Baptist vs Southern Baptist
Baptist and Southern Baptist are two religious groups that show some differences between them, especially when it comes to the acceptance of a few beliefs and faiths. One of the main differences between Baptism and Southern Baptism is that the Southern Baptists are members of Southern Baptist Convention. On the other hand, the Baptists are not so. There are some other differences between the Baptist and Southern Baptist as they are two different conventions of the same church. The Southern Baptists are well known for being conservative and too serious in their beliefs. Let us find out more about Baptist and Southern Baptist.
Who is a Baptist?
The main Baptist belief is that only those who have professed their faith in Christ should be baptized. The Baptist Church governs the individual churches, whereas the Southern Baptist Church does not govern the individual churches. At the same time, the Baptist holds to the autonomy of the local church. They do this through the system of seminaries. The Sunday School Board is one of the most influential boards of the Baptists.
On the other hand, the Baptists believe in a theory known as Sola Scriptura. According to this theory, the Bible is the sole rule of faith. Actually, it is said that the Bible does not teach this dogma. Baptists do believe that the word of God is limited to the Bible. The Baptists teach predestination. Moreover, Baptists look upon communion and all sacraments as symbolic. They do not look upon the communion and all sacraments as actual means of grace, whereas it has been a tradition among the other groups that they are looked upon as the actual means of grace.
Who is a Southern Baptist?
It is interesting to note that Southern Baptist is a denomination or convention of Baptist churches. A Southern Baptist believes in salvation, and he says that salvation can be attained only by the grace of god. They say that salvation can come from the Christ alone. They also believe in the Trinity. They share 27 books of the New Testament.
It is pertinent to note that the Southern Baptists came after a Protestant split from the Church way back in the 1500s. Hence, they belong to a denomination, unlike the Baptists.
On the other hand, the Southern Baptists do not declare that the word of God is limited to the Bible. It is interesting to note that both the Baptists and the Southern Baptists say that adult baptism should be done by immersion. At the same time, while the Baptists do not believe in free will, the Southern Baptists believe in free will. This is one of the main differences between the two religious groups.
Predestination is accepted by both groups but at different levels. In other words, the theory of predestination is not wholeheartedly supported by the Southern Baptists. According to the Southern Baptist, the scriptures are the sole authority. In fact, it can be said that there is no authority beyond the scriptures. The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not accepted by the Southern Baptist. One highly observed fact about the Southern Baptists is that they live exemplary Christian lives. They are said to live with zeal, and they do their best to preach the Gospel in the say they understand it.
What is the difference between Baptist and Southern Baptist?
• Faith in Jesus:
• Baptists do not insist that everyone should accept Christ to be saved.
• Southern Baptists directly say that people should believe in Christ or should face an eternity in Hell.
• Free Will:
• Baptists do not believe in free will.
• Southern Baptists believe in free will.
• Predestination:
• Predestination is accepted by both groups but at different levels.
• In other words, the theory of predestination is not wholeheartedly supported by the Southern Baptists whereas the Baptists teach predestination.
• Ordinance:
• Baptists allow women to be ordained.
• Southern Baptists only allow men to be ordained.
• Opinion towards Homosexuality:
• Baptists are open towards the idea of same sex couples.
• Southern Baptists are strongly against the idea of same sex couples.
• State and Religion:
• Baptists do not demand the religion to have powers separate from the state.
• Southern Baptists demand that the church should be a completely separate entity from the state.
These are the main differences between Baptist and Southern Baptist.
Images Courtesy:
- First Baptist Church 253 Lawrence Street in Methuen, Massachusetts via Wikicommons (Public Domain)
- Chinese Southern Baptist Church by Joe Mabel (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Southern Baptists split from what is now the American Baptists back in 1845 over the issue of slavery (The American Baptists decided slave holders could not also be missionaries, and since many in the south held slaves… For many years the American Baptists were actually known as Northern Baptists at least within the Southern Baptists. Yes, I’m a Southern Baptist. There are actually quite a few different Baptist denominations – Missionary Baptists, Hard Shell Baptists – the list is long. All believe that baptism should come only when a person understands their need for a relationship with Christ – I personally was ten when my conversion occurred. Some are older, some are younger. And we all immerse.
Good attempt but I think this article is unfixable. Thanks for trying to clear things up.
I grew up in a Independent Fundamental Baptist Church and I was taught from the time I was 5 that if didn’t accept Jesus as your savior you would go to Hell. Where you would burn for all eternity. As for predestination, you have free will either to accept Jesus as your savior or not accept. But GOD knowing all, knows what your decision is going to be. We were also taught that once you are truly saved you are always saved. We are not perfect we sin and fall short of the glory of GOD but all we can do is pray ask for forgiveness. There are no righteous and we all deserve Hell. But Jesus loved us before we were ever born that he died on the cross for all of our sins. We must try to do our very best to live every day for Jesus. But we all sin. Thank GOD he loved and still loves us.
Baptist do believe in free will, most of your comments are lies about the Baptist.
WE also believe in one true word of God, The KJV
Mr. Grover, I invite you to please research the history of the KJV in light of your implied comments that the KJV is the ‘one true word of God’. I would also ask you to logically answer these two questions:
1. Can you read the original 1611 KJV?
2. Did the Christians have no ‘one true word of God’ prior to the KJV?
Unfortunately, while there is inherently nothing wrong with the KJV, it is not extracted directly from the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts as other translations are, there is nothing to prove that the KJV is what you claim it is.
Please, don’t harm your witness and close your mind to the God-given ability to reason.
Thank you.
What about the word Easter in the KJV? It should have been Passover. God does not
approve of man made holidays. Easter is from the word Ishtar, totally pagan.
I’m would like to address the two points you mentioned concerning the KJV.
#1. Of what significance is it if a person can or cannot read the original 1611 KJV? Familiarity with the original way it was written has nothing to do with its legitimacy or the lack there of, nor the legitimacy of any personal claim of preference.
#2. For many years Christians were deprived of the Gospel because the so called church of the day withheld it claiming they were the only rightful interpreters of the scriptures.
It wasn’t until the 1500’s that people were able to hold a copy of the scriptures for themselves due to the pivotal work of William Tyndale, who translated the NT from the original Greek & a large portion of the OT from the original Hebrew. It would seem that it has been largely forgotten that the content of the KJV is primarily the work of William Tyndale. I would refer you to a book by Steven J. Lawson “The Daring Mission of William Tyndale”. There is a wealth of information on the significance of what Tyndale did. Because of this it can rightly be concluded that the KJV is a translation of the original Greek and Hebrew.
Many do, not all. Many believe man has a will, but it is darkened and damaged in the fall so that unregenerate persons cannot express Faith in Christ without God’s gift of faith, so that salvation is all of grace not of works. But that does not mean that one group is saved or unsaved, and they ought to be able to share in fellowship with each other.
If we believe in the Trinity if God, the FAther, Son and Holy Ghost. And that God sent His Son to die in the cross, and only thru Him we can be saved and He rose rrom the dead on the third day. And if we except and believe in this in our hearts and confess this outwardly we are saved. In this we are all brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ who is the same as our Farther. It doesn’t matter what church you go to and even in the second smaller items that are different between the churches. Thanks n Revelation God has a concern with each of the different church’s, the second great commitment is love thou neighbor. And as diciples of Jesus Christ we go out and speak the good news of Jesus Christ. Not to put each other down . Giving all thanks for everything. Have a blessed day. Diciple of Jesus Christ from Idlewild Baptist Church of the Springs.
I am currently writing a paper on the split and or divide of the Baptist church over the issue of slavery in 1845. My thesis or topic is that it created a never ending divide among Baptists. It drives one into more conservative believes, and the other a more liberal path and that the infighting continues today. Thank you all for confirming my topic.
I’m hoping to read more about differences in how Baptists and Southern Baptists view same-sex relationships. Could you provide citations for your comments on how Baptists are more accepting of same-sex relationships than Southern Baptists?
Having been in both Independent Baptist and Southern Baptist churches over the course of almost 50 years, I find that what was written in this article appears to be laden with a great deal of ignorance. I agree with you that there needs to be some verifiable references to the claims made about Baptists. The majority of my time has been spent in strictly Baptist churches as well as time spent in a Baptist college that my church, as well as dozens of others, were associated with. I have never come across any Baptist churches, nor have I heard of any, that could be described with the terms he has laid out. I’m not saying that there isn’t one that could, but the claim is that this is a broad view held by Baptists as a whole, and that just isn’t true.
Avery, glad you are doing research. Please don’t use this poorly written article as a source. There is no ‘one size fits all’ doctrine on this issue among Baptists. I would speculate that most Baptists do not support homosexual behavior or same sex marriage, because of a conservative view of Bible teaching. But there are likely many Baptists who would disagree.
Both sides have written plenty on the subject however.
First Baptist looks like people in a courtroom, Southern Baptist looks like the people in jail.
You still have the choice in what denomination you wish to join. God wants you to worship Him. God loves you and wants you to love Him. That is simple worship.
Southern Baptists are just a denomination within the broader Protestant family known as “Baptists.” Within the Southern Baptist Convention, you will find members who fall into every specific doctrinal distinctive that identifies Baptists and sets them apart from other Protestant Christians. There are some beliefs common to all Baptists and they are 1) Salvation comes by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ as the divine son of God sent to save humanity from sin. 2) There is no “hierarchy” or authority invested in clergy. The local church is independent, autonomous and determines its own doctrine and theology based on its own interpretation of scripture. 3) Baptists believe in a free and independent church, not controlled as a “state church” by the government. 4) Baptists believe that the Bible is divinely inspired by God, testifies to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, is therefore without error and is infallible on all matters of Christian faith and practice.
Within the greater Baptist family, there are Calvinists, Non-Calvinists, Congregationalists, Fundamentalists, Charismatics, and differences of opinion on general or limited atonement, free-will or predestination, and there are preterists, futurists, dispensationalists, premillenial, post-millennial, and amillenial. The Southern Baptist convention holds no official binding doctrinal position on its independent, non-denominational churches.
There are something like 20 different Baptist denominations, the largest being the Southern Baptist Convention with about 16 million members worldwide. About a third of all Baptist churches are independent and do not belong to any denomination.
Why are ministers or decons not allowed to be women. Why are ministers and deacons kicked out of church if they have affairs,