Ten Bible Proofs Of Baptist
Perpetuity
By: Rosco Brong
IF GOD'S
WORD IS TRUE, THE CHURCH THAT JESUS STARTED STILL STANDS--HAS ENDURED!
"The
church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." (I Tim. 3:15.)
Recorded history often reveals
more of historians' prejudices than of actual events, and the history of
Christianity has been written mostly by the enemies of Baptists. Even so, there
is historical evidence for the continued existence of what would now be called
Baptist churches from the days when Jesus was on earth in the flesh down to the
present time. This evidence is not beyond dispute but it is more than
sufficient if we are willing to believe the promises of God's word.
My
purpose here is to show from the Bible, APART FROM ALL HISTORICAL EVIDENCE,
that we must believe in Baptist church perpetuity if we believe that God's Word
is true.
1. The Gates Of Hades His Promise of Perpetuity
"Upon this
Rock," said Jesus, referring to Himself, "I
will build my church; and the gates of hell [Hades] shall not prevail against
it." (Matt.
16:18.)
We may find various
interpretations of this statement of Jesus, but despite a great variety of
ideas in detailed interpretation it is fairly clear to all that we have here a PROMISE
of our Lord that His church would not be overcome by the powers of evil.
Whatever this church was, it could not fail if Jesus spoke the truth. We believe
that this church was what would now be called a
If the church that Jesus built was not a Baptist church, then we need to
find out what kind of church it was, and join that church, if we want our
service to be pleasing to Him. One thing we can be sure of: if Jesus spoke the
truth--and what real Christian would deny this?--the church that
Jesus built has been in the world ever since and will be here till He comes
again.
The popular Protestant dogma in
this connection speaks of an "invisible" church to which all
Christians belong. More on this as we go along, but for the present note a few
simple facts:
a. Neither the
expression "invisible church" nor the idea of such an expression can
be found in the New Testament.
b. The whole purpose of the
"invisible church" dogma is to justify the Protestant splits from
Roman Catholicism. But since Baptists are not Protestants and were never a part of the heretical Catholic system, we have no need
of any such dogma to justify our existence.
c. Most Protestants and many
ignorant Baptists suppose that Christ built two churches: the "invisible
church" of their own vain imagining and the organized assemblies that they
cannot help recognizing in the New Testament. Then, to add insult to injury,
they call their imaginary monstrosity the "true" church! But the
Bible says that there is only one body (church), that is, one kind of
body, just as there is only one baptism, that is, one kind of baptism. (Eph. 4:4, 5.)
d. Since there is no just reason
to do otherwise, we must understand that Jesus used the word "church"
(Greek"ekklesia") in Matt. 16:18 in the same general sense that it
has everywhere else in the New Testament: that is, an assembly, almost always
an organized assembly. The word here is used
abstractly; that is, it expresses an idea whose realization is to be found in a
particular organized assembly.
2. Church Discipline
"If he shall
neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect
to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on
earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth
shall have been loosed in heaven." (Matt. 18:17, 18, AV, with corrected tenses of verbs in
verse 18.)
This text suggests three simple
questions that believers in an "invisible" church might try to
answer:
a. How can a wronged brother
tell his grievance to an "invisible" church?
b. How can an
"invisible" church decide an issue, make known its judgment to a
trespassing brother, or execute that judgment "if he neglect
to hear"?
c. Is not the authority to
"bind and loose," whatever this means, in verse 18 given to the same
church that is in view in verse 17?
Obviously
the reference here is to an organized assembly; and obviously such organized
assemblies must always have existed from that time to this in order that
faithful followers of Jesus might obey His instructions here given.
3. Baptized Into One Body
"For also in one Spirit we all
were baptized into one body... And ye are a body of Christ, and members in
particular." (I Cot.
Verse 27 of this quotation tells what kind of body is meant in verse 13: the
kind of which the church at
Almost all Christians recognize
baptism, or some substitute for it that they call baptism, as sprinkling or
pouring, as a church ordinance. But if it is a church ordinance,
then there must always have been churches to administer the ordinance. If the church to which Jesus
entrusted the ordinance passed out of existence as an institution, then the
ordinance lapsed with the church, and nowhere in the
Bible is anyone authorized to start it up again.
4. "Till He
Come"
"As often as ye eat this
bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." (I Cor. 11:26.)
Again, practically all
Christians recognize the Lord's Supper as a church ordinance. But how could the
ordinance be continued if at any time there were no
true churches to observe it? Note that the Scriptures give no hint of any possible
lapse or failure of our Lord's churches to declare or show forth His death by
eating this bread and drinking this cup "till He
come."
5. Church Officers
"If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work ·.. They that have used theoffice of a deacon well purchase to
themselves a good degree. “ (I Tim. 3:1, 13.)
The context of the two verses
shows that bishops and deacons are church officers, and to this fact
practically all Christians agree, however far they may depart from Scriptural
ideas of the duties of these offices. Even believers in an imaginary
"invisible" church become at least temporarily realistic and operate
in some kind of organized assembly in naming bishops and deacons.
But if bishops and deacons were
officers in the kind of church that Jesus built, and if this kind of church
passed out of existence, as Protestants allege and as ignorant Baptists admit,
then by whose authority are such officers named today?
"Now therefore ye are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the
building [or, better, every building] fitly framed together groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of
God through the Spirit." (Eph. 2:19-22.)
Paul was writing to the church
at Ephesus and he reveals here the glorious fact that a true New Testament
church is a holy temple in the Lord, and that one purpose for which
the Lord built His church at Ephesus, and, we believe, every other true New
Testament church, is that God in the Spirit might dwell therein·
Can anyone believe that God,
having chosen to manifest His presence in a special way in the churches of the
Lord Jesus, allowed His purpose to be frustrated, so that for centuries He had
no such habitation on earth? But Protestants do so declare, and countless
Baptists, ignorant of or indifferent to their blood-bought heritage, are
deceived by or are silent in the face of this monstrous lie!
7. A Dead Bride?
"Ye also are
become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead." (Rom 7:4.)
"Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for
it." (Eph.
5:25--read on through verse 32.)
These and other Scriptures
compare the spiritual relationship of Christ and His church to the human
marriage relationship. That the "wedding" is still future is
shown by Matt. 22:1-13; 25:1-13; and Rev. 21:2.
Was our Lord at any time
betrothed to a dead bride? After He gave Himself for her, that He might
sanctify and cleanse her by the washing of water in the word, that He might
present her to Himself in glory--after all this, was there ever a time when
nowhere on earth could be found a church that could be truly called His bride?
Was there ever a time when the only "Christianity" on earth was the
religion of spiritual harlots? Perish the thought! But if it be so, what are
all the churches today but harlots and offspring of harlots?
8. "I Am With You Alway"
"Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. 28:18-20.)
Practically all Christians recognize that Jesus was speaking here to His
church. The only real question is, what kind of church
was it?
Of course, an imaginary
"invisible" church cannot go anywhere, it cannot disciple any
nations, it cannot baptize anybody in any way, it cannot teach anybody
anything, and being nonexistent, it would not know the difference whether the
Lord were with it or not.
But an organized assembly of
baptized believers, such as Jesus had constituted His disciples, can do what He
commanded and in doing so can claim the promise of His continuing presence--and
it is the only organization on earth that can do so,
Jesus promised this kind of
church that He would always be with it, even to the end of the age. But He
could not be with it unless it existed to be with. Therefore if Jesus spoke the
truth He has had His churches in the world ever since and He has been with
them all the time--and so it will be to the end
of the age.
9. Glory In The Church
"Unto him be
glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. "(Eph. 3:21.) More literally translated: "To him the glory in the church in
Christ Jesus, unto all the generations of the eon of the eons."
We have here a Spirit-inspired
declaration or prayer. If it was a prayer, as the KJ version indicates, it
nevertheless declares an assured fulfillment, for the Holy Spirit does not
inspire vain prayers. "He maketh intercession for the saints according to
the will of God." (Rom.
Therefore we understand that God
gets glory in the church in Christ Jesus. This was true in
Paul's day
and it was to continue "unto all the generations of the eon of the eons," an expression of eternity beyond our comprehension. But He could not get glory in
the church unless the church continued to exist. And of course He is far from
getting glory in an imaginary "invisible" church whose advocates
reject and deny the plain, simple, straightforward teachings and promises of
His Word.
10. Pillar And Ground
"These things write I unto thee,
hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know
how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of
the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." (I Tim. 3:14-15.)
Speaking of the church as an
organized assembly, as the context clearly shows, Paul here calls it "the
pillar and ground of the truth." That is, the church not
only, as a pillar or column, upholds the truth, but it is the foundational
support of the truth.
Here we have the
explanation for the wholesale loss of Bible truth by false churches and
unattached Christians. It has pleased God that His church should be the pillar and ground of the
truth, and so it has been through the centuries.
A Solemn Warning
When men reject Bible truth
about the church, and refuse to recognize its rightful place as the body and
bride of Christ, the house of God, the pillar and ground of the truth, they
quickly lose other truth as well.
The truth of God's Word is still
upheld in the world today because of the faithfulness and the martyrs' blood of
the true churches of God through the dark ages, and this truth will still be
upheld to the end of the age because there will still be some churches, the
true churches of our Lord, to serve as the pillar and ground of the truth.