First Baptist Church: Articles of Faith
As I stated yesterday, I am going to dedicate my Sunday posts to historic Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms. While I'll probably focus most of my attention on denominational confessions and ecumenical creeds, I decided to begin this series by featuring the founding articles of the First Baptist Church of Metter, GA. (SBC) where I now worship and serve the church's Youth Director.
- We believe there is one, and only one true and living God. He subsists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit- and yet the three are one God.
- We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the Word of God are given by inspiration, and is the only rule of faith and practice.
- We believe in the fall of Adam, in the consequent corruption of human nature, and the inability of man to recover himself from his lost estate.
- We believe God from eternity loved His people, and before the world began chose them in Christ to grace and glory. The effectual calling, justification and glorification of each is infallibly secured through an eternal covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
- We believe that sinners are justified before God only by the righteousness of Christ, wrought out in the vicarious atonement for sin and imputed to them through faith.
- We believe that the Spirit and power of God will effectually call the elect and will support, sustain and keep them through faith, so they will persevere to the end, and not be lost.
- We believe that a visible church is a congregation of baptized believers in Jesus Christ who enjoy Christian fellowship one with another, having associated themselves together to maintain public worship and Godly discipline agreeable to the rules of the Gospel.
- We believe that Jesus Christ is the great Head of the Church and the only law-giver, but that the administration of the laws on earth is vested in the church itself, an equal share of the administration being the privilege of each member, and that discipline is intended for the purity of the church, and for the reclaiming members who may be disorderly in principle or practice, and should be faithfully kept up for the glory of God.
- We believe that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of Jesus Christ are are to be continued until His second coming.
- We believe that Baptism and Immersion are equivalent terms, and that none but baptized church members have right to commune at the Lord's Table.
- We believe that good works are the fruits of faith; they will follow justification and are evidence of a gracious state.
- We believe there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a general judgment and the happiness of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked will be everlasting.
The preceding articles of faith have been transcribed from a booklet commemorating the church's 100 year anniversary. The church was organized on July 15, 1900.
4 comments:
You know, Rhett, I am amzed as I read various confessions of Baptists just how Calvinistic many of them are. It is quite a wonder just how off base modern Baptists are from their former days. Does this not perplex you as well?
Not that I mind . . . I mean, the more Arminian, the better (for me), but many non-Calvinist SBC members seem to either overlook or outright turn a blind eye to the fact that many, many old-time Baptist creeds were Calvinistic in nature. Could Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, and perhaps? R. A. Torrey and C. I. Scofield have made such an impression in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to turn the tide of Southern Baptists away from its Calvinistic nature?
What are your thoughts?
In Christ,
Billy
Billy,
I am very much perplexed and actually somewhat grieved (as you might expect!). ;)
What you have noted is exactly what irks me the most when I hear guys like Ergun Caner try to revise the history of the SBC and act as if Reformed Soteriology is some new heresy or something.
Now, I assure you that this statement of faith probably wouldn't be affirmed by a majority of the members nowadays, but you can clearly see on what side of the fence they stood in 1900. (As far as I've been able to determine, this church was SBC from the start.)
I also believe wholeheartedly that the men you have listed probably had a great influence upon the shift of theology of the SBC.
I intend to take up reading (once again) Tom Nettles' book 'By His Grace and for His Glory' to see if he documents the soteriological shift and to whom all he attributes it...
I'll have to look at the church constitution, but this might still be it's offical statement. (Though I suspect by now it's the BF&M 2000.)
Next week I will post the confession of a Baptist church that some of my ancestors helped to organize in central Florida. I believe you'll see quite a difference between the two documents.
Have a blessed Lord's Day,
Most SBC church's were founded on the same articles. My home church goes back to 1870 and I may try to find ours, it would probably suprise a lot of people. Does this pose a problem for the people that say a pastor should be up front with a search committee about where he stands on calvinism? Does it matter if the church has left its original article or creed?
I'm not saying this in a argumentive way,just wondering. Obviuosly someone in the last 107 years at FBC Metter was'nt forthright to the orignal understanding of the founders.
Those are good questions Kelly.
I just looked in our constitution, it says our statement of faith is the BF&M from 1963. (Although, I have a stack of BF&M 2000 booklets sitting in front of me on my desk!)
If I'm not mistaken, one of the main voices in the GBC calling for people to "be up front" about their theology used to be a pastor here a long time ago.
Post a Comment