Why Fundamentalists Object to the Baptist Faith & Message
By Bruce Prescott
Director, Mainstream Oklahoma Baptists
There is method to their madness. Since the fundamentalists seized control of the assets of the SBC in the 1980s, they have replaced the leadership of every SBC institution and agency. Scores of denominational executives, administrators, and professors have been forced from their positions. Now rank and file Baptists are under assault. The Baptist Faith & Message is the doctrinal guideline under which every existing missionary, professor and denominational worker was hired. Reviewing the Baptist Faith & Message “to remove ambiguities” will certainly result in another wave of dismissals and forced retirements. |
The Baptist Faith & Message has defined the beliefs of “Mainstream Baptists” for 75 years. In June the fundamentalists controlling the SBC authorized a committee to review and revise our statement of faith. Fundamentalists were never satisfied with the Baptist Faith and Message that Herschel Hobbs and his committee produced in 1963. Like the 1925 committee, Hobbs’ committee avoided using theologically loaded words like “inerrant” and “infallible” in the article on the scriptures. Particularly unsettling to fundamentalists were statements that Hobbs and his committee added to the 1925 article.
The 1963 BFM committee added a clause that said the Bible “is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to man,” and a sentence saying, “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.”
The first addition served to safeguard Baptists from a chief danger of fundamentalism — Bible idolatry. Baptists love and respect the Bible, but we do not worship it. Our faith is in Jesus, not the Bible. Jesus is God’s perfect revelation of Himself. The Bible is the “record” of God’s revelation of Himself and a “perfect treasure” of divine instruction.
The second addition tried to steer Baptists away from a second danger of fundamentalism — arrogance. No mortal can presume infallibility for their interpretations of the Bible, “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.” Christ alone is the infallible interpreter of scripture. Every interpreter and every interpretation will fall short when measured by Jesus.
Hobbs and his committee underscored this principle of interpretive humility in their preface against creedalism. For Baptists, confessions of faith are not creeds. They are not criterions by which Christians can interpret the Bible. Jesus Christ is the criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted.
Fundamentalists sensed that the 1963 BFM article on scripture challenged them at the very core of their convictions. At the heart of fundamentalism is the same desire for the security of a substantial basis for faith that underlies all idolatry.
Lapses into idolatry have plagued God’s people throughout history. Living by faith has never been easy.
Ancient men sought security in forms fashioned from wood or stone or precious metals and jewels. Pharisaic Judaism sought security in universal laws and divine precepts. Modern fundamentalism seeks security in perfect parchments and inerrant manuscripts.
SBC President Paige Patterson, who appointed the committee to revise the BFM, boldly proclaims that “The path to salvation is not an easy one to follow, …It begins with accepting the Bible as infallible and inerrant.”
Patterson’s words clearly reveal the idolatrous nature of the fundamentalist’s faith. For them, the Bible is a mediator between God and man. You have to put your faith in the book before you can have faith in Jesus. Faith in the Bible is prior to and prerequisite to faith in Christ.
“There is only one God, and only one intermediary between God and men, Jesus Christ the man.” –1 Timothy 2:5 (Phillips)
The Bible never says you have to believe in inerrancy or infallibility to be saved. Fundamentalists say that. That is why they call Mainstream Baptists, “infidels,” “false prophets,” and “wolves in sheep’s clothing” — we refuse to bow down to their idol.
The Bible does say “whosoever believes in Him (Jesus) should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:15-16)
Long before the gospels were written, people believed in Jesus of Nazareth. A century and a half before the text of the Bible was compiled, people were believing in Christ. A millennium and a half before Bibles were printed and widely distributed, people believed that Jesus was the Christ. For nearly two millennia before fundamentalists exalted the Bible and called it inerrant, people believed in Jesus Christ.
They were saved the old fashioned way — through the testimonial witness of people who freely and faithfully shared their personal experiences with the living Christ.
Pray for those whom fundamentalism has deceived. Pray that they will set aside their idolatry and return to worshipping the one true God. Then plan to attend the state Convention to help other mainstream Baptists face fundamentalism.
1963 BFM The Scriptures The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of 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. 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. |
1925 BFM The Scriptures We believe that the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is a perfect treasure of heavenly instruction; that it has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter; that it reveals the principles by which God will judge 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. Luke 16:29-31; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Eph. 2:20; Heb. 1:1; 2 Peter 1:19-21; John 16:13-15; Matt. 22:29-31; Psalm 19:7-10; Psalm 119:1-8. |
Implications of the Baptist Faith and Message Revision For Laity
For Congregations
For Clergy
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October 1999