Baptists
Short answer: Baptists are Christians who hold that the church is a gathered community of believers rather than a body coextensive with a nation, that baptism is for those who have personally repented and believed, and that Scripture rather than tradition or hierarchy governs faith and practice. They read Matthew 28:16-20 as the risen Christ commissioning his followers to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything he commanded. That passage supplies Baptists with their marching orders, not their whole theology. It tells them to go, to baptize, and to teach, and it grounds their conviction that the church's task is not to control states or preserve bloodlines but to call people everywhere to faith in Christ.
What Matthew 28:16-20 actually says
The scene is deliberate. Matthew 28:16 notes that the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them, and verse 17 adds that when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. Jesus does not scold the doubters. He speaks a commission that assumes all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him, then sends them to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that he commanded. The promise attached is his presence to the end of the age.
Notice the grammar that Baptists have long emphasized. The main verb is make disciples. Baptizing and teaching are participles that describe how disciples are made. Baptism is not an optional add-on; it belongs to the disciple-making process. But it also follows the making of a disciple, which is why Baptists insist it is the response of a believing person rather than a rite performed on someone who cannot yet respond. The order matters to them, and they believe the text supports it.
The authority clause is not decoration. Jesus is not asking permission from Rome, from the Sanhedrin, or from any national body. He claims universal authority and then sends his people to all nations. That universality is important for Baptists, who have historically insisted that the church is not the possession of one ethnic group or one state. The commission is to nations, plural, and the response it seeks is disciples, not citizens.
Why Baptists baptize believers only
The Baptist position on baptism flows from the logic of the commission. If baptism is part of how disciples are made, and a disciple is by definition a learner who has come to Jesus, then the candidate for baptism is someone who can hear, repent, and trust. Baptists point to Acts 2:38-42, where Peter tells the crowd to repent and be baptized, every one of them, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and promises the gift of the Holy Spirit. The call is addressed to people who can repent.
They also point to Acts 16:30-34, where the Philippian jailer asks what he must do to be saved and is told to believe in the Lord Jesus, and then is baptized with his household. Baptists read household baptisms as household faith, not as evidence for infant baptism. They acknowledge that other Christians read these texts differently, and that the early church eventually practiced infant baptism widely. Baptists do not claim to have invented baptism; they claim to have recovered what they believe was its original pattern.
The practical difference is visible. In Baptist churches, a person is baptized after a credible profession of faith, usually by full immersion, and the baptism is understood as an act of obedience and public identification with Christ rather than a means of regeneration. That is why Baptists do not treat baptism as something that saves a person, and why they do not rebaptize someone who was baptized as a believer, even if that person later joins a different Baptist congregation.
The church as a gathered congregation
Baptists hold that a local church is a voluntary gathering of baptized believers who covenant together to worship, obey Scripture, and hold one another accountable. This is sometimes called the gathered church view, in contrast to a parish model in which everyone born in a region is presumed to belong. Matthew 28:16-20 supports this in their reading because the commission produces disciples who are taught to obey, not populations that are administered by religious officials.
This conviction has had real consequences. Baptists have historically insisted that the state should not compel religious conformity, and that the church should not depend on the state for its membership or its money. They have also insisted on the priesthood of all believers, meaning that ordinary Christians can read Scripture, pray, and serve without a priestly mediator other than Christ. That does not make pastors unnecessary; it makes them servants of the congregation rather than a separate caste.
Congregational governance follows from this. Most Baptist churches vest final authority in the assembled members, often through votes on budgets, pastors, and major decisions. Baptists differ among themselves about how much authority to give elders or deacons, and about whether ordination is a permanent status or a temporary recognition. These are real disagreements, and honest Baptists say so.
Baptism as burial and resurrection with Christ
Baptists read Romans 6:1-4 as the theological explanation of what baptism pictures. Paul argues that grace is not a license to sin, and then says that those who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, they too might walk in newness of life. Baptism is a visible enactment of a spiritual reality. It does not create the reality, but it displays it.
Colossians 2:11-12 makes a similar point with the language of circumcision and burial. Paul speaks of a circumcision not made with hands, the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, and then connects it to being buried with Christ in baptism and raised with him through faith. Baptists read this as confirmation that the inward reality precedes and is pictured by the outward sign. The sign without the reality is empty.
This is why Baptists stress that baptism is for believers. A person who has not trusted Christ has nothing to picture. A person who has trusted Christ has something to declare. The water does not wash away sin; the blood of Christ does. Baptism is the believer's public amen to the gospel, and it is normally the doorway into the local church's membership and the Lord's Table.
Scripture, tradition, and Baptist identity
Baptists have historically described themselves as people of the Book, meaning they treat Scripture as the final authority for faith and practice. They did not invent this conviction; they share it with other Protestants. What distinguishes them is the specific set of conclusions they draw from it, particularly about baptism, the church, and religious liberty. Matthew 28:16-20 is central because it grounds both the mission and the mode: make disciples, baptize them, teach them.
Baptists emerged as a recognizable movement in the early seventeenth century, with English-speaking congregations forming in Amsterdam and then in England, and with Roger Williams establishing a Baptist church in Rhode Island in the 1630s. They were often persecuted by both Anglican and Puritan authorities for refusing to baptize infants and for insisting on a free church. The name Baptist was originally a nickname, sometimes used mockingly, and it stuck.
Today Baptists are extraordinarily diverse. There are Calvinistic Baptists and Arminian Baptists, charismatic Baptists and cessationist Baptists, independent Baptists and convention Baptists, and Baptist churches on every continent. They disagree about church polity, the ordinances, women in ministry, and the extent of the atonement. What holds them together is not a single leader but a shared set of convictions, and even those are held with varying degrees of strictness.
What Baptists believe about the Lord's Table
Baptists generally observe two ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and they usually call them ordinances rather than sacraments to avoid the idea that they convey grace automatically. The Supper is a memorial and a proclamation. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 that he received from the Lord what he also delivered to the church, that Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread, and that the church is to do this in remembrance of him until he comes.
Baptists differ on who may participate. Some practice closed communion, admitting only members of that local church. Others practice close communion, admitting baptized believers from like-minded churches. Still others practice open communion, inviting any believer in Christ to participate. This is a genuine disagreement among Baptists, and it is not a sign that one group is faithful and the others are not.
The Supper is normally administered within the gathered church under the oversight of pastors or elders. Baptists reject the idea that the bread and wine become the literal body and blood of Christ, and they reject the idea that the Supper is a sacrifice re-presented. It is a memorial, a proclamation, and a meal shared by a redeemed community awaiting its Lord's return.
Common questions and honest limits
Baptists are sometimes asked whether they believe they are the only true church. Most do not. They believe they are a faithful expression of the church, not the exclusive one. They recognize genuine believers in other traditions, even while disagreeing with those traditions about baptism, church order, and authority. That is why Baptist statements of faith typically describe the church as all who truly believe in Christ, and then describe local Baptist congregations as particular expressions of that church.
Baptists are also asked about the role of confessions. Many Baptist churches adopt a confession of faith, such as the Second London Confession or the Baptist Faith and Message, but they treat it as a subordinate standard. Scripture rules; confessions summarize. That ordering is important, because it means a confession can be revised if it is shown to be out of step with Scripture, and it means members are not required to treat a human document as infallible.
Finally, Baptists are asked why they multiply denominations. The honest answer is that they are sinners like everyone else, and that their commitment to conscience and local church autonomy makes division easier than it is in hierarchical traditions. That is a genuine cost of their convictions, and thoughtful Baptists acknowledge it.
Biblical fidelity check
Matthew 28:16-20 establishes a commission from the risen Christ to make disciples of all nations, to baptize them in the triune name, and to teach them to obey everything he commanded, with the promise of his presence to the end of the age. It does not specify immersion as the only mode, it does not address infant baptism directly, and it does not prescribe a form of church government. Baptists derive their distinctive practices from the wider New Testament pattern, not from this passage alone, and they should say so.
A common misreading is to treat Matthew 28:16-20 as if it settles every Baptist distinctive by itself, or conversely to treat it as a general mission mandate that has nothing to do with baptism. Both moves flatten the text. The passage commands baptizing, and it commands teaching, and it grounds both in the authority of Christ. Baptists who use it well will let it do its work without asking it to carry more weight than it can bear.
Other passages that speak to Matthew 28:16-20
The Great Commission does not stand alone. It is anticipated by the calling of the disciples and fulfilled in the book of Acts, and its themes of unity, calling, and mission run through Paul's letters. For a closer look at how the New Testament connects calling, unity, and the church's witness, see What Does 1 Corinthians 1:10 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application, What Does 1 Corinthians 1:9 Mean? Context, Theology, and Application, 1 Corinthians 1: Called, United, and Boasting in the Lord, and 1 Corinthians 10: Warnings and Freedom.
Frequently asked questions
What do Baptists believe about baptism?
Baptists believe baptism is an ordinance of the church for believers only, normally administered by full immersion. It follows a credible profession of faith and pictures the believer's union with Christ in his death and resurrection, as Romans 6:1-4 and Colossians 2:11-12 describe. Baptists do not believe baptism saves a person or conveys grace automatically. It is an act of obedience and a public declaration that the person has already trusted Christ. This is why Baptists do not baptize infants, and why they do not rebaptize someone who was baptized after believing.
Where did Baptists come from?
Baptists emerged as a distinct movement in the early seventeenth century. English Separatists in Amsterdam, led by John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, adopted believer's baptism around 1609, and Helwys returned to England to plant a Baptist church. Roger Williams established a Baptist church in Rhode Island in 1639. Baptists were often persecuted for rejecting infant baptism and for insisting that the church should be free from state control. They did not appear out of nowhere; they grew out of the wider Protestant Reformation and from earlier dissenters who wanted to follow Scripture more closely.
Do Baptists believe they are the only true church?
Most Baptists do not believe they are the only true church. They believe the church universal consists of all who truly believe in Christ, and that Baptist congregations are faithful expressions of that church. They disagree with other traditions about baptism, church government, and authority, and they are honest about those disagreements. But they typically recognize genuine believers in other denominations. Baptist confessions usually describe the church in broad terms first, then describe local congregations as particular expressions of it, rather than claiming exclusive status.
