Mohler Describes Covenant as Anchor to Convention

by   Tammi Ledbetter                                                                                                                                 Vol. X, No. 6, June/July 1997

Unable to attend the Southern Baptist Convention after being hospitalized with blood poisoning, the author of the covenant signed by the seminary presidents June 17 described it as an "anchor" to Southern Baptist convictions.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and president of the Council of Seminary Presidents, said in an interview after being released from the hospital June 17 that SBC President Tom Elliff approached him last fall with the idea of a covenant with the convention.

"I had a passion about the idea and wrote the covenant in one sitting," he said.

Mohler said he sees the covenant as a counter to culture trends that can prompt theological institutions to drift leftward. "This sacred covenant anchors the six seminaries of the Southern Baptist Convention to the solid rock of biblical conviction." Mohler signed the document from his hospital bed before the seminaries’ report.

He said the covenant, titled "One Faith, One Task, One Sacred Trust," avoids generalities by offering "a concise statement of theological fidelity. It includes an explicit affirmation of the inerrancy of Scripture and the purity of the gospel. The statement also acknowledges that those who teach take on a greater responsibility than those who learn and will receive from our Lord a stricter judgment."

The covenant did not emerge from controversy or conflict but from a positive desire for unity, Mohler said, calling the covenant a "platform for the future." It is "a mature and timely statement from six seminary presidents who stand together before the convention at a time of unprecedented unity. " Mohler

Elliff praised the covenant and the seminary presidents. “Never in the world have six men so hot-hearted for souls, so firmly standing upon the Word of God, covenanted with a group the size of Southern Baptists, saying, ‘Send us your students. We will be faithful to God, faithful to you, and faithful to our calling,’” Elliff said.