from the Baptist Faith & Message 2000:

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

Relevant Books:

• The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul
• God’s Lesser Glory: The Diminished God of Open Theism by Bruce A. Ware
• The Forgotten Trinity by James White

Related Links

• Whatever Happened To God? – James Montgomery Boice
• Abstract of Systematic Theology (chapters . 1-16) – James Petigru Boyce
• The Attributes of God – A.W. Pink
• The Trinity – Jonathan Edwards
• The Trinity – Sam Storms
• The doctrine of the Trinity – John Piper

Random Thoughts:

I decided to extend the postings of the Baptist Faith & Message by one week by spanning the second article over four weeks instead of the projected three. That gives me the opportunity to mull over the first paragraph a little longer before going to each person of the Trinity individually.

The first paragraph begins with an unequivocal monotheistic statement. The BF&M reads, “There is one and only one living and true God.” This speaks directly against Mormonism, which James White calls, the “most polytheistic religion” he has ever encountered. The Trinitarian statement at the close of the paragraph runs counter to the Jehovah Witness teaching that denies the full deity of Christ. I wish I had time to pull together some good resources on these two heresies. I welcome anyone who would like to add some good pointers as comments.

This article also directly addresses the “open theism” controversy gaining ground in some circles of evangelicalism. Teachers, like Greg Boyd and others, assert that God does not infallibly know the future, much less have the power to direct it. It seems to me that basically this false teaching takes Arminianism to its natural conclusion. Be careful of anyone who holds that god takes risks, or that God does the best he can under the circumstances. Since God holds the future in his hand, he does not ever encounter risk or uncertain situations.

from the Baptist Faith & Message 2000:

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.

Exodus 24: | Deuteronomy 4:1-| Deuteronomy 17:1 | Joshua 8:3 | Psalms 19:7-1 | Psalms 119:11,89,105,14 | Isaiah 34:1 | Isaiah 40: | Jeremiah 15:1 | Jeremiah 3 | Matthew 5:17-1 | Matthew 22:2 | Luke 21:3 | Luke 24:44-4 | John 5:3 | John 16:13-1 | John 17:1 | Acts 2:16ff | Acts 17:1 | Romans 15: | Romans 16:25-2 | 2 Timothy 3:15-1 | Hebrews 1:1-| Hebrews 4:1 | 1 Peter 1:2 | 2 Peter 1:19-2

Relevant Books:

• Baptists and the Bible – Tom Nettles
• Scripture Alone: Exploring the Bibles Accuracy, Authority and Authenticity – James White

Related Links

• The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
• Sola Scriptura: Crucial To Evangelicalism – RC Sproul
• The Sufficiency of Scripture – Part 1 – John MacArthur
• The Sufficiency of Scripture – Part 2 – John MacArthur

Random Thoughts:

One of the main impetuses behind the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message revision of the 1963 statement rests in this first article. The last sentence of the earlier document read, “The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.” Some interpreted this wording to leave some wiggle room between what the scripture actually says and what someone might imagine Jesus to have done, taught, or believed. In a world where some scholars attempt to plant a wedge between Jesus and the apostle Paul, the 1963 statement could imply that we can ignore what Paul and other biblical writers speak clearly if Jesus didn’t echo the exact sentiment. We believe all scripture stands sufficient, therefore the committee reworded the last sentence to read, “All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.”