Particular Baptists

   At the start of the 17th century, British Baptists split into General Baptists and Particular Baptists. The former group taught the doctrine of general atonement, that Christ had died for all and that anyone who turned to him in faith would be saved. The Particular Baptists taught the idea of particular atonement, that Christ died only for the elect whom God foreknew and predestined to turn to faith. These two groups existed side by side through the 18th century, until a modified form of the Particular perspective developed by Andrew Fuller became the dominant theological stance of the Baptists.

   The Strict Baptists emerged among Particular Baptists in England in the early 19th century. They practice what is termed closed communion, meaning that they limit participation in the Lord's Supper to those who have been baptized as adults by immersion. while many Baptists practice closed communion, the primary group that retains the strict label is the Strict and Particular Baptists of England (who have a small branch in the United States).

   Further reading:

   ■ H. Leon McBeth, The Baptist Heritage: Four Centuries of Baptist Witness (Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1887).