what is reformed baptist?

What is a Reformed Baptist?

Reformed Baptists are confessional.

Someone who is Reformed subscribes to one of the historical confession of faith from the Protestant Reformation. A confession of faith is a series of brief statements on key biblical doctrines. We hold to the Second London Confession of Faith of 1689.

Reformed Baptists are Reformed.

As a Reformed Baptist Church, we purposefully seek to align ourselves with the historic Reformed understanding of Christianity. We believe that the essential elements of Reformed theology accurately reflects what the Bible teaches. These include, but not limited to, the following:

The Five Solas

Sola Scriptura: The Bible is the only absolutely authoritative source of divine revelation.

Solus Christus: The sinless and law-fulfilling life, atoning death, and glorious resurrection of Christ alone is the basis for the sinner being declared righteous in the eyes of God.

Sola fide: Sinners are justified by faith in Christ alone, and no amount of human work can make the sinner more or less

commendable to God.

Sola gratia: The salvation of the sinner, from beginning to end, is by God's grace alone.

Soli Deo gloria: God alone is worthy of glory for His work or creation and redemption.

Regulative Principle of Worhip

We believe that the corporate worship of God should be conducted according to His revealed will in Scripture. God alone determines how He will be worshiped. The biblically prescribed elements of worship are often called the ordinary means of grace. These include prayer, the public reading, hearing, and preaching of Scripture, the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Covenant Theology

We believe that God has progressively revealed Himself and His plan of redemption through a series of covenants. The Second London Confession of Faith of 1689 is based on a covenantal framework. The two overarching covenants are the Covenant of Works that God made with Adam in the Garden of Eden and the Covenant of Grace made through Jesus Christ.

Reformed Baptists are Credobaptists.

The word "credo" come from the Latin word for "I believe." We believe that only those who make a credible profession of faith in Jesus Christ should be baptized. We also believe that baptism by immersion is the only proper mode of baptism. It represents a Christian's spiritual union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection, which is demonstrated by the physical act of immersion.

Reformed Baptists are Calvinistic.

Also known as the doctrines of grace, Calvinism holds that God is absolutely sovereign in every aspect of the sinner's salvation. Five distinctions are made within Calvinism:

The utter depravity of man. Sinful man is completely fallen in every category of their lives. No part of them is left untouched by sin. As it relates to the gospel, sinful man will not and cannot believe in Christ in order to be saved.
Unconditional election. Before God created anything, He chose those whom He would save. This election to salvation is not based on anything that God foresees the sinner doing, such as believing the gospel. Election is based solely on God's will, and yet, this choice is not arbitrary; it is simply not based on anything the sinner will do that God foresees.
Particular redemption. The death of Christ on the cross atones only for the sins of the elect. His sacrifice does make salvation possible; it actually saves. And it only saves those whom God has elected to salvation from before the foundation of the world.
Effectual calling. The Bible describes two callings: the gospel call and the Spirit's call. The call of the gospel is to go out to all the world. The call of the Spirit is made only to the elect. He effectually draws the spiritually dead elect person to Christ by making them spiritually alive, giving them the gift of faith, so that they can and do actually believe in Christ for their salvation.
Perseverance of the elect. God so works in His redeemed elect, that they persevere in their faith in Christ to the end of their life. Christians persevere in their faith because God preserves them in that faith.