Southern Baptists and the Future

by   David S. Dockery and Timothy George                                                                                         Vol. IX, No. 10, Nov/Dec 1996

     [Nine] years ago, in the summer of 1987, the two of us were walking together through Louisville's Cave Hill Cemetery. This is hallowed soil for Southern Baptists. We paused at the graves of J. P. Boyce, John R. Sampey, and E. Y. Mullins, all past presidents of the SBC. Nearby are buried John A. Broadus and Basil Manly, Jr., Baptist educators still remembered in the name of Broadman Press. Most impressive of all, perhaps, is the modest marker for Southern Baptists' greatest Biblical scholar, A. T. Robertson. It reads simply, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

     This walk through the cemetery bonded our friendship with one another and strengthened our commitment to pass on to a new generation the legacy of these great Baptist giants of days gone by. We began to pray for theological and spiritual renewal within our beloved denomination.

     Out of this concern emerged a volume entitled Baptist Theologians, which recounted the life and thought of many of the major shapers of our Baptist heritage. We wondered what Fuller and Spurgeon, Boyce and Broadus, Carroll and Scarborough, would say to us today. They too lived in times of controversy and strife. The forces of schism and self-interest threatened to undermine the unity and mission of the people of God called Southern Baptists in their day no less than in ours. Yet God honored their fidelity and vision to make of Southern Baptists the greatest missionary and evangelistic force on earth since the days of the apostles.

     We wondered, will God do it again today? "Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you?" (Ps. 85:6). We were not interested in nostalgia, but revival. "Can these dry bones live?" we asked. The answer from God's Word was yes. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord."

A Time to Rend and a Time to Sew

     Since 1987 Southern Baptists have experienced a sea change in our denominational life. The tempests of recent years have subsided. Clearly not all of our problems have been resolved, but we sense that a new consensus is emerging, one which can be embraced by Bible believing, cooperating Southern Baptists across our Convention irrespective of their previous alignment or lack thereof. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes says, "There is a time to rend and a time to sew." We believe that this is a time for repentance, reconciliation, and renewal. This is a time to sew.

     Given the intensity of the struggle we have come through, it was perhaps inevitable that some Southern Baptists would choose to move in other directions. This is not a new phenomenon in SBC history. In previous generations Landmark Baptists and Independent Baptists split off to the right. What we are seeing now is a similar splintering from the left. We respect those -- many of them are our friends -- who in good conscience believe they should no longer be a part of SBC life. We will miss them. We wish them well and pray that many lost persons will be won to Christ through their new endeavors.

     We are convinced, however, that the vast majority of Southern Baptists, conservatives and moderates alike, will continue to support the denomination of George W. Truett and R. G. Lee, of Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong, of Bill Wallace and Baker James Cauthen. And they will do so not out of blind institutional loyalty, never a worthy motive, but because that denomination has remained loyal to its Lord and is still being used by Him to saturate the world with the good news of Jesus Christ.

     What would the saints of Cave Hill, the founders of Southern and Southwestern, and the great missionary pioneers of the SBC say to us today at this critical juncture in our history? What counsel would they offer as we move from an era of schism and controversy toward a constructive future and a new consensus? We think they would say three things to us: Stay faithful to the Word of God. Honor the heritage you have received. Be Great Commission Christians in a changing world.

Stay Faithful to the Word of God

     We can move forward only as we remain faithful to the written Word of God. Following Scripture's own testimony we affirm that the Bible, because of its divine content and origin, can be described as "trustworthy" (I Tim. 1:15; 2 Tim. 2:11; Titus 3:8), "confirmed" (Heb. 2:3), "eternal" (I Pet. 1:24-25), and "certain" (2 Pet.1:19). Those who build their lives on Scripture will not be disappointed (see Rom. 9:33; 1 Pet. 2:6). The Word was written to instruct and encourage (see Rom 15:4), to lead to saving faith (see I Tim. 3:15), to guide people toward godliness (see 2 Tim. 3:16), and to equip believers for good works (see 2 Tim. 3:17). God's people will know and hear God's Word that "cannot be broken" (John 10:35).

     We recognize that God has inspired Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16). We affirm verbal inspiration, which means that the Holy Spirit's work influences even the choice of words by the biblical authors. A belief in the Bible's truthfulness or inerrancy is the corollary and result of our affirmations about a full view of inspiration. Such a belief is in line with what Southern Baptists have traditionally believed and taught.

     In 1900 J. M. Frost, the founding editor and first secretary of the Baptist Sunday School Board, said: "We accept the Scriptures as an all-sufficient and infallible rule of faith and practice, and insist upon the absolute inerrancy and sole authority of the Word of God. "

     A.T. Robertson also noted: "God gave a revelation to make it free from errors. I believe He first made it inerrant as He made nature so. Hence, I boldly hold that the analogy of nature is in favor of inerrancy of God's original Scriptures. "

     Herschel Hobbs, chair of the Baptist Faith and Message Committee (1963) maintained: "Infallible has two meanings; one is 'without error,' the other that 'it fulfills its intended function.' A dull knife can be an infallible knife if you use it to cut butter. You will weaken the statement by putting in that word .. it isn't as strong as the words 'without any mixture of error.'"

     In a recent telephone conversation Dr. Hobbs told us that the carefully detailed and nuanced Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978) reflects the goal of Article One in the Baptist Faith and Message. We too believe that important statement can provide a helpful way for us to talk about biblical inerrancy as the center of a new consensus in the Southern Baptist Convention.

     We confess that the Bible is the ultimate standard of authority for God's people. The Bible derives its authority from the self-revealing and self-authenticating God. The Bible's authority can and does communicate across cultural, geographical, and temporal differences between the biblical world and our setting. The Holy Spirit illumines our minds and hearts to understand the biblical message. Likewise, the Spirit leads us to recognize the authority of Scripture and to respond to and obey its message today.

     We demonstrate our concern for biblical authority not only by careful biblical interpretation but also by repentance and prayer. A commitment to the complete veracity and reliability of Scripture is important because it is the foundation that establishes the full extent of Scripture's authority.

     Some of the discussions regarding inerrancy over the past dozen years have generated more heat than light. Where we have acted and spoken in ways that are not pleasing to God, we need to repent. Yet we dare not move away from this necessary and foundational belief. Thus we need a renewed commitment to biblical authority that enables us to relate to one another in love and humility, bringing about true reconciliation and fellowship and resulting not only in right belief but also right practice (see James 1:22). Therefore, the Holy Spirit, through the Scriptures, illumines our appreciation of grace and motivates us toward faithful evangelism, social ministry, and global missions.

Own and Reclaim Our Baptist and Evangelical Heritage

We can move forward only as we own and reclaim our great Baptist and evangelical heritage. There are many ways to understand the struggles of the past decade. When seen in the light of recent American religious history, however, one fact stands out above all others: For only the second time in this century, a major American denomination veering away from its historic evangelical roots toward a mainline Protestant posture has reversed its course. We do not endorse everything that has been said and done in the name of the conservative cause over the past thirteen years. But we are convinced that without a sustained course correction within our denomination, Southern Baptists would have continued to drift toward the kind of acculturated Christianity which has captured nearly every mainline religious body in America today.

     It is our prayer that the recovery of an unbroken doctrine of Holy Scripture will lead to a genuine spiritual and theological renewal among Southern Baptists in the days ahead. It is not enough to say what we do not wish to be. It is not enough to parrot the word "inerrancy." Jehovah's Witnesses and other heretical sects also claim as much.

     To contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints is to recover the vision of a full-sized God, sovereign, holy, gracious, and just, the God who is indebted to no one, but who in his overcoming mercy calls lost men and women to himself by his Holy Spirit. Such a vision will mean that we can no longer do church as usual. Worship will no longer be entertainment, but rather a joyful basking in the presence of the living God. Preaching will no longer be a pious recasting of current events, but rather an urgent summons to repentance, faith, and obedience. Stewardship will no longer be a duty grudgingly performed, but rather the cheerful offering of resources and life.

     We are convinced that this kind of revival will only occur when theology and spirituality are once again seen as necessarily related to one another. Sound theology is not the preserve of preachers only, much less of professors only! It is the business of the entire people of God. Earlier in this century J. W. Porter, Kentucky pastor and sometime editor of the Western Recorder, put it this way: "We are trustees for the truth ... stewards not only of dollars but also of doctrines. It would prove a good investment, for time and eternity, if some of our churches would exchange all that they have for a New Testament faith. Personally, I would rather misappropriate entrusted funds than the entrusted faith. As a denomination, we dare not become defaulters; we must not, and by the grace of God, will not violate a sacred obligation."

Commit to the Fulfillment of the Great Commission

     We can move forward only as we commit ourselves to the fulfillment of the Great Commission in missions and evangelism. Two hundred years ago a poor English cobbler, William Carey, launched the modern missionary movement by urging his fellow Baptists "to expect great things from God, and attempt great things for God." Two centuries later there are still 1.3 billion persons on earth who have never heard the Name of Jesus for the first time. We cannot divorce missions and evangelism, any more than worship and education, from a concern for theological integrity. Is personal faith in Jesus Christ the only way to salvation or merely one path among many? Are persons who do not know Christ really lost and doomed to spend eternity in hell or merely in need of getting in touch with their true selves? These questions bring us back to the need for a clear commitment to the total truthfulness of Holy Scripture, and to a recovery of the great principles of historic Christian orthodoxy which have formed the bedrock of Baptist missions and evangelism in days gone by.

     While holding firm to the fundamentals, we must not give way to nit-picking over minor issues. E. Y. Mullins said, "The greatest thing that any Christian can do is to bring a soul to Christ." Today, as we stand on the brink of a new millennium with a mandate for world evangelization still looming before us, let us recommit ourselves to the proclamation of God's good news to the end that all persons everywhere may hear the only message which can deliver them and us from the burden of sin and death, to the end that God may be praised and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Soli Deo Gloria!

David S. Dockery is Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Timothy George is Dean of Beeson Divinity School Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama.