The Practical Value of being a part of the New Testament Baptist view of the Church Part 10 (Final Article) by Dan Nelson
Dan Nelson 04/01/21
The Practical Value of being a part of the New Testament Baptist view of the Church Part 10 (Final Article)
The reasons for having and adopting the traditional definition and function of the Scriptural view of the church are always practical in nature. We are not just talking about good theories. We are talking about how Christ would have His churches function in this present age. There are several reasons for practicing the New Testament view of the church Baptists have held through the ages. 1-A Historical Reason When we accept and practice the New Testament view of the church, we become a part of a line of churches through the centuries who would not conform to the perverted view of the church. It featured hierarchical leaders represented by one man and his underlings who not only forced conformity to its teachings but joined with the government to wage war on anyone who opposed them. Many today would say my church tradition is Catholic or Protestant, but it is deficient in an understanding of what New Testament churches are. False tradition and the pressure that comes with it should not be the deciding factor in church practice. Emer Caner says, “For the Anabaptists, the most damaging element in the fall of the church was its alliance with the state. When church and state came together, the church ceased to be the church. Anabaptists, in their attempt at restitution of the apostolic church, did not deny the right of the state’s existence. They did deny it any jurisdiction in religious affairs.1 Emir F. Caner, Sufficientia Scripture: Balthasar Hubmaier’s “Greatest Contribution to Believers” The Anabaptists and Contemporary Baptists, (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishing), 103.We are talking about tradition with the Baptist view of the church. Some traditions are worth maintaining but they must square with the New Testament and what it teaches. Baptists have paid dearly for their stand of what they believe the church to be. However, God has used them in unbelievable ways since they have been true to the New Testament understanding and practice of the church. It behooves the pastor, leaders, and members to study Baptist History and the sacrifices made, probably unlike any longstanding orthodox group of Christians. Without this knowledge, there is a deficiency of understanding and practice in our churches. 2-A Scriptural Reason This study has sought to prove that the Baptist view of a local assembly of baptized believers joined together for the fellowship of the gospel is the correct Scriptural view of the church. It is the only way to have a functional church that is a verb instead of a noun. New Testament churches abounded locally in the expansion of the Christian message wherever it went. There was not one church to which they were obedient. There were New Testament churches that were free and autonomous. Paul and other leaders founded and helped develop them but did not control them through one identity or head universal church.William Estep reiterates, “A most important fact often overlooked is that the very concept of the gathered church, the heart of Separatism, was evidently Anabaptist in origin and not a conscious product of the Magisterial Reform. None of the Reformers developed an ecclesiology of churches composed of committed disciples only.”2 William Estep,. Anabaptists Beginnings (1523-1533): A Sourcebook: Bibliotheca Humanistica & Reformatorica (Book 16). B. De Graff: Nieuwkoop:, 1976.3-A Developmental Reason Theoretical views of the church only do not result in people coming to Christ following Him in New Testament baptism and growth in the church. We must understand that the proper view of the church is a matter of Christian growth. Those who say they don’t do organized religion or have gone no further in their walk with the Lord are sleeping on the doorstep of what should be the greatest experience of their lives: “Growing and serving in a New Testament church.” They are a spiritually homeless person needing truth, discipleship, and training in leadership to further the cause of Christ in a lost world.When the new believers were added to the church by baptism in Acts 2:41 the next verse says in v. 42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine’ and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and prayers. They didn’t just baptize them and never see them again. They were developed into the core of people that changed the world and are the reason we are here today. Leon McBeth summarizes, ” Baptists are best explained as a search for a pure church. They sought a church composed of “visible saints,” that is, true believers, observing the gospel ordinances and obeying the commands of Christ.”3 McBeth, Leon. The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness. (Broadman Press: Nashville:, 1987.The proper view of the church is important. Baptists have maintained the New Testament practice of the church so that believers coming into a New Testament Church are transformed to continue and function in a practical and Scriptural pattern until Jesus comes again. May we always teach and follow the practices of a New Testament church in our churches so we might be faithful to these truths of how the church is defined in the New Testament.
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