The fundamentals of the Christian faith are a must. Without certain basic tenants, the faith that was “once delivered” (Jude 3), would be null and void. Years ago, I heard Dr. Curtis Hutson preach a message entitled “Die, Fight and Fuss.” In the message he listed the things a Christian should be willing to die for, the things he should fight about, and the things he might fuss about. Over the next several decades I’ve learned much more about “the faith once delivered” and also about the history of Christians, specifically Baptists. I proudly wear the name Baptist. Our people have stood for basic doctrines and have been willing to die for those beliefs that many others have cast aside. BAPTISTS is a word that can be used as an acrostic to remember the beliefs that are distinctive to our Baptist history. B – The Bible is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. A – The church is Autonomous, mostly local, and independent with Christ as the head. P – Each believer is a “priest” and has access to God without the need of any other person. T – There are Two Ordinances of the church found in the NT. Baptism (immersion) and the Lord’s Supper. I – Individual soul liberty. Every person has the right to worship according to the dictates of their own heart. Each of us will answer for our decision but we have that right. S – A Saved, Baptized Church Membership. Every member must have trusted Christ as Lord and Savior and followed Christ in believer’s baptism. Infant baptism isn’t found in the NT. T – Two Offices in the church. Pastor and Deacon. Elder and Bishop are different functions that are performed by a Pastor. S – Separation of Church and State. We have never believed in having a state church. We believe in religious liberty for all people, not just our group.
With those distinctives in your mind, how tight would you hold on to them? Many of our Baptistic fore-fathers lost their lives, while others suffered great persecution for believing these eight things. Let me tell you a little of the persecution our people faced in Europe in the 1500’s. The Baptist were causing angst in Switzerland with the numbers of Swiss that were trusting Christ and desiring to be baptized. This was disturbing because these were people that had been baptized by “The Church” as infants. These new converts saw with their own eyes, from the Bible, their need of truly being born-again. These people were coming to Christ in huge numbers and desiring to be immersed, baptized biblically. The state-church with its great influence had the Senate in Zurich meet and pass a decree. Zwingli (yes, the Reformer) wrote to Vadian expressing his agreement with the Senate decree. “It has been decreed this day by the council of the Two Hundred (of Zurich) that the leaders of the Catabaptists shall be cast into the Tower, in which they formerly lay, and allured by bread and water diet until either they give up the ghost or surrender. It is also added that he who after this is dipped shall be submerged permanently” (John T. Christian. “History of Baptists”, p.128). A “catabaptists” is a person that opposes infant baptism. People immersed after the ratification “were to be delivered to the executioner, who should bind their hands, place them in a boat and throw them into the water to die.” One man who was among the many that were killed was Felix Manz. He was sentenced to die by drowning. “As he came down from Wellingberg to the Fish Market and was led through the shambles to the boat, he praised God that he was about to die for the truth; for Ana-baptism (rebaptizing) was right and founded upon the Word of God, and Christ had foretold that his followers should suffer for the truth’s sake. When he was bound upon the hurdle and about to be thrown into the stream by the executioner, he sang in a loud voice, ‘In menus tuas, Domine, eommendo spiritum meum’ which means ‘into thy hands I commit my spirit.” He was pulled into the water by the executioner and drowned. Other countries also partook in the persecutions. “At Vienna many of the Ana-baptists were so tied together with chains, that one drew the other after him into the river, wherein they were all suffocated” (Featly, “The Dippers Dipped”, p. 73).
Again, how tight would you hold on to these biblical distinctives? I truly hope you hold tight with all your might. I pray for myself that if it ever came to this in my life that I’d have the faith of Felix Manz and hundreds of others who were willing to give it all for Christ and “the faith once delivered unto the saints.” No wonder Baptist down through the ages have been known as “people of the Book.”