Baptist Distinctive II: A Regenerate Church
I am convinced this distinctive is what the purity and witness of a local church falls or stands on. One can point to many issues in local churches, and they typically trace back to the fact that unbelievers have taken charge and tarnished the witness of the gospel. It is sad. It is disastrous. It is a tragedy.
What is meant by a regenerate church? Put simply, it is a community “made up of those who make credible professions of faith” (EBC Manifesto, Article IV: Baptist Distinctives). Although human discernment is not infallible, the way to best preserve a regenerate church is by clear gospel preaching/teaching and practicing church membership and church discipline. The last decade or so of the “gospel-centered” movement has put the diamond of the gospel in its proper place. Can the same be said of the church’s teaching concerning the structure that holds the diamond, namely gospel polity? (I owe this language to Bobby Jamieson, in Going Public).
In my observation, the last decade or so consisted of good clarity on what the gospel is, but much work remains clarifying and practicting what the shape of the gospel is, namely the church. The gospel creates a gospel people. How those gospel people relate matters, and Jesus gave directions concerning this matter:
“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matt 18:15–20 ESV).
Jesus wanted his Church to be one of accountability, purity, and transparency. This is the responsibility of church members. They are to do the binding and loosing. They are the ones who should be taking matters of discipline to the rest of the church. They are the ones who should exercise the keys of the kingdom (Matt. 16:19).
Instead of church members taking their time to affirm someone’s profession of faith via membership, what often happens is a vote for membership into the church on the spot. Perhaps it is less common, so maybe an interview with a pastor is thrown in. Even then, the members are not given the ability to exercise the keys of the kingdom by affirming a person’s profession of faith. In congregational churches, it has historically been done in member’s meetings, but those meetings have turned into mere business meetings primarily concerned with budget approvals.
What about church discipline? Certainly, this is an anti-evangelistic practice? Who wants to go to a church that practices this?
What if the lack of church discipline is the most anti-evangelistic practice of last few decades?[1] I believe it is. The lack of church discipline has resulted with growing lists of unregenerate church members who hold authority in the church. Racist Sunday school teachers, sexual abuse cover-ups, committees who run off pastors who preach God’s word faithfully, domineering deacons and elders, and the list can go on. All because church members have not been taught that they have the authority to follow the steps of church discipline in Matthew 18:15–20.
The church does not have the final say as to who is saved or not, but they do hold authority to affirm or disaffirm one’s profession of faith. It is grace for a body of believers to say, “We can clearly see this person is following Jesus.” It is also a grace for a body of believers to say, “This person said they are following Jesus, but how they’re walking is not matching what they say. Let’s say something.”
Church discipline is always for the end of restoration; however, the New Testament also states a weird paradox that can happen by practicing discipline. Paul says, “Deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Cor 5:5 ESV). In the end, even if one doesn’t see restoration in this age, church discipline might provide eternal restoration in the next. Perhaps in disaffirming another’s profession of faith, the person may realize, “I am not a believer. I should trust in Christ.” We pray that is the case.
If Baptists care about the diamond of the gospel, they should care about the structure that holds the diamond, namely gospel polity — the way Jesus said his church should be run. Those who do not have congregational polity should keep this in mind too. Practicing careful church membership and discipline takes time, but it is how Jesus wants his church run. It will prove a slow, mature, growth of churches that are full of love and holiness, thus preserving as best we can a regenerate church.
The Baptist distinctive of a regenerate church assumes one baptizes those who have repented and trusted in Christ, not infants. More will be said concerning distinctive III (Believers’ Baptism) in the coming weeks. For now, let us work and pray for the purity of our churches the best we can until Jesus comes to separate the wheat from the tares. Amen.
[1] Mark Dever observes this in 9Marks of a Healthy Church.
