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“Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13).
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3).
“Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Revelation 3:3).
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The history of fundamental Baptists began in the first half of the 20th century with the separation of spiritually zealous churches from the Northern Baptist (e.g., William Bell Riley) and the Southern Baptist conventions (e.g., J. Frank Norris, John R. Rice) because of the theological liberalism that was leavening those conventions.
As a movement, fundamental Baptists have had many weaknesses and faults, but broadly speaking they have held to sound Bible doctrine in an age of near total apostasy, and this is a very big thing.
It is important to understand that fundamental Baptist is not an organization, a denomination, or a homogeneous movement of any kind.
Fundamental, independent Baptist simply refers to churches that are Baptist in doctrine and practice, independent and autonomous as to polity, and fundamentalist as to stance.
We are witnessing a great collapse among fundamental Baptist churches. Many are collapsing merely in the sense that they are dead or dying. Many of the largest fundamental Baptist churches have folded. Many others are collapsing in the sense that they are departing from their heritage and former character, moving in a contemporary, wishy-washy, worldly evangelical, charismaticized direction, unwittingly moving into the dangerous waters of the end-time, one-world “church.”
The best fundamental Baptist churches, though very much in the minority, are not collapsing. They are getting stronger rather than weaker. I am privileged to know some of these and to be associated with them.
Forgetting any weaknesses and faults for now, fundamental Baptists in general have demonstrated their biblical faith by standing against the spirit of the age in opposition to theological liberalism, Darwinism, humanism, Marxism, a-millennialism, Pentecostalism, charismaticism, ecumenism, globalism, feminism, unisexism, abortion rights, homosexual rights, rock and roll, the Jesus Movement, moral relativism, and other popular isms. Fundamental Baptists had a major role in birthing the homeschooling movement and the non-Catholic Christian school movement as a protest against the corruption of the public schools and as a commitment to educating their children in the Word of God..
I’m very thankful that there were sound fundamental Baptist churches in the early 1970s when I came to Christ and was searching for a church.
Following are some of the major doctrines that the majority of fundamental Baptists have held in an apostate era:
Scripture
- Forever settled in heaven
- Divinely inspired: verbal, plenary, infallible, inerrant
- Divinely preserved
- Sole authority for faith and practice
God
- sole Creator
- omnipotent
- omniscient
- sovereign
- all holy
- righteous, just, Judge
- gracious, merciful, loving, Saviour, Father, Shepherd
- Trinity
Christ
- eternal Sonship and divinity
- virgin birth
- sinless
- vicarious, substitutionary atonement
- bodily resurrection
- The way, the truth, and the life
Prophecy
- Normal-literal interpretation
- Christ the major theme
- pre-tribulational Rapture
- Understanding the apostasy of Christianity which has operated throughout the church age
- Understanding the mystery of iniquity which has operated throughout the church age
- Understanding the antichrist as a spirit of apostasy at present and a man who will rule the world in the day of the Lord
- Understanding the last days as an age of scoffing and near total apostasy
Gospel and Salvation
- Only one true gospel
- Gospel defined in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
- Salvation by grace alone through faith alone without works or sacraments
- Whosoever gospel, available to all men by the preaching of the gospel
- Born again, new life with evidence
- Eternal security
Creation
- Six days according to a literal interpretation of Genesis 1
Man
- Made in God’s image, not of the animal kingdom
- Male and female
- Fallen sinner by nature, wicked deceitful heart, not righteous, not good, incapable of saving himself
- Man is body, soul, and spirit.
- Man’s spirit lives beyond death in heaven or hell; death is a journey, not a sleep; hell is eternal suffering, not annihilation
Church
- In heaven: the saints are seated in heavenly places in Christ; the general assembly and church of the firstborn
- On earth: the church is the New Testament assembly with qualified pastors and deacons, a spiritual body, autonomous, no earthly headquarters, the pillar and ground of the truth, authorized to fulfill the Great Commission, authorized to discipline its members
Separation
- Biblical separation was a hallmark of fundamental Baptists from their inception. For the large part, they were separatists.
- Separation is a Bible doctrine and divine command, not a non-essential, not a secondary matter, not optional.
- Separation from the world, a pilgrim lifestyle
- Separation from false teaching and apostate Christianity
- The giving up of separatism is a major aspect of the “collapse of fundamental Baptists” today. A large portion of fundamental Baptists are in the same place today that New Evangelicals were in the 1950s.
For an extensive history of fundamental Baptists, see The History and Heritage of Fundamentalism and Fundamental Baptists, www.wayoflife.org.
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