Baptists: The Bible

John Murton was a leader of one of the first Baptist churches of England

“The rule of faith is the doctrine of the Holy Ghost contained in the sacred Scriptures, and not any church, council, prince, or potentate, nor any mortal man whatsoever.”

Benjamin Keach was an Early Baptist dissenter in England circa 1640.

“The Bible evidences itself to be God’s Word by the heavenliness of its doctrines, the unity of its parts, its power to convert sinners and edify saints; but the Spirit of God only, bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in our hearts is able to persuade us that the Bible is the Word of God. Keach’s

John Gill was a famous Baptist pastor in London and author of The Body of Divinity.

“Let us therefore bless God that we have a better rule and guide to go by; a more sure word of prophecy to take heed unto. Let us have constant recourse unto it, as the standard of faith and practice.” (Body of Divinity, p. 25)

Andrew Fuller was a Baptist pastor, author of The Gospel Worthy of All Acceptation, and close friend of William Carrey

“If the Scriptures profess to be Divinely inspired, we must receive them as such, of if we would be consistent, disown the writers as impostors. As the sacred writers considered themselves as Divinely inspired, so they represented their writings as the infallible test of Divine truth.” (Works, Vol. 2, p. 196)

Adonirum Judson was a Baptist missionary to Burma (circa 1800’s)

“The Word of God is the golden lamp hung out of heaven, to enlighten the nations that sit in darkness. The Bible, in the original tongues, comprises all the revelation now extant which God has given to this world. This perfect book is the sacred deposit in the hands of the church. Woe be to him that attempts to obscure the light of the lamp of heaven.”

Francis Wayland was President of Brown University (circa 1850’s)

“Preaching; proceeds upon the supposition that the Bible is the Word of the living God. This is the truth which the minister of the Gospel is sent forth to utter. This is the beginning, the middle, and the end of his teaching.”

J.L. Dagg was a one of the first writing Southern Baptists.

“God Himself is the author of the Bible. When we read its sacred pages, we should realize that God speaks to us, and when we suffer it to lie neglected, we should remember that we are refusing to listen to God.” (Origin and Authority of the Bible, p. 28)

Basil Manly Jr. was one of the four original professors of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the first president of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board.

“The doctrine which we hold is commonly styled Plenary Inspiration or Full Inspiration. It is that the Bible as a whole is the Word of God, so that in every part of Scripture there is both infallible truth and Divine authority.” (The Bible Doctrine of Inspiration, pp. 59-60).

Charles Spurgeon was The Prince of Preachers

“We who believe the Holy Scripture to be the inspired truth of God cannot have fellowship with those who deny the authority from which we derive all our teaching.” (Sword and Trowel, Nov 1887, p.559)

B.H. Carroll was the Founder of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“It has always been a matter of profound surprise that anybody should ever question the verbal inspiration of the Bible of the Bible. When you hear the silly talk that the Bible contains the Word of God and is not the Word of God you hear a fool’s talk. I dont care if he is a Doctor of Divinity, a President of a University covered with medals from universities of Europe and the US, it is fool’s talk.” (Inspiration of the Bible, p. 20).