Baptist Foundations – A Regenerate Church

Acts 5:12-16

Many signs and wonders were being done among the people through the hands of the apostles. By common consent they would all meet in Solomon’s Colonnade. None of the rest dared to join them, but the people praised them highly. Believers were added to the Lord in increasingly numbers—crowds of both men and women. As a result, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on beds and pallets so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. In addition a multitude came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.[1]

A church of Jesus Christ is a body of baptised believers, associated together in one place to preach the Gospel, to keep the ordinances and to represent the interests of Christ’s kingdom in the world.[2] This is an old definition of the word church which was current among Baptists until a few years ago. There is nothing wrong with the definition, but it has fallen out of use in this day. As it fell from common use, the biblical concept of a church likewise fell into disuse.

The word church, used in the New Testament, usually refers to a local assembly or congregation of the followers of Christ. These believers associated and covenanted together for religious worship and work. These are the only kind of New Testament churches on earth. Consequently, the term universal church is extrabiblical, as is the concept. Though we share the Faith in common with other saints, we make no appeal of belonging to an amorphous, indistinct something called a universal church.

Always, a church in the New Testament is a local, independent body subject to no central human power and governed by the New Testament code, subject only to Christ, the Living Head and His Word. The New Testament knows nothing of a church covering a given extent of territory, such as the Church of England or the Church of Ireland. The Word of God knows nothing of a denomination called by the name of a church, such as the Presbyterian Church or the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore, there is no creature such as the Baptist Church, although there are Baptist churches. The issue is sufficiently important to our understanding of Baptist theology that it bears repeating. There is no “Baptist Church” as a denominational, national or universal entity. One does not belong to “the Baptist Church,” though an individual may belong to “a Baptist church.”

There is yet another truth which must be stated if we will be precise and correct. Churches were created not to save people, but they were organised for saved people. A church is a congregation of baptised believers, covenanted together and observing the ordinances of Christ. We believe that a church is responsible to Him who purchased it. The corollary to this truth is that a church has no responsibility to any hierarchy or outside authority. A church has no authority of its own, but is subject to the authority of Christ as expressed in the Word of God. It does not, indeed, cannot, save. A church is the body of Christ, for He is the head of the church.[3]

This simple ecclesiastical truth is neglected to the detriment of congregational strength and vitality. Too many Baptists are ignorant of the most basic truth concerning their church. The reason for this ignorance must be laid at the feet of pastors who are themselves ignorant of the teachings of the Word of God, or else they hold no convictions worthy of the blessed name by which they are called. Join me in exploration of the model provided in the New Testament of the Church which Jesus loved.

Two Concepts of Church Membership — All the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.[4] How people can read the same book and come to such radical differences as they do is a mystery to me. As an example, history has witnessed development of a concept which permits a union of state and church. Yet, Baptists are adamant in insisting that such a union is a monstrosity and an abomination before God.

A significant segment of Christendom is convinced that people are born into the church, much as they are born citizens of a nation. Baptists, however, stand firm in insisting that only those born from above are qualified to be recognised as members of a New Testament congregation. The question of church membership—whether a person must be converted to be a church member is certainly the most important and controversial of all that concern the teaching of the church. This question divides the Christian world into two unyieldingly opposed groups. On one hand, the churches “of the masses” or “the multitudinist churches” (all of the state churches) affirm:

One can consider the visible or exterior church as composed of all the inhabitants of the Christian world, even the indifferent and unbelieving… One comes into the world, thus into relationship with the lights and graces it sheds, here one is brought up in the knowledge of the truth; but after having been a member in fact one must become a member by choice; one must declare he is joining it on the conviction that it is evangelical… This principle is recognised by all the great Christian communities. They baptise infants, but they do not admit anyone to the Lord’s table until he is older, has received more or less serious instruction and testing at which time he is required to confirm his baptismal vows.[5]

On the other hand, Baptists believe that a “church is a society of believers and of believers only; entrance into the church is on the basis of accepting of one’s own free will the grace of God in Christ.”[6]

“We believe,” says the confession of faith for one group of European Baptists, “that conforming to the practise of the apostles, it is absolutely necessary for all those who make up a local church to have accepted the Gospel message, to have manifested the new birth by faithful Christian conduct, and to have testified to their faith by being symbolically buried.”[7]

In most of the European countries, one is a member of the church unless he or she specifically asks not to be a member. For example, in Sweden today each Swedish child that is born in the nation is born a citizen of Sweden, and is also born a member of the Lutheran church. In order to disassociate oneself from the state church, there must be a legal process through which one is allowed in these modern days to not become a member of that state church. There is no such doctrine in all the Word of God. Such teaching does not come out of revelation of the Word of God, but it comes through coercion and through an unholy union of church and state.

Professor Alfred Kuen cites several examples of this practise by state churches in his excellent book, I Will build My Church.[8]

Article 4 of the constitution of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Neuchâtel states that, “The Church considers to be members all who do not declare themselves excluded from it.” In other words, they believe that citizenship or even residency makes one a member of that particular congregation and imposes upon one the duties of a member of that particular religious group.

“In our canton (Vaud) all who do not declare themselves not to be a part of the national church are considered to be members of it” (Pastor André Bovon, president of the synodical council).

“The national Church of Geneva is composed of all people of Geneva who accept the organisational forms of the Church as later established” (Art. 114 of the political constitution of 1847). “These organisational forms are purely administrative which have nothing, either remotely or closely related, to do with the Christian faith and life. All the amendments tending to indicate that the National Church of Geneva was a Christian Church were ruled out by the Great Constituent Council” (Henri Heyer, L’Eglise de Genève, p. 155)

“The matter of belonging to the Church rests upon the residence in the district of the community” (Constitution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Bavaria [1920], Art. 7, paragraph 2). “The child must be incorporated in the Church, the body of Christ, from his birth” (Reformed evangelical synod of Pau).

“Our church is a multitudinist Church. One becomes a member by birth, not by the new birth, and is considered a member as long as he has not asked to be dropped from the church” (Church of Zurich, Dienst der Kirche in Unserer Zeit).

Most people in our own beloved nation are members of a church because they were born into that particular denomination. Their parents arranged for them to be christened into the church and they are members of that church, whether they have been born from above or whether they believe the tenets of that particular communion or whether they are agnostics or atheists. For the majority of professing Christendom, people never had a choice of whether they would join the church of which they are a member—they only had a choice to withdraw from the particular church. As is true of the European churches, for the most of Canadians, church membership was arranged by parents instead of being a response by the individual to the teaching of the Word of God. For the most, church membership is not a volitional act.

Throughout the Word of God, it quickly becomes apparent that those who know God, and who are known by God, are expected to openly commit themselves to union with others sharing the faith in worship of God and service to His cause. Unfortunately, with distance from the New Testament, there arises a precept that the church is a social organisation, and even that the church is a national organisation. Consequently, many more people profess to be members of the various churches than have been born into the Kingdom of God. Baptists have stood from the days of the New Testament on the principle that one must be born again in order to be a member of a church.

The Requisites for Membership in a New Testament Church —Believers were added to the Lord in increasingly numbers—crowds of both men and women.[9] The text makes clear that faith in Christ was a precursor to membership during the days of the Apostles. Those received into membership were expected to give credible evidence that they had received Christ as Saviour and Lord. Becoming a Christian is a voluntary matter, and only Christians should be members of a church. Consequently, the corollary must be that all Christians should be members of a church. The Church of Jesus Christ is to be a regenerate church—each congregation being composed of saved people.

In every closed society, one must choose to enter after having met a certain number of conditions. According to the New Testament, what conditions had to be met by those who wished to become members of the church? Consider a few examples.

Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day [Acts 2:41].

The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved [Acts 2:47].

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there. When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed. So there was great joy in that city…

When they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptised, both men and women [Acts 8:4-8, 12].

Peter proclaimed the Word of God in the house of Cornelius, a Roman centurion. The Holy Spirit was poured out on all who heard the Word [see Acts 10:34-46]. Peter commanded those who had received God’s Spirit to be baptised in the Name of Jesus Christ [see Acts 10:47, 48].

Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptised [Acts 18:8].

When you review the evidence you are compelled to accept that the obligatory condition for church membership was faith and its corollary, baptism.

Where it concerns individuals, exactly the same succession of events is found: preaching of the Word, faith, baptism, church membership.

Paul relates his conversion experience [Acts 9]. He is baptised and seeks to join the church in Jerusalem [Acts 9:18, 26]. He joins the church in Antioch [Acts 11:26].

Lydia hears the Word, believes, and is baptised [Acts 16:13-15]. There is a church in her house [Acts 16:40]. There is the same order of events in the case of the Philippians jailer [Acts 16:30-34].

The evidence compels us to accept the obligatory condition for church membership as faith and baptism. There is no evidence whatever to indicate that the contrary was true in any case presented in the New Testament. Of the one hundred twenty that constituted the members of the church of Jerusalem, doubtless most of them had been personal disciples of Jesus. From the foregoing Scriptures it should be obvious that those added to them voluntarily received the Word of the Gospel, repented of their sins, and believed in Jesus as Saviour. There is no evidence whatever to indicate that the contrary was true of any of them. Paul, in writing to the churches, always addresses them as saints, faithful in Christ and in such other terms as to leave no doubt that they were all professing Christians.[10]

The nature and mission of the church carries with it the view that only regenerate people should belong to a church. The church is a spiritual organisation. It is the Body of Christ [Romans 12:4, 5; 1 Corinthians 12:12 ff.]. Only those who are animated by His life should be members of the Body.[11]

The work of the church is spiritual. It has a spiritual function. To do this work it must be a spiritual body. An unregenerate church cannot be the means of conveying the renewing grace of God to an unregenerate society around it.

Moreover, if regeneration is an absolute necessity to Christian character and regeneration depends on the voluntary acceptance of the Gospel, then for a child to be reared in the church, or an adult to be received into the church without regeneration is a perilous thing. The inevitable tendency of such a procedure is to encourage the unregenerate church member to think that somehow his church membership makes him a Christian and turns him in his mind away from the necessity of definitely repenting of sin and trusting in Christ for salvation.

Either the Word of God is clear or it is somehow obscure and dark. Either each of us can read the Word to discover the will of God or we require specialists to tell us what God meant. As Baptists, we are convinced that the Word of god was given in language sufficiently clear that any individual can read it and know the will of God. In this particular instance of church membership, it is abundantly evident that either the Word of God presents a model which requires a regenerate church membership or it does not.

The concepts presented represent a truth which must be dealt with extensively in a future message, planned for two weeks hence. Those who believed were quickly baptised. When they had come to the point of faith, they confessed that faith without delay by submitting to the command to be baptised. When, on that glorious Pentecost the Spirit of God descended in power, the people cried out, Brothers, what shall we do? Peter responded without hesitation, Repent and be baptised, every one of you [see Acts 2:37, 38]. Thus, the baptism of believers constitutes a church of confessing Christians. We baptise those who have come to faith, and not in order to create faith.

All the members of the primitive churches were baptised; only those who had believed and had confessed Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord were baptised. Therefore, the early churches were composed of only believers. The churches of the masses adhere to infant baptism, which admits as members all … new-born babes…[12]

Some among the state churches object to the thought of a regenerate church membership. Dr. Charles Hodge, a theologian of well-deserved repute among our Presbyterian friends, objected to the concept of a regenerate church membership on the grounds that no individual can tell with certainty who is saved and who is not. In other words, Doctor Hodge would argue that the ideal cannot be maintained.

I agree with him that the ideal cannot be maintained. Of course, there are some unsaved people in the churches, and there always will be. This does not, however, prove that the doctrine is wrong. It only proves the necessity of guarding the standard of membership for the churches. This teaching cannot be perfectly enforced, but if a regenerate membership is the ideal, it should be maintained as nearly as possible. It should be obvious that on the authority of New Testament teaching and by the very nature of the church as a spiritual body, we must be committed to the view that only those who are saved should be members of the church.

A Well-Ordered Church is a Ministering Church — Believers were added to the Lord in increasingly numbers—crowds of both men and women. As a result, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on beds and pallets so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. In addition a multitude came together from the towns surrounding Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.[13] Have you ever considered how much the world looks to the church for ministry?

On any given week, I field a variety of phone calls asking for help. People may seek gasoline to make it to the next city, or they wish assistance with housing, or they may need food. It is one thing for those who are part of the Body to turn to the church, but have you ever noticed that those who are outside the Faith turn almost automatically in time of need to the church?

I asked a woman seeking assistance from a church I pastored whether she had contacted a local mosque for help. I wondered aloud if she had spoken to the leadership of a Sheikh Temple situated just a few blocks from our church. She had no affiliation with any church and did not particularly wish to hear the message of Christ, so I just asked if she had contacted any of these other groups. “No,” she replied, “because they won’t help a person in need.” I find that an astonishing confession, which if people were to think would speak of the reality of the Christian Faith.

Christians are recognised as a compassionate people. A well-ordered church is a ministering church. With respect to the apparent conflict between the Gospel and social relief, it is not a matter of either/or, but it is rather an issue of both/and. We are concerned for the needs of those about us, but we are determined that they need to hear the message of life, for if we only feed their bodies and let them continue in their condition of death, we have harmed them in the final analysis.

As Christians, we are convinced that the whole world lies in sin. All are by nature and by birth condemned and under sentence of eternal death. We who are Christians are responsible to warn all of the consequences of sin, calling them to life in Christ the Lord. The history of public education, the history of hospitals and medical care, the history of mental health, is the history of the compassion of the people of God. Nevertheless, all such service is worthless if we fail to warn all people of the consequences of sin.

Look again at the text. More and more men and women believed… Then the divine author hastens to add a peculiar introductory phrase—as a result… As a result of people being saved, many from within the Faith were concerned to address the hurt of society. This is a truth which is virtually neglected in this day. Christians, through evangelism, do more to address human misery than do all the determined programmes promoted by all the governments of the world. Christians do more by accident and by incident to relieve human suffering than do all the planned programmes of the governments of the world.

The emphasis is this. If this church wishes to accomplish some great thing for God, it must be a church founded on biblical principles, doing the work of God according to the revealed will of God. You will heal more broken marriages, restore more people to health, bring more people back from the brink of despondency and despair through winning them to Christ then through any other procedure. If the Government of Canada truly wishes to address the needs of the nation, I recommend that they encourage the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Until this is done, there is no hope of permanent change in the health system or any system. In lieu of a message of life and liberty we will continue our march toward totalitarianism with its concomitant depreciation of life.

Two generations ago, virtually all the hospitals in this nation were run by the churches. Those institutions were the outgrowth of concern which Christians have for the pain resulting from our fallen condition. With the advent of government sponsored health care, those hospitals have systematically transferred responsibility for their operation to the government. The result of this is that though life expectancy has increased dramatically, the value of life has decreased just as dramatically.

As a society, we no longer consider the unborn to be precious and our elderly are increasingly viewed as though they blighted the land. The weak and the vulnerable among us have a questionable right to live, and as result, no one has a claim on life. We have an awesome task before us of preaching the message of life to our world.

Now, permit me to bring this back into focus for the sake of this particular message. Baptists in prior generations were noted for their sound doctrine. They had a set of beliefs which defined them as a people, and they taught those beliefs. Their people were grounded in the teachings of the Word of God and Baptists were a people of the Book. They were aggressively evangelistic, winning as many people to the Faith as possible. They were not ashamed to call men and women to repentance and faith in the Risen Son of God. Many people were saved without showy campaigns or expensive crusades. They simply lived godly lives and preached the Good News of Christ.

As a result, they established hospitals and orphanages, schools and homes for the aged. They did not talk about compassion—they were compassionate. And their compassion grew out of their love for the peoples among whom they lived and moved and had their being. They did not look to government or wait until someone organised some great crusade or another to do what ought to be done. Because they were alive in Christ and concerned for the lost, they did what God would rightly expect of His people.

Professor William H. Whitsitt was once lecturing on Baptist History. He said, “The Baptists in other days had many trials, persecutions and discouragements; they also had some peculiarities, some of them had ‘Foot-washing,’ some of them had the ‘Jerks,’ but the best thing they had was—religion.[14]

The message is nothing less than a call for this congregation to reaffirm this essential Baptist foundation of a regenerate church. The message serves as a call for the people of God to hold the line against the pressure to concede this vital biblical truth. I hold to a position which does not set well with the world about me. I understand that. I have insisted that those who unite with this congregation tell of their faith and confess faith in the Risen Son of God. I have preached with conviction that we must not lower this standard, but we must rather stand firm in this truth that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be composed of those who are truly born from above.

Neither do we baptise our infants, nor do we casually dismiss the importance of church membership. We expect that all who confess Christ should find a church in which they will invest their lives. We call all who serve God through this congregation to join in committing life and heart and soul to the unity of this Body and to the glory of God. We seek to honour God through ensuring that the biblical model is adopted and practised.

A couplet from years ago states:

Some men die by shrapnel,

And some men die by flames.

But some men die

An inch at a time,

Playing little games.

I trust that will not be true of any of us. I trust that we will not become guilty of playing church, but that we will be the church. I pray that we will adopt biblical convictions and live out those convictions before the eyes of a world which seems to believe little. I pray that we will be a church, filled with men and women born from above and thus revealing the life of Christ our Lord.

And that is our invitation to you. Among us are some who have yet to openly confess faith in the Son of God. Why do you wait? God calls you, saying:

In an acceptable time, I heard you,

and in the day of salvation I helped you.

Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation [2 Corinthians 6:2].[15]

God invites each individual to life. We will stand to sing a hymn of invitation. On the first note of the first stanza, we invite you to step out of your seat and to either of the aisles. Coming here to the front of the auditorium, I will meet you and point you to Christ the Lord. I will take a Bible and read you again the old, familiar verses of Scripture which speak of life in Him and you will be able to place your faith in Him.

You who have trusted Christ as Master of life, have you obeyed His call to be baptised as He teaches? The invitation is for you to openly confess Him through baptism as He has taught. Come, that the people of God may rejoice with you and that God may be honoured through your life and through your obedience.

You who now confess Christ as Lord, we invite you to come to unite with the church as He has taught. To fail to place your life in the membership of a Bible believing church is to dishonour Him who loved you and gave His life for you. Together, all should ensure that they have trusted Christ and together united to serve Him as He calls.

According to the Word, we invite you to be born into the Kingdom of God this day. If you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation. Now the Scripture says, “No one who believes on Him will be put to shame,” for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].[16]

Our earnest prayer is that you will this day be saved, obey His call to identify with Him and find your place in His church. Come, join His people and unite with His church today. His angels will attend you as you step out of your seat and into the aisle. Amen.

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[1] Holman Christian Standard Bible, Ó 2000, Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

[2] J. G. Bow, What Baptists Believe and Why They Believe It (Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville, TN, nd) 20

[3] William Cooke Boone, What We Believe (Convention Press, Nashville, TN, 1936) 15

[4] Holy Bible, New International Version Ó 1978, Zondervan Publishers. Used by permission.

[5] Paul Jalaguier, De l’Eglise (Fischbacher, Paris, 1899) 321-322, cited in Alfred F. Kuen, I Will Build My Church (Moody, Chicago, 1971) 127

[6] Henry Cook, What Baptists Stand For (London, Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland, 1947) cited in Kuen, op. cit. 127

[7] Confession de foi de l’Association des églises evangéliques baptistes, cited in Kuen, op. cit., 127

[8] Kuen, op. cit., 157, 158

[9] Holman Christian Standard Bible, Ó 2000, Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

[10] Walter Thomas Conner, Christian Doctrine (Broadman, Nashville, 1937) 260

[11] W. T. Conner, Gospel Doctrines (Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville, 1925) 118

[12] Kuen, op. cit., 256

[13] Holman Christian Standard Bible, Ó 2000, Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

[14] Bow, op. cit., 6

[15] Holman Christian Standard Bible, Ó 2000, Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

[16] Holman Christian Standard Bible, Ó 2000, Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

[17] J. G. Bow, What Baptists Believe and Why They Believe It (Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville, TN, nd) 20

[18] William Cooke Boone, What We Believe (Convention Press, Nashville, TN, 1936) 15

[19] Paul Jalaguier, De l’Eglise (Fischbacher, Paris, 1899) 321-322, cited in Alfred F. Kuen, I Will Build My Church (Moody, Chicago, 1971) 127

[20] Henry Cook, What Baptists Stand For (London, Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland, 1947) cited in Kuen, op. cit. 127

[21] Confession de foi de l’Association des églises evangéliques baptistes, cited in Kuen, op. cit., 127

[22] Kuen, op. cit., 157, 158

[23] Kuen, op. cit., 256

[24] Bow, op. cit., 6