Why We are General Baptist, now called Free Will Baptist.

After the Church of England split from the Roman Catholic Church, the atrocities continued causing those who read the Word to see they needed to worship differently. It was during that time in England that a group of believers formed a church that focused on some fundamental beliefs: 1) All mankind are sinners and deserve eternal punishment for their sins, 2) God gave us His Son to die in our place for the sins of the whole world, 3) Anyone can be saved if they only believe and trust in His Son’s sacrifice for their sins in their place, 4) God did all the work in the salvation process but requires the individual to have faith in that sacrifice, and 5) that faith must endure until the end.

The reasons this group was call “General Baptist” was because they believed anyone could be saved if they simply had faith. A different group was also formed that were called “Particular Baptist” because they believed that God’s grace was limited to the few predestined that God somehow chose and only they would be saved. Additionally, if you were on that list the choice was not your because you could not resist the call. As you can see, a conflict quickly arose. The Particular Baptist later used a slang phrase for the General Baptist because of their belief any anyone could be saved. That phrase was “Free Willer” and thus the name Free Will Baptist was born.

This quick overview was not intended as an exhaustive theological discussion on the differences between General and Particular Baptist but to share the basic differences and why the name “Free Will” came into existence. So just to restate the basic truth, Free Will Baptist are General Baptist and have been around longer than the Particular Baptist.

Your thoughts and comments are welcome.