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Basic Beliefs
Southern Baptists have prepared a statement of generally held
convictions called The Baptist Faith and Message. It serves as
a guide to understanding who they are. Copies are available at
Southern Baptist churches. The topics here provide only a brief,
partial summary. The full text on the issue discussed is also available
on the Southern Baptist Convention website.
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.
God
There is one and only one living and true God. …The
eternal 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. …God is Father
in truth to those who become children of God through faith
in Jesus Christ.
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. …He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His
death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. …He exalts Christ.
He convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. …He
enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship,
evangelism, and service.
Man
Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image,
and is the crowning work of His creation. …By his free choice
man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. … 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 man possesses 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 Saviour, who
by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer.
In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification,
and glorification.
God's Purpose of Grace
Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which
He regenerates, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. …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.
The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local
body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant
in the faith
and fellowship of the gospel…and seeking to extend the
gospel to the ends of the earth. …This church is an autonomous
body. …The New Testament speaks also of the church as the
body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the
ages.
Baptism & the Lord's Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. …It
is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death
to sin, the burial of the life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.
The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members … 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 commemorates
the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed
in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion.
Last Things
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world
to its appropriate end. …Jesus Christ will return personally
and visibly…the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge
all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to
Hell. …The righteous… will receive their reward and
will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Evangelism & Missions
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and
every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples
of all nations … to seek constantly to win the lost to
Christ by personal effort.
Education
The cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate
with the causes of missions and general benevolence … there
should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic
responsibility. …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.
Cooperation
Christ's people should … 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. …Cooperation is desirable between the
various Christian denominations.
The Christian & the Social Order
Every Christian is under obligation to seek to make the will of
Christ supreme in his own life and in human society. ... The
Christian should oppose in the spirit of Christ every form of
greed, selfishness, and vice.
Religious Liberty
Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every
church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual
ends. …A
free church in a free state is the Christian ideal.
Family
God has ordained the family as the foundational institution
of human society. …Marriage is the unity of one man and one
woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. …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. …Children, from the moment of conception,
are a blessing and heritage from the Lord.
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