While Anabaptists and Baptists believe in “Believer’s Baptism’, which is the Christian way of immersion stating that a man is baptized based on his or her calling of faith in Jesus Christ and as baptism is used as an entrance into a community of faith, both religions totally vary from each other. They didn’t start from a similar group, however a few Baptists are saying otherwise. Read on as this article further discusses their differences in certain matters.
What is Anabaptist?
Anabaptism started from the Radical Reformation which transpired in the sixteenth century, while Baptists started with English Puritanism. Various feelings of traditional Anabaptists would seem, by all accounts, to be new to a Baptist as they have different ways and means in their sect.
Present-day Anabaptists started in the sixteenth century as a social group known as the Swiss Brethren. They rejected infant baptism and propelled a confidence in pacifism. They don’t recognize the Baptist statute of justification by faith alone rather they emphasize a “life of good works.”
Anabaptists also believe that the demonstrations of graciousness and discipleship are needed in life. The nearest relatives of Anabaptists are the Amish and Mennonites.
Their point of view of the Bible promotes the conviction that the New Testament supersedes the Old Testament. They believe in separation from the world which is the reason Ancient Amish rule out having power of electricity in their homes. People won’t see the Amish running for political office as this activity perverst their belief in separation from the world.
What is Baptist?
Baptists began as a branch of Puritanism. While they too reject infant baptism, they don’t share in the belief of pacifism. They have also become well-known in the modern society.
Baptists are not prohibited in running for political office, participate in war, and live their daily lives as normal people. They see both the Old and New Testament as counterparts and believe in justification by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Differences Between Anabaptist and Baptist
Southern Baptists have roots, mostly, to the Protestant Reformation that rose in Germany and Switzerland in the sixteenth century.
Anabaptists were one of the standard clusters that rose in Europe in the presence of Calvinists and Lutherans around at that point. The word “Anabaptist,” according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, connotes “one who cleanses through water again” and this word was associated to the Anabaptists by their persecutors.
Anabaptists over the long haul fan out into a couple of exceptional groups, including Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites. Some of these associations hold the three focus Anabaptists feelings.
Believer’s Baptism
Anabaptists teach that a man should first put faith in the gospel before undergoing baptism. This in light of the scriptural lessons of Jesus Christ. In this manner, they don’t baptize babies.
Baptist denominations, on the other hand, vary in their belief in baptism. Reformed baptists believe that babies can be baptized while Southern Baptists believe on baptism as similar to that of the Anabaptists.
Pacifism
Anabaptists don’t believe in getting or securing rights through the use of electrical energy. They are centered around simplicity based on the teachings of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament. Unlike Baptists, having many denomintions, do not command their members to such extreme manner.
Community of Goods
Anabaptists believe all property should be shared in a comparative way as related disciples to Christ. This is according to Christ’s charge to rich energetic ruler to surrender most of his having a place and tail him.
Two or three key differences exist among Anabaptists and Baptists in their control over their congregations. One critical differentiation is the implications of salvation by Baptists which they believe must be through faith in Christ versus an emphasis on discipleship or good works by Anabaptists.
Salvation
Salvation for the Anabaptists differ from Baptists, with the Anabaptists emphasizing good works in order to be saved, using the Bible as their standard specifically Sermon on the Mount of the Lord Jesus Christ while denying justification or salvation by faith alone which the Scripture also teaches.
On the other hand, many Baptist denominations believe in justification by faith which is closer to the biblical teaching about salvation. However, there are many denominations in the Baptist religion and not all believe in justification by faith alone.
Modes of Living
Living clearly and disengaged from bunches is the lifestyle of various Anabaptist. They intend to detach themselves from the outside world. A couple of groups called “Amish” still use a stallion while voyaging.
Some Anabaptist moreover don’t use control. A particular group called “Hutterites” live on a noteworthy estates and withstands on a conviction that there must be fundamental property. Impassioned people in these groups don’t hold political office or serve in the military. They get a handle on showing pacifism toward all people.
Southern Baptists, on the other hand, fuse into their adjacent neighborhoods, towns, urban territories, states and countries. They get related with government and vigorously hold political working environments and serve in the military.
Table of Summary for Anabaptist Verses Baptist
Summary of Anabaptist Verses Baptist
Other Christian groups will wrongly tell you Anabaptists are Baptists, and it’s not helping when some Baptist theologians take after their motivation to Anabaptists. On a shallow view, it is definitely not hard to believe they are the same however a more basic look at their fundamental establishments and practices appear in a startling way.
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Hello,
I wanted to inform you that the difference table is very incorrect. For pacifism, Anabaptists believe in the pacifist vision; to not take up arms, live according to Jesus’ two greatest commandments (love God and love others) and after Jesus’ own pacifist example. As a Baptist, Baptists believe in Just War Theory; that God can call people to war, and Christians should take up arms if they are “called”. That belief is modeled after wars fought in the old testament by God’s people (Israelites), and clearly Jesus asked for a Christians to lead others to Christ without violence or force (because one must personally choose to let the Holy Spirit change them).
Anabaptists (with the largest concentration being Mennonites, not Amish or Hutterite) are not all strictly communal or seemingly communist. They do not believe that good works is what justifies someone; works follows faith. James 2:17 reads, “faith without works is dead”. It is what follows conversion; Christians end up sinning less, reaching out more, loving others more (because it is a commandment from Christ). This page is very biased and from my personal experience, Mennonites and Baptists may seem similar, but Baptists believe that war can be justified by God, and Mennonites are more humanitarian and trying to go back to the roots of Christianity.
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I really appreciated what you had to say about this. I have been trying to determine why my now long deceased relatives chose the path of southern Baptists most of them coming from Northern Europe to the southern part of the US, mostly Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. We come from a long line of very religious people and I am trying to decide which path I should take? I am a devout Christian in heart and want to abide by Biblical teachings. I think at this juncture, I am leaning toward the Lancaster Mennonite Conference as I want to follow the Bible with more strict adherences particularly as it relates to those Mennonite chapters who think that accepting homosexuality and abortion can be tolerated or filtered in to acceptance somehow and I for one do not believe that is how Jesus would have wanted it as it is directed also in the Bible. This really helped me with some clarity that I am searching for and I only wish there was a chapter that I could attend where I live in the wine country of northern CA. Though I do not drink, I so appreciate the beauty that abounds everywhere and it would be nice to commune with people who are of like minds.
Thank you and God Bless you!
Lindy
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Lindsey,
You say that you are a devout Christian. Not sure what that is according to the scriptures, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things are passed away and all things become new. In addition, have you presented your body a living sacrifice to the Lord; holy and acceptable unto Him which is our reasonable service. Please take the time to study the Bible we are in the last days.
Make sure that you have repented of your sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. He does not require us to be devout, He want us to have fellowship with Him. After you repent, as God to write your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Your life will change for the better forever.
There are so many incorrect teachings out here. It is simplistic, the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is my first time responding to something like this but your statements struck my heart. Oh yes, don’t look at the natural but as God to show you where to live. He does not deal in our head but with the heart.
God bless you with salvation in Jesus’ name.
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Be careful that you do not join a group just because your roots are there. Join where God wants you. Pray about it and He will show you a church!
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Yours was just as biased. Who are you to say that God can’t do something?
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My goodness THANK YOU for this response. As I read this all I could think is half of what was written isn’t even true and seems hatefully written. I attend a southern baptist church, but I lean much closer to a mennonite lifestyle and appearance and I strive to get closer to the Lord through obedience, even though I know nothing can add to my salvation, my heart feels much safer “here”.
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Hilary,
I appreciate your comments. Recently, I have been considering the Anabaptist beliefs, particularly the Bruderhof, who liken themselves most closely to Mennonites. What intrigues me about them is that they DON’T despise modern technology & in fact use it when necessary. The difference is that it takes a very minor role in their relationships. Teenagers do not have cell phones (& neither do adults) but they do believe in th
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(Kelly Cont.) They (Bruderhof) do use phones. Families do not have tv’s. Young people are raised to enjoy nature, games, studies, spending time together, reading, etc. ALL living at Bruderhof help one another if able to. This is a part of everyday living, although they also carry out many other ministries outside the church, like prison ministries, food banks, etc. I am hoping to visit one next spring – I live in the Midwest so I will have to fly out to the east coast. Although they are pacifists they don’t preclude their members from voting in the secular world.
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Reformed Baptists do not believe their babies should be baptized. I have been a Reformed Baptist my whole life and not once have I ever heard of Reformed Baptists baptizing their babies. Baptists, reformed or not, believe in believer baptism. Period.
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K,
Thanks for responding to this. This is article is entirely in error. Reformed Baptists DO NOT perform pedobaptism. That would be our Presbyterian counter-parts. Reformed Baptists are credobaptists. We believe that Christ is actually present in the act of baptism as long as the individual has faith. Babies do not have faith. If you want to know and represent someone’s beliefs accurately, please look into their doctrine. Ours is the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. You can read it and know everything you need to know about Reformed Baptists.
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I found this article fascinating! I’m a southern Baptist but I did not know all the differences between the closely related religions. We have communities of mennonites & amish and I always wondered what their believes were and what there difference were. Great article, very enlightening and now I know being southern baptist I have some things in common with them. Thank you for your article….
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Sir, Reformed Baptists DO NOT believe (never had) in infant baptism. This doctrine is held by Reformed Presbyterians, not by Reformed Baptists. This is something every theologian knows, and you should correct it ASAP. Thanks.
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Thank you for your response, Hilary! I am a Christian myself, of Mennonite affiliation with an Anabaptist faith. This article is shockingly uninformed, with a clearly biased anti-anabaptist view. Most of its “facts” apply in no way to my faith or lifestyle. We take the whole gospel and new testament as the teachings of Jesus, by which we are to live, only after having come to salvation through faith in His death and resurrection, by which we are cleansed of our former sins. Thereby, we receive the holy spirit in our hearts to guide and convict us to live by Jesus’ righteous example. First, this requires us to love the Lord with all our heart, and then our neighbour (literally everyone) as ourselves. In this, we do others no harm, but are taught by Jesus to pray for our enemies, rather than kill or harm them. We believe in baptism after someone has come to a saving faith in Jesus, and repented of their sins. I know very little about Huterites, but as Mennonites, we individually own farms, properties and businesses, etc., with an emphasis on helping those in need, especially within our faith, but also those outside our circles. Above all, we hold the Bible and specifically, the teachings of Jesus, as the first and final truths by which we are to live, after having come to salvation through Jesus’ blood- bought grace alone. After all, He said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh into the Father, but my me.”
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My grandparents were “old regular baptist” from Eastern KY – my mom was Southern Baptist they were totally opposite. My grandparents didn’t have instruments in their church – it was more of a chant, women didn’t cut their hair, or wear pants, no jewelry except gold wedding bands, and men a pocket watch. No TVs in their home – absolutely nothing beyond washing dishes on Sunday – they had services on Saturday night & Sunday at different churches – monthly at the church my grandfather was clerk. If divorced they didn’t remarry until the living spouse died – it was an extremely strict doctrine- unlike the Southern Baptist I grew up in
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