Baptist Faith and Message
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The Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) is a Southern Baptist Convention confession of faith.
Although the Southern Baptist Convention was organized in 1845, no formal confession of faith was adopted until 1925, when the SBC formulated the Baptist Faith and Message. The BF&M closely parallels the New Hampshire Confession of Faith of 1833.
The BF&M was revised in 1963, and again in 2000. This last revision was controversial in two respects; first, it stated that wives should "graciously submit" to their husbands, a line which caused considerable discussion both within and outside of the church. Additionally, the 2000 revision of the BF&M removed the assertion that the person of Jesus Christ was to be the exegetical standard by which the Bible was to be interpreted. The latter in particular led the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the largest state convention, to break with the national convention.
Keeping with the Baptist principle that God's message is defined by God alone, the Baptist Faith & Message is not a prescription of doctrine. It is a rough consensus of the convention's member churches. The document nonetheless reflects the interpretation of God's message that the churches seek to spread.
External link
- Baptist Faith and Message (http://www.sbc.net/bfm/bfmcomparison.asp) - a comparison of 1925, 1963 and 2000 Baptist Faith and MessageTemplate:Christianity-stubTemplate:Org-stub