Are Reformed Baptists Really Just Anabaptists?

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Where do Reformed Baptists actually come from? It is a common assumption, repeated often enough that it can feel settled, that Particular Baptists are simply a later, improved version of the Anabaptists. In this Ask FGBC conversation, Pastor Jim Butler is joined by two of the Confessing the Faith Conference 2026 speakers, Pastor David Charles and Dr. Richard Barcellos, who walk through what the historical record actually shows. They explain why the Particular Baptists arose out of the English Reformation rather than from Anabaptism, how the first London Baptist Confession deliberately set them apart, and why careful work in the primary sources matters for how we understand who we are as confessional Baptists. Transcript The Question Pastor Jim Butler: Hi, I'm Jim Butler from the Free Grace Baptist Church here in Chilliwack, British Columbia. I'm joined with two of our Confessing the Faith Conference 2026 speakers: Pastor David Charles from the Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio, and Pastor and Dr. Richard Barcellos from Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Palmdale, California. They're two of the three speakers for our conference this weekend. The third is Dr. Jim Renihan, the president of the International Reformed Baptist Seminary. So it's a pleasure for us to deal with some of these Ask FGBC questions. I've got a couple of pros with me, so I'm very encouraged by that. And we'll go ahead and start in the category Confessional Identity and Reformed Baptist History. So the first question is, what distinguishes Reformed Baptists from Anabaptists historically? Do they share the same roots? And that's directed first to Pastor Charles. Dr. Richard Barcellos: An expert. Pastor Jim Butler: An expert. Common Roots, Different Origins Pastor David Charles: Well, you know, of course we've, in recent memory, we've had a book published along these lines by Matthew Bingham. And of course our own Dr. Renihan likewise has been very helpful in distinguishing those two groups. The Particular Baptists and the Anabaptists, they have common roots in the Christian religion. Dr. Richard Barcellos: They're both reading the Bible. Pastor David Charles: They're both reading the Bible, but it's not like the Baptists are a later improved version of Anabaptists. The Particular Baptists have a completely different origin arising more out of the English Reformation, Congregationalists specifically. Distinguishing Themselves in the First London Baptist Confession Pastor David Charles: So the early Particular Baptists labored hard, going back to the first London Baptist Confession of Faith, to distinguish themselves from the Anabaptists. Pastor Jim Butler: It's on the title page. Pastor David Charles: Right, exactly. So if we're to listen to their own witness, and then the witness of others during that time, and then of course our own better historians, there's no relationship. And that shows out not just simply historically, but actually how those two groups developed and their relationship. There's some similarities because, like Rich said, they're both reading the Bible with a non-Papist view. But that doesn't mean that they have a common origin. Of course not. Rich, anything to add? No Known Connection in the Writings Dr. Richard Barcellos: I think I spoke to at least one, if not two, men who have read all the extant existing literature from the 17th century, what we would call the Particular Baptists, and there's no known connection in the writings to any of the Anabaptist writings. Even though you can go on the internet and do a search and find out that Particular Baptists find their roots with the Anabaptists, not the Mennonites. Pastor Jim Butler: Anabaptists. Dr. Richard Barcellos: Anabaptists. And it keeps cropping up on Twitter through a particular person especially. But I don't think it's a legitimate thesis. Pastor Jim Butler: Okay. Doing Real History from the Sources Pastor David Charles: And we certainly can be understanding. We're living in a good time where real history is being done. We have men like Dr. Renihan and Bingham and others who are going back, as you said, actually going back to the history rather than repeating something that's been repeated and left unchallenged. And it just becomes a very convenient way to talk about the history, although it ends up being, unfortunately, very ill-informed. Dr. Richard Barcellos: Yeah, a lot of either anachronistic interpretation of old things, imposing current views on ancient literature, or just depending on secondary literature or tertiary literature. Somebody said who somebody said what somebody else said, but the first person that said it didn't prove it from the actual writings of those people. So that's a very sloppy way to do historical work. And Dr. Renihan and Dr. Richard Muller and others have really helped, I think, our people. Why Some Still Identify as Anabaptists Pastor David Charles: And I've actually met people who would identify as Anabaptists, and there's some of their instinct, they're wrong, but I understand they want to so distinguish themselves from the medieval papacy. And so the notion that there's this traceable back to the medieval church is so appalling to them. And they think that Anabaptism jumped over somehow. Dr. Richard Barcellos: Went all the way back to Paul and Jesus. Pastor David Charles: Yeah, right. Dr. Richard Barcellos: And is the only faithful expression of the New Testament, or something like that you'll hear. Pastor David Charles: And, you know, once again, this is where we live in a very good time where others are helping us to think in a good way, more catholic, small c. They're helping us, I think. Rich, you were there in Toledo and you gave some lectures where the Reformation didn't change everything. And that's a very salutary way for us to think about our religion and who we are as Protestants and as Baptists. Paedobaptist Congregationalists Who Came to Believer's Baptism Dr. Richard Barcellos: Doesn't Bingham argue from the primary source documents that what became the Particular Baptists were actually paedobaptists, and they were— Pastor David Charles: Congregationalists. Dr. Richard Barcellos: Yeah, paedobaptist Congregationalists. And it was their view of the covenants and ecclesiology that drove them to confessing disciples' baptism alone. They didn't go back to the Anabaptists. It was within that kind of a context. That's part of his argument. Is that right? Pastor David Charles: Yeah. I can't remember when it was, once we were all, all three of us, in Boston with the Presbyterian historian, Chad Van Dixhoorn. Dr. Richard Barcellos: Chad Van Dixhoorn. Pastor David Charles: He was making the point too that there was a desire and an enterprise, both going back to Westminster and moving forward, that they're all kind of wanting a pure church. Dr. Richard Barcellos: Yeah, right. Beginning at the Threshold of the Church Pastor David Charles: And of course it was the Particular Baptists in that same stream that came to the realization— Dr. Richard Barcellos: It has to be a clean church. Pastor David Charles: —that to accomplish that, you have to begin at the very threshold of the church, in the baptismal waters. As I recall. Dr. Richard Barcellos: A believer's membership. And that's where outsiders looking in say, well, that's what the Anabaptists were doing, a believer's membership. So therefore you must have gotten that from them. It's like— The

Ask FGBC 65: Are Reformed Baptists Really Just Anabaptists?

Introduction

Transcript

The Question

Common Roots, Different Origins

Distinguishing Themselves in the First London Baptist Confession

No Known Connection in the Writings

Doing Real History from the Sources

Why Some Still Identify as Anabaptists

Paedobaptist Congregationalists Who Came to Believer’s Baptism

Beginning at the Threshold of the Church

The Anabaptists Were Not Monolithic

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