Black Puritans, USA ✝ 2023 Baptist Confession of Faith

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As a Primitive Baptist theological expression, we hold to the belief that "Jesus Christ... hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. 1: 5-6. 

We are Reformed Anglicans who trace our roots to the founding of the First-Century "Baptist" Church; to the Church of England; to the English Baptists; to the London Baptist Confession of Faith (1644 and 1689); and to the African American Baptist tradition in the United States. 

Hence, we are the BLACK PURITANS, USA. 

As such we believe in the Reformed doctrine of the "Priesthood of All Believers!"

Jesus of Nazareth prophesied that the Second Temple would be destroyed, stating: “I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon one another, that shall not be thrown down.” [Matthew24:2]

And as Jesus had prophesied, the Second Temple was ultimately destroyed in 70 A.D., within a generation after his death and resurrection.

This Second Temple was not rebuilt.  Instead, this Second Temple and the Levitical priesthood were officially ended, and the New Covenant was commenced, upon the death and resurrection of Christ.

A new temple with a new priesthood replaced this Second Temple.

According to 1 Peter 2:5-9, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”

This is why the Apostle John wrote that when Jesus said that he would tear down and rebuild the Second Temple within three days, that “he spake of the temple of his body.” [John 2: 18-22].    

The body of Christ is his Christian Church. [Ephesians 1:23].

And the body of each individual Christian is a “temple.”   

This is why the Apostle Paul has written that “[k]now ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are….” [ 1 Corinthians 3: 16-17].

Since every Christian is a “temple” wherein dwells the Holy Spirit, who teaches and guides Christians into “all truth” [see, e.g., John 16:13] , there is spiritual equality amongst the faithful within Christ’s church. 

This is why the holy prophet Jeremiah wrote, “[a]nd they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them….”  [Jeremiah 31: 32-34. See, also, Hebrews 8: 9-11 (quoting Jeremiah 31:32-34).]

From this we deduce the validity in the doctrine of the “Priesthood of all believers.”   

And we highly acclaim the opinion of Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 AD) on this important point, to wit:  

“For we see that priests and Levites are now chosen, not from a certain family and blood, as was originally the rule in the priesthood according to the order of Aaron, but as befits the new testament, under which Christ is the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, in consideration of the merit which is bestowed upon each man by divine grace. And these priests are not to be judged by their mere title, which is often borne by unworthy men, but by that holiness which is not common to good men and bad.”  [St. Augustine, “The City of God” (New York, N.Y.: The Modern Library, 1950), p. 746].  

Therefore, at the heart of Puritanism is the belief that Jesus of Nazareth instituted a radically different religion whereby every Christian believer would become a “king and priest.” The very body of a Christian believer, wherein dwells the Holy Ghost, is the “temple of God.”

As "Reformed Anglican s" we adhere to the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion.

Article 23 of those articles state: 

"23. Of Ministering in the Congregation.

"It is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching, or ministering the Sacraments in the

Congregation, before he be lawfully called, and sent to execute the same. And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have public authority given unto them in the Congregation, to call and send Ministers into the Lord's vineyard." 

Although we accept the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, in practice We do not call our ordained Elders "priests" or "bishops."  Instead, we have adopted a Presbyterian system patterned after the Church of Scotland and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

For many reasons, the Black Puritans, USA  traces its spiritual roots to the English Baptists and to the Black Primitive Baptists.

“Traditional Baptist historians write from the perspective that Baptists had existed since the time of Christ.” [“Baptists,” Wikipedia].  

The perpetuity or succession theological position that autonomous groups of “independent” Christian believers existed has firm Scriptural support.   

First off, various communities formed around John the Baptist who baptized believers both prior to and during Jesus’ earthly ministry.

Secondly, in the Gospel of Mark, for example, the disciple John said to Jesus, “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us, and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, than can lightly speak evil of me.  For he that is not against us is on our part…. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me,it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.”  [Mark 9: 28-29(KJV)].

Thirdly, the Gospel of Mathew defined the church as consisting of from between “two or three” persons, whenever they are “gathered together in my name,” because, there, Christ shall be “in the midst of them.” [Matthew18:18-20].   

And in this same verse of Scripture, it is uttered that “if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” [Matthew 18: 18-20].

During the First Century, the Gospel spread through Asia, Europe, India, and Africa-- all autonomous churches.  

The development of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the other auto-cephalus Oriental Orthodox Churches, did not emerge until centuries later.  

Hence, it is for this reason that the Black Puritans, USA sense that “church structure” is largely “man-made” and that the groups of Puritans known as the Baptists (and even the Quakers) made a strong argument that the Christian religion, and the Christian faith, should be expressed in more democratic and egalitarian terms.  

We thus follow the London Baptist Confession of 1644.  

We also follow the Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689.   

We also follow the National Primitive Baptist Articles of Faith (1907).

As a Primitive Baptist theological expression, the Black Puritans, USA is committed to establishing and sustaining the traditional African American family unit, as well as the extended family.

Family government was at the heart of the Puritan societies of colonial New England, because Biblical family government was at the heart of ancient Israel. 

The first and primary human society and institution was the “family” –  the union of Adam and Eve as man and wife. (Genesis 2: 21 – 24).

“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Genesis 2: 24; Matthew 19:4).

From this arrangement, the man as Husband has been placed by divine authority at the head of the Wife and the family. (Ephesians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2: 11-15.)

In English- American common law, this male headship over the family was firmly established.  

See, e.g., 26 Am Jur, Husband and Wife, § 10 Head of Family (“The husband, unless incapacitated from executing the authority and performing the duty, is head of the family.”)

However, American slavery did not recognize African American fathers, husbands, families, or the sanctity of marriage among black slaves.

See, e.g., Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in America,” Chapter XVIII: Future Condition of Three Races- Part I (“The negro has no family; woman is merely the temporary companion of his pleasures, and his children are upon an equality with himself from the moment of their birth.”)

See, e.g., W. E. B. Bu Bois, “The Souls of Black Folk,” Writings (New York, N.Y.: The Library of America, 1986), p. 378 (“[h]ere at a stroke of the pen was erected a government of millions of men,-- and not ordinary men either, but black men emasculated by a peculiarly complete system of slavery, centuries old; and now, suddenly, violently, they come into a new birthright….”)

Today, due to social, cultural, economic, and political challenges facing African men, husbands, and fathers, the plight of the African American family continues to be a major challenge in American life.

See, e.g., Moynihan, Daniel P., “The Negro family: The Case for National Action.” Washington, DC: Office of Policy Planning and Research, U.S. Department of Labor (March 1965)(“It was by destroying the Negro family under slavery that white America broke the will of the Negro people.”)

Hence, because of American Slavery and its negative effects, re-establishing and bolstering Black male headship over the Black family unit is a major spiritual mission and objective of The Black Puritans, USA.