What are major differences between traditional Baptist and traditional Church of Christ? Beliefs?

Question

What are the differences in beliefs and practices of traditional Baptists versus traditional Church of Christ? If possible, do you know any scripture supporting or rejecting these beliefs/practices? Any insight would be very helpful, even if it is compared/contrasted to other Christian denominations. If you have personal experiences, I would also be interested in that. Thank you!

Answer 1

Church of Christ......
One MUST be Baptised.for Salvation
One MUST confess sins everyday
They beleive one can lose their salvation.

They come to this conclusion by reading scripture verusus out of context.

Baptist.......
Baptism not required for Salvation...The guy next to Jesus on the cross went to Heaven with Jesus, but didn't have a chance to get Baptised, under the circumtances....;-)

Confesss sins immmediatly..Pray w/o ceasing.
There is nothing in scripture that say you should delay
confessing.

NO chance of losing Salvation
Rom 8:28..Nothing shall seperate us from the Love of God

Im sure there is more, but that's the majors

Answer 2

I believe there are 3 doctrines that distinguishes between the Churches of Christ and Baptist fellowships:

1. The doctrine of the fall. Churches of Christ believe or assume man is basically "good" or morally neutral, has no fallen or sinful nature- only the need of the forgiveness of sin. Thus Churches of Christ believe man can save himself by his own cooperation and obedience to the 'necessary moral and religious requirements of the New Testament'.

The Bible doesn't teach this, but rather that man is fallen, a sinner by nature, can't save himself, and therefore is in great need of a Savior. Romans 3:9-20, 23; Romans 5:12-21; Romans 7:14-25; Eph. 2:1-5

2. Their doctrine of 'salvation by faith in Jesus Christ'. Churches of Christ believe a person is 'saved by faith' when their belief causes them to cooperate and be obedient to all of the necessary moral and religious requirements of the New Testament.

Again, the Bible doesn't teach we are saved by what we do (and cannot be because of our sinful or fallen nature) but because of what Jesus did FOR us.

That is, Jesus Christ came, died on the cross, paid the FULL penalty for OUR sin (i.e. God punished Jesus OUR SUBSTITUTE so He wouldn't have to punish us), Jesus was buried, and God raised Him from the dead. 1 Cor. 15:1-4

How we respond to the Gospel is to BELIEVE in Him.

God's promise is that whoever trusts in Jesus Christ as Savior, will NOT perish, but HAS everlasting life. John 3:16; John 5:24; John 20:31; Romans 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:11; Gal. 2:15-16; Eph. 2:8-10

3. Their doctrine of "water" baptism for salvation or 'water baptismal remission of sins'. Churches Christ believe that a person cannot be saved until they are baptized or immersed in water.

Again the Bible doesn't teach this; There are biblically and contextually valid interpretations of the pretext verses that are often used by the Churches of Christ which show that water baptism is not necessary for salvation.

One short explanation is that when those in the Churches of Christ find 'baptism' in the Bible, they assume it is talking about "water" baptism. Yet in all four gospels and twice in the book of Acts the Word says that while 'John baptized in water, that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit.' Matt. 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33, Acts 1:4-5 and Acts 10:34-48; Acts 11:15-17

Thus water baptism, which is what the Churches of Christ are usually trusting in for salvation, is simply a sign or symbol of the believer's true, acutal, or Holy Spirit baptism which occures at conversion.

1 Cor. 12:13 says that "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."

Titus 3:5 "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,"

Answer 3

The two are very simular, but as the question asked, let me focus on some differences.

Many Baptists churches teach one is saved before baptism.

The church of Christ recognizes that Jesus said, "He that believes and is baptized SHALL BE saved". (Mark 16:16) The church of Christ teaches that baptism is "for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38) and to come into Christ and come into contact with his death, where the saving blood was shed (Romans 6:3-4, Gal. 3:27, Col. 2:12). (There are some "Baptists" that also teach this.)

Many Baptists teach we are saved by "faith only".

The Church of Christ recognizes that the ONLY VERSE in the Bible that uses the phrase "faith only" says that we are "justified... NOT by faith only". (James 2:24) We are not justified by works that are of ourselves (Eph 2:8-9); works we can boast of, but obediance does have a part in our salvation (Hebrews 5:9). Jesus said, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt 7:21) You see, faith without works is dead being alone (James 2). (Some "Baptists" also teach this.)

Many Baptists teach that once you are saved, you cannot return to a state of being lost.

The Church of Christ teaches that God calls each of us to choose whom we will serve. (Josh 24:15) We each have free will, but there are rewards/consequences for the path we choose. (Some "Baptists" teach this also.)

Many Baptists have national headquarters or conferences that meet to decide the doctrinal position of the church.

Congregations of the church of Christ are independant. We recognize that Christ is the head and the church is his body (Eph 1:22-23). This being the case, we have no "headquarters" on earth. Rather, each congregation goes directly to the Bible to learn what we should teach and practice. The scriptures are sufficent for this purpose and we need no other authority. (2 Timothy 3:16-16, 2 Peter 1:3, Matt 28:18-20).

The question is a good one. It is tough to answer though because not all Baptist churches (Free Will, Primitive, Southern, etc.) teach the same. (The same may be said for members of the Church of Christ.)

The important thing though is, "What does the Bible say?"!!!!

In Acts 17:11, some were called "noble" because they eagerly received the word Paul preached and then searched the scripture to see if it was true! We should do this also!

Answer 4

I am Baptist. We believe that a person must repent of their sins and ask the Lord to come into their heart to be saved in order to escape hell and have a home in Heaven. Read KJV John 3:16. If I understand right, the Church of Christ, believes in water baptism to get them to Heaven. That's does not honor what Jesus did for us on the cross. It makes the blood of none effect. The death on the cross and the resurrection of Christ from the dead, is the basis for our religion. The Bible says, without the blood there is no remission of sins. Baptist believe that water baptism is to show that we believe in the death, burial and resurrection of our Savior Jesus. When a person gets saved, the Holy Spirit moves into our heart and abides within us. We have the choice of whether or not we follow His will in our life or if we chose to live for self.

Answer 5

I was raised Church of Christ. The biggest difference is that the CofC believes you cannot be saved without baptism(immersion type) and the Baptists believe you are saved and then you are baptized to be added to the church. The only other things different, and they are minor, are the use of instrumental music in church(Cof C doesn't, Baptist does) and the Baptists allow dancing.

Answer 6

Major differences: 1) Route to salvation; 2) Instrumental music; 3) Formal clergy titles; 4) Missionary societies;
5) Once saved always saved; 6) Direct operation of HS;
7) CoC not considered a denomination.
These are so major there's is no compromise possible.
Hope this helps.
"Cruz-zing"

Answer 7

Baptist as all physical churches their God dwells within the building, a symbol of the world, the true Church of Christ is spiritual and God dwells within us.

Answer 8

i became raised Baptist yet grew to grow to be Catholic: Baptist have faith as quickly as saved constantly saved no count what. they do no longer settle for custom in basic terms Scripture. they don't have faith in the actual Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and the don't have faith in the Baptism of infants. a number of the main alterations.

Answer 9

Baptists got their name because they have always emphasized the importance of baptism.