WHO WERE THE FIRST BAPTISTS?

I.    WHO WERE THE FIRST BAPTISTS?

A.    In determining who were the first Baptists, you must first identify who you are referring to.

1.    You could mean those persons or churches which held to the Baptists beliefs although they may not have called themselves Baptists.

2.    Or second, you could be referring to those who held to Baptist beliefs and were called by the name Baptist.

B.    It is difficult to trace Baptist churches down through history.

1.Some Baptist historians refer to groups as early Baptists who did not in fact hold to pure Baptist beliefs as held today. a)They try to establish that "according to history, Baptist have an unbroken line of churches since Christ". (Quote from Dr. J.M. Carroll’s booklet "The Trail of Blood") b)These historians, in an attempt to show an unbroken line of Baptists in history, have embraced groups which were clearly not doctrinal sound.

2.In the simplest of terms a true Baptist assembly is one which follows the New Testament as his sole authority for his faith and practice. a)Whether these groups of believers called themselves Baptists or not, if they were doctrinally pure following the New Testament for their faith and practice they were New Testament churches and thus they can be called Baptistic. b)The point is there were true New Testament churches called by various names, before assemblies used the name Baptist. c)Some Baptists such as the Landmark Baptist conclude they trace their history back to John the Baptist who was the first Baptist.

(1)    However, John the Baptist was an Old Testament saint and the last Old Testament prophet (Matthew 3:3). He did not belong to, nor was part of the any "ekklesia."

(2)    Yes he baptized, but His baptism was the baptism of repentance (Matthew 3:2) for Jews who were preparing for coming Messiah and Kingdom God had promised them.

(3)    John was beheaded by Herod (Matthew 14:1-36) before the Lord Jesus announced the coming establishment of the "ekklesia." (Matthew 16:18). John was God’s true prophet and the forrunner of the Messiah Jesus Christ, but he was not a part of the dispensation of the institution of the local church.

(4)    In examining many so-called early "Baptist" churches you find many doctrinal errors and false teaching.

(a)    No church that practiced false doctrine as many of these groups did can in truth be called a Baptist church.

(b)    It is not possible to "trace" an unbroken line of Baptist churches from Christ until today.

(c)    However, let me strongly say there has always existed an unbroken line of churches who have not erred from the faith, and been true to the Bible, God’s Word.

(d)    To say there is a unbroken line or succession of Baptist churches from the time of Christ until today cannot be shown from history.

(e)    To call these people Baptists or Baptistic, in the sense that the believed the Bible and followed it as their sole authority for faith and practice, in the way same true Baptist churches do today, is acceptable, although it serves no purpose.

(5)The importance of these churches was not in their name, but in what they believed and practiced. d)For an example there is Patrick of Ireland.

(1)    Patrick was born in Scotland in 360 AD and sold into slavery at age sixteen and carried to Ireland. Later, he escaped and became a Christian missionary.

(2)    Although the Roman Catholic Church claims him as one of their "saints," there is no evidence he even knew the Catholic church existed.

(3)    In his writings he appears totally ignorant of the practices of the Roman Church and never refers to church councils, creeds, traditions or even to the existence of a pope.

(4)    There was no hierarchy in the churches he founded, which were patterned after the simple New Testament example.

(5)    These churches were very missions minded and formed schools to train preachers and missionaries.

(6)    History is clear that in the beginning and also into the 9th Century there were churches in Britain that rejected pedo-baptism, popery and other false doctrines of the Catholics.

(a)    These churches remained sound in doctrine and practicing the faith of the New Testament.

(b)    These churches are good examples of Bible believing churches that existed independent of the Roman Catholic Church, and were for some time not corrupted by its influences.

(c)    They were in fact churches founded on the same New Testament principles that modern day Baptists traditionally founded their churches.

3.Some have pointed to the Anabaptists as the examples of early Baptist churches. a)This again can not be proven from history. b)The Anabaptists were mostly a God fearing group of people. They loved the Lord and many of them gave their lives and fortunes for the sake of Christ. c)However, history does not record even one Anabaptist group or church becoming or founding a Baptist church. d)Most of the Anabaptists successors became the Mennonites, Amish and Quakers. e)Not one Baptist church can show in its history a direct succession from the Anabaptists. f)Many Anabaptists churches were strong New Testament churches believing and following the Word of God. g)Other Anabaptists groups were in gross error and corrupted. As with any true New Testament church, its validity as a true church approved of God, does not nor or ever did rest on it name or upon a succession of churches, but on its adherence to the principles of God’s Word.

4.Some Baptist churches believe in a succession of Baptist churches who passed down the authority to baptize and give the Lord’s Supper. a)This is contrary to the very foundation of what is a true New Testament church. b)A true New Testament church bases its faith, practice and authority solely in the Word of God. c)To hold to the "secessionist" position takes the authority away from the New Testament and places it in the hands of man. d)Secessionism is the gross error of Catholicism. God said He would preserve His church and that task was not left in the hands of fallible men or groups.

5.    What possible value is there in appealing to a supposed unbroken line of Baptist churches as a church’s authority.

6.    There is every value in appealing only to present adherence to the New Testament as one’s sole authority for faith and practice.