The Baptist distinctives taken together
are what set Baptists apart from other Christians. Therefore, no belief that is
held by all Christians should be named as a Baptist distinctive. This is an important
point, because some teachings set Christians apart from all other religious people.
These “Christian distinctives” are known as the fundamentals. All
true Christians affirm (or at least, refuse to deny) all the fundamentals. Because
Baptists are Christians, they also believe the fundamentals. Non-Baptists such
as Methodists and Presbyterians also affirm the fundamentals, for they too are
Christians. People who deny fundamental doctrines cannot rightly be called Methodist
or Presbyterian any more than they can be called Baptist. The fundamentals are
the common property of all true Christians, whether Baptist, Lutheran, Calvinist
or Wesleyan. Therefore, a fundamental doctrine is not really a Baptist distinctive,
even though all Baptists will believe it. On the other hand, we must not say that
only Baptists hold any of the Baptist distinctives. Baptists are characterized
by several beliefs. Not one of those beliefs, however, is absolutely unique to
Baptists. No matter which one you choose, you can find other groups that acknowledge
it. No single doctrine by itself is sufficient to distinguish Baptists from all
other groups of Christians.
What makes Baptists different is that they alone hold the combination of beliefs
that are known as the Baptist distinctives. Each individual belief is held by
some other group, but no other group holds the whole bundle. Baptists are distinguished,
not by the individual teachings, but by the combination of teachings that make
up the Baptist distinctives. While each of the Baptist distinctives is held
by some other Christians, no Baptist distinctive is held by all other Christians.
Therefore, each one of the distinctives sets Baptists apart from some other
Christian groups. When all of the distinctives are added together, the combination
ends up setting Baptists apart from all other Christians.
(From “The
First Baptist Distinctive, Part One: What Is a Distinctive?” by Dr.
Kevin T. Bauder, Central Baptist Theological Seminary)