Baptist Faith and Message

The Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) is the Southern Baptist Convention confession of faith.

It summarizes key Southern Baptist thoughts in the areas of the Scriptures (i.e. Bible) and their authority, the nature of God as expressed by the Trinity, the spiritual condition of man, God's plan of grace and salvation, the purpose of the local church, ordinances, evangelism, Christian education, interaction with society, religious liberty, and the family.

History

Although the Southern Baptist Convention was organized in 1845, no formal confession of faith was adopted until 1925, when the SBC formulated the Baptist Faith and Message. The BF&M closely parallels the New Hampshire Confession of Faith of 1833.

Revisions

The BF&M was revised in 1963, amended in 1998, and completely revised in 2000. The 1998 amendment, and the 2000 revision, were controversial in two respects.

Women's role

First, it stated that wives should "graciously submit" to their husbands, a line which caused considerable discussion both within and outside of the convention's member churches.

Exegetical standard

Second, the 2000 revision of the BF&M removed the assertion that the person of Jesus Christ was to be the exegetical standard by which the Bible was to be interpreted, over concerns that some groups were elevating the recorded words of Jesus in Scripture (or, more often, what Jesus did not say) over other Scriptural passages (the traditional SBC view is that all Scripture is equally inspired by God).

The latter in particular led the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the largest state convention, to break with the national convention.

Role in Baptist life

Keeping with the Baptist principle that God's message is defined by God alone, the Baptist Faith & Message is not a creed or prescription of doctrine, but a rough consensus of the convention's member churches. Nevertheless, many Southern Baptist churches have adopted the Message as their "Statement of Faith" (though with the controversy over the 2000 revision, the church usually specifies whether it holds to the 1963 or 2000 version).

External links

Baptist Faith and Message - a comparison of 1925, 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith and Message

Southern Baptist Convention | Christian confessions, creeds and statements of faith