The Baptist Faith And Message Article 1: The Scriptures
Obviously, you have to start somewhere when discussing what we believe. There must be a beginning point. And for Southern Baptists, the logical starting place is what we believe about Scripture.
This belief is the fount from which what we believe flows. It is from the Scriptures that our understanding of God, humanity, salvation, and everything else flows. Even doctrines that Baptists focus more on because of their history, such as religious freedom, are found in the pages of Scripture. It is God’s Word which is the fountain from which everything we believe flows. So, it makes sense to begin here.
Baptist Faith And Message Article 1: 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.
Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.
The Holy Bible Was Written By Men Divinely Inspired
The opening line of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 is that “The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired”. People who were divinely inspired wrote the Scriptures. This requires us to understand what is mean by the words “divinely inspired”.
Inspired here does not mean what it means in the popular language today. Taylor Swift dumping another boyfriend and was inspired to write another album is not what we mean when we say the Bible is “divinely inspired”.
Two passages of Scripture help us to understand what we mean by “inspired”. These are 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:21.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16 ESV)
Paul tells us that “all Scripture is breathed out by God”. Simply put, it is the product of God. Scripture originated with God and is the product of God.
Now, what is the role of people in the writing of Scripture? Why then does the BFM 2000 say that men wrote the Bible.
Well, men did write the Bible. We understand that Moses wrote the Pentateuch. We know that David wrote most of the Psalms. We understand that Peter, Paul, and John wrote books of the Bible. Men did write the Bible. Peter helps us to understand what is going on here.
“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21 ESV)
Peter states that “men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The people who wrote our Bibles were actual people who really committed actual sins. They were sinners. These people were wrong in many of the things they did throughout their lives, but as they wrote the Scriptures they were “carried along by the Holy Spirit.” The word used for carry was oftentimes used to describe the gust of wind that filled the sails of a boat. They were “carried along by the Holy Spirit” and moved to write the words of God so much so that Peter says that “men spoke from God”.
The words that these people wrote are the very words of God and this was accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit.
…and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction.
Last week we discussed the big controversy surrounding the Baptist Faith and Message 1963. It was here, in the very beginning of the Baptist Faith and Message that major changes were made in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. There in Article 1 years of heated debate in the Southern Baptist Convention were settled.
In the 1963 version the Baptist Faith and Message stated that the Bible “is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to man.” The word “record” was removed. As Albert Mohler stated,
“The Bible is not merely a record of revelation. It is revelation itself. The Bible is not a fallible witness to the revelation of God. It is God’s perfectly inspired Word.”[1]
This may not seem like a major change, but it is. Interestingly, this will come up again on Sunday when we discuss the authorship of the Book of Genesis.
“Revelation” is simply a revealing or making something known. God’s revelation of Himself is Him making Himself known to us.
The men who wrote the Scriptures by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit were writing something special. “The Bible is God’s testimony about Himself.”[2] And because this is what Scripture is “it is a perfect treasure of divine instruction.”
In other words, the Bible is without error and teaches us about who God is. It has come to us by the hands of men who were carried along by the Spirit of God to deliver to us a perfect treasure of instruction as to who God is and what He is doing. God has revealed Himself to us.
It has God for its author,
As has already been discussed, the Scriptures originate with God. He is the author of Scripture.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16 ESV)
It all originated with Him. He breathed it out.
We should never look at the Scriptures as something small or insignificant. This is God’s Word. This is God’s revelation of Himself to us.
salvation for its end,
As the confession will later state, “all Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.” The main thrust of Scripture is the salvation that God worked out in history through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son.
Think about it. The big concern throughout Genesis is the seed, or the lineage through which God’s promise passed. In Abraham, all the world would be blessed. And we understand this to be about Christ because Paul tells us so in Galatians 3:16. And throughout the Old Testament we find the preservation of that seed until Christ is born. The gospels focus on His life, death, and resurrection. And the letters of the New Testament explain the great salvation that was accomplished for us and what that means for us. And it ends with the Book of Revelation and mankind’s return to living face to face with God.
The Scriptures are ultimately about our salvation. But it’s not just about a one-time pray a prayer salvation. It’s about what God did to accomplish the salvation of His people and what He is going to do in the future to bring about our ultimate salvation.
and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.
In theological terms this is the Southern Baptist Convention stating where they stand on the doctrines of inerrancy and infallibility.
The doctrine of inerrancy teaches that Scripture is factually accurate in what it claims. And the doctrine of infallibility teaches that the purposes that God has for Scripture are unable to fail.
This statement in the Baptist Faith and Message states simply that Scripture is completely true. It is without error (inerrant). God’s Word is true, it will always be true. And God will accomplish all His will with it. His Word will never fail.
Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy.
This statement in the Baptist Faith and Message is really about our attitude toward all of Scripture. It comes immediately after the statement that “It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.”
Because of this we can entrust ourselves completely to what is found in the Scriptures.
It reveals the principles by which God judges us…
The full statement discussed under this heading is that,
“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.”
In the Bible we find God’s standard and the standard by which God will judge us. In God’s Word we find His Law, His commands to us. Because that is found in God’s Word it is the measure by which we judge all things in this life.
Everything should be tried by the measuring rod of God’s Word.
Should I be close friends with a certain individual? Should I marry this person? What should I believe about this topic?
Everything should be tried by the measuring rod of God’s Word.
All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.
This is another area of change from the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message. It stated,
“The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.”
Albert Mohler, who was on the committee that worked on changing this, gave his reason for the change thusly,
“Why? Simply put, because 30 years of abuses and attacks upon the integrity of the Bible made clear that some were using the language to deny the truthfulness and authority of the Word of God.
Some who have taught in our seminaries over the past several decades claimed that this allowed them to deny the truthfulness of whatever biblical passages did not rise to their standard of Jesus’s intention. Professors and pastors have denied that God ordered the conquers of Canaan, tested Abraham in the sacrifice of Isaac or inspired the Apostle Paul when he wrote about the family or roles in the church.”[3]
So, what do we mean when we confess that Scripture is a testimony to Christ?
Jesus was walking with some of His disciples on the road and He spoke to them about this very topic. They were sad because of the death of Jesus and did not yet know that it was Jesus who was talking to them. This was still hidden from them, but He explained that things worked out as the Scriptures said they would and that the Scriptures testified concerning Jesus.
“Then He said to them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44 ESV)
Even more revealing is the rebuke that Jesus gives to those who want to kill Him.
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” (John 5:39 ESV)
Conclusion
God has revealed Himself to us in His Word. And He so oversaw the process that everything we find within the pages of Scripture is true and trustworthy. We measure all things by the Scriptures and attempt to live our lives by what is found within those pages. And the Scriptures teach us about our glorious Lord and the salvation that He has given us.
R. Dwain Minor
[1] An Exposition from the Faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary On The Baptist Faith And Message 2000, p. 1
[2] Scheiderer, Daniel; Still Confessing: An Exposition of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, Founder’s Press, 2001 p. 3.
[3] [3] An Exposition from the Faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary On The Baptist Faith And Message 2000, Pp. 1-2