ABSTRACT
Not only is the self restrained in relationship to God by its sinfulness and lack of self-sufficiency, as evidenced by the Calvinistic penchant for total depravity and divine election, but it is also restrained by the divine community. Although early Baptists had an appreciation for the dynamic distribution of spiritual gifts, they strictly controlled their exercise. William Kiffin informed the scurrilous Daniel Featley that although Baptists did not require a university-trained ministry, they opposed unrestrained lay prerogative. Broadly, ‘all who are gifted may preach the Word, and administer the Sacraments’. Specifically, ‘none amongst us teach, but they have ordination; for they are elected, examined and proved’.19 Though egalitarian in essence, they held to traditional vocational distinctions. This relative conservatism comes into focus in the detailed ecclesiological statements of the early confessions. In these confessions, they ground their ecclesiology in triplex munus Christi. Table 15.1 compares two Particular Baptist confessions with Luther’s early, and radical-sounding, view of royal priesthood. From this it can be concluded that Particular Baptists were nowhere near as radical as the early Luther. The General Baptist Orthodox Creed is similar in content though it provides for a ‘bishop’ or ‘messenger’ over several congregations.20
