Reformed Baptists

What does it mean that Unity Baptist Church identifies as a Reformed Baptist congregation?

Baptist:

  • Baptist is a theological descriptor, rather than a denominal identity.  Unity Baptist Church does not have any direct commitment to larger Baptist denominational groups.  However, we are Baptist in our beliefs and practices.  Some distinctives of this include that baptism should be practiced through full immersion in water, and that it should be administered only to professing believers. 

Reformed:

When we identify as a Reformed church, we have several distinctives in mind.  Here are a few brief summary statements:

  • The “Five Solas”

Reformed Baptists embrace the classic summary phrases of the Reformation:  Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Solus Christus, Sola Scriptura, & Soli Deo Gloria.

Sola Gratia—Salvation come to us by grace alone, & not in any sense because we somehow deserve it.

Sola Fide—We receive this grace by our faith alone, not in any sense by works that we do.

Solus Christus—Salvation comes through the redeeming work of Christ alone, with no human contribution added to it. 

Sola Scriptura—Our source for knowing these things is Scripture alone, which is our final & ultimate authority for faith & practice.

Soli Deo Gloria—All glory is to God alone in the salvation of sinners.  Indeed, all glory for all things is to go to Him & Him alone.

  • Election

Reformed Baptists acknowledge that God is sovereign over human salvation.  In His grace & according to His good purpose, God determined to save certain sinners from the righteous wrath they deserved.  God works to draw the elect to Himself & perfectly applies Christ’s redemption to them. 

  • Concern for God’s Glory

Reformed Baptists believe that God’s supreme purpose in creating the natural order is the display of His own glory.  Human beings are most in line with the heart & mind of God when we make His glory our highest concern, embracing the truth of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which states that the chief end of man “is to glorify God, & to enjoy him forever.”

 

  • The Regulative Principle

Reformed Baptists affirm that Scripture gives us authoritative guidelines for the structure & order of the local church.  In addition, Scripture gives authoritative guidelines for the worship practice of the church, & any worship practice that is in contradiction to Scripture is not legitimate. 

 

  • Meaningful Church Membership

Reformed Baptists believe that salvation & new life in Christ should have a serious & lasting impact in the lives of professing believers.  There should be evidence of increasing transformation in Christ.  Church membership provides a testimony that a local church is seeing that fruit in an individual believer.  In addition, church membership invites the encouragement & accountability of a local church into an individual believer’s life.

 

  • Continuity with Historical Reformed Baptists

There exist several valuable creedal statements authored by historical Baptists since the time of the Reformation.  Unity Baptist Church stands in the doctrinal stream of some of these confessions, in particular the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689, which can be found here.  We utilize this historical creed as the doctrinal standard of our church, with only a few qualifications or clarifications. More information on our beliefs regarding the 1689 can be found here.