More than you might think. We confess the same Triune God, believe Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, and hold that he died and rose bodily for our salvation. We both read Scripture as God’s Word. We both care about holy living, strong families, and serving the poor.
But we also differ in ways that matter deeply.
If you grew up Baptist in Southeast Texas, you probably learned your Bible stories in Sunday school, got baptized when you made a profession of faith, and heard a lot of preaching about a personal relationship with Jesus. That’s real faith. Nobody at St. Michael’s will tell you it wasn’t. The question isn’t whether Baptists are sincere Christians. They are. The question is what the fullness of Christian faith looks like, and that’s where we part ways.
What We Share
Start with the big stuff. Orthodox Christians and Baptists both confess the Nicene Creed’s core claims. God is Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus is God incarnate, not just a good teacher or prophet. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, buried, rose on the third day, and will come again. Salvation comes through Christ alone, by God’s grace. These aren’t small agreements. They’re the foundation.
We also share moral convictions. Both traditions teach that marriage is between a man and a woman, that sexual intimacy belongs within marriage, that human life is sacred from conception. We both believe Christians should care for widows, orphans, and the poor. We both think faith should change how you live. Your grandmother who brought you to First Baptist and your Orthodox neighbor at St. Michael’s agree on more than cable news would have you believe.
And we both take the Bible seriously. You won’t find an Orthodox Christian who thinks Scripture is optional or outdated. We read it constantly in our services. The Liturgy is soaked in it. But here’s where things get complicated.
Where We Differ
Baptists generally hold to “sola scriptura”, the Bible alone as the rule of faith. Orthodox Christians believe Scripture is the inspired Word of God, but we receive it within Holy Tradition. The Church wrote the New Testament, decided which books belonged in it, and has interpreted it for two thousand years. You can’t separate the Bible from the Church that gave it to you. That’s not adding to Scripture. It’s recognizing how Scripture came to be and how it’s meant to be read.
Then there’s baptism. Most Baptists see it as an outward sign of an inward decision, a public testimony to faith you already have. Orthodox Christians believe baptism actually does something. It unites you to Christ’s death and resurrection. It makes you a member of his Body. When we baptize, we’re not just symbolizing. We’re participating in the reality itself.
Same with communion. Baptists typically understand the Lord’s Supper as a memorial, a way to remember what Jesus did. We believe the bread and wine become Christ’s actual Body and Blood. Not symbolically. Actually. That’s why we fence the Table, not out of meanness, but because receiving the Eucharist unprepared is spiritually dangerous, as St. Paul warns in 1 Corinthians.
The biggest difference might be how we understand salvation. Most Baptists you’ll meet in Beaumont talk about being “saved” as a past event. You walked the aisle, prayed the sinner’s prayer, got saved. Orthodox Christians talk about being saved as something ongoing. We’re being saved. Salvation isn’t just a legal declaration that you’re forgiven. It’s healing, transformation, union with God. We call it theosis. It starts at baptism and continues your whole life as you’re united to Christ through the Church’s sacraments, prayers, and disciplines.
Why It Matters
These aren’t just academic differences. They shape everything. How you worship. How you pray. What you think the Church is. Baptists generally see the church as a voluntary gathering of believers who’ve made personal decisions for Christ. Orthodox Christians believe the Church is Christ’s Body, founded by him and the apostles, sustained by the Holy Spirit, and continuous through history. We didn’t start in Beaumont in 1985. We go back to Pentecost.
That can sound arrogant. It’s not meant to be. It’s what we genuinely believe, and if we didn’t think it mattered, we wouldn’t be Orthodox. But it also doesn’t mean your Baptist grandmother isn’t a faithful Christian or that God hasn’t worked in her life. It means we’re inviting you into something fuller, older, deeper than what you’ve known.
Living Together
Here’s the practical part. If you’re Orthodox in Southeast Texas, most of your family is probably Baptist. You’ll go to Baptist weddings and funerals. Your kids will have Baptist friends. That’s fine. We can work together on things that matter, helping hurricane victims, supporting crisis pregnancy centers, standing up for religious freedom. We can be neighbors and friends.
But we can’t pretend the differences don’t exist. When your aunt asks why you “became Orthodox” or why you won’t take communion at her church, you’ll need to explain gently but honestly. Read Fr. Thomas Hopko’s writings on Ancient Faith if you need help with that conversation. He’s got a pastor’s heart and knows how to explain Orthodoxy to Protestants without being condescending.
The common ground is real. Build on it. But don’t minimize what’s different. Your Baptist coworker loves Jesus. So do you. You both want to follow him faithfully. You’ve just discovered that following him means entering the fullness of his Church, receiving his Body and Blood, praying with the saints, and being transformed into his likeness over a lifetime. That’s not a criticism of where you came from. It’s an invitation into where you’re going.
