July 17, 2000
Some question whether words put
back in BF&M mean the same thing
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___The words are back, but is the meaning the same?
___At least two Baptist editors believe the last-minute insertion of the words "priesthood of believers" and "soul competency" into the 2000 version of the Baptist Faith & Message employs similar language as before but with different meaning.
___The two phrases were added to the faith statement's new preamble less than an hour before messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., adopted the document. The additions were made, revision committee members said, because of great concern expressed by Southern Baptists nationwide that the key phrases were not carried over from the preamble to the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message.
BAPTIST FAITH & MESSAGE
The complete text of the amended Baptist Faith & Message Statement is available on the Southern Baptist Convention website.
___The committee's new paragraph states: "Baptists cherish and defend religious liberty and deny the right of any secular or religious authority to impose a confession of faith upon a church or body of churches. We honor the principles of soul competency and the priesthood of believers, affirming together both our liberty in Christ and our accountability to each other under the word of God."
___This was offered as an update to a paragraph included in the preamble to the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message that stated: "Baptists emphasize the soul's competency before God, freedom in religion and the priesthood of the believer. However, this emphasis should not be interpreted to mean that there is an absence of certain definite doctrines that Baptists believe, cherish and with which they have been and are now closely identified."
___These two paragraphs should not be construed as saying the same thing, according to Tony Cartledge, editor of the North Carolina Biblical Recorder, and Trennis Henderson, editor of the Kentucky Western Recorder. Both wrote editorials soon after the SBC annual meeting addressing concerns about what they perceive as a subtle shift in language and meaning.
___The same issue was addressed by a leading member of the revision committee during a news conference in Orlando. At that news conference, Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., explained the difference between the phrase "priesthood of the believer" as used in the 1963 statement and "priesthood of believers" as used in the 2000 statement.
___"Baptists believe in the priesthood of believers, but it is dangerous to say the priesthood of the believer," Mohler said. "It is not just that we stand alone; it is that we stand together--and we stand together under the authority of God's word."
___Henderson found irony in this explanation being given in a news conference after the vote was taken. This is not the interpretation he has understood to be the Southern Baptist position in the past, he said.
___"While I am content to stand before God under the authority of Scripture, I can do so whether I'm alone or in a crowd of all 15.8 million Southern Baptists," Henderson wrote. "While I appreciate the committee's efforts to at least partially restore a pair of key Baptist doctrines, I am confident it is not dangerous to be a lone priest/believer in the presence of Almighty God through the power of his Holy Spirit."
___Cartledge also asserted the last-minute insertion represented a departure from Baptist history rather than a reclaiming of it.
___"The paragraph uses the familiar words but gives them a carefully doctored spin that de-emphasizes individual freedom while magnifying the concept of accountability to an approved belief system.
___"'Priesthood of believers' is carefully couched in the plural only, subtly recasting 'the priesthood of the believer' to guard against claims of individual interpretation or revelation from God," he suggested.
___Several other editors saw less distinction between the 1963 language and the 2000 language, instead commending the revision committee for adequately addressing the concerns of Southern Baptists.
___The committee's addition "honored the concept of soul competency," wrote Don Kirkland of the South Carolina Baptist Courier.
___"Baptists voiced their concerns regarding the importance of preserving the historic Baptist distinctives of soul competency, priesthood of the believer and religious liberty and to their credit, the committee charged with revising the Baptist Faith & Message statement listened," added Charlie Warren of the Arkansas Baptist Newsmagazine.
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