The administration of Mid-America Baptist Seminary asked me to write an essay on Baptist confessions of faith and Baptist distinctives. You can find the entire essay here:
The discussion of Baptist distinctives must wait for an explanation of Baptist confessions. This is because Baptist distinctives are derived from Baptist confessions, which are based on the Scriptures. Some denominations write creeds, but Baptists do not develop creeds. Instead, they write confessions of faith. The late William R. Estep, a long-time professor of church history at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, explains the difference between a creed and a confession. “Creeds are authoritative and often viewed as final, unalterable, and binding statements of faith.” While confessions are “abstracts of biblical truth as the group formulating the confession perceived it.”[1] To express this another way, a creed is binding on all the individuals and churches in a denomination. A confession of faith is not binding on individuals and churches, but the confession does express what a group of Christians believe the Bible teaches. A confession of faith is like an executive summary of the Bible. So, if someone asks, what do Southern Baptists believe, one could refer them to the Baptist Statement of Faith and Message, which summarizes what most Southern Baptists believe.
Baptists have written many confessions through the centuries. The London Confession of 1644 represents one of the early British Baptist confessions. The Philadelphia Baptist Association wrote a confession in 1742 that influenced many Baptists in the United States. Perhaps, the most important Baptist confession for early Baptists in America was the New Hampshire Confession (1833).[2] Surprisingly, the Southern Baptist Convention did not adopt a confession of faith for eighty years. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was organized in 1845, but the messengers to that first convention did not formulate a confession of faith. The SBC eventually did adopt a confession in 1925. The committee that wrote that confession testified that they leaned heavily on the New Hampshire Confession. They also wrote a Preamble in which they explained how they viewed confessions of faith:
- That they constitute a consensus of opinion of some Baptist body, large or small, for the general instruction and guidance of our own people and others concerning those articles of the Christian faith which are most surely held among us. They are not intended to add anything to the simple conditions of salvation revealed in the New Testament, viz., repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
- That we do not regard them as complete statements of our faith, having any quality of finality or infallibility. As in the past so in the future, Baptists should hold themselves free to revise their statements of faith as may seem to them wise and expedient at any time.
- That any group of Baptists, large or small, have the inherent right to draw up for themselves and publish to the world a confession of their faith whenever they may think it advisable to do so.
- That the sole authority for faith and practice among Baptists is the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Confessions are only guides in interpretation, having no authority over the conscience.
- That they are statements of religious convictions, drawn from the Scriptures, and are not to be used to hamper freedom of thought or investigation in other realms of life.[3]
The Southern Baptist Convention adopted revised statements of faith in 1963 and 2000, but both of the formulation committees affirmed the preamble from 1925.
It is important to understand that Baptists view the Bible as primary and the statement of faith as secondary. Indeed, under every article of faith in the Baptist Statement of Faith and Message one can find the list of Scriptures that support the beliefs expressed in the article. Dr. Stan Norman has been a prominent writer on Baptist doctrine in recent years. He comments on Southern Baptists and their fidelity to the Bible:
“Baptists, along with other Christian denominations, appeal to the Bible as their ultimate or sole source for religious authority. Baptist distance themselves from other denominations, however, by claiming a complete dependence upon Scripture as the principal foundation for their beliefs and practices. Whereas certain other Christian groups incorporate extra-biblical sources such as tradition for religious authority. Baptists in their distinctive writings contend that they alone consistently and exclusively hold to the Bible exclusively as their religious authority.”[4]
Before explaining Baptist distinctives, the reader should understand that the Southern Baptist Convention does not impose its Statement of Faith and Message on its member churches. Rather, the SBC commends the Statement of Faith and Message to the churches for their approval and use. To be sure, many SBC churches have adopted the 2000 Statement as their statement of faith. Beyond that, the International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board require their missionaries to sign a pledge to preach and teach “in accordance with and not contrary to” the 2000 Statement of Faith. This is also true at the SBC-owned seminaries, excepting Southern Baptist Seminary and Southeastern Baptist Seminary, which have their own confessions of faith. These two seminaries affirm the 2000 Statement, but they continue to prioritize their historic confessions. For Southern Baptist Seminary, the oldest SBC seminary, the confession is called The Abstract of Principles. Mid-America Baptist Seminary has its own statement of faith (The Articles of Belief), but it is quite similar to the 2000 Statement of Faith.
Footnotes:
[1] William R. Estep. “Baptists and Authority: The Bible Confessions, and Conscience in the Development of Baptist Identity.” Review and Expositor, 84, No. 4 (Fall 1987): 600-601.
[2] For copies of these confessions and information about their composition, see William L. Lumpkin, Baptist Confessions of Faith (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1969).
[3] Herschel H. Hobbs, The Baptist Faith and Message (Nashville: Convention Press, 1971), 2-3.
[4] R. Stanton Norman, “Southern Baptist Identity: A Theological Perspective.” In David S. Dockery, Southern Baptist Identity. (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2009), 44-45.
For some reason the link to the entire essay did not appear. Nevertheless, for those who wish to read the whole essay, here is the link: https://www.mabts.edu/sites/all/themes/midamerica/uploads/The%20Importance%20of%20Baptist%20Distinctives%202.1.pdf.
Is Scripture really the true center of Christian union?
Seems to me there are two centers: the subject experience of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and the objective experience of the Scriptures. Two centers? Absolutely! A circle has only one center, but an ellipse has two.
P.S.
The confession of one who minored in Math and majored in Physics, many years ago.
This is a good Article. It goes to the core of some of the theory to understanding Baptist’s Theology framework.
I would like to see on this site some discussions of major interpretations of Scripture.
I have come to the conclusion God’s major objective is to ‘conform’ believers ‘to the image of His Son,’ and in that objective the Gospel plays a central role. .
it is very easy in a very distracting world to lose sight of God’s major objectives. Being unified on Objectives help people work together.
Mr. Terry Actually, the first two sentences of the social order section are good as they establish solid Biblical ground for what is mandated for all Christians. Everything after these sentences seems to contradict them and suggest additional means and methods be employed by all Christians. “All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society. Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the… Read more »
I don’t know the abbreviation NAR. Would you spell it out. Thanks. I know NRA; I live in Texas.
Thank you for your reply. I assumed the acronym was common knowledge based on my own egocentric experience; I do apologize. It’s the New Apostolic Reformation. For some “evangelicals” it’s a distinct, loosely organized movement, but It’s is also a strong impulse that seems to influence all of evangelicalism.
I live in Texas as well, but I’m from a small community in rural Tennessee where the leading causes of death are smoking in bed, hunting accidents, and falling out of the back of a truck. That’s prime habitat for both the NRA and the NAR. If you’re in Texas long enough, you’ll experience the latter.
“An adequate system of Christian education is necessary to a complete spiritual program for Christ’s people.”
Should be something like:
The Spirit illuminates mankind to an adequate understanding of Scripture as man seeks to know God in humble surrender to God. The church and the family are the primary institutions where the understanding of God and relationship with him are nurtured through teaching, prayer, fellowship, and other means described in Scripture. We believe that Christian education to be valuable because ………..
I confess my ignorance. I had never heard of the New Apostolic Reformation. No wonder I didn’t know the abbreviation. I know about the apostles and I know about the Reformation, but the NAR is new to me.
There’s some information and conversation at this SBC Voices post about NAR and an NAR related entity. My comments were actually about the dominionist aspect of their theology; something I’m sure that you are familiar with. I think the wording that I referenced above showed up in 1963 as a likely overreaction to culture. I guess it’s vague enough as long as people don’t have to sign in agreement.
https://sbcvoices.com/southern-baptists-and-ihop-a-plea-for-separation-anonymous/
I am familiar with the International House of Prayer and Peter Wagner’s writing on modern day apostles . I agree we should be wary of both.
Should we not also be way of signing or requiring the signing of broad confessions that throw in a little bit of this and a little bit of that; including those with dominionist overtones like the one I listed earlier?
Mr. Terry
I’m not trying to give you a hard time, but I see significant issues with the wording of this document.
I apologize for being a bit late in responding to this, but I have a question related to the proper use of the Baptist Faith and Message by a local church. Early last year, the Southern Baptist church of which we had been members for almost thirty years went through a revitalization process, the result of which was a new type of membership called Covenant Membership. In order to be a Covenant Member of the church, a person was required to sign a statement (to be renewed annually), that included the following: “Before God I commit/recommit to the beliefs, covenant,… Read more »
This is a great question, and your story would make a great case study for a seminary class. As I mentioned in the post, a Baptist Confession is a statement of what a particular group of Baptists believe. Some parts of the 2000 Statement of Faith and Message are very specific, like the article on Scripture, while other articles are somewhat vague, allowing for a variety of viewpoints. The article on Last Things is worded so that those who hold different opinions on the millennium could agree with the Statement. Of course, the use of the Statement in your church’s… Read more »
Would the Sunday School teacher be required to teach that scripture is the true center of Christian union? If so, it is my understanding that he or she would contradict scripture itself.
Also, how would a seminary class sworn to uphold the BFM be capable of studying this case objectively?
These are some questions that I think are relavent to your question.
1. Is the Bible so clear on each one of these issues that men of good conscience will not disagree?
2. Does the BFM accurately and clearly articulate what the Bible teaches regarding each issue or is it a well meaning attempt?
3. Does the BFM present a correct and comprehensive picture applicable to all cultural contexts or is it primarily reacting to cultural context?
4. Should a new and undiscipled believer be asked to sign this?
5. Are classes of church membership Biblical?
Hit the door, Jim. This is about control, not belief.
The 2000 BF&M calls itself an instrument of doctrinal accountability. The 1963 BF&M calls itself a consensus of opinion document. Seems to me that is a significant difference.
Is “creeds vs. confessions” a distinction without a difference? Does anyone know any Protestant denomination that considers a creed as canonically authoritative or inerrant?
This is a great question. I could not find a Protestant denomination that uses the term “creed.” I should mention one exception to that. Many Protestant denominations recite the Apostles Creed as part of their liturgies, but the Apostles Creed is not their official doctrinal statement. Most denominations call their doctrinal statement a confession–think Westminster Confession–or something like that. In popular usage “creed” and “confession” are often interchanged.
I’ve read all the scripture references and consulted other sources to get decent answers to the questions I’ve asked you Mr. Terry. Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, James McDonald and others became influential within our convention while the BFM kept the rest of us from drifting into error. I’ve personally dealt with two pedophiles that served in leadership positions. I pretty sure one of them received NAMB dollars to start his church. I light of my experience, I think I’ve asked you some pretty valid questions and I’ve answered your questions in good faith; thinking those answers were necessary for you… Read more »
Scott, you seem to be a dissatisfied reader. I’ll try to answer your questions. First, no one appointed me Defender of the SBC Faith and Message. Undoubtedly, the powers that be would choose someone other than me. I majored in missiology and church history, not theology, in my PhD studies at Southwestern Seminary. I was surprised that Mid-America Seminary asked me to write the essay, but I tried to fulfill the assignment. Second, I do support the writing of Baptist confessions. Most Baptists would seem to agree with me. They have written lots of confessions over the centuries. To answer… Read more »
Mr. Terry Thank you for taking the time to respond. Can you direct me to a source that is more comfortable answering my questions and concerns from the denominational perspective. My disposition in pressing these inquiries is not one of dissatisfaction, but an honest attempt to reconcile how a denomination can have such deep flaws and dissension at the organizational level and continue to stress the importance of a document created by man apart from divine involvement. I have no personal knowledge of the man who chose the last committee to review our confessions, but some people think so poorly… Read more »
Clearly, you have a keen interest in this topic. The primary scholarly work on Baptist confessions in William Lumpkin’s “Baptist Confessions of Faith.” Everybody quotes him. Herschel Hobbs served as chairman of the committee that prepared the 1963 Statement. Dr. Hobbs earned a PhD in New Testament at Southern Baptist Seminary, where he studied under A. T. Robertson. Dr. Hobbs served as pastor of the FBC in Oklahoma City and preached on “The Baptist Hour” radio program for thirty years. He also served as president of the SBC. He wrote two books on Baptist doctrine: “What Baptists Believe” and “The… Read more »
Thanks again for you reply. I have an earnest desire to walk/rest in the One who gives life, fellowship with those who are alive, and be a testimony of the One who gives life to the dead. I have little desire to attain voluminous knowledge of Baptist confessions and confessionalism in general. When I originally asked if Scripture is really the true center of Christian union, I never thought I would have to read multiple volumes written by eminent theologians at a price of $37.50. I thought I might be able to get an answer from a living human being… Read more »