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Southern Baptists have prepared
a statement of generally held convictions called The
Baptist Faith and Message. It serves as a guide to
understanding who we are. This page contains a brief summary:
The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and
is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of
divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its
end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.
Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It
reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is,
and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of
Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human
conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All
Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of
divine revelation.
God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an
intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer,
Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness
and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing;
and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present,
and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures.
To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The
eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of
nature, essence, or being.
God the Father
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe,
His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history
according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all
knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those
who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is
fatherly in His attitude toward all men.
God the Son
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus
Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin
Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking
upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and
identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He
honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His
substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the
redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a
glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was
with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is
now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator,
fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the
reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and
glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission.
He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present
Lord.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He
inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through
illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ.
He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He
calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment
of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of
Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and
bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His
church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption.
His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring
the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He
enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship,
evangelism, and service.
Man
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own
image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His
creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's
creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed
by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man
sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through
the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and
fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a
nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon
as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and
are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into
His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose
of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God
created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man;
therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and
is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and
is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the
believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration,
justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no
salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of
God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ
Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through
conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance
toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and
faith are inseparable experiences of grace.
Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward
God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the
entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.
B. Justification is God's gracious and full
acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who
repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer
unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.
C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning
in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's
purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual
maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit
dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the
regenerate person's life.
D. Glorification is the culmination of
salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the
redeemed.
God's Purpose of Grace
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to
which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies
sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and
comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the
glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely
wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes
humility.
All true believers endure to the end. Those
whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit,
will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere
to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and
temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces
and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and
temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation.
The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an
autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by
covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the
two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the
gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and
seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each
congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through
democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is
responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural
officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are
gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited
to men as qualified by Scripture.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as
the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the
ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and
nation.
Baptism and the Lord's Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in
water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It
is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a
crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin,
the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in
newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in
the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it
is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the
Lord's Supper.
The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of
obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the
bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the
Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
The Lord's Day
The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a
Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the
resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises
of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private.
Activities on the Lord's Day should be commensurate with the
Christian's conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom
The Kingdom of God includes both His general
sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over men
who willfully acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is
the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike
commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to labor
that the Kingdom may come and God's will be done on earth. The
full consummation of the Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus Christ
and the end of this age.
Last Things
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the
world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus
Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth;
the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in
righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the
place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their
resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and
will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Evangelism and Missions
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of
Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to
make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man's spirit by
God's Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary
effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of
the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in
the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the
preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every
child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by
verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other
methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.
Education
Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and
intelligence. In Jesus Christ abide all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. All sound learning is, therefore, a part of our
Christian heritage. The new birth opens all human faculties and
creates a thirst for knowledge. Moreover, the cause of education
in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of
missions and general benevolence, and should receive along with
these the liberal support of the churches. An adequate system of
Christian education is necessary to a complete spiritual program
for Christ's people.
In Christian education there should be a proper
balance between academic freedom and academic responsibility.
Freedom in any orderly relationship of human life is always
limited and never absolute. The freedom of a teacher in a
Christian school, college, or seminary is limited by the
pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the
Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school
exists.
Stewardship
God is the source of all blessings, temporal and
spiritual; all that we have and are we owe to Him. Christians have
a spiritual debtorship to the whole world, a holy trusteeship in
the gospel, and a binding stewardship in their possessions. They
are therefore under obligation to serve Him with their time,
talents, and material possessions; and should recognize all these
as entrusted to them to use for the glory of God and for helping
others. According to the Scriptures, Christians should contribute
of their means cheerfully, regularly, systematically,
proportionately, and liberally for the advancement of the
Redeemer's cause on earth.
Cooperation
Christ's people should, as occasion requires, organize
such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation
for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations
have no authority over one another or over the churches. They are
voluntary and advisory bodies designed to elicit, combine, and
direct the energies of our people in the most effective manner.
Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one
another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and
benevolent ministries for the extension of Christ's Kingdom.
Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony
and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of
Christ's people. Cooperation is desirable between the various
Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself
justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of
conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as
revealed in the New Testament.
The Christian and the Social Order
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 individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. In
the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form
of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual
immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. We
should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused,
the aged, the helpless, and the sick. We should speak on behalf of
the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from
conception to natural death. Every Christian should seek to bring
industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the
principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love. In order
to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all
men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in
the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ
and His truth.
Peace and War
It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men
on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and
teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an
end to war.
The true remedy for the war spirit is the
gospel of our Lord. The supreme need of the world is the
acceptance of His teachings in all the affairs of men and nations,
and the practical application of His law of love. Christian people
throughout the world should pray for the reign of the Prince of
Peace.
Religious Liberty
God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it
free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary
to His Word or not contained in it. Church and state should be
separate. The state owes to every church protection and full
freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for
such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be
favored by the state more than others. Civil government being
ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal
obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will
of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry
on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means
alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to
impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has
no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion.
A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this
implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part
of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the
sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.
The Family
God has ordained the family as the foundational
institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to
one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one
woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's unique
gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to
provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for
intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according
to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human
race.
The husband and wife are of equal worth before
God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage
relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband
is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the
God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead
his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant
leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to
the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her
husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to
respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the
household and nurturing the next generation.
Children, from the moment of conception, are a
blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to
their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach
their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them,
through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to
make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and
obey their parents.
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As
Baptists we profess a living faith. This
faith is rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ who is "the
same yesterday, and today, and forever." Therefore, the
sole authority for our faith and practice is Jesus Christ, whose
will is revealed in the Holy Scriptures.