An Outline of Baptist History

AN OUTLINE OF BAPTIST HISTORY The Primitive Church. 'The external history of the apostolic church is barely outlined in the New Testament. It may be described as a succession of missionary tours in the course of which every part of the Roman empire was traversed and churches were plan- ted in every province.'' Vedder, p. 24. 1. The New Testament churches. (1) Origin - "A christian church potentially existed from the day when two disciples of John the Baptist followed Jesus and believed on Him as the Messiah, (John 1:35-40) but Pentecost marks its definite beginning.' Vedder, p.10. 'A spiritual body, not lacking visibility, because of its spirituality, but a visible body because it is before all things spiritual.' Vedder p.12. (2) Ordinances - Baptism and the Lord's Supper were the two commemorative and predictive ordinances of the New Testament churches They were simply prac- ticed by the early Christians and were not sacraments, Acts 2:42-47 gives the order. (3) Organization - At first there was no organization of these churches but it devel- oped as the need became manifest. Philippians 1:1 indicates that the most com- plete development of ihe church had "saints, bishops or pastors, and deacons." (4) Officers - The only officers of the New Tesiament churches were deacons and pastors. There was no such thing as an hierarchy in these churches. (5)Order - ''The worship of the early Christians was simple and spiritual. In the apostolic age the services of public worship consisted of prayer, praise and the preaching of the word, probably with reading of the Old Testament writings, and of the New Testament writings as they appeared and were circulated through copies.'' Vedder, p. 21. 2. Marks of Degeneracy and Corruption. Before the last of the apostles had passed, there were marks of degeneracy. (1) There are 3 tendencies toward degeneration, all coming from a common cause. which was a desire to be saved by works. Salvation by works is a doctrine com- mon to all pre-Christian religions. Warning against trends away from the truth are given by the apostles in 2 Tim. 3 and 2 Pet.2. Trends toward degeneracy are summed up in three things: (1) The idea of a Holy Catholic Church; (2) The ministry of the priesthood; (3) Sacramental grace. 3. Steps toward degeneracy. (1) Baptismal regeneration. The early Christians did not obey His command because it was incenvenient or distasteful. They substituted something else for His com- mand, but the church eventually strayed from what the Lord taught concerning baptism. This is seen in a number of quotations taken from early church history. a. "The teaching of the Twelve apostles,'' which had its origin about 120 AD has this to say, 'now concerning Baptism, thus baptize ye: having first uttered all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the