The Origins and Characteristics of Baptist Faith

Would you lead us to revisit the historical origin of the Baptists?

You may have learned that the first Baptist church was founded in Amsterdam in 1609. At that time, the wave of the Reformation which began in the sixteenth century, swiftly swept across England. King Henry VIII also wanted his country to leave the Catholic Church, and a series of reforms were thus implemented. However, some believed that his reform was incomplete and the Church of England was not pure enough, so they wanted to “purify” the church. They came to be known as “Puritans.” However, some found that it was impossible for the government to establish the kind of pure church they wanted, so they left the Church of England and were called “Separatists.” Among them were Thomas Helwys and John Smyth. The two left England for Amsterdam to avoid persecution from the English government and founded a Baptist church there.

However, Smyth later left that church. Helwys returned to England in 1611 and established the first General Baptist congregation in London. Why were they called “General Baptists”? Because they believed that Christ died for all people. Their view was more or less influenced by the Mennonites or the Dutch Arminians at that time.

At about the same time (ca. 1640), some other people also established several Baptist congregations called “Particular Baptists,” which were different from the Baptist congregations founded by Helwys. These two groups were completely independent of each other. Particular Baptists were influenced by Calvinism and believed that Christ died only for the elect. As such, two different groups of Baptists were born in England.

These two groups developed independently even in North America and Europe. For example, Roger Williams in North America and, almost two hundred years later, Johann Gerhard Oncken in Germany, each studied the Scripture independently and came to the conclusion that the church must be composed of believers. This understanding was different from that of the contemporary Catholic Church, where even infants were allowed to join the church. A unique feature of Baptists is regenerate church membership (believer’s church) and thus they insist on believer’s baptism that excludes infants, because infants could not confess their faith, so baptism is meaningless to them. To become a Christian, one must understand salvation, accept Jesus Christ as one’s personal savior, obey His commands, be baptized, and join a church. This is the origin of the Baptists.

There are different opinions on the origins of the Baptists; some trace their origin to the Puritan Movement, some to the English Reformation, and some to the Anabaptists. Which of them are the roots of the Baptist churches?

Generally speaking, the origins of the Baptist churches can be traced from two perspectives. One is the historical perspective, which I have just explained briefly. The other perspective concerns the origin of the Baptist faith, and there are generally four major theories. The first theory is the most popular. It traces the origin of the Baptist faith to the Puritans in England, when some Puritans became Separatists and founded the first Baptist church. The second theory believes that the Baptist faith was originally influenced by the Anabaptists. The third theory, called “succession theory,” holds that there is a continuous and unbroken succession of the Baptist churches with different names from the days of John the Baptist to the present, including Montanists in the second century, Donatists in the fourth, Paulicians in the eleventh, Anabaptists in the sixteenth and so on. The last theory maintains that the Baptist teachings were originated from the Bible, and can be traced from the time of the New Testament and continue up to the present, holding by various groups of people who have no distinctive denominational identity. Each of these theories has its supporters, but in recent years most historians support the first two theories.

What arethe distinctive traits of the Baptist faith?

When I first came to know Baptists, someone jokingly said, “People will believe after baptism!” This is definitely not the case. Baptists do not say that one will believe after one’s baptism. But what is the distinctiveness of the Baptist faith? As I learned more about church history, I realized that the name “Baptists” was used by their opponents to taunt them. As I mentioned earlier, the Baptist churches emerged when people gained insights from the Scripture that the church must be composed of regenerate believers (believer’s church), and those being baptized and joining the church must be professing believers (believer’s baptism).

A distinctive trait of Baptists is their stress on biblical authority. As I mentioned earlier, Baptist congregations emerged from different communities, whether in England, Europe, or North America, when people gained insights by studying the Bible and then established Baptist churches. Therefore, Baptists have always been emphasizing biblical authority, and were even hailed as “the People of the Book” or “the People of the Bible.” In my opinion, Baptists are the most outstanding among those who emphasize and uphold the Bible as the sole authority, even though the motto “Sola Scriptura” came from Martin Luther in the sixteenth century. Baptists put great emphasis on the Bible and derived from it such teachings as believer’s church and believer’s baptism, as well as other teachings such as priesthood of all believers, separation of church and state, etc.

So, how are Baptists distinguished from other denominations?

Baptists assert that all believers are equal, and should be actively involved in the church; all believers are called to be priests. As such, many believers are encouraged to participate in church ministries. The most unique and prominent feature of the Baptist churches is that, throughout their history, there have been many outstanding believers who actively participated in ministries and, together with pastors and deacons, they built up the church. Baptist churches believe that they are under the lordship of Christ, and their operations are not under the control of any bishops or any higher conventions or councils. Instead, they emphasize the autonomy of each local congregation and the active participation of each church member.