In Praise of Fighting Baptists

Baptists have a reputation as “Fighting Baptists” which is usually considered a bad reputation. I believe, however, that it arises from certain doctrines which we should hold dear and, when we fight in line with these doctrines, is something to be proud of. The doctrines of “Soul Freedom” and the “Priesthood of All Believers,” at least as I understand them, stand against any hierarchical imposition of belief and demand that we permit and encourage each person to come to Christ on the basis of their own judgement of the facts of Scripture and the superiority of Christ. We see clearly that no one is born into the Spiritual Kingdom of God, nor is anyone converted by force or manipulation. We hold to doctrines which should make us the most honest and passionate of arguers.

Once we understand that the call of the Church is to admonish one another in the Word and to call the world to repentance, as well as the simple fact that we are nevertheless still imperfect in our understanding of the Gospel and of grace, it should become clear that there will be differences in the Church. Some of these will be minor, others will be major, and others somewhere in between. In all of these things, however, the pursuit of complete holiness before God calls us to encourage one another to see the truth.

The unity of the Church is not the unity of doctrine, though it is founded and rooted in the doctrines which speak of the Gospel. The peace of Christ is not the peace of conformity to some earthly leader. Rather, the unity of the Church is Christ crucified, her head, who unites us in “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all,” in the pursuit, then, of holiness and a desire for God. The peace of Christ, similarly, is the peace of the security we have in Christ that, though we are imperfect, we are counted holy before God. All our differences are as nothing at the foot of the one cross which saves us all.

Baptists have a reputation for vicious infighting. At its best, this arises out of a joint love of God and neighbor which is unwilling to be silent when others go astray. It is the evangelistic instinct turned inward, as is so necessary in the church, especially the institutional church. In this rough and tumble dissension, we remain in the argument because we are nevertheless bound to each other by the love of one God who saved us, and are confident that our salvation is not at risk from the denunciation of others, for we are all secure in the death of Christ resurrected.

The goal of a true Baptist in fighting is the holiness of the Church. It is possible to fight in such a way that one fails to be a “good Baptist” of course. When the fighting turns to mere mockery, when we no longer seek to let those we think wrong speak their piece, when, in other words, we attempt to be as popes to our brothers and sisters. Fighting Baptists, I am suggesting, are not emblematic of dissension in the Church, but of a deep unity and passion for holiness in full view of our fallen yet saved predicament.

The role, then, of the shepherd in such fighting is not to be neutral. The shepherd will inevitably be opinionated on many of these points of division. Rather, the shepherd’s role is to model arguing well, and to guide energy away from unprofitable discussion, as those about genealogies, etc., and towards those issues which truly matter to the upbuilding of believers and the life of the church. The shepherd must continually recenter the Gospel on which unity is built and through which we have peace, and they must always be encouraging everyone to bring this Gospel to bear on every aspect of life. The shepherd must model thinking about the world through the lens of the Gospel and of Scripture, in their finitude and fallibility encouraging their church to search the Scriptures to see if they are correct. The shepherd must model openness to correction even as they endeavour to correct and to lead their church.

There are times, of course, to let argument subside. The life of the Church is more than doctrine. Some must be chastised for speaking when it is inappropriate, or about issues which are not on the table for discussion at the time. Sometimes the field of interlocutors must be narrowed to make progress on some particular sub-issue, and sometimes we should simply appreciate the aims of discourse rather than always be nit-picking minor points of doctrine. Nevertheless, as we encourage one another in the truth, we will occasionally do so through argument. It is not to be feared, but welcomed as a means of coming together to better understand God who has revealed himself in his Word and through his Son for our salvation.