Do Baptists Believe Jesus & God Are the Same?
29 SEP 2017
CLASS
Like other Christian denominations, Baptists believe that Jesus and God are the same; they are distinct, and yet, make up the same three-part deity known as the Trinity. While God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit make up the Trinity, Baptists believe all three are the same deity, just different representations of it.
1 God
Three distinct parts comprise the Trinity, yet all three parts are a single being. The Trinity is not three gods that make one, but is in fact one being; three parts of the being exist as one. God the father is the God of the Old Testament. He created the world, humans and the entire universe, and is the same as as the other two components. Scholars posit that the function off the trinity is illogical to humans, which is the point; they believe that because humans cannot fully comprehend the divine, it distinguishes them from deity. God the father and Jesus the son, while they have distinct names, responsibilities and stories, are in fact the same.
2 Jesus
Jesus is the son of God, and yet is God according to the Baptist belief. One of the attributes that separated Baptists from other Christian denominations was their believe that a head of the church should not exist. Baptists do have priests, but view them as equal to all church members. Baptists rejected the idea of monarchs as heads of the church, which historically caused them to flee persecution in England and move to Holland. They believe Jesus is the actual head of the church. Baptists believe only the faithful should be members of the congregation, and the faith requires practitioners to accept that Jesus is God. Baptists believe Jesus came to Earth, was sacrificially executed and resurrected to atone for human sins.
3 Holy Spirit
Not only do Baptists believe God includes the father and son, but they also believe a third part exists, the holy spirit. The Holy Spirit is God's force that allows worshipers to feel his presence here on Earth. Baptists believe that when Jesus left Earth after his resurrection, he ascended into heaven and left the Holy Spirit to do work in his place. Christians believe the Holy Spirit guides them, and serves as the force that allows them to feel the presence of God here on Earth. Baptists believe that it guides the faithful toward a moral and pious life.
4 Baptism
Like other Christian denominations, Baptists participate in the Baptism ritual. Their name derived from a derogatory term, since their founding member John Smyth performed a baptism on himself before performing it on others. Baptists reject the practice of performing baptisms on infants, as other denominations do. They believe that a person must choose to be baptized. A distinguishing feature of Baptists was to open the church exclusively to believers, not to all people in a local area. Not only do Baptists believe Jesus is God, members are required to hold this belief before they receive baptism.