Question:
Dear
Greg,
I was brought up in a Southern Baptist Church.
I have not been to church in many years.
I have visited a Presbyterian Church and feel very comfortable there
and feel that it would be a wonderful place to take my children.
I don’t know all the Baptist beliefs, but can you tell me the main
differences between the two churches?
Thanks,
Melissa
Answer:
Dear
Melissa,
Of course both Baptists and Presbyterians officially accept the core
teachings of historic Christianity and their doctrinal teachings place them
solidly within the body of Christ.
Southern Baptists are theologically conservative, even more than other
Baptist churches. One of the
primary distinctives of Southern Baptists is their stand on “biblical
inerrancy”—concerning the exact and precise way in which the Bible is
inspired by God and how its authority extends in our lives.
In addition to this distinctive, Baptists agree upon two ordinances:
the Lord’s Supper and baptism by immersion.
Baptism (hence “Baptists”) and its mode is central to Baptist
teaching. Infant baptism is
rejected as unbiblical.
Another distinctive of Baptists is their emphasis on freedom.
By freedom, Baptists do not simply have in mind the freedom that most
Protestants (as compared to Catholics and Orthodox) espouse: the priesthood of
all believers, the ability that all Christians have to have a personal
relationship with God—in spite of and not because of the church.
Baptists go beyond this freedom and extend it to the form of church
government—rejecting all rigid, authoritarian church government in favor of
congregational, democratic churches, with the primary decision makers in most
congregations being deacons and boards of deacons, not even the pastor.
Each Baptist congregation is usually autonomous.
Each congregation arranges its worship, hires and fires its pastor,
examines and baptizes members, etc. Baptist
congregations voluntarily are part of larger Baptist fellowships, conventions
and denominations.
Just as there are many Baptist churches, so too there are a number of
Presbyterians (though not as numerous as Baptists).
Mode of governance is also a major teaching for Presbyterians.
Their church government goes back to the Greek “presbuteros”
(elder). While the Baptists take
their name from their insistence upon the mode (immersion) of baptism,
Presbyterians take their name because they are a church governed by presbyters
or representatives.
Here
you have two major differences with Baptists and Presbyterians.
Baptists are a church that rejects infant baptism—while most
Presbyterians do not. Baptists
reject any church government that does not rest in congregationalism, while
Presbyterians accept the authority of ordained representatives who direct the
church.
There
are other distinctives, including the idea that Presbyterians are generally
more cerebral in their worship and generally less emotional than Baptists
(though this is not to say that Baptists are not logical, nor that
Presbyterians are not emotional).
Another
huge topic you want to consider concerns the influence of John Calvin—the
theology of God’s sovereignty over the world.
Conservative Presbyterians are known as 5-point Calvinists—the
acronym TULIP is used for these five points:
1.
Total
depravity
2.
Unconditional
predestination
3.
Limited
atonement
4.
Irresistible
grace
5.
Final
perseverance
Without
belaboring the issue, Baptists would not be in agreement with the
Hope this helps, Melissa. May
God guide you and be with you.
In Christ,
Greg Albrecht