Are Baptist Distinctives That Important?
Posted byOne man thinks so. Dr. R. Stanton Norman in his book, The Baptist Way, states this:
No Christian denomination therefore embraces consistently all our distinctive traits. Baptist distinctives are still distinctive only of Baptists.
In light of this, we should remain loyal to and actively seek to propagate our distinctive theological identity as an expression of our loyalty and obedience to Christ and his Word. As Baptists, we believe that an unswerving commitment to biblical authority should result in the existence of churches that are BAPTIST (emphasis mine) in nature and purpose. We also believe that the RESTORATION (emphasis mine) and function of the New Testament church is part of our mission. Our conviction that our distinctives are truest to the teachings of the New Testament requires that we engage and challenge other Christians to adopt what we believe is the most biblically faithful mode. (Norman, 187-88)
Two things things that I want to comment on concerning this quote. First I appreciate Dr. Norman’s unwavering commitment to the idea of planting “Baptist” churches. Second, I also appreciate his commitment to the idea of “Restoration” and not reformation. While reformation can be good, our commitment should be to the restoration of the New Testament church. We believe these distinctives are biblical and we should actively promote them to all Christians in our effort to remain faithful to the biblical text.
Allow me to give one final plug for this book. BUY IT! Hand it out to people in your church to read. Have a weekly study group come together to discuss the issues brought forward by Dr. Norman. Ask the question, “Does our church represent what is distinctively biblical and Baptist concerning our efforts to restore the N.T. church and promote her mission? Engage the Bible, engage the book, and engage each other. I promise, you will be blessed for it.
7 Comments
November 30th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Robin,
Can you explain the difference between restoration and reformation as you see it? Isn’t reformation one of the buzz words thrown around these days about the church?
Thanks,
Trish
November 30th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Trish
I see the idea of reformation as returning to the movement of Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. While all three reinforced the theological tradition we enjoy today, their goal was not to return to the primitive church of the New Testament. This is seen as they stopped short of the proper view of baptism or religious liberty among a few.
The Anabaptists, while historically given the unfortunate label of radical reformers, were trying to restore the early church of the New Testament model. They were part of a restoration movement. I know this could be seen as an argument of semantics, but it always seems that reformation movements never go far enough.
To reform means to make it into something different that it is. To restore, you desire to bring something to its original brilliance. For example, when someone takes and antique car, they don’t try to reform it, but they try to restore it to its original condition.
I hope this helps.
November 30th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Robin,
Thanks for explaining the difference, it does help. It gives me some food for thought in light of a comment I heard in a classroom a while back. I need to chew on this some and wait till I learn more about Baptist history to understand this better.
I will say that I lean towards your direction and that the comment was a negative one regarding movement in that direction. I don’t want to say more because my understanding of the comment may be negative due to my lack of knowledge on this subject.
If you think of any other good books on this topic let me know. I have a few already and I’m going to get this one too.
Blessings,
Trish
November 30th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
More Than A Name is another book by Dr. Norman that is helpful.
December 2nd, 2007 at 11:37 am
There are several other books I would recommend:
Hammett’s Book Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches is a good one.
Who runs the Church? (Engle editor)
Perspectives on Church Government (editors Brand and Norman)
Evangelicalism Divided (Ian Murray)
Have a good Lord’s day!
December 2nd, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Thanks Joe,
I have the first 2, but not the last one. Dr. Yarnell gave me a great list yesterday for the Baptist Heritage class I’m taking with him this spring.
For the class it looks like I’ll be reading (tentative):
1. First Freedom: The Baptist Perspective on Religious LIberty (White / Duesing / Yarnell eds.)
2. Restoring Integrity in Baptist Churces (White / Dueseing / Yarnell ed.s due out 1/2008)
3. Theologians of the Baptist Tradition (George / Dockery)
4. Baptist Confessions of Faith (Lumpkin)
5. Anatomy of a Reformation : The Southern Baptist Convention 1978 – 2004 (Patterson)
6. The Formation of Christian Doctrine (Yarnell)
I’ve got my reading cut out for me and I have plenty of choices now to pick from for the research paper!
Thanks for the advice on which books are good, it helps since there are so many and I wouldn’t know which ones to pick. The ones I had already purchased were selected because they were written by professors or mentioned by professors.
Blessings,
Trish
June 17th, 2009 at 1:08 am
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