The Authority of the Church in the World:  A United Church of Christ Perspective, Rev. Dr. Susan E. Davies
 

The Authority in the Church / The Authority of the Church in the World: A Baptist Perspective

Brenda Lynn Kneece
Clergy, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Executive Minister SC Christian Action Council 

The Baptist Witness

As a non-creedal people, Baptists in general and Baptist thought in particular are pretty hard to pin down. As the joke goes, the only time four Baptists are “in one accord” is when they are riding in a Honda!  This paper does not purport to go beyond my own experience having been raised “Southern” Baptist and now finding a home in theology and polity among those who call themselves “Cooperative” Baptists. 

Experientially my Baptist heritage is grounded in the reality of my living in the Southeastern home-base of Southern Baptist and in a state (SC) where nearly one out of five of its citizens is numbered as a Southern Baptist. This collection of thoughts would be hard pressed to pass muster in toto by any other Baptist and certainly would not pass a heavy editing by any group of Baptists. Yet, I press on.  [This says a great deal about the authority issue for Baptists, doesn’t it?] 

The Baptist Tradition

In his brief Baptist Distinctives R. Dowd Davis concludes “…It is vital to understand that Baptist distinctives concern themselves not with the essence of the Gospels but with its organization and practice.” [1]  Also, “…Baptists are in general agreement with most other Protestant Christian groups as to the essentials of the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed in the Bible.” [2] 

The major distinctives of Baptist thought and life briefly stated are as follows (again, citing Davis): 

1.    Baptists believe that the final responsibility for an individual’s relationship with God rests upon the individual alone. This belief gives rise to the notion of Soul Competency, which is the theological understanding which gives foundation to the policy of the autonomy of the local church (emphasis added). Each individual is soul competent. Each congregation, association, state convention, and national body operates autonomously as well. This is why resolutions passed by messengers – not delegates – at national or state levels are non-binding for local congregations or individuals. (This is a fact rarely understood by the press.) 

2.   Traditional Baptists have historically voted to base allegiance upon the authority of scripture. As stated in the “Baptist Faith and Message” (1963): “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.”  With Jesus Christ as the model and supreme teacher, scripture is interpreted by each individual believer. Baptists tend to be opposed to interpretations that rely on creedal-ism or denominational authoritarianism.The major disagreement among Southern Baptists for two decades has centered on the issue of literal reading/interpretation or  scholarly approaches to Biblical understanding and authority.

3.   Historically Baptist have held to the concept that there is no essential difference between the minister as an ordained person or any other member of the congregation. All are to be evangelists, witnesses, teachers; in short, we are all priests (bridge-builders). This is conveyed in the concept of the Priesthood of Believers.

4.   Baptists believe the New Testament requires the church to be regenerate: that is, composed of persons who have been reborn in Christ. Although we insist on the symbolic value of Baptism, we have also maintained that the mode be by immersion. Yet, the mode is secondary to the primary requirement of the individual’s re-birth and commitment to follow Christ. 

The church—according to Hershal H. Hobbs in The Baptist Faith and Message—is to stand at the “…center of God’s redemptive purpose in Christ. The church in the general sense is made up of those redeemed through Christ. The local church is composed of baptized believers. The mission of the church is to declare the gospel of redemption to a lost world.” “The church…is the body and bride of Christ through which he has chosen to do his work.”[3]