God - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 2
Vice President for Academic Administration; Dean, School of Theology [Read More]

Man - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 3
The Baptist Faith and Message statement on man highlights two aspects of the human condition that set this species of creation apart from all others: man's noble status and man's ignoble state. [Read More]

Salvation - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 4
No article of any confession compares in significance with that concerning salvation. The whole of theology is bound up with it: our understanding God, the world and our very selves. The manner in which we understand salvation decides and reveals the way in which we think about God, and vice versa. [Read More]

God's Purpose of Grace - Election - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 5a
This article of the Baptist Faith and Message is a noble condensation of a beautiful biblical and historically Baptist doctrine. "Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners." [Read More]

The Church - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 6
The article on the church in the recently adopted Baptist Faith and Message affirms that God has revealed the doctrine of the church in Scripture. It teaches that the church's form of government, its officers, its ordinances, its mission and its laws are those of the churches of the New Testament. [Read More]

Baptism - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 7a
Like most believers who have been baptized following a profession of faith, I have a distinct recollection of my baptism. I was baptized in a small stream on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. [Read More]

The Lord's Day - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 8
Because God is our Creator and Redeemer, he deserves and demands the first of all that we possess. This principle is given and reiterated throughout Scripture. We are to give the Lord the firstfruits of our increase. We should give him the first minutes of our day. We should seek first his reign and rule in our lives. [Read More]

The Kingdom - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 9
The 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith and Message statements on the kingdom of God are identical. Upon a cursory glance, the Biblical passages which are listed along with the statement reveal much detail about the kingdom of God. [Read More]

Last Things - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 10
People have an intense interest in the future. Psychic hotlines have become big business as hurting people seek a glimpse of potential hope in their coming destiny. [Read More]

Evangelism and Missions - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 11
The major change in Article 11 of the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message is in the final sentence of the article: "It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ." [Read More]

Education - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 12
Throughout the Scriptures, education has been a major priority. This can be traced from the teachings in both the Old and New Testaments. [Read More]

Stewardship - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 13
A full exegesis of Article 13 of the Baptist Faith and Message would consume a lengthy volume and yield fruitful discourse. At least three topics deserve our attention here. [Read More]

Cooperation - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 14
This article speaks to something near and dear to the heart of Southern Baptists - cooperation. A key concept in understanding Southern Baptists is voluntary cooperation. [Read More]

The Christian and the Social Order - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 15
Shouldn't Baptist confessions of faith focus on matters of faith, not politics? Why can't Baptists address issues such as the person of Christ and the way of salvation, leaving alone such thorny contemporary controversies as abortion and gay rights? Is it really our place as a convention of churches to speak to the fiery debates of the public square? [Read More]

Peace and War - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 16
The apex of the Beatitudes is found in these words, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are called the children of God." Peacemaking is described as a fundamental characteristic of believers. [Read More]

Religious Liberty - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 17
Religious Liberty sprung fully panoplied from the earliest Baptist writings. Their doctrine of the church assumed that the Spirit, and he alone, used the power of biblical truth, normally through preaching, to produce the new birth. The composition of the church consists only of those born again under such influences; believers only, therefore, should be baptized. [Read More]

The Family - Baptist Faith & Message, Article 18
The Bible is replete with family imagery as evidenced in the many wonderful verses cited for the Baptist Faith and Message Article 18. We are indeed "brothers and sisters" in Christ, adopted as children by our heavenly Father. The importance of the marriage relationship unfolds symbolically in the Old Testament with God as husband and Israel as wife, and in the New Testament with Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as the radiant bride. Clearly, marriage and family are distinctly theological. [Read More]