Primitive Baptists
believe in the simple New Testament pattern of divine worship. Services consist of hymn singing, prayer, and preaching. Musical instruments are not used in services simply because no New Testament command or precedent
is found for them. Furthermore, the use of instruments is undesirable in that it tends to bring in carnal entertainment as a substitute for the real melody of the heart as described in Ephesians 5:19.
Primitive Baptists do not have Sunday Schools or any of the auxiliary attachments so common in the denominational world today. Again we notice that there is no command or precedent for the practice. Sunday Schools are
modern in origin and did not come into being until the gospel church had been in existence for almost 1800 years. Primitive Baptists believe that the gospel minister is the only public teacher of the word authorized of
God in the New Testament era. Private instruction is the responsibility of heads of households as described in Ephesians 6:4. Further objections to the Sunday School system of today can be raised on the grounds that,
when they are led by women, it denies the plain teaching of the apostle Paul in I Timothy 2:11-12, "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over
the man, but to be in silence." (see also I Corinthians 14:34-35)
Primitive Baptists believe that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the only two ordinances prescribed for the New Testament Church. The
washing of the saint's feet is an example given by our Lord that should be practiced by New Testament churches (Matthew 28:18-20, I Peter 3:21, Matthew 26:26-28, John 13:3-17, I Timothy 5:10).
Evangelism
Primitive Baptists believe in Bible
evangelism. As in the early church , "they went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts 8:4), so Primitive Baptists today go as the Spirit directs them. Wherever "effectual doors" (I Cor. 16:9) are opened, Primitive Baptists will be found. It is recognized, however, that on one occasion the apostles were forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia (Acts 16:6), and in Bithynia (Acts 16:7). Evangelistic effort, therefore, is at the direction of the Holy Ghost. Primitive Baptists believe that the Doctrines of Grace are the only true bases for Bible evangelism.
The Local Church
Primitive Baptists believe that God's house (the local church) is a resting place of world-worn travelers, born again believers in Jesus Christ who have renounced the
world and its pleasures and have given themselves to Christ and to one another in a gospel church way. These, having been baptized on a profession of their faith in Christ Jesus, have bound themselves by the
solemn ordinance to live in compliance with the doctrine which is according to godliness: to attend regularly the public worship services, to minister to the saints, and to be godly and just in their everyday dealings
with their fellow men. Only by so doing can believers properly glorify their Father in heaven who, according to his own sovereign grace and mercy, has reserved for them and the elect of all ages, an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away in heaven (I Peter 1:4).
