Baptists and Optimism—Part 3

We Baptists are peculiar in our articulation of the doctrine of the church. Our doctrine of the church is distinct from almost all other Christian denominations, but we cling to it because we believe it to be biblical. We believe God ordained His new covenant people to be regenerated believers. He circumcises their hearts, and the covenant sign of believer’s baptism (by immersion) identifies those upon whom He has performed this operation. 

Baptists also believe that God ordained His people to serve as a kingdom of priests. With regenerate church membership, this belief leads to another key concept: the autonomy of the local church. We cherish these Baptist distinctives, but they can also act as stumbling blocks that prevent Baptists from adopting an optimistic outlook on Christ’s kingdom.

The Problem with Old Models of Kingdom Optimism

Older models of optimistic eschatology operate within a framework where the church and kingdom comprise a mixed multitude of believers and unbelievers.¹ This framework views baptism as a covenantal seal in continuity with the Old Testament sign of circumcision. In this environment, the kingdom expands through the advance of the three God-given institutions: family, church, and government.² In this position, believers bring in the kingdom through biological reproduction and governmental legislation in addition to gospel proclamation. This framework leads some to see kingdom optimism as the driving force behind the “social gospel” and its liberal theology. 

Baptist distinctives are not congruent with this institutional view of the advance of Jesus’ reign. As Baptists, we believe the kingdom expands through proclamation and discipleship. We see these as the God-ordained means through which He propagates His kingdom. To keep our Baptist distinctives and still proclaim Christ’s ever-increasing governance, we must link the concept of kingdom success to our belief in regenerate church membership. How can we solve this problem?

A Baptist Model of Kingdom Success

Conversion and evangelism lie at the heart of the Baptist model of kingdom success. By “regenerate church membership,” I mean that every member of a local church has professed faith in Christ and then submitted to baptism. With that in mind, the solution to the problem of kingdom success and regenerate church membership is a theological principle derived from Psalm 2 and Daniel 2 that I call the “regenerative division of worldly kingdoms principle.”³ This principle moves the focus from institutionalized models of kingdom success back to a grassroots model centered on the gospel of salvation, which is more compatible with a baptistic understanding of the church. 

The principle of regenerative division allows the Baptist distinctive of church autonomy to coexist peacefully and live happily within a worldwide kingdom in the church age. We may ask, Doesn’t the independence of local churches contradict the Biblical idea that the kingdom will come and God’s will done on earth as in heaven during the church age (cp. Matt 6:10)? I answer in the negative; Baptist beliefs do not contradict the biblical evidence of Christ’s kingdom coming in this way. Instead, they provide the best explanation for how Christ’s kingdom increases on the earth through individual, gospel-preaching churches that divide the worldly kingdoms and bring in Christ’s kingdom through the baptism of the nations. 

Christ’s kingdom expands by dividing worldly kingdoms and converting the heathen. Psalm 2 and Daniel 2 serve as the foundation for our model of Baptist optimism. They distinguish between the worldly kingdoms and the heavenly kingdom. In Psalm 2’s drama, the kings of the earth rage against the anointed of the Lord (Jesus, the Messiah!). This rebellion is a conflict between the worldly kingdoms and the heavenly kingdom given by the Lord to His anointed. The Messiah resolves it by “break[ing]” the kings of the earth, or “the nations,” with a “rod of iron” (Ps 2:8–9). The Psalm concludes with an exhortation: the kings of the earth should “be wise” and “kiss the Son, lest he be angry and ye perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little” (Ps 2:10, 12). The kingdom of the Son puts down the rebellion of the kings of the earth and shatters their empires.⁴ I say the gospel of Christ’s kingdom is the “rod of iron.”⁵ It divides worldly kingdoms and breaks the nations apart, establishing Christ’s kingdom through individual local-church outposts.

God used His prophetic Word to divide and overthrow worldly kingdoms in the Mosaic age (e.g., Hos 6:4; Ezek 25:1–7). By this means, He opened the world to the establishment of Christ’s kingdom.⁶ The prophetic vision in Daniel 2 depicts the rise and collapse of four successive world empires. Ultimately, the stone that was cut without hands (Christ’s kingdom) shatters the image into pieces and establishes a kingdom that “filled the whole earth” (Dan 2:35). Daniel 2:44 makes this especially clear in Daniel’s explanation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. He says, “In the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.” This kingdom will triumph over the nations of the earth. Christ established it through the crucifixion, resurrection, and proclamation of the gospel.⁷ Through these means, the nations become His inheritance.

Conclusion

These observations lead us to a baptistic model for kingdom optimism. Christ expands His kingdom through gospel proclamation (cp. Matt 28:19-20; 1 Cor 1:18). The power of the gospel extends the kingdom and casts down worldly kingdoms. The growth of Christ’s kingdom comes through the multiplication of local churches that leads to the conversion of sinners, which divides the unbelieving nations, baptizing them into the kingdom of Christ. 

I need to integrate several other Baptist distinctives into inmillennialism.⁸ Over the coming weeks, I will show how they fit into its optimistic eschatology. I look forward to writing and hope you enjoy this exploration of Baptist distinctives and inmillennialism. I pray the Lord will bless you, keep you, and make his face to shine upon you. 

1. I am primarily interacting here with the postmillennial eschatology of Christian Reconstructionists such as Gary North and R. J. Rushdoony. For more information on Reconstructionism as a movement, see www.thearda.com/timeline/movements/movement_27.asp
2. For more information see R. J. Rushdoony, God’s Plan For Victory: The Meaning of Postmillennialism, Chalcedon Foundation: Vallecito, CA, 1997.
3. I plan to devote a post in this series to showing this principle within inmillennialism.
4. C. H. Spurgeon agrees with this fundamental point but locates the destruction of the worldly kingdoms at a future establishment of the kingdom. See C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2014), 1:12.
5. I base this interpretation on passages like Romans 1:1-5, Isaiah 11:4-5, and Revelation 12:5-12.
6. B. H. Carroll, An Interpretation of the English Bible: Daniel and the Intertestamental Period, (Nashville, TN: Baptist Sunday School Board, 1915), 79.
7. Matthew Henry, Commentary (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2017) 4:809. Henry is commenting on Daniel 2:31–45.
8. See Michael A. Rogers, Inmillennialism: Redefining the Last Days (Tullahoma, TN: McGahan Publishing House, 2020). This book is available here in hardcopy and here as a PDF. A free summary PDF document of inmillennialism is here.