministry Initiative

American Baptist Association, Beliefs

Primitive Baptist Digital Library, What We Believe (questions and answers)

Primitive Baptist Digital Library, General Beliefs (Articles of Faith)

Grace Primitive Baptist Church, Pearl, Mississippi, Articles of Faith

Grace Primitive Baptist Church, Pearl, Mississippi, home page

Elder David Pyles (Grace Primitive Baptist Church), "Musical Instruments In Worship" (PDF)

Baptist World Alliance, Members

Baptists (Wikipedia)

Southern Baptist Convention (Wikipedia)

National Baptist Convention, USA (Wikipedia)

Progressive National Baptist Convention (Wikipedia)

General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (Wikipedia)

Landmarkism (Wikipedia)

Primitive Baptists (Wikipedia)

Roger Williams (Wikipedia)

William Carey (Wikipedia)

The Baptists began in the early seventeenth century, among English Separatists who concluded that a church is made of believers and so baptized only those who confessed faith. They split early into General (Arminian) and Particular (Calvinist) streams, came to America, and later divided over missions, slavery, modernism and succession.

Exiles in Amsterdam

The Baptists trace themselves to a church formed at Gainsborough under the cleric John Smyth, which with the Scrooby congregation went into exile in Amsterdam in 1608. The American Baptists date "the earliest Baptist churches" to "1609-1612" in Holland, "where religious toleration was much greater than in England," and name Smyth as the man "who led the first congregation of 36 men and women." They came to reject infant baptism and baptized only professing believers.

Helwys returns to London

Thomas Helwys took over the leadership, published the first Baptist confession of faith, A Declaration of Faith of English People, in 1611, and led the church back to England in 1612, settling it in Spitalfields, East London. It became the first General Baptist church. The same year he printed A Short Declaration of the Mistery of Iniquity, for which religious liberty was a right for everyone, "even for the heretics."

Providence and Newport

Roger Williams, estranged from Massachusetts "over the failure of church and civil functions to be independent of one another," "established the first Baptist church in America" at Providence, Rhode Island, about 1638, and John Clarke founded a Baptist church in Newport at the same time. Historians still debate which was first. Williams and Clarke together secured a charter guaranteeing civil and religious freedom from Charles II in 1663.

The Second London Confession

The Particular (Calvinistic) Baptists of England and Wales set out their faith in a confession first compiled in 1677 and recommended to the churches in September 1689 by thirty-seven ministers and messengers. It follows the Westminster Confession except on "baptism, the Lord's Supper, and church government," and for "between 150 and 200 years it remained the definitive Confession of Faith" of those churches.

The Philadelphia Association

Five congregations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania formed the Philadelphia Baptist Association in 1707. It and the associations after it "honored the autonomy of constituent churches, but served as councils for ordination, and a means of disciplining ministers and settling congregational disputes."

Carey, Rice and the missionary conventions

William Carey, the "most influential figure in beginning the modern missionary movement," began his work in India in 1793. Adoniram and Ann Judson sailed for India in 1812 as Congregationalists and, after "wrestling en route with the notion of baptism," concluded "that only immersive baptism was Scriptural" and became Baptists. In 1814 Luther Rice's work for their support produced the Triennial Convention, "the first unified national missionary-sending effort formed in the U.S."

Black Rock: the Primitive Baptists

The official split between "Old School" and "New School" Baptists took place at a meeting at the Black Rock Church in Butler, Maryland, on 28 September 1832, known as the Black Rock Address. The Primitive Baptists' own account is that those "who insisted on establishing mission boards, Sunday Schools, and other unscriptural societies in the church" became the New School Baptists, and those who "continued to walk in the old paths" became the Old School or Primitive Baptists (Primitive Baptist Digital Library).

The Southern Baptist Convention

"The issue of slavery reached a peak in 1845," when the Foreign Mission Society would not appoint a slaveholder as a missionary and the Home Mission Society decided that separate northern and southern conventions were needed. "The Southern Baptist Convention was formed in response," at Augusta, Georgia, in May 1845. In 1995 the SBC apologized for racial positions in its history (Wikipedia).

Landmarkism

The Landmark movement began in the American South in 1851, shaped by James R. Graves of Tennessee and later by Ben M. Bogard of Arkansas. At Cotton Grove Baptist Church near Jackson, Tennessee, Graves called Baptists together, and the majority resolved the five questions "by non-recognition of non-Baptist congregations." The American Baptist Association, which Bogard founded, is among the bodies that hold Landmark principles today.

The National Baptist Convention

On 24 September 1895, at the Friendship Baptist Church in Atlanta, three Black Baptist conventions fused into the National Baptist Convention of the United States of America. A division in 1915 over the ownership of the National Baptist Publishing Board produced a second convention.

The Regular Baptists

On 18 May 1932 conservative churches formed the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches. "The impact of modernism on the Northern Baptist Convention (now called the American Baptist Churches USA)" had led to the withdrawal of "a number of conservative and fundamentalist churches." The Northern Baptists, organized in 1907, became American Baptist Churches USA in 1972 (ABC-USA).

The Progressive National Baptist Convention

In 1961 civil-rights-oriented Baptist ministers, led by L. Venchael Booth of Zion Baptist Church in Cincinnati, failed to replace the long-time head of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Joseph H. Jackson. The older body "stood aloof from the civil rights movement," and the defeat of the reformers, among them Martin Luther King Jr., "prompted the formation of the new predominantly African American Baptist denomination."

John Smyth

A cleric who led the Gainsborough congregation into exile in Amsterdam and, by the American Baptists' account, "led the first congregation of 36 men and women." He died in Amsterdam in 1612 (Wikipedia).

Thomas Helwys

Took over the Amsterdam church, published the 1611 Declaration of Faith, and in 1612 led the church back to London and printed his plea for liberty of conscience for everyone, "even for the heretics."

Roger Williams

An English-born minister who founded Providence Plantations, which became the colony of Rhode Island. The American Baptists say he "established the first Baptist church in America" there about 1638, and that Rhode Island "became the first government in history founded on the premise of absolute religious freedom."

William Carey

The English Baptist missionary "most influential" in beginning the modern missionary movement, who asked "If the Gospel was worthy of all acceptation, why is it not preached to all?" He served about forty years in and around Serampore, India.

James R. Graves

Editor of a Tennessee Baptist newspaper, through which he "popularized Landmarkism," and the man who called the Cotton Grove meeting of 1851. His influence was strongest in the lower Mississippi valley and in Texas (dates: Wikipedia).

Who leads today. Southern Baptist Convention: president Willy Rice, "elected the 66th president of the Southern Baptist Convention in June 2026 at the SBC Annual Meeting in Orlando" (SBC). American Baptist Churches USA: General Secretary Rev. Dr. Gina Jacobs-Strain, named on the denomination's home page in September 2026 (ABC-USA). National Baptist Convention, USA: Dr. Boise Kimber, named as president on the convention's home page (NBC). Progressive National Baptist Convention: President Keith Byrd, Sr. (PNBC). General Association of Regular Baptist Churches: its page names Clare Jewell as National Representative (GARBC). Baptist World Alliance: General Secretary and CEO Elijah M. Brown (BWA). The Landmark and Primitive Baptists have no national officer in the pages read.

Sizes not found. No count of the Primitive Baptists or of the Landmark Baptists was found in a source read.

The confessions. The Southern Baptist confession is the Baptist Faith and Message of 2000, with Article VI amended on 14 June 2023. The National Baptist Convention, USA published as its Articles of Faith the text of the 1833 New Hampshire Confession (NBC, archived 2020). The Progressive National Baptist Convention's pages state no confession.

Two streams, and the Mennonites. The General Baptists were Arminian and the Particular Baptists Calvinist. Smyth himself was expelled from his church in 1610, came to doubt his own baptism, and "applied with the Waterland Mennonites for union"; he "died before achieving it," and some of his supporters became Mennonites, while Helwys and others kept their commitment (Wikipedia). The Baptist churches are a separate movement of 1609 and after, not a branch of the sixteenth-century Anabaptists.

The succession claim. Landmark Baptists hold that Baptist churches run unbroken from Christ's own ministry. This chart gives the dated line, and weighs the claim under the Landmark distinctive.

The Bible alone is the standard, and no outside authority may impose a creed on a church. Confessions are still adopted and used: the Southern Baptist Faith and Message, the 1689 Confession, and the Regular Baptists' Articles of Faith.

The Baptist bodies put Scripture first. The Southern Baptist Convention calls the Bible "the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried," and its preamble denies "the right of any secular or religious authority to impose a confession of faith upon a church or body of churches." American Baptist Churches USA calls Scripture "the most authoritative guide" and says "we have tended to avoid embracing prepared creeds." The 1689 Confession and the American Baptist Association say the same in their own words.

The bodies also adopt statements. The Southern Baptists use the Baptist Faith and Message, the National Baptists the New Hampshire articles, the Regular Baptists a long Articles of Faith, and the Primitive Baptist congregations their own Articles. These are offered as summaries of what the Bible teaches, not as a second authority. The Primitive Baptists add that "Christ set in the church everything necessary for its happiness and well being and all the modern day additions and auxiliaries are unscriptural." The Southern Baptists, by contrast, say Christ's people "should, as occasion requires, organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation."

the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried

Baptists cherish and defend religious liberty, and deny the right of any secular or religious authority to impose a confession of faith upon a church or body of churches.

we have tended to avoid embracing prepared creeds or other statements that might compromise our obligation to interpret Scripture as individuals within the community of faith under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The 1689 Confession, Chapter 1, paragraph 1: "The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience." The American Baptist Association: "We believe in the infallible, verbal inspiration of the whole Bible and that the Bible is the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice." The Regular Baptists: "We believe the Bible to be the true center of Christian unity and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creed, and opinions shall be tried." ABC-USA adds: "Holy Scripture always has been for us the most authoritative guide to knowing and serving the triune God."

A person is saved by repenting and trusting Christ, and then is immersed as a believer, never as an infant. Most Baptist bodies teach baptism as a symbol and an act of obedience after salvation; the Primitive Baptists say regeneration comes first and without the gospel.

The Baptists teach that a person is saved by personal faith in Jesus Christ, and that baptism follows as its witness. The Southern Baptist Convention says "There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord," and that regeneration is "a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit" to which "the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." The Regular Baptists say "faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation."

The Baptist Faith and Message calls it "an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour" and "prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper." The Baptists immerse, and only believers: the 1689 Confession says "Immersion, or dipping of the person in water, is necessary," and American Baptists say they "fully immerse in water." The 1689 Confession also calls baptism a sign "of remission of sins."

The Primitive Baptists hold a different doctrine of grace. They teach that God elected "a definite number of the human race" and that regeneration is "the direct operation of the Holy Spirit," not worked through the preaching of the gospel. They still immerse believers, and they hold that the "mode of baptism is immersion in water."

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.

Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection; … of remission of sins

if he sets forth any act of man's will, such as repentance, faith, baptism, or hearing the gospel, as a condition for obtaining it, then this position must be put on the works side.

The Southern Baptist Convention, Article IV: "Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ." The 1689 Confession: faith "is the alone instrument of justification." The National Baptist Convention, USA, Article XIV: baptism is "to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem, our faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Savior." The Regular Baptists: "Christian baptism is the single immersion of a believer in water to show forth in a solemn and beautiful emblem of our identification with the crucified, buried, and risen Savior." The American Baptist Association: "Scriptural baptism is the immersion of penitent believers in water, administered by the authority of a New Testament church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." American Baptist Churches USA: "We insist that baptism be administered only to those who have the maturity to understand its profound significance." The Primitive Baptists, answering Mark 16:16: "The salvation involved here is not that which takes a man to Heaven, but that which saves his life here in the world." The Progressive National Baptist Convention states no confession on the pages read.

The Supper is a memorial of Christ's death, taken by baptized believers. The Southern Baptist Convention names no frequency, and most of its churches keep it quarterly. The American Baptist Association restricts it to the members of the congregation holding it, and the Primitive Baptists pair it with foot washing.

The Baptists keep the Lord's Supper as a memorial, not a sacrifice. The Baptist Faith and Message calls it "a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming." The 1689 Confession says it is for "the perpetual remembrance, and showing to all the world the sacrifice of himself in his death."

Who may take it differs by body. The Regular Baptists teach that "participants in the Lord's Supper should be immersed believers." The American Baptist Association calls it "a memorial ordinance, restricted to the members of the church observing the ordinance." The Southern Baptist statement speaks of "members of the church," though in a 2012 Lifeway survey most Southern Baptist churches let any believer in Christ take part. The Primitive Baptists list "baptism by immersion and The Lord's Supper and washing of feet" as the church's ordinances. None of these confessions names a frequency.

The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

We believe that the Biblical order of the ordinances is baptism first and then the Lord's Supper, and that participants in the Lord's Supper should be immersed believers.

The Lord's Supper is a memorial ordinance, restricted to the members of the church observing the ordinance.

Lifeway Research on the Southern Baptist Convention (2012): "57 percent of SBC churches observe the Lord's Supper quarterly," "a small 1 percent observes the Lord's Supper weekly," eighteen percent monthly, fifteen percent "from five to 10 times a year," and eight percent less than four times a year. On who may take it, "96 percent of their churches allow individuals who are not members of that local church to participate," and fifty-two percent offer the Supper to "anyone who has put their faith in Jesus Christ." American Baptist Churches USA: "The Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion, commemorates the sacrifice of our Lord." The pages read give no frequency for the American Baptists, the Regular Baptists or the Primitive Baptists.

Each congregation governs itself, with two offices, pastor and deacon. Conventions and associations are advisory. The Southern Baptist and Landmark bodies limit the pastorate to men; the American Baptists and Progressive National Baptists have women pastors.

The Baptists govern by the congregation. The Baptist Faith and Message says "Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes" and names "two scriptural offices," "pastor/elder/overseer and deacon." The 1689 Confession names "bishops or elders, and deacons." The New Hampshire Confession, which the National Baptist Convention, USA adopted as its articles, names "Bishops, or Pastors, and Deacons." The Regular Baptists and the American Baptist Association each name pastors and deacons.

Conventions and associations are voluntary. The Baptist Faith and Message says of them, "Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches." The American Baptist Association says "all associations, fellowships, and committees are, and properly should be, servants of, and under control of the churches." American Baptists describe "local-church autonomy held in covenant with the wider body of Christ."

Who may be pastor divides the family. The Baptist Faith and Message says "the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture." American Baptist Churches USA affirms "the ordination of women, practiced in our denomination for more than a century," and the Progressive National Baptist Convention supports its "female preachers, pastors." The Primitive Baptists reject salaried ministers and the title "Reverend."

Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes.

Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches.

The Baptist principle of local-church autonomy held in covenant with the wider body of Christ.

The Baptist Faith and Message, Article VI, was amended on 14 June 2023. The American Baptist Association: "We believe that there are two divinely appointed offices in a church, pastors and deacons, to be filled by men whose qualifications are set forth in Titus and 1 Timothy." The Primitive Baptists, Article 13: "no minister has a right to the administration of the ordinances, only such as are regularly called and come under the imposition of hands by the presbytery." Their Question 18: ministers receive no salary, and their Question 14: the title "Reverend" is "a name belonging only to God." The Progressive National Baptist Convention's Women in Ministry Initiative aims at "assuring that women ministers, and pastors are visible, developed and involved within our convention."

The Lord's Day is kept with preaching, prayer, singing and the ordinances. Southern Baptist services close with a public invitation, most churches use instruments, and the Primitive Baptists argue against them.

The Baptists keep the first day of the week as the Lord's Day. The Baptist Faith and Message says it "commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private." The 1689 Confession lists among the parts of worship "teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord."

Practice varies by church. At Bellevue a choir and an orchestra lead the music. Lifeway Research reports that "If you walk into a worship service at a Southern Baptist church, chances are you will hear the pastor offer a gospel invitation," and the American Baptist Churches USA describe "freedom in worship and opinion."

The Primitive Baptists stand apart. Their elder David Pyles of Grace Primitive Baptist Church writes that music has become "a dominant part of many worship services, displacing former focus upon Bible instruction," and that in Colossians 3:16 "The emphasis of this verse is upon instructional value, not on appeal to the natural ear."

It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private.

teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord

If you walk into a worship service at a Southern Baptist church, chances are you will hear the pastor offer a gospel invitation.

Lifeway Research (2025): "74% say they provided an opportunity for people to respond to a gospel invitation within their weekly Sunday morning worship service every week in the past year." "Around 2 in 3 say they ask people to walk forward to speak with someone at the front during the service (65%)." Elder Pyles quotes Baptist writers against instruments, among them Charles Spurgeon: "We might as well pray by machinery as praise by it." The Primitive Baptists' Question 13 refuses Sunday schools: "The Sunday School is another of man's inventions."

The Holy Spirit regenerates, indwells and gives gifts to serve the church. The Southern Baptist statement is silent on whether miraculous gifts continue; the Regular Baptists and the American Baptist Association say they have ceased.

The Baptists teach that the Holy Spirit is fully God, who convicts, regenerates, seals and indwells the believer. The Baptist Faith and Message says "At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ" and that He "bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church." It does not say which gifts continue.

The conservative bodies speak to the question. The Regular Baptists say "the sign/revelatory gifts of the Holy Spirit have fulfilled their purpose and are not applicable to the work of the Holy Spirit today." The American Baptist Association says "miraculous spiritual manifestation gifts were done away when the Bible was completed." American Baptist Churches USA describes "the influence of the Holy Spirit on individual lives and ministries" as a mark of the Baptist tradition. The National Baptists' articles and the Progressive National pages state no position, and the Primitive Baptist pages read speak of the gifts of Ephesians 4:11 but say nothing of tongues or healing.

At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church.

We believe that the sign/revelatory gifts of the Holy Spirit have fulfilled their purpose and are not applicable to the work of the Holy Spirit today.

We believe that miraculous spiritual manifestation gifts were done away when the Bible was completed.

The Southern Baptist Convention: the Spirit "calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration," and "seals the believer unto the day of final redemption." The American Baptist Association: "We believe the Holy Spirit is the divine Administrator for Jesus Christ in His churches," and "Faith, Hope, and Love are the vital abiding Spiritual Gifts." The Regular Baptists: "He is the agent in the new birth."

Christ will return personally and visibly, the dead will be raised and judged, and the wicked go to everlasting punishment. The Regular Baptists and the American Baptist Association add a premillennial return, and the Regular Baptists a pretribulation rapture.

The Baptists teach the return of Christ, the resurrection and a final judgment. The Baptist Faith and Message says "Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness," and that "The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment." It sets out no order of events.

Other bodies are specific. The Regular Baptists teach "the pretribulational rapture of the church, an event that can occur at any moment," a seven-year Tribulation, and then "the premillennial return of Christ in power and great glory." The American Baptist Association teaches "the premillennial, personal, bodily return of Christ." The Primitive Baptists confess "the resurrection both of the just and the unjust" with "the happiness of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked" eternal.

Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment.

We believe in the pretribulational rapture of the church, an event that can occur at any moment, and that at that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies

We believe in the premillennial, personal, bodily return of Christ as the crowning event of the Gentile age.

The Baptist Faith and Message goes on: "The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord." The Regular Baptists add "a continuing distinction between Israel and the Church." The Primitive Baptists, Article 9: "the Resurrection of the dead; the just to eternal joy and happiness; the wicked to shame and everlasting contempt."

The sinner's prayer and the public invitation

The Southern Baptist Convention affirms the sinner's prayer as a biblical expression of repentance and faith, and its pastors close most services with a gospel invitation. It warns that the prayer is not an incantation.

At the end of the sermon a Southern Baptist pastor typically invites people to respond, by walking forward to speak with someone at the front or by speaking with the pastor after the service. In 2012 the convention's messengers voted to affirm that "repentance and faith involve a crying out for mercy and a calling on the Lord," a prayer often called the sinner's prayer, "as a biblical expression of repentance and faith." The same resolution warns that the prayer "is not an incantation." The sources read show the 2012 affirmation, not when the practice began.

RESOLVED, That we affirm that repentance and faith involve a crying out for mercy and a calling on the Lord (Romans 10:13), often identified as a “sinner's prayer,” as a biblical expression of repentance and faith

a “sinner’s prayer” is not an incantation that results in salvation merely by its recitation and should never be manipulatively employed or utilized apart from a clear articulation of the Gospel

Most Southern Baptist pastors regularly offer gospel invitations, but what this looks like and how they view this time in the service varies.

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?

And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, immediately.

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

The Southern Baptists are right that repentance and faith are needed, and right to warn that a prayer is not a charm. But the Bible gives no sinner's prayer as the way into Christ: when men asked "what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37), Peter told them "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). The jailer at Philippi, who cried out as the resolution says, was baptized "the same hour of the night" (Acts 16:33), and Saul, who had been praying three days (Acts 9:9-11), was told "arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). The calling on the Lord's name there is joined to the water. Where Acts has an invitation it ends in baptism; the Baptist invitation ends in a prayer, and baptism comes later as a witness.

The resolution's texts for the prayer are Romans 10:13, Luke 18:13 and Acts 16:29-30, and none is an apostolic command to pray for salvation. The publican of Luke 18:13 prayed under the law, before the cross. The jailer of Acts 16:29-30 asked "what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30), and the answer, given that night, ended in his baptism (Acts 16:33). The resolution's own warning against a prayer taken as an incantation is fair, and one in five Southern Baptist pastors in the Lifeway study said they worry "about emotional manipulation with invitations." Ananias's words to Saul answer both worries: "calling on his name" is the repentant believer's own cry, and it is joined to the act God appointed for the washing away of sins.

Perseverance: once saved, always saved

The Southern Baptist, Regular Baptist and Primitive Baptist confessions teach that a true believer can never finally fall away.

The Southern Baptist Convention says "All true believers endure to the end" and that those "whom God has accepted in Christ ... will never fall away from the state of grace." The 1689 Confession (Chapter 17, "Of the Perseverance of the Saints") says the same, and the National Baptists' articles that "such only are real believers as endure to the end." The Regular Baptists say "all who are truly born again are kept by God the Father for Jesus Christ." The Primitive Baptists confess that the called "can never fall away and finally be lost." The Baptist Faith and Message adds that believers "may fall into sin through neglect and temptation" and suffer for it, yet "shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation."

All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.

We believe that all who are truly born again are kept by God the Father for Jesus Christ.

We believe all those who are called, quickened, regenerated, and justified are preserved in Christ and kept by the power of God unto salvation and can never fall away and finally be lost.

Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end:

Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace.

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

The Baptists rightly teach that salvation is held by God's grace and that a weak believer is not at once lost. But the New Testament warns the saved, in the same epistles that comfort them, that they can fall: "Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12). Paul tells those who sought to be justified by the law, "ye are fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4), and warns, "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). Peter writes of men who "escaped the defilements of the world" and are "again entangled therein and overcome" (2 Peter 2:20). The promise is to those who "hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end" (Hebrews 3:14), and warnings to believers would mean nothing if falling were impossible.

They take comfort from "no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand" (John 10:29), and rightly: no outside power can. But the sheep of that promise are those who "follow me" (John 10:27). The Baptists answer that those who fall away were never saved, citing 1 John 2:19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us." That verse speaks of false teachers who left the apostles' company; it does not say that every believer who falls was never one. The Baptist Faith and Message itself admits that a believer may "bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves," but Galatians 5:4 and Hebrews 3:12 speak of more than temporal judgment: of being "severed from Christ" (Galatians 5:4).

Landmarkism: succession and the closed table

The American Baptist Association, a Landmark body, teaches that Christ founded the church in His ministry, that its churches have continued since, and that baptism and the Supper belong to the congregation that holds them.

The American Baptist Association, one of the main bodies that hold Landmark principles, says that "Jesus Christ established His church during His ministry on earth and that it is always a local, visible assembly of scripturally baptized believers." It teaches that Christ "gave the Great Commission to the New Testament churches only, and that He promised the perpetuity of His churches." Baptism is valid only if "administered by the authority of a New Testament church," and the Supper is "restricted to the members of the church observing the ordinance." Graves's followers began by refusing to recognize non-Baptist congregations (1851). Other Baptists, including the Southern Baptist Convention, do not hold that Baptist churches descend without a break from the first century.

We believe that Jesus Christ established His church during His ministry on earth and that it is always a local, visible assembly of scripturally baptized believers in covenant relationship to carry out the Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission to the New Testament churches only, and that He promised the perpetuity of His churches.

Scriptural baptism is the immersion of penitent believers in water, administered by the authority of a New Testament church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

And as they went on the way, they came unto a certain water; and the eunuch saith, Behold, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and the Lord said unto him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord.

And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we tarried seven days.

The Landmark Baptists are right that Christ's church is a local assembly of baptized believers, that "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18), and that the table may be guarded, for Paul says of an unrepentant brother "with such a one no, not to eat" (1 Corinthians 5:11). They are wrong to make a baptism valid by the pedigree of the church that performed it: the eunuch asked only "what doth hinder me to be baptized?" and Philip baptized him on the road with no church to authorize it (Acts 8:36-38), and Saul was baptized by "a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias" (Acts 9:10), not by an officer of a succession. No apostle asks for a chain of descent; what makes a baptism is a penitent believer immersed in the name of the Lord. The closed table sets a test the text does not set: Paul broke bread at Troas as a visitor, where "we tarried seven days" (Acts 20:6), and John condemned Diotrephes, who "loveth to have the preeminence among them," because "neither doth he himself receive the brethren" (3 John 1:9-10). A Supper that turns away a baptized brother of the same faith for belonging to the next church has added a rule the apostles did not give.

The Landmark claim also fails on its own ground: if baptism requires a church of the unbroken succession, the Baptists cannot show it. The earliest Baptist churches in the sources read date from 1609 to 1612, and the American Baptists place the tradition's beginning "in the early 17thcentury" (ABC-USA). Christ's promise that the gates of Hades would not prevail does not need a documented chain of pedigrees; wherever believers obey the word, His church is there.

Unconditional election and regeneration without means

The Primitive Baptists teach that God chose a definite number before the world began, that Christ died for them alone, and that the Spirit regenerates them directly, before and apart from the preaching of the gospel.

The Primitive Baptists confess that "God, before the foundation of the world, chose a definite number of the human race in Christ Jesus to salvation and they in particular are saved." They hold "the atonement and redemption of Jesus Christ are for the elect only," and that the Holy Spirit's work in "calling, regenerating and sanctifying the elect" is "sovereign, irresistible, direct, immediate and ever effectual." Asked whether preaching the gospel is God's ordained means of salvation, they answer, "No, only by the direct operation of the Holy Spirit can eternal life be brought to the dead sinner." They hold that repentance, faith and baptism are not conditions of salvation.

We believe that God, before the foundation of the world, chose a definite number of the human race in Christ Jesus to salvation and they in particular are saved.

No, only by the direct operation of the Holy Spirit can eternal life be brought to the dead sinner

No, the man who wants salvation already HAS it.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!

For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe.

who shall speak unto thee words, whereby thou shalt be saved, thou and all thy house.

The Primitive Baptists take salvation to be wholly God's gift, and in that they rightly honor grace. But Scripture names the means by which God gives it: Jesus sends the church to "preach the gospel to the whole creation" and says "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:15-16), and Paul asks "how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14). It "was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21), and the angel told Cornelius that Peter "shall speak unto thee words, whereby thou shalt be saved" (Acts 11:14), so he was not saved before the word came. A doctrine that holds a man saved before he has heard, and sends no preacher to the lost, reverses the order the Lord and His apostles gave. Their reading of Mark 16:16 as a salvation of "his life here in the world" is one the passage does not carry, for its contrast is "he that disbelieveth shall be condemned" (Mark 16:16).

Asked in their Question 9 why they preach, the Primitive Baptists answer "For the comfort and instruction of the Lord's people." The apostles preached for the conversion of sinners: the Philippian jailer asked "what must I do to be saved?" and was told "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house" (Acts 16:30-31). In paying no minister, refusing the title "Reverend" and refusing mission boards, the Primitive Baptists stand nearer the New Testament than the larger bodies.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. The wall below shows how far each position stands from it; choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Baptists went back to the New Testament for the baptism of believers, and some went into exile for it. Where they stand nearer the pattern than most, they are credited plainly, and each verdict names the Baptist body it concerns.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.

The Baptists put Scripture above every creed in so many words: the Bible is "the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried," and no church may have a confession imposed on it. That is the Bereans' way, "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11), and it puts them nearer the line than the churches that bind tradition. They stand short in two ways. In practice they add what the text neither commands nor shows: conventions and agencies, the public invitation, instruments of music. And each body keeps a written confession beside the Bible, offered as a summary to be judged by the text, but a summary held as a test of fellowship becomes a second standard, and the church is to "learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6).

The Primitive Baptists press the principle harder than any other Baptist body: their Article 12 treats "all the modern day additions and auxiliaries" as "unscriptural." They are credited for it.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.

which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ;

The Baptists immerse, and they immerse only the penitent believer, as the apostles did: "they both went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him" (Acts 8:38). On who is baptized and how, they kept what most of Christendom lost, and there they stand on the line. They are wrong about what baptism is for. The Baptist Faith and Message calls it "an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith," the sign of a forgiveness already given, but Peter commanded it "unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38), Ananias told Saul, a believer three days in fasting and prayer (Acts 9:9-11), to "be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16), Jesus said "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16), Paul wrote that "as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27), and Peter that baptism "doth now save you" (1 Peter 3:21). The Primitive Baptists stand further out, holding that a sinner is regenerated before and without the gospel, so the family sits on the line on who and how, and short of it on why.

Their case, in their own words. The Southern Baptists' 2012 resolution says "repentance from sin and personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are necessary for salvation," and the 1689 Confession calls faith "the alone instrument of justification." None of that is in dispute. The question is where the Lord set the forgiveness of the penitent believer, and the texts say at the water.

The 1689 Confession's own proof texts. The Confession calls baptism a sign "of remission of sins," and the two texts it cites for those words are Mark 1:4, "the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins," and Acts 22:16, "wash away thy sins." Neither describes a remission already given; in both the remission is what the baptism is unto. For being "engrafted into him" the same paragraph cites Romans 6:3-5, Galatians 3:27 and Colossians 2:12, and for who may be baptized it cites Mark 16:16. The Confession's own proof texts are evidence against its sign-only reading, not for it.

Ephesians 2:8-9: "for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory." The works Paul excludes are those a man boasts in. In baptism a man is buried and raised by another, "raised with him through faith in the working of God" (Colossians 2:12): faith is the instrument, at work in the water. And Paul denies works and names the washing in one sentence: "not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration" (Titus 3:5).

Romans 10:9-10 and the calling on the Lord: "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." The verse leaves out repentance, which every Baptist body requires (Acts 17:30), so it is not the whole list. The 2012 resolution grounds the sinner's prayer in Romans 10:13, but Peter quoted the same promise at Pentecost, "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21), and when his hearers asked what to do he answered with Acts 2:38. Ananias told Saul to call on that name in the water: "be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16).

John 3:16: "whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life." That faith is the condition no one disputes, and it is not set against baptism. In the same conversation Jesus said "Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" (John 3:5), and the chapter ends, "he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life" (John 3:36). In Acts, believing came to the water: "when they believed Philip … they were baptized, both men and women" (Acts 8:12).

Acts 10:43-48: Peter told Cornelius that "through his name every one that believeth on him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43), then "commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ" (Acts 10:48). The Spirit fell before the water as a sign to the Jewish believers, "even as on us at the beginning" (Acts 11:15), and it answered the question "Can any man forbid the water" (Acts 10:47). It did not make the water needless, and the angel had said Peter would speak "words, whereby thou shalt be saved" (Acts 11:14).

Romans 6:3-4 and 1 Peter 3:21. The Baptist Faith and Message takes its picture from Romans 6, "the resurrection to walk in newness of life." But Paul says we "were baptized into his death" so "that like as Christ was raised from the dead … so we also might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:3-4): the new life comes out of the burial, not before it. Peter's "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh" (1 Peter 3:21) denies that the water washes the body, not that baptism saves. And "unto" in Acts 2:38 is the word of Matthew 26:28, Christ's blood "poured out for many unto remission of sins," which no Baptist reads as "because of."

The Southern, American, National, Regular and Landmark Baptists keep the immersion of believers and put the forgiveness before it. The Lord put the water on the road to it.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.

The Baptists keep the Supper as a remembrance, "this do in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24), with no priest, no sacrifice and no change in the bread, and they guard it with baptism first, as the churches in Acts did (Acts 2:41-42). On what the Supper is and who comes to it, most of them stand on the line. They stand short on when: the disciples at Troas were "gathered together to break bread" "upon the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7), and that first-day Supper is binding, but the Southern Baptist Convention names no frequency, and most of its churches keep it four times a year or less. A quarterly Supper is far from the first church, which "continued stedfastly in … the breaking of bread" (Acts 2:42). The American Baptist Association's table, closed to the members of the one congregation, is weighed under the Landmark distinctive below.

Paul's rule was self-examination: "let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup" (1 Corinthians 11:28). The Primitive Baptists add foot washing to the two ordinances; the pages read do not give a frequency for their Supper.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness.

Baptist congregations govern themselves, and no bishop, synod or pope rules them; the Baptist Faith and Message names two offices, "pastor/elder/overseer and deacon," and the 1689 Confession "bishops or elders, and deacons," the offices Paul greets at Philippi, "the bishops and deacons" (Philippians 1:1). On these marks the Baptists stand near the line. They stand short in three places. The apostles "appointed for them elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), a plurality in each, yet the Baptist Faith and Message speaks of the office in the singular; the conventions and agencies the churches fund stand outside every congregation, though the Baptist Faith and Message says they "have no authority over one another or over the churches"; and American Baptist Churches USA and the Progressive National Baptist Convention have women as pastors, which Paul does not permit: "I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man" (1 Timothy 2:12). The Southern, Landmark and Regular Baptists, who limit the pastorate to men, are nearer the text on that point.

Elder and bishop are one office: Paul called to him "the elders of the church" at Ephesus (Acts 20:17) and told them the Spirit "hath made you bishops" (Acts 20:28). Peter addresses "The elders therefore among you" and tells them to be "neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:1-3). The Primitive Baptists, who pay no minister and refuse the title "Reverend," are nearest the New Testament on the clergy.

On the agencies: Antioch sent men out from one church (Acts 13:3), and the churches chose a brother "appointed by the churches to travel with us" with their gift (2 Corinthians 8:19). Congregations sending a man they chose is apostolic; a permanent board with its own trustees and staff has no pattern in the text.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

Baptist worship at its plainest is the apostolic assembly: preaching, prayer and the congregation singing, which the 1689 Confession puts in Paul's words, "teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord." On those marks they stand near the line, and they stand short in two. The New Testament gives the church "singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19) and names no instrument, yet churches such as Bellevue add a choir and an orchestra, and Elder Pyles of the Primitive Baptists is right that music can become "a dominant part of many worship services, displacing former focus upon Bible instruction." And most Southern Baptist pastors add a public invitation every week. When men cried "what shall we do?" the apostles asked for baptism at once (Acts 2:37-38); the invitation asks for a walk to the front, and baptism comes later.

The Primitive Baptists are nearest the pattern here, and Elder Pyles cites Baptist leaders of the past, among them Charles Spurgeon and David Benedict, against the organ. "Let all things be done unto edifying" (1 Corinthians 14:26): that is the test, and a service built on music and a closing appeal will fail it more often than a service built on the word.

Now when the apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit: for as yet it was fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

The Baptists teach that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer and gives gifts to serve the church, and in that they hold what the apostles taught. The Regular Baptists say the sign gifts "have fulfilled their purpose" and the American Baptist Association that the miraculous gifts "were done away," near the conviction that those gifts came through the apostles' hands, as in Samaria, where "Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:17), and ceased with them. The Southern Baptist and American Baptist statements are silent on whether they continue. They stand short in where they put the gift of the Spirit: the Baptist Faith and Message says the Spirit "baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ" "at the moment of regeneration," before the water, while Peter promised "the gift of the Holy Spirit" to those who repent and are baptized "unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38).

"Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease" (1 Corinthians 13:8). Paul places the end of the partial gifts at the coming of "that which is perfect." The Regular Baptists and the American Baptist Association take that to be the completed word. Only the apostles' hands gave the Spirit's gifts in Samaria, so when the apostles were gone, the giving was gone.

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.

and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life.

The Southern Baptist statement says what Scripture says: Christ "will return personally and visibly," the dead will be raised, and "these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46). The Primitive and National Baptists confess the same resurrection and judgment, and the core of the Baptist hope is on the line. The Regular Baptists and the American Baptist Association add a premillennial return, and the Regular Baptists a pretribulation rapture "that can occur at any moment" followed by a seven-year Tribulation. Holding that order is not the fault by itself, though the plain texts lean against it: Christ speaks of "the hour" in which "all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth" to life or to judgment (John 5:28-29), and Paul puts rest for the afflicted "at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven" (2 Thessalonians 1:7). The fault is that these two bodies write the order into their articles of faith, binding on their churches an arrangement of events that no apostle set out, and so those bodies stand short of the line.

The Regular Baptists teach "a continuing distinction between Israel and the Church," and that Christ will "sit upon the throne of David and to establish His Kingdom upon this earth." The Southern Baptist statement does not say this, so the chart of events belongs to the Regular Baptists and the American Baptist Association, and not to the family as a whole. The pages read do not say whether the Regular Baptists deny that Christ reigns now, so this chart does not charge them with it.

The Baptists hold much that Scripture holds. They immerse, and only the penitent believer, and refuse infant baptism. They set the Bible above every creed and every church officer, and keep each congregation self-governing, with no bishop above it. They were early and costly champions of liberty of conscience for everyone. They keep the Lord's Supper as a remembrance without a priest or a sacrifice, and the Regular Baptists and the American Baptist Association hold that the miraculous gifts have ceased.

The Baptists went back to the New Testament for baptism and found who is to be baptized and how. They stopped one step short of what it is for. They treat the water as a testimony to a forgiveness already given, where Peter, Ananias and Jesus put the forgiveness at the water, and around that missing step has grown the invitation and the sinner's prayer.

The same trust in the text that returned them to believers' baptism would lead them to the rest of the pattern: the Supper on the first day of every week, a plurality of elders in each congregation, and singing from the heart. The family is not one, and the more nearly a body keeps to the text alone, the nearer the line it stands.

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