Arguing regenerate church membership: Baptist identity during its first decade, 1610-1620: non-Baptists seeking membership in a Baptist church frequently inquire as to why Baptists insist that they be rebaptized.(Essay)

The explanation normally takes a while: they are told that Baptists understand baptism differently than do most denominations. (1) Whereas most denominations practice infant baptism, according to the thinking of most Baptists baptism should follow expression of faith in Christ that can only cxme from one who has made a self-conscious commitment to Christ. Thus, infant baptism is not an option for most Baptist churches. In modern American culture, however, Baptists commonly marry outside their own denomination, and often the couple wants to join a Baptist church together. Most Baptist pastors whose churches do not accept infant baptism are pragmatic enough to create some form of a "watchcare" program of halfway membership with the hope that the non-Baptist will eventually accept baptism again with the new understanding that it is a sign of an established relationship based on the believer's decision. Something like this practice seeks to accommodate present realities while holding to the original vision that gave Baptists their name.

Baptist identity has been a topic of keen interest in Baptist studies. The task for historians and theologians is perhaps more urgent today considering the denomination's struggle to keep members. (2) Many Baptist scholars have taken up the task of defining Baptist identity. Numerous works offer discussion of what are often called "distinctives." But "distinctives" claims too much since the list often includes ideas shared with other Protestants, such as the authority of scripture alone and the Lordship of Christ. (3) Wheeler Robinson's use of "principles" would seem to be a better choice of terms than either "distinctives" or "characteristics." (4)

Robinson and other scholars have attempted to capture the essence of being Baptist. Indeed, historian after historian of the Baptists--even if they are recounting later stages of Baptist history, such as the history of the Southern Baptist Convention--often begin with a discussion of Baptist origins and principles. (5) Two major obstacles to this task today are (1) awareness that Baptist identity is diverse and (2) that Baptist identity has changed over time. (6) The older approach was to abstract a series of key Baptist beliefs and practices such as reliance on scripture, voluntary church, conversion experience, missions, and separation of church and state. However, the list is ever-changing, ever-modified to adapt to changes in the Baptist experience. Ernest Payne sought to articulate the heart of the denomination's experience at mid-twentieth century when he titled his "principles" genre book, The Fellowship of Believers: Baptist Thought and Practice Yesterday and Today. (7) Yet another approach was to avoid any of the terms claiming to be "distinctives," "characteristics," or "principles," and simply refer to "the Baptist way" (8)

The fact that the list of Baptist beliefs and practices is ever-changing is evidenced by the fact that had such a list been made in 1750, foreign missions, a key theme for Robinson in 1927, would not have been included. If the list had been made in 1950, ecumenism would not have made the Southern Baptist list, whereas it would have been on the American Baptist Convention list. A list made in 1950 also would not characterized the Southern Baptist Convention by its leaders' espousal of fundamentalist ideas; today, a list would include fundamentalism. The term, however, would not be used to describe the American Baptist Convention. Baptists have multiple identities today.

The earliest Baptists shared much with other dissenting and separationist Christians when they emerged as a separate entity, including criticism of the established church, which they viewed as false in its ministers, worship, theology, and practices. The dissenters argued their positions with as much force as they could generate. They wrote out of conviction and became apologists for their respective opinions. They were not twenty-first-century scholars, offering opinions from ivory towers and at academic conferences; nor were they pursuing tenure at a university. They were committed believers pursuing the truth in churches and in jails. The earliest Baptist writers demonstrated a passion for re-creating the true church, for acknowledging the authority of scripture and reason, for imploring the state to tolerate various religious expressions, and for critiquing Calvinism. But what especially set the Baptists apart from other major groups in England in 1612, at the point of its origins in England, was their conviction regarding a believer's church--which meant that members must first actually believe in Christ before undergoing baptism in his name. (9)

As Baptists think about and seek to recover aspects of their heritage during this period of the 400th anniversary of Baptist origins, exploring the dynamic at work in creating the "big bang" moment of the origins of Baptist life is useful. In 1612, the single most unique Baptist idea was believer's baptism, the unquestionable foundation of the movement and its original core belief.

This article focuses on the earliest years of Baptist history in England and explores the debates that set in place the key idea of Baptist identity. The article affirms that Baptist identity, at its outset, focused on the faith of the believer, adult baptism, and the nature of the church as limited to believers only. First, the article is purposely restricted to publications by English Baptists in the first decade of its life, 1610-1620. Second, the argument is framed by (1) examining the interpretation and arguments set forth by founder Thomas Helwys in 1612, by (2) analyzing the 1614 response of John Robinson, a fellow Separatist but critic of Helwys's views on baptism, and by (3) the critical response to Robinson by Baptist leader John Murton in 1620. All three reformers appealed to scripture and to logic. (10) This argument established and confirmed the trajectory that was central to life in the Baptist future. Third, the language of" the debate is characterized by conviction, and the rhetoric against other views is heated. The debate remained vigorous throughout the seventeenth century and beyond. (11) Clearly, the views held by Baptist writers of succeeding generations about the concepts of believers' churches and baptism of adults only remains four hundred years later as a vital center of Baptist formal identity.