The One Baptism
(This tract was first published at the request of the Shelby County Association of Tennessee at its session in 1927. It had come as the result of study and out of the desire of the writer's heart to have our Baptist brotherhood united on one of the most fundamental of all their doctrines and practices.)
Part I. An Interesting Subject
MAN HAS always been tempted to substitute forms and ceremonies for the purely spiritual elements in his religion. From earliest times down to the present he has wanted something tangible before which he can bow in worship. Idols of wood and stone have held their places in his temples and homes. Various rites have been practiced in the effort to placate deity and destroy the power of the evil one. To worship God in spirit and in truth has indeed been found to be a difficult undertaking.
During the Christian era there have been those who have sought to destroy the desire of men for some visible object of worship, and to lead them to bow in simple faith before the throne of divine grace. And since the days when the act of baptism was first thought of as a saving ordinance, such people have stood boldly against the teaching that baptism is in any way essential to the remission of sins. And in order to remain true to their age'old position, they must continue to hold to one baptism for all and never accept any other ordinance in its place.
If one will make a careful study of the history of Christianity, he must be struck by the fact that practically all the
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modern Christian bodies arose primarily because of differing views about the place of ordinances in the Christian program. Instituted by John the Baptist as a simple act of preparation for the coining of the Messiah and as a token of a repentant heart, baptism has passed through an eventful history, until today there are four distinct forms by which the ordinance is administered, a much larger number of ideas which it is supposed to set forth, and three distinct purposes for which it is administered—a divisive issue indeed.
The four forms are sprinkling, pouring, trine immersion and one immersion. The various ideas about it are: (1) It sets forth the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice for sins; (2) it represents the pouring out of the Holy Spirit; (3) it assists in the purification from sins; (4) it absolutely saves from sin and without it there is no salvation; (5) it is merely a picture of the burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and the new birth of the sinner. The distinct purposes for which it is practiced are: (l) To cleanse from sin; (2) to assist in the act of regeneration; (3) to wash away sin and thus bring salvation; (4) to set forth one's faith in the acts of the Saviour by which we are saved and which guarantee our justification.
The questions have so often been asked, "Why is it that Baptists are such sticklers for one form of baptism?" And "When other Christian bodies practice immersion, why will Baptists not accept their immersion as baptism?" A reply to these questions and others arising out of them must present an explanation of, and a reason for, the belief of Baptists, that immersion as a form alone does not constitute scriptural baptism. We are commanded to be able to give a reason for the faith that is within us, so, taking the word of
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Paul found in the fourth chapter of Ephesians as our authority, let us see the truth as it is revealed in the word of God and supported by the best minds of the Christian era.
Part II. Paul's Creed
Paul set forth in Ephesians 4 a very definite creed, written by inspiration for the guidance of the whole of Christendom. In this creed he gives some positive "Ones" which every true Christian should accept as of divine authority.
1. One Lord. The Christian world is not agreed upon this part of his declaration, yet the apostle has made his position very clear. "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church" (Eph. 5:23). "And he is the head of the body, the church" (Col. 1:18). There are those who believe in an ecclesiastical head of the church. Among these the various Catholic bodies are leaders, and at the head of their body is a bishop, or the pope. New sects, such as Christian Science, Mormonism, Russellism, etc., having been founded by a woman or man, accept such as the head of their body. The founder claims the prerogatives of Christ, sets forth his own gospel and establishes his own rules of conduct. If the Bible is our "sole rule of faith and practice," there can be but one Lord and Master and that Christ. Hence His word alone can govern us in our doctrines.
2. One Faith. This has reference not to some man-made creed but to the supernatural power by which we are brought into the spiritual family of the Father. The teachings upon which it is to be based are given by the apostles and the prophets, and set forth not belief in some institution but trust in a person; not dependence upon man's devices
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but reliance upon the promises of God; not confidence in a human being but hope in the divine Son of God. And this faith is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). See also Romans 3:28; 5:1; 9:30; Gal. 2:16.
3. One Baptism. There are some who make this statement refer to the number of times the believer is to submit to the ordinance, but this is an erroneous interpretation. When the disciples of John, who had not yet learned the whole truth, were converted by the preaching of Paul and Barnabas, they readily submitted to a second immersion, to true baptism. Paul had no idea of speaking against a second immersion in point of time when he gave the command. What he meant was that there can be but one baptism in form and meaning for all Christians.
There are others who claim that this statement refers to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but they are immediately confronted by problems which they cannot solve. What does the Scripture reveal?
a. Jesus commanded his disciples to baptize. If the one baptism is that of the Holy Spirit, then he gave them a command that was meaningless, for not one of them ever claimed to have the power to baptize in the Holy Spirit, and nowhere does the Scripture intimate that any disciple ever did it.
b. All the apostolic churches practiced baptism as an ordinance. We have repeated examples of the act of water baptism in the writings of the New Testament. After Peter's great sermon during Pentecost 3,000 souls were baptized in Jerusalem. The Ethiopian eunuch was baptized. Cornelius and his household were baptized after they had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Nowhere in the
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word of God or in Christian history do we find support for the theory that Paul was speaking of the Holy Ghost baptism. As there is one Lord to whom we go for salvation and one faith that leads us to Him, so there is one baptism that will set forth our faith and give us fellowship with a Hew Testament church,
Part III. What Then Is Baptism?
Since Eph. 4:5 can have reference only to water baptism, we turn to consider the form by which baptism can be administered. If there can be but one baptism, it behooves all Christians to know that they practice it. Dr. Salmond of the United Free Church College of Aberdeen, Scotland, says of baptism, "The rite, one and the same for all, by which believers in Christ are admitted to fellowship of his church." That it is the rite by which believers are admitted to fellow' ship in the church is admitted by all Christians save a very few, but that it is "one and the same for all" is denied by all who refuse to observe the New Testament requirements as to its form. What is that form?
1. The Word Baptize. Our word "baptize" is an Anglicized form of the Greek word "baptizo," so if we want to know what it means, we must learn from the Greek. We give herewith definitions from various Greek scholars, not one a Baptist.
a. Liddell and Scotts Greek Lexicon: "Baptizo, to dip in or under water."
b. Sophocles (Greek Catholic): "Baptizo, to dip, to immerse, to sink."
c. Thayer: "Baptizo, to dip repeatedly, to submerge, to cleanse by dipping."
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d. Preuschen (Lutheran): "Ins wasser tauchen," to dip into water.
Fifty of the leading Greek lexicons of the world are unanimous in their rendering of the meaning of the word.
In the beautiful Greek story of Iphegenia, written before the Christian era, we have a baptismal scene when the image of the goddess, having been defiled by the hands of a foreigner, was taken to the sea to be purified by immersion. (Note the heathen origin of baptismal cleansing). Artemus, who had come to rescue Iphegenia, had her wade out deep into the water for the ceremony and before her captors could interfere, seized her and bore her away in his ship. Baptizo for a Greek never meant anything but immerse, and the Greek Catholics have never practiced any other baptism than immersion.
2. What the Commentators Say. We give a few quotations from the leading commentators of other religious bodies. Certainly no one can accuse them of being biased in favor of the Baptist position.
a. John Wesley. "We are buried with—alluding to the ancient manner of baptizing by immersion.'" (Notes on Rom. 6:4.)
b. A. S. Peake (Methodist of England), in speaking of Colossians 2:12, says: "The rite of baptism, in which the
person baptized was first buried beneath the water and then raised from it, typified to Paul the burial and resurrection of the believer with Christ."
c. Calvin, one of the founders of Presbyterianism, in speaking of the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch says, "They immersed the whole body in water." He further says, "The
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word baptize signifies to immerse, and the rite of immersion was observed by the ancient church." (Institutes 4:15).
d. Martin Luther, founder of Lutheranism: "The term baptism is Greek; in Latin it may be translated immersio, since we immerse anything into water, that the whole may be covered with water." (Works, Vol. 1, p 74).
e. Lightfoot, an Episcopalian, gives us the view of all who believe in baptismal remission of sins. He says, "Baptism is the grave of the old man and the birth of the new. As he sinks beneath the baptismal waters, the believer buries there all his corrupt affections and past sins. He rises regenerate, quickened to new hopes and a new life."
Quotations might be given from modern scholars in our own country to sustain the ones already given. The president of a great Presbyterian seminary said in the writer's presence, "I am persuaded that immersion is not only a New Testament baptism but the New Testament baptism." One of the greatest church historians in the world, also a Presbyterian, is reported as being in favor of making immersion the one baptism of his church. A professor of Greek in a Methodist university frankly admitted that baptizo never meant anything but immerse when applied to baptism.
3. What the Historians say. Quotations from the great church historians cannot here be given, for space will not allow. However, if one wishes to see the record, he may go to a good library and read for himself what they say. The following tell us in no unambiguous words that the form of baptism used throughout apostolic days and almost universally through the first millennium of Christian history was immersion.—Kraus and Muratori, Roman Catholics;
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Stanley and Geike, Episcopalians; Kurtz and Mosheim, Lutherans; Schaff, Prebsyterian; Fischer, Congregationalist; Wesley, Clarke, Benson, Methodists.
Part IV. Brief History of Sprinkling
Secular and Christian history join in disproving any claim that sprinkling or pouring were ever intended to be used for baptism. They emphatically deny that such forms were ever practiced in apostolic times. The first authentic instance of sprinkling that can be found in all Christian history is that of Novatian which occurred about 250 A.D. The great man was sick unto death. The heathen idea of baptismal purification had crept into many churches, hence some Christians postponed baptism until just before their deaths, in order that it might wash away all their sins. Novatian was so ill that he could not be immersed, so the ministers surrounded his bed and simultaneously thrust water upon him from above, below and the sides, thus symbolizing immersion.
There is nothing in Church History that can certainly be relied on as proof of the practice of sprinkling until we reach the year 811 A.D. In that year Pope Steven II granted the French clergy the right to sprinkle the infirm and infants saying: "If such were cases of necessity and if sprinkling were done in the name of the Trinity it should be held valid."
The year 1311 A.D. marks the advent of sprinkling as a recognized form of baptism. In that year the council of Ravenna (Catholic) issued a decree making either sprinkling or immersion legal.
In 1643 the Westminster Council of Divines (Church of England) met at the command of the British Parliament to
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set forth a new creed. Baptism came up for discussion, and when the vote was taken on what form should be set forth in the creed, 25 members voted for sprinkling and 24 for immersion. Immersion had been the previous practice of the Church of England, and in all the prayer books of the church issued previous to 1643 are definite instructions to the priests concerning the manner of immersing infants. Edward VI and Elizabeth were baptized by immersion. James I was sprinkled.
Since, therefore, the great lexicographers of the world, the great commentators of the world, the great church historians and the clear import of the New Testament teachings all agree upon immersion as the form of Christian baptism, we are compelled to know that immersion was and is the only form of the One Baptism.
Part V. Why. Not Accept Other Immersions?
The question naturally arises: If immersion is scriptural baptism, why do Baptists not accept the immersion of other Christian bodies as baptism? The answer is simple. True Baptists cannot accept the immersion of other bodies as scriptural baptism for the simple reason that the mere act of immersion does not constitute baptism, unless it conforms exactly to the requirements set forth in the New Testament. True Baptist churches have always emphasized these requirements, while all other Christian groups have turned aside from one or more of them. The immersion of Baptist churches is therefore distinctly different from the immersion of any other Christian body. What are these requirements?
1. There must be a
believer before there can be baptism. Anything other than the immersion of a
believer cannot
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rightly lie accepted by a Baptist church us baptism. If the one baptized, or the church baptizing, believes that the immersion has something to do with salvation, then the immersion is a sacrament and not a symbol. We must keep clearly in mind that the content, as well as the form, determines a thing. If immersion is held to have anything whatever to do with salvation, if it is believed to contain some magic power by which spiritual grace is conveyed to the believer, then it is separate and distinct from the immersion practiced by Baptists through the ages. Sacramentalism has been one of the curses of Christianity, and Baptists become sacramentarians the moment they accept as baptism the immersion of a body of Christians who believe that baptism is necessary for salvation. If then a Baptist church accepts this sacrament as baptism, it immediately violates the word of Paul and has two baptisms, one a symbolic ordinance and the other a sacramental ordinance.
2. Baptism was committed to the disciples in their organized capacity, that is, to the churches. The individual who receives the ordinance has nothing to do with its form or meaning. He merely accepts what the church practices. It does not matter that he denies faith in baptismal regeneration; if the church holds that the ordinance does complete the act of regeneration, the believer who is baptized in that church receives a sacramental immersion which is not scriptural baptism.
There is no ground for denying that the apostolic churches sought to direct and control the administration of the ordinances. Paul declares that the Lord's Supper was transferred by him directly from the Lord to the church at Corinth (1 Cor. 11:23), and he made it clear that the church should
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safeguard the ordinance and keep it pure. Furthermore, the instructions sent by the apostles to various churches leave no doubt in any unbiased mind that churches and not individual Christians were intended to be guardians of the doctrines and ordinances. This is made very clear in 1 Cor. 11:2 wherein Paul declares to a church that he delivered the ordinances to them, with the command that they be kept.
Accompanying the rapid spread of Christianity which followed the persecutions instituted by Saul of Tarsus, there came heresies into the Christian ranks. They arose at first out of the teachings of the Judaizers who claimed that works of the law were necessary to salvation. At Antioch, Corinth, Rome, and other places the trouble showed its face before Paul's death. John had to contend with the doctrine of sinlessness as is indicated by his epistles. Ceremonialism had developed in one of the churches of Asia Minor. As a natural result of teaching salvation by works, which included ceremonial cleansing, the idea of baptismal remission of sins gained such strong headway that by the middle of the third century after Christ we have records of bodies of believers who refused to accept as baptism any ordinance which was administered for the purpose of washing away sins. Then arose the name "Anabaptist" which means "one who baptizes again."
Efforts to disprove church control of the ordinances are readily overcome by appeal to the Word. Philip did baptize the Ethiopian, but he was a regularly consecrated evangelist of the church at Jerusalem, and by inference from other parts of the New Testament record, we are safe in saying that he was authorized by that church to make disciples on mission fields and baptize them. Paul and Barnabas were
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regularly ordained by the church at Antioch to go and make disciples, and if we believe that the church at Antioch was following the Great Commission in sending them out, we must believe that it authorized them to baptize the disciples thus made. Jesus gave the command to baptize to the group of believers who had been gathered out and organized about himself for the spreading of the Gospel. Baptism has always since been held to be an ordinance of the church.
To Baptists a church on earth—every New Testament church—is a local, self-governing body of scripturally baptized believers and as such is the only organization endowed with authority to carry out the program of Christ who "is head of the body, the church." We have ample proof from the New Testament that the apostolic churches exercised control over their members and over the doctrines and practices of their day. It is, therefore, very certain that New Testament churches of every period of Christian history are to see to it that the doctrines are kept pure. We are to "contend earnestly for the faith" and see that the ordinances are preserved free from any corruptions. Whenever any body of Christians changes the form, the meaning or the purpose of the immersion instituted by John the Baptist, approved by Jesus, and practiced by apostolic churches, they destroy scriptural baptism and set up a man-made ordinance in its place. Baptist churches cannot accept such without becoming partners in the rebellious act of those who dare to change what God hath established. Hence it is that true Baptist churches will not accept the immersion of other denominations as scriptural baptism.
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Part VI. Meaning of Baptism
The meaning as well as the form determines what baptism is. If there is but one baptism, there can be but one meaning in it.
1. The Baptist Position. Baptism is a picture ordinance, a symbol, of events that have already taken place. It must show forth some definite things.
a. Burial. Baptism is described by the apostolic writers as the picture of a burial, hence must be preceded by a death. There are those who claim that Jesus did not die on the cross, hence merely came back to consciousness while in the tomb; but in making the denial, they ignore all that God's word says. And there are those who claim that baptism is not preceded by a death. They too ignore what the word of God says. See Rom. 6:3-6; Col. 2:12. The true believer has voluntarily died to sin, i.e., he has renounced the life in trespasses and sin, hence is ready for the symbolic burial.
b. Resurrection. What is it that is raised from the watery grave? The answer to this question reveals the difference between Baptist immersion and that of other bodies. Lightfoot, a great Episcopalian writer whom we have already quoted, gives the best definition of one immersion which Baptists cannot accept as baptism. He says, "As he sinks beneath the baptismal waters, the believer buries there all his corrupt affections and past sins—he rises regenerate, quickened to new hopes and a new life." To him, and all who believe as he says, baptism is a saving sacrament with magic to wash away sins and to impart new life. Regeneration is
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completed by the ordinance, and without it one can never be sure of salvation.
Baptists believe that the same new-born soul that comes out of the water, went into the water. By going into this symbolic grave, the believer manifests to the world his faith in the burial and resurrection of Jesus, and the assurance of the death of his old self and the birth of a new life within. He has been saved before the ordinance could be received for, to him, "baptism is the answer of a good con-science toward God and not the putting away of the filth of the flesh" (1 Pet. 3:21). But what saith the Word?
1. Our sins are covered in Christ Jesus. His blood washes them all away 1 John 1:7; Col. 1:14; Eph. 1:7; Rom. 5:9; Acts 20:28; Rev. 1:5; 7:14; etc.
2. We put on Jesus by faith and not by baptism. John 1:12-13; Luke 8:48; Acts 15:9; 26:18; Rom. 1:17; 3:22,27; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 3:17; Phil. 3:9; John 6:10; Acts 13:38, 39.
3. Grace saves us without the works of the law. Ceremonial cleansing, including various forms of washings, was an edict of the law. If then God's word is true, baptism cannot have a part in the cleansing from sin. Salvation is from God and man receives it as an absolute gift John 1:17; Acts 15:11; Rom. 3:24; 4:16; 11:6; Gal. 5:4; Eph. 2:5, 8; Titus 3:7; 1 Pet. 3:7.
Part VII. Some Errors Examined
There are some passages of scripture which give comfort to all who rely upon baptism for their safety in Christ. We look at them briefly.
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1. Peter's Message. "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Acts 2:38. In this passage we have a construction which occurs elsewhere and upon which the advocates of baptismal remission depend largely for their support. The little Greek word "eis" which is herein translated "for" is the cause of trouble. One passage will illustrate the folly of depending upon this verse and kindred verses for support of the doctrine of baptismal remission. Matt. 12:41 states that the people of Ninevah repented "at the preaching of Jonah." In the Greek, the language which the writers used in making the original inspired version, we have this little word "eis" in exactly the same grammatical construction as found in Acts
2:38. If, then, we can only translate the latter "be baptized in order to have your sins remitted," we must translate the former "repented in order to get Jonah to preach." The absurdity is readily apparent. Therefore, to proclaim a doctrine supported only by a one-sided interpretation of such passages as Acts 2:38 is to be guilty of both unscholarly conduct and gross presumption. The same use of "eis" appears in Matt. 10:41 and elsewhere.
2. 1 Peter 3:20, 21. "The like figure whereunto baptism doth also now save us." This statement has been used repeatedly as proof of baptismal regeneration. But what are the facts? Water had nothing to do with the salvation of Noah and his family. Water was their worst enemy. The ark saved them. They went into the ark because they believed God, and in Hebrews 11:7 we are specifically told that faith saved Noah and his family. Furthermore, God not only gave Noah faith to prepare for the flood but shut him into the ark when the flood came. God gives us faith to
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believe in Jesus Christ, and Jesus has told us that the Father gave them unto him and no man is able to pluck them out of the Father's hand (John 10:28-29).
Water was the agency of death to all of Noah's day. The ark was the means of life to them who believed God's word. Likewise water of baptism is the symbol of death to all of our day. That which baptism represents or pictures,—namely, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus,—is the means of life to all who believe. The ark was the symbol or prototype of Christ. The water of the flood bore up the ark in which the souls were saved. Baptism holds up the Ark of the Covenant wherein the souls of believers of our day are saved. It is a figure, not a cause of salvation. It is a symbol, not a sacrament. Just as the flood bore up the ark and revealed God's power to save whom He will, even so does baptism present in like figure, that is by water, the risen, glorified Christ and reveals God's power to save through him.
"The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who will believe" (Rom. 1:16). To know what Paul meant by "The Gospel" we must read 1 Corinthians 15:140, wherein he makes it clear that this "power of God unto salvation" is Jesus. How then can one claim that Baptism saves or helps to save the believer? And when it does not save, or aid in saving, the believer, how can true believers in Salvation by Grace accept as scriptural baptism the immersion of any group of Christians who make baptism a sacramental or saving ordinance?
3. Baptists believe that all but Baptists are lost. That is exactly what they do not believe or teach. They are the
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only old Christian denomination on earth that has never taught such a thing. Furthermore, they are the only people who have absolutely followed the apostolic example not only in doctrine and practice but in showing to all others the Christ-like spirit of tolerance. They have never persecuted Jew or Gentile, Catholic or Protestant, in all their glorious history. They have never believed in salvation by any sort of works or through any kind of ordinances and ceremonies. They are necessarily the broadest of all Christians in their fellowship, holding that all who believe Christ and accept Him as Saviour and Lord are saved, whether they call themselves Baptists or not. They cannot, however, allow their fellowship with believers of other folds to cause them to betray the doctrines and principles laid down by Jesus and the apostolic writers to govern them in their church life.
Part VIII. Some Conclusions
We have examined briefly the scriptures for baptism and find that they support only one baptism in form and meaning, namely; the immersion of a believer in water by the authority of a church of Jesus Christ, and that immersion only a symbol of the burial and resurrection of Christ who was crucified for our sins and raised for our justification. We find that the Greek scholars are unanimous in declaring that the word baptizo means immersion. We find that both commentators and historians, who have a right to the claim of scholarship, agree that apostolic baptism was always by immersion.
We have also seen that there are two kinds of immersion, one a symbol and the other a sacrament. The New Testa-
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ment and early Christian history both support the symbolic idea of baptism. To make baptism necessary for salvation is to make it something which the word of God will not support. Therefore, true Baptists cannot accept any immersion other than that which they have practiced through the centuries.
1. And just here we settle the whole question of what is erroneously called "Close Communion." *All Christian bodies, save a few modern sects, hold that baptism is necessary before one can be admitted to the Lord's Table. If space were allowed, we would quote from scholars of other denominations to the effect that if they believed, as do Baptists, that only immersion of a believer constitutes scriptural baptism, they would no more commune with members of other denominations than they would with those who were not members of any church.
Baptists can have but one baptism. Baptism is necessary before one has the right to eat the Lord's Supper with any church. Therefore Baptists, in order to be consistent and true, cannot partake of the Lord's Supper with anyone save Baptists, because so to do would deny the faith of all evangelical Christians, and so to do will always weaken the position of Baptists, bring heresies into their bodies and bring reproach upon their brethren of like faith and order. In fact there are good grounds for limiting the Supper to the sphere of discipline by the church.
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*(NOTE: For a full study of the Lord's Supper, its history and the various heresies about it, together with a careful study of the Scriptures relating to it, get a copy of "The Mystic Symbol" by John D. Freeman. Order from Baptist Executive Board, 149 Sixth Avenue North, Nashville, Tennessee. 25 cents paper; 50 cents cloth.)
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I seek admittance into an Odd Fellows' Hall and lodge. I give the signal which my Masonic fraternity has given me. The door-keeper asks for the pass word and I give him my Masonic word. He refuses to allow me to enter and hold communion and fellowship with his brethren, not because I am not a good citizen, not because I am not a good man, not because I am not worthy to be an Odd Fellow; but be-cause I have never submitted to the initiatory rites of the Odd Fellow fraternity. Will I go away from his hall and ridicule him and his brethren and call them narrow and bigoted? Certainly not!
A member of another denomination comes to a Baptist church. The church, a family of Christ, is gathered about the Lord's Table. The visitor asks for the privilege of sitting with them and is refused, not because he is not saved, not because he is not a good man, not because he is not a reputable citizen; but because he has not submitted to the only initiatory rite which that Baptist church demands of all before they go to the Lord's Table. Does he go away and accuse the members of that church of being narrow and bigoted? Yes, and we have suffered through all the ages his criticism of our loyalty to our faith; and because of his criticism Baptist churches all over the land are throwing down the bars which the Lord and the inspired apostles erected for the safety and perfection of His churches.
2. The writer believes earnestly that the churches ought to consider one another in this matter. Let us see a concrete illustration, since it has in it all the possible elements of danger from the practice of receiving alien immersion.
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While pastor in Louisville, Kentucky, I had the privilege of baptizing a converted Catholic girl. Her father and stepmother went into a church of another denomination because that church would receive the Catholic baptism of the girl's father. Now suppose that that man should later have asked for a letter from the church that received him and had applied for membership in an "open-membership" Baptist church and had been accepted. A few months go by and he comes from a Baptist church in good and regular standing in its association and state convention and joins the church that refused to receive him in the beginning because he would not be baptized. The unfairness of open membership is readily seen.
One Baptist church has no right to accept that which the overwhelming number of churches reject, for in so doing it opens the way for the incoming of heresies, disputes and disrupted fellowship all the way from the church to the state convention. We have seen this heretofore; we shall see more of it later. *Heresy always goes into a church with the member who does not believe as the church believes. One church may ignore the fact that a member has not had Believer's Baptism and suffer no serious hurt from receiving such a member. But when that church gives a letter in full fellowship and good standing to such a member and he unites with another church, he goes into it to spread his ideas, which will inevitably result in confusion.
If a Baptist
church should be bold enough to claim the right to accept alien immersion, it
should still heed the com-
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* (Since this was first published, the controversy over the baptism of President Sherwood of Georgetown College has arisen to stir Kentucky.)
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mand of the Lord that we are to love one another. One could not honestly claim to love his neighbors, if he were knowingly to send his child to associate with their children when he knew the child to be infected with a contagious disease. Neither can a Baptist church honestly claim to love its sister churches when that church will send to them a member who has not been immersed according to their rule and practice, for such a member is infected with heretical beliefs which sooner or later will poison some of the church family and hurt the whole body.
"Am I my brother's keeper," is as applicable to churches as it is to individuals, and no Baptist church has a right to break down the age-old customs and Scriptural practices of its sister churches. Brethren, let us dwell together in unity. If you cannot believe as Baptists have always believed, then in fairness to your sister churches and to the great overwhelming mass of Baptists, withdraw from fellowship with the Baptist brotherhood and be free to do as you will without bringing hurt to others of His Little Ones.
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SPREAD THE TRUTH!
This tract and many others are published for free distribution. The true Believer will want others to know the truth, hence will be glad to hand out such literature as this. Write the Executive Board Golportage Department, 149 Sixth Ave. North, Nashville, Tenn., for tracts on any doctrinal subject and pass them on.