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.