Reformed Baptist Q&A

[Christian A.]

All these Q&As are very interesting to read, and I'm enjoying learning about all the different things people here believe. No one has started a thread for Reformed Baptists yet, so I thought I would. I don't know if I'll be as quick to answer your questions as some of the others are, as I don't spend much time on the Internet, but I'll do my best.

As this isn't a debate thread, I'll try to answer questions about my beliefs (particularly when it comes to Reformed theology) in a way that won't start an argument. If you want to start a more thorough analysis of my beliefs that may turn into a debate, you can always PM me.

[John Chrysostom]

Besides the obvious Reformed elements are there any other ways your denominations is different than other Baptist denominations?

Do you have a statement of faith you can link to or post?

[Christian A.]

None come immediately to mind. We probably practice communion more often than others. We only use a piano and guitar as instruments, and we only sing hymns. It seems the majority of churches today are more contemporary both in their instrument and and in their song choices.

This page and this page should probably give you all that you need. Our church holds to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.

[John Chrysostom]

The London creed says that the Pope is the anti-Christ, do you still believe that?

The site you linked to listed several modern creeds what is your stance on the Nicean Creed?

The London creed says there are only 66 books in the Bible but doesn't expand on why, have ever heard a reason given?

[Christian A.]

The eschatological part of that confession is one of the few parts we don't fully agree with. They held the view that there will be multiple (lowercase a) antichrists before the final (uppercase A) Antichrist is revealed shortly before Jesus returns. My pastor just talked about this recently, so as far as I can remember, we hold a view similar to that, but not entirely like that.

As far as I know, we agree with it. But it isn't mentioned very often.

There was a Jewish council in 90 A.D. that declared 39 books as the OT canon, but that was not the number accepted by Protestants until Luther also held to that number in the 16th century. The NT canon was declared to be 27 books by Athanasius of Alexandria in the 4th century.

I believe that the books of the OT were decided mainly based on whether or not they were quoted as authoritative Scripture in the NT. And the NT books were decided based on authorship (by apostles or someone closely acquainted with an apostle), accuracy (coherence with the rest of Scripture), and acceptance (how widely received the book was by the early church).

[The Top Crusader]

We only use a piano and guitar as instruments, and we only sing hymns. It seems the majority of churches today are more contemporary both in their instrument and and in their song choices.

Is this specifically Reformed Baptist doctrine or just "we don't have people who play other instruments... we have people here who like hymns moreso than other songs."?

I ask because while I haven't been to a Reformed Baptist church to my knowledge, I have visited a good many Baptist churches and each individual church seems to have its own style of music, etc, that is based on the preference of the church staff and congregation as opposed to "We are Baptists and this is officially our doctrine and the only way worship shall be held."

...I have only glanced at a few threads that have cropped up in the Q&A boom but I am getting the impression that people are often talking more about their specific church than their actual denomination.

[Christian A.]

Sorry, I didn't realize that we were supposed to be talking broadly about denominations. I have been talking specifically about my church's beliefs, and the links I gave were to my church's website. I'm not that familiar with any other Reformed Baptist churches, so I could only speak for my church.

With regard to the hymns and instruments, it's not Reformed Baptist doctrine, because I've heard of a Reformed Baptist church in Columbus that includes a full band in the worship. We have several people in our church who would be offended by that much contemporaryism(?), so we stick with piano and guitar. We do sing modern hymns like "In Christ Alone (The Gettys)," "Glorious Day (Casting Crowns)," "Stronger (Hillsong)," and "Amazing Grace, My Chains Are Gone (Chris Tomlin)." And we use a projector to view the words to the songs that aren't in our hymnal.

[Dr. Watson]

Here's a question: why did you beat me in starting this topic??




No seriously, I am reformed credobaptist as well, and if I may, interject my two cents on any questions.

[Buzz]

What are the main differences between Baptist and Reformed? The things you are saying sound pretty Baptist.

[John Chrysostom]

The eschatological part of that confession is one of the few parts we don't fully agree with. They held the view that there will be multiple (lowercase a) antichrists before the final (uppercase A) Antichrist is revealed shortly before Jesus returns. My pastor just talked about this recently, so as far as I can remember, we hold a view similar to that, but not entirely like that.

So would you say that the pope is a lowercase a antichrist? Would you consider Catholics another Christian denomination or a different religion all together?

Also the London Confession mentions Bishops, do you have Bishops?

[Christian A.]

No seriously, I am reformed credobaptist as well, and if I may, interject my two cents on any questions.

By all means, my dear Watson. Please feel free to answer any questions.

One question for you: what does credobaptist mean?

What are the main differences between Baptist and Reformed? The things you are saying sound pretty Baptist.

We are definitely Baptist, in that we believe in believers' baptism, rather than infant baptism/pedobaptism. However, the distinction that makes us Reformed is that we hold to the doctrines of the Reformers--such as Martin Luther and John Calvin. We believe in doctrines such as total/utter depravity, election, limited/particular atonement, the bondage of the human will, predestination, irresistable grace, and perseverance of the saints/eternal security. Such doctrines are not generally held by non-Reformed Baptists.

So would you say that the pope is a lowercase a antichrist? Would you consider Catholics another Christian denomination or a different religion all together?

I believe that the Pope has demonstrated characteristics of an antichrist, in my opinion. From my point of view, he leads millions of people to destruction because of his heretical views about salvation. I don't know if I would call him an antichrist, but he is not a favorable figure in my mind.

Also the London Confession mentions Bishops, do you have Bishops?

I think it is our church's belief that "bishop" is one of the 4 words in the NT used to refer to pastors. Those 4 are overseer, shepherd, bishop, and elder. I don't believe that a bishop is a place in the church higher or lower than pastor. There are only two offices in the NT for which we read qualifications: deacon and elder. Therefore, any term naming an office in the church must refer to one of these two. Using the context, we can determine that bishop refers to the office of pastor.

Our denomination does not refer to our pastors as "bishops."

[John Chrysostom]

Would you call non-reformed Christians who have a very different view of salvation from you heretical and destructive too?

[Dr. Watson]

No seriously, I am reformed credobaptist as well, and if I may, interject my two cents on any questions.

By all means, my dear Watson. Please feel free to answer any questions.

One question for you: what does credobaptist mean?

Believer's baptism.


There are those who say "Reformed Baptist" is a oxymoron, because Reformed theology has historically embraced paedobaptism, but I would disagree. The Calvinistic doctrines of grace and other Reformed distinctives can be held by both those who hold to believer's baptism as well as our paedobaptist brethren.


EDIT:

Would you call non-reformed Christians who have a very different view of salvation from you heretical and destructive too?

Watson: Could you post some kind of statement of faith or link to your church to spark questions?

1) Not necessarily. Personally, I believe those persons who hold to an Arminian view of salvation have an intellectual dichotomy, that is, they claim disagreement with Calvinism but are intellectually inconsistent with their own theology. Those, however, who staunchly, truly, hold to semi-Pelagian or Pelagian views, I would question their salvation. Why? Because they are essentially stating they were good enough on their own to accept Christ.

2) I would probably most ascribe to the 2nd London Baptist Confession of 1689, as linked to above. Or the 1st London Baptist Confession of 164?6? Naturally, I would ascribe in large part to the Westminster Confession of Faith, Canons of Dort, and other classic Reformed documents, but with exceptions, most notably as mentioned above, the issue of baptism. However, I would describe myself as non-paedobaptist, not anti-paedobaptist.

[John Chrysostom]

So Watson could you post some kind of statement of faith or link to your church to spark questions?

Also do you also accept the London Confessions?

[Dr. Watson]

See my edit above, Ayn. Slow internet connection.

[John Chrysostom]

Well I'll ask you the same questions then. What is your view on the bishops mentioned in the London Confession and do you think the pope is an antchrist?

Oh also what are your views on the Nicean Creed?

[Dr. Watson]

Pope

No, I do not believe the pope is the antichrist, and I have never heard of a modern day reformed baptist who thinks so. Certainly anyone who does not fully trust in the finished work of Christ for salvation is not technically for Christ and thus technically an anti-Christ, and due to certain parts of Catholic theology I would have *very* strong doubts about the pope being truly saved. Ergo..

EDIT: I do not know why the 2nd LBC writers put that in there. I am interested in finding out why.

Bishops

I agree with Christian A. above; bishops, elders, pastors, shepherds, all refer to the same office. Due to the (slighty) outdatedness of the word bishop, I don't think it is used at all in reformed baptist churches to refer to their elders. However, biblically speaking, yes they are bishops.

Nicene Creed

I am in total agreement with the Nicene Creed, as I hope ALL those professing evangelical, biblical Christianity do.

[Christian A.]

I agree with all of Dr. Watson's answers so far.

@ Dr. Watson: Thanks for clarifying the term. I should have figured that out, since I know that creer means "to believe" in Spanish.

[John Chrysostom]

In the link Christian posted there was a point that talked about the importance of independent local churches and I'm wondering how that works out in practice. In past churches I've been in there have been problems where the pastors or elders became theologically unsound or abused their powers, since there aren't other authorities in place to deal with that how would a local independent church deal with that issue? Also how do your churches select their pastors and elders?

[Blitz]

I as a Baptist would say that reformed are pretty much the same in most areas. I think there are too many names for Baptist. I do agree with your stand on the pope. But a pope to come could become the anti-christ