If you ask the average person, “What is a Baptist?”, they will likely tell you it is a “Protestant denomination.” They are wrong on both counts. To be a Baptist is not to be a member of a denomination, nor is it to be a “Protestant” who broke away from the Roman Catholic Cult.
1. Baptists Are Not Protestants
A “Protestant” is someone who protested against the Roman Catholic Church during the Reformation of the 1500s. The major Protestant groups like Lutherans, Presbyterians, Anglicans, and Methodists are branches of that Reformation. They brought many Catholic traditions with them: infant baptism, state-church structures, and human-made creeds. Protestants are basically “Catholic-Lite.”
Baptists never protested out of Rome, because Baptists were never part of Rome. We have no lineage that leads back to Martin Luther, John Calvin, or King Henry VIII. Our lineage goes back to the first century and to Jesus Christ. We are not “Reformed.” We are the people who held to the New Testament faith while Rome was hunting us for heresy. While the Reformers were fighting for power within the state-church system, faithful believers were already preaching the gospel, baptizing believers by immersion, and gathering in independent assemblies. “Reformed Baptist” is a contradiction in terms, the Reformers persecuted the Baptists!
2. A Label, Not a Denomination
The name “Baptist” is not a denominational tag. A denomination is a man-made organization that exerts control over local churches. A true Baptist church, by its very nature, is autonomous. We have no headquarters, no board of bishops, and no hierarchy. Our only Head is the Lord Jesus Christ—just as the Bible says a church should be.
“Baptist” is simply a historical label used to describe a specific group of people who have followed Jesus and His Word since the first century. We have gone by many names throughout history like Anabaptists, Waldenses, Paulicians, Donatists, and others, but the principles remain the same. The church that Jesus built has existed continuously since the first century because He promised the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
3. Our Core Convictions
What links a believer today to the believers of the first century? It is our commitment to the “old paths” of the Bible.
- Biblical Authority — The Bible is our sole and final authority for faith and practice.
- Believer’s Baptism — Baptism is by immersion for those who have personally chosen to trust Christ.
- Local Church Autonomy — Every church is self-governing under Christ, accountable to no earthly hierarchy.
- Regenerate Church Membership — Only saved, baptized believers should be members of a local church.
These distinctives are often summarized using the acronym B.A.P.T.I.S.T.S.:
- B — Biblical Authority
- A — Autonomy of the Local Church
- P — Priesthood of All Believers
- T — Two Ordinances
- I — Individual Soul Liberty
- S — Saved, Baptized Church Membership
- T — Two Offices
- S — Separation of Church and State
Learn more about our distinctives: Our Distinctives
