Faith of Our Faithers

I. 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. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Baptists are a people of deep beliefs and cherished doctrines. Throughout our history we have been a confessional people, adopting statements of faith as a witness to our beliefs and a pledge of our faithfulness to the doctrines revealed in Holy Scripture.

Our confessions of faith are rooted in historical precedent, as the church in every age has been called upon to define and defend its beliefs. Each generation of Christians bears the responsibility of guarding the treasury of truth that has been entrusted to us [2 Timothy 1:14].

“Baptist Confessions of Faith.” It includes no less than 42 confessions in more than 400 pages, with the earliest dating back to 1525.

Furthermore, Baptists are instinctively confessional — we are compelled to say what we believe and to do so in statements of shared conviction about the elemental truths of Scripture. If you doubt that, pick up a copy of William Lumpkin’s

B.H. Carroll, the first president of Southwestern Seminary (1908-14) asserted the same principle: “The modern cry, ‘less creed and more liberty,’ is a degeneration from the vertebrate to the jelly fish, and means less unity and less morality, and it means more heresy. … It is a positive and very hurtful sin to magnify liberty at the expense of doctrine.”

We believe in biblical inspiration.

Acts 4:25 ESV

25 who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, “ ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?

The bible was written by men inspired by God.

We believe in biblical inerrancy.

Psalm 12:6 ESV

6 The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.

Titus 1:2 ESV

2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

We believe in biblical sufficiency.

Wayne Grudem

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Bible Doctrine A. Definition of the Sufficiency of Scripture

Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.

We believe in Christ-centered interpretation.

All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

John 5:39 ESV

39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,