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Baptist Theology

A Baptist may be a Calvinist or an Arminian in his theology. The Regular Baptists of America are Calvinists, but the Freewill Baptists of America are Arminians. A number of speculative thinkers among the Baptists have even been Socinians and anti-Trinitarians, like the Anabaptists of Italy and those of Poland. The Regular Baptists of America have no creed to which all of them have to subscribe. Submission to a creed was not a condition of membership in Baptist churches. The Bible was pre-eminently their creed. Neither Calvinistic doctrine nor any other theological view was one of the essential characteristics of the Baptists.

In the seventeenth century Baptists were more sharply divided by the Arminian controversy, and two denominations were formed: the " Particular Baptists," who held the Calvinistic doctrine of a limited or "Particular" Atonement, and the "General Baptists," who held that the Atonement is universal in its value and aim. These bodies remained apart with separate organisations and institutions until the end of the nineteenth century, when they were amalgamated and the titles "Particular" and "General" were abolished.

Baptists agree with other evangelical bodies on many points of doctrine. Their cardinal principle is implicit obedience to the plain teachings of the Word of God. Under this principle, while maintaining with other evangelical bodies the great truths of the Christ ian religion, they hold: (1) That the churches are independent in their local affairs; (2) that there should be an entire separation of church and state; (3) that religious liberty or freedom in matters of religion is an inherent right of the human soul; (4) that a church is a body of regenerated people who have been baptized on profession of personal faith in Christ, and have associated themselves in the fellowship of the gospel; (5) that infant baptism is not only not taught in the Scriptures, but is fatal to the spirituality of the church; (6) that from the meaning of the word used in the Greek text of the Scripture, the symbolism of the ordinance, and the practice of the early church, immersion in water is the only proper mode of baptism; (7) that the scriptural officers of a church are pastors and deacons; and (8) that the Lord's Supper is an ordinance of the church observed in commemoration of the sufferings and death of Christ.

The beliefs of Baptists have been incorporated in confessions of faith. Of these, the Philadelphia Confession, originally issued by the London Baptist churches in 1689 and adopted with some enlargements by the Philadelphia Association in 1742, and the New Hampshire Confession, adopted by the New Hampshire State Convention in 1832, are recognized as the most important. The Philadelphia Confession is strongly Calvinistic. The New Hampshire Confession modifies some of the statements of the earlier documents, and may be characterized as moderately Calvinistic. But while these confessions are recognized as fair expressions of the faith of Baptists, there is nothing binding in them, and they are not regarded as having any special authority. The final court of appeal for Baptists is the Word of God. Within limits, considerable differences in doctrine are allowed, and thus opportunity is given to modify beliefs as new light may break from or upon the "Word." Among Baptists heresy trials were rare.

Hardshell Baptists are anti-missionary on doctrinal grounds. They are ultra-Calvinistic. No discourtesy is meant by the use of the term 'Hardshell.' It is distinctive of a definite doctrinal system, and no other term is equally free from ambiguity.They believe that the doctrine of election precludes the use of means, and therefore the sending of the gospel to the destitute is not only useless but presumptuous. They never warn sinners to repent, never hold protracted meetings, and call Sunday schools 'the work of the devil.' These things were not true of the early opponents of organized mission work who lived in this mountain country. In 1827-28 a new sect arose, calling themselves at first, The Reformed Baptists, and then the Old Baptists, the Old Sort of Baptists, Baptists of the Old Stamp, and finally adopted the name of the Primitive Baptists. The term 'Primitive,' always ambiguous, is especially so from the fact that one Association was called the Primitive Association, but was never Hardshell. The "Hardshell Baptists," or, as they are otherwise called, the "Whisky Baptists," and the "Forty-gallon Baptists," existed in all the old Western and South-western States.

The Hardshell Baptists are very like the Missionary Baptists in their creed, but differ somewhat in the interpretation of their creed. They believe in what they call foot-washing. They base this belief on the 13th chapter of John. Some have made a mistake in supposing that the practice was confined to the Primitive or Hardshell Baptists, while the Regular or Missionary Baptists were free from it. It is a fact, that the Primitive or Hardshell Baptists are divided on this question and many of them practice it while many do not. A very few churches observed the washing of feet; but this was placed among the things indifferent, and was never made a bar to fellowship.