THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
THE BAPTIST FAITH AND MESSAGE
INTRODUCTION
When we come to the Baptist Faith and Message, we come to a document which describes the beliefs of Baptists for over the past 300 years. Notice that this document describes the beliefs of the vast majority of Baptists. Unlike many other denominations, Baptists are not creedal. Creeds assume an air of infallibility and a strait-jacket form of uniformity. Baptists believe that only one document should command that kind of allegiance--the Bible. Confessions, on the other hand, are living, breathing descriptions of the beliefs, in this case, of Baptists.
BAPTIST BELIEFS IN COMMON TO ALL CHRISTIANS
II. SCRIPTURE
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of Gods 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. 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. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.
Ex 24:4; De 4:1-2; 17:19; Jos 8:34
Psa 19:7-10; 119:11, 89, 105, 140
Isa 34:16; 40:8; Jer 15:16; 36:1-32
Mat 5:17-18; 22:29; Lu 21:33; 24:44-46
Joh 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Ac 2:16; 17:11
Rom 15:4; 16:25-26; 2Ti 3:15-17
Heb 1:1-2; 4:12; 1Pe 1:25; 2Pe 1:19-21
A. Inspiration
According to 2 Tim. 3:16 "All Scripture is _______________ by God . . ."
According to 2 Pet. 1:21 how was the Bible produced?
The idea behind 2 Tim. 3:16 is "God breathed" into the writers of Scripture to produce the Scriptures. The idea behind 2 Pet. 1:21 is that the men were moved like a ship is moved when the wind blows the sails of the ship. The human side of this process explains why the books are different in style and content; the divine side of this process explains why the books of the Bible display an incredible unity. The divine side of this process also explains Paul's claim that the gospel "is the __________________ of God for __________________ to everyone who believes" (Rom. 1:16).
Whereas all Christian denominations believe that the Bible is God's Word being authoritative in matters of faith and practice, Baptists believe that the Bible is completely authoritative in all areas it addresses. Although men penned the words of Scripture, God is its ultimate author. The Holy Spirit inspired men to write the words of Scripture. Inspiration is the event in which the Spirit moves upon men to write down God's Word. Illumination is the event in which the Spirit enlightens us as to the true meaning of Scripture.
B. Main Content of Scripture
According to John 5:46 who was Moses writing about?
The primary theme of Scripture is Jesus Christ: the OT predicts His coming, while the NT declares that He has come and has established the kingdom of God. Because He humbled Himself to the greatest degree on the cross, the Father has exalted Him to His right hand. At the present time the Father is placing all creation beneath the feet of Jesus (Phil. 2:5-11; Eph. 1:22; Heb. 2:6-9; now view Matt. 28:18-20 in light of these verses). At the end of human history He will return to consummate His kingdom. Only after He has reigned will the Father descend to a radically transformed universe to dwell eternally with His sons and daughters (Rev. 21-22).
C. Method of Interpreting Scripture
It is at this point that we come to one of the major causes of division among Baptists today: our view of God's Word. The main problem that fundamentalist Baptists have with the 1963 BF&M is not what it necessarily says but what it does not say.
The first change occurs because the 2000 framers felt that on the basis of the 1963 BF&M you could make a distinction between God's revelation and the Bible ("the 1963 confession claims that the Bible is the record of God's revelation"). Whereas some might be able to make that distinction, I am not sure that the 1963 confession necessarily implies this. There was not really much controversy over this change. There was not much controversy over the second change either. How could there be?
The main point of controversy, though, centers on the third change, from Jesus being the criterion (or standard) by which you interpret Scripture to Jesus being the focus of Scripture. Our fundamentalist brothers didn't understand the gravity of what they did. Such a change strikes right at the heart of Christianity, much less Baptist beliefs.
How so? If Jesus is who He claimed to be, then He is the perfect revelation of God. Because Jesus perfectly reveals the Father, every interpretation of Scripture must harmonize with what we have seen of God in Jesus. Any interpretation of the Bible which contradicts what we have seen in Jesus is to be rejected. When Jesus returns, we shall see the face of the Father (Rev. 22:3). What we then learn of the Father will only deepen what we have seen of Him in Jesus; it may add but it will never contradict. We will just grow deeper and deeper in the knowledge of Him, the knowledge which we have from looking at Christ.
For example, what is the difference between the way God revealed Himself to us in the Old Testament and the way He revealed Himself to us in the New Testament (Heb. 1:1-2)?
The words translated "last days" have behind it the idea of ultimate or final. In other words, Jesus is the ultimate and final revelation of God. There is none superior (this undercuts Mohammed's claim to be the final prophet of God).
In what way does Jesus qualify as being the perfect revelation of God? By being God the Son, God's Son. Whereas it is true that children resemble their parents physically, this is supposed to be completely true spiritually. Spiritual children are to be perfect images of their spiritual parents. For example, in Galatians true spiritual children of Abraham are to live by faith just like their spiritual father Abraham did (Gal. 3:7). Jesus states this principle even more dramatically in John 8:31-44). According to John 8:39-40, what were the Jewish leaders doing which showed that they were NOT children of Abraham?
According to Jesus, they were not true spiritual children of Abraham because they were doing something Abraham would never do. On the other hand, because they were trying to murder Jesus, who was their spiritual father (John 8:44)?
Children, therefore, are like their parents. When you look at the spiritual child, for all practical purposes you are looking at their spiritual father. This is true of us to a limited degree who are sons of God, but it is perfectly true of Jesus who is the perfect Son of God. On the night when Jesus is about to be betrayed, Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father. How does Jesus respond (John 14:9)?
John declares that Jesus is such the perfect revelation of God, that he calls Jesus what in John 1:1?
So why did the framers of the 2000 Confession change this? Because of all the damage that had been done using this principle. Many liberal scholars of the 19th century came up with a Jesus who looked very similar to the liberal scholars of the 19th century, prototypes of the 20th-century hippie. Their Jesus would have fit very well with the flower child of the 1960's who sat in the fields with flowers in his hair, smoking dope and preaching love to everyone. They then claimed that all the mean depictions of God in the OT were untrue because they contradicted their, that is, their Jesus. Many Baptists scholars were also guilty of this very approach. As a result, the framers of the 2000 Confession felt it wise to remove this principle from the BF&M.
The problem, though, is that you don't throw out a principle because it has been misused. If you did that, you would be throwing out the Bible because it has been misused by Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons. Rather, you use the principle correctly. Truth is always the best defense against error.
Let's look at two ways in which this principle can be used in a healthy manner. What kind of attitude does God have towards sinners? Is He sitting up in heaven just waiting for the moment He can crush them because of their depravity? Jesus says "No!" According to JESUS, what is God's attitude towards the sinner (Luke 15:11-24)?
Another area in which this principle needs to be applied is the doctrine of predestination. According to John Calvin and his followers, before the creation of the world God sat in heaven and decided that some would be saved and the rest would go to hell—even before they had had a chance to be born and choose either for or against Him. Not only has this doctrine led to some serious mischief (the Unitarians sprang from this group), it also contradicts the claim that Jesus is the final/ultimate revelation of God. How does the principle of Jesus being the criterion by which we interpret Scripture contradict Calvin's claim about God and predestination?
Some of the framers of the 2000 BF&M actually adhere to Calvin's view of predestination. The principle of Jesus being the criterion by which we interpret Scripture got in their way. So they removed it. (Albert Mohler who is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and also an avowed Calvinist served on the committee which deleted this statement from the BF&M.) Again, the best course of action would seem to apply the principle ACCURATELY rather than just discarding it as the 2000 BF&M did.