Baptists enjoy a rich confessional heritage that is in danger of being forgotten, diminished, or
reinterpreted along progressive lines. That tradition has been captured in a number of historic Baptist
confessions, but most preeminently in the First and Second London Baptist Confessions as well as in the
Philadelphia and New Hampshire Confessions. Below we have sought to abstract and summarize the basic
principles that distinguish the Baptist tradition and to put them in the language of today. Churches are
free to make use of The Abstract is what ever way they see fit. Some may use it as a resource or teaching
tool, while others may formally adopt it with confessional authority. Whatever the case, it is our
earnest desire to commend these principles to a new generation of Baptists, not only for the sake of
calling Baptists back to tradition, but because we believe that the principles below are deeply rooted in
the Scriptures and thus represent the mind of Christ for the organization of his church. When the
church seeks to honour Christ first by submitting to his word, she begins to flourish, and the gospel
begins to flourish along with her. Below we have given this summary in the following seven articles:

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1. Christ’s Headship Over the Church

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Christ is the only head of the church and he purchased her with the price of his own blood.
While Baptists have always held to the autonomy of the local church, such autonomy was always
meant to speak of freedom from the coercive power of every other external body in sacred things but
never meant freedom from the rule of Christ. Christ alone has legislative authority while the church
alone has the power to enact his will only once she has heard his word. Christ, himself, is the chief
cornerstone. The church is built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets whose authority is
today enshrined in the pages of the New Testament. Christ rules over his church by his word. When at
their best, Baptists have always held to a high view of Scripture and have sought to bring the whole of
their lives and doctrine in line with the infallible word of God. For Baptists, this submission also
includes matters of ecclesiology. The Scriptures are sufficient and under the illumination of the Spirit,
able to guide the whole people of God with regard to the structure and polity of the church, her
membership, ministry, mission, and corporate practice.

[Genesis 49:10; Psalm 2:7-12; 110:1-3; Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 16:17-19; 28:18-20; John 14:25-26; 17:17;
Acts 2:32-36; Romans 1:1-6; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; 3:10-15; Ephesians 1:19-23; 2:20; 3:5; 4:7-16; Philippians
2:9-11; Colossians 1:15-18; 2:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Timothy 3:14-15; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews
4:12-13; James 1:18, 21-25; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 3 John 3-4; Revelation 1:5-20]

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2. Regenerate Church Membership

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Baptists agree that the Spirit’s work of regeneration, or the new birth, gives one entrance into
the universal church. However, at the local level they grant membership to those who profess faith in
Christ, give credible evidence of it, and are willing to covenant together in the body. The church is
made up of living stones, those who have been born of imperishable seed. The Old Covenant
community was a mixed community, including many unregenerate people alongside a remnant of faith.
With the New Covenant, God promised to usher in a new era in which he would pour out his Spirit on
all flesh, take out the heart of stone, give a heart of flesh, and breathe life into his people, a people
gathered from every nation. The Church represents the arrival of the long anticipated New Covenant
community. The old mixture between believing and unbelieving has ended and the age which was to
come broke into the present. The church is that eschatological people, the first fruits of a new creation,
the people upon whom the end of the ages has come. She is a community where the Spirit of God
abides in every member awakening hope, giving spiritual sight, and empowering obedience.

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[Deuteronomy 30:6; Jeremiah 31:31-34; 32:38-41; Ezekiel 11:19-20; 36:24-27; Joel 2:28-29; Matthew
26:26-29; 28:18-20; Luke 22:20; John 3:5-8; 14:6; Acts 2:14-21; 2:37-47; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 10:11;
11:25; 12:3, 12-13; 2 Corinthians 3:12-18; 5:16-17; Ephesians 2:1-22; Titus 3:4-7; Hebrews 8; James 1:18; 1
Peter 2:4-10; Revelation 7:9-12]

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3. Credobaptism

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In baptism, the powerful and yet invisible, internal, regenerating work of the Spirit goes public
and is made visible. Because the church is a regenerate community and true conversion is affirmed
through the waters of baptism, Credobaptism (believer baptism) stands in direct contrast with the
practice of Paedobaptism (infant baptism). Infants do not have the capacity to believe, and therefore
are not to be baptized until they profess faith in Christ. In baptism, the individual professes faith in
Christ, but a local church also lends her affirmation by placing the name of the triune God upon the
believer in recognition of his/her new status and incorporation into the people of God. Baptism is also
an external sign of internal cleansing and our union with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection,
being engrafted into him by faith. Also, in baptism believers are edified, assured and sealed in the
promise of the gospel and given grace to walk in holiness and wage war against sin.

[Ezekiel 36:25; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:38, 41; 8:12; 8:36-38; 9:18; 10:47-48; 16:31-34; 19:5; 22:16;
Romans 6:1-23; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; Galatians 3:25-28; Ephesians 1:13; 4:4-6, 30; Colossians 2:9-15;
Titus 3:5; Hebrews 10:22; 1 Peter 3:21]

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4. Congregationalism

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Seeing as the local church is a New Covenant community, where the Spirit of God indwells
each member, Baptists cherish congregationalism. Congregationalism is a form of church governance
that seeks to emphasize the structural implications of the reformational principle of the priesthood of
all believers. When the church is assembled together, her collective voice represents the highest seat of
authority under Christ. Every individual member, regardless of gender, education, vocation, ethnicity,
or culture is encouraged to participate and contribute to the corporate direction and life of the church.

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Members are to read the Scriptures together and discern the will of God in the affairs of the church.
The assembly is tasked with the priestly work of protecting sound doctrine, affirming those that
properly confess the truth of the gospel, and disciplining those who fail to live consistently with it. In
this way, the congregation wields the keys of the kingdom and guards the public witness of Christ.
Though the congregation is primarily responsible for this task, she nevertheless ought to be led by
godly elders who seek to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

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[Exodus 19:6; Matthew 18:15-20; Acts 15:22; 20:28; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 5; 12:12-25; 2 Corinthians
2:5-11; Galatians 1:6-9; Ephesians 2:21-22; 4:1-32; Philippians 1:1; 1:27-30; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; 3:15; 5:17;
Titus 1:5, 6-9; Hebrews 10:19-25; 13:7, 17; 1 Peter 2:4-10; 5:1-4; 1 John 2:27; Revelation 1:6; 5:9-10]

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5. Autonomy of the Local Church

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Because each local assembly has been given the responsibility of establishing its own doctrinal
standards, appointing its own leaders, and affirming its own members, such responsibilities can never
be usurped by any external church or organization. In the governance of sacred matters, each local
assembly stands independent of all other authorities. No church or minister is permitted to exercise
authority or occupy a position of prominence over any other church. The autonomy of the local
church is the corporate expression of the principle of soul liberty which stresses the responsibility of
the individual to make discussions in matters of religion in a way that is free from coercion. In a
parallel way, each congregation is free from the coercive structures of ecclesiastical power and
responsible to Christ who will judge each one.

[Matthew 18:15-20; Acts 5:29; 14:21-23; 20:28; Romans 14:4; 1 Corinthians 5; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Titus 1:5;
Hebrews 10:24-25; 13:7, 17; 1 Peter 2:13-17; 5:1-4; Revelation 1:4]
 

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6. Association

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While Baptists have long cherished the autonomy of the local church, they have, at the same
time, always sought free and voluntary association with like-minded churches. Autonomy is not
opposed to association but is meant to protect a sense of mutuality in the relationships between
churches. The New Testament everywhere bears witness to a happy kind of cooperation of the
churches in the work of the gospel and a deep affectionate bond between them. They care for one
another, support one another, pray for one another, visit one another, and are engaged together in one
and the same mission. While association does not nullify the autonomy of any individual church, such
a happy cooperation brings with it an obligation upon all the churches involved. All the churches are to
live by one and the same rule. While each congregation is free in the matters stated above, the
association of churches is also free to establish its own principles of unity and doctrinal standards and
to excommunicate those individual churches that may no longer fit within the fellowship.

[Acts 2:42; 15:1-35; Romans 15:25-26; 16:16; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 4:17; 7:17; 11:16; 14:33; 16:1-3; 2 Corinthians
8:18, 24; Galatians 2:7-11; Ephesians 1:15; 2:20; 6:18; Colossians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:7; 2:14; 3 John 5-6]

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7. Purity

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The Purity of the church is perhaps what lies at the very heart of the Baptist tradition.
Because the church is a regenerate community, all the saints ought to be growing together in holiness.
By the grace of God, the local church, through its devotion and discipline, seeks to make visible the
eschatological purity of the people of God. Christ himself purchased the church by his own blood and
washes her with the word. She is a bride being made ready, a city on a hill, salt and light, a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, called out of darkness into light to
proclaim the excellencies of Christ and his gospel to the ends of the earth. As the church awaits her
blessed hope, the glorious appearing of her great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, she ought to renounce
ungodliness and worldly passions, and be self-controlled, upright, and godly. She is to exist like a light
amid a crooked and twisted generation as she holds fast to the word of life. As exiles, she is to follow
Christ’s pattern of humility and purity as she awaits the glories of the age to come. The Church is a
colony of heaven and represents Christ and his kingdom in the world. She has been entrusted with the
gospel of Christ and commissioned to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded.

[Leviticus 19:2; Ezekiel 36:24-27; Matthew 5:14; 28:18-20; Mark 8:34; Acts 20:28; 2 Corinthians 11:2-3;
Ephesians 2:8-10; 2:19-22; 5:25-27; Philippians 1:27; 2:1-16; 3:20-21; Colossians 2:11-14; 1 Thessalonians
1:9-10; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 1:13-25; 2:1-12; 1 John 1:5-8; 2:6; 2:15-16; 3:6; 5:18; Rev. 19:7-8]