The Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M), when adopted in 1925, was not intended to be the last word on Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) beliefs. Confessions of faith are periodically revised in response to changes in culture or theological challenges from without and within. Following its adoption, the subject of denominational beliefs was not revised for nearly 40 years.
During those 40 years theological divisions were growing in Baptist life that were either overlooked or set aside while dealing with other issues including survival. The issues included the Great Depression, declining offerings, massive debt retirement, navigating two major embezzlement scandals, World War II and the subsequent Cold War. During that season of growing theological division (1925 through the mid-1950s), the SBC could be described as different but not divided. One of the reasons Southern Baptists weren’t divided was in part because they were distracted by traumatic world events engulfing them.
Among the SBC academic circles there was a shift to the left, with many embracing higher criticism and modernism. There were instances where individuals were called out, such as the Mercer Heresy Trial in 1939 in response to charges led by a young ministerial student named John Burch. Following the incident at Mercer, a survey of Georgia Baptist pastors was conducted in 1940. Half of the pastors responded that they would not recommend their students attend a Georgia Baptist college – a sign that the trust between pastors and the schools was eroding.
The first major confrontation on the SBC level took place at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in June 1958; it was called the “Lexington Road Massacre.” Twelve liberal professors, almost half of the theological faculty, were dismissed by the seminary president at the request of the board of trustees. The heart of the issue was the professors’ expressed desire for academic freedom. The trustees, on the other hand, were calling for a seminary which reflected the theological values of the churches supporting it.
The next salvo was the publication of a commentary on Genesis, written by a Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Ralph Elliott in 1961. Elliott’s book did not interpret the first 11 chapters of Genesis as historical events. Its release had a similar effect on the SBC as the Scopes Trial had a generation before, prompting a movement in 1962 to consider a revision to the 1925 BF&M the following year.
The 1958 Southern Seminary firings and the 1961 Genesis controversy were two of the major drivers behind the preparation of an updated BF&M in 1963. Oklahoma pastor and then-SBC President Hershel Hobbs was appointed the chairman of the committee, which made revisions to the BF&M designed to strengthen its views of Scripture.
The struggle for orthodoxy and Biblical authority was not over and would continue laying the foundation for the Conservative Resurgence in the 1980s. The Resurgence was the prelude to the 2000 revision of the BF&M. Key events driving this struggle included a second Genesis controversy with the publication of The Broadman Commentaries in 1969 by the Baptist Sunday School Board. At the request of the SBC in 1970, the first volume was removed and replaced.
Another driver was the publication of an article in The Baptist Program by Southern Seminary Professor William Hull in the 1960s entitled, “Shall We Call the Bible Infallible?” Not only did it reflect a liberal perspective, but according to statements quoted in a Baptist Press article published in October 1985, it was met with pushback when The Baptist Program refused to publish a response by conservative theologians. This resulted in charges of “liberal bias” and “politicalization” by denominational leadership.
Driving the conservative side of the debate in this era, SBC President W.A. Criswell published a book in 1969 titled, “Why I Preach that the Bible is Literally True.” This book in many ways may be considered the first shots from the conservative perspective. The movement was further fueled by the national revivals associated with the “Jesus Movement” in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which drove a renewed focus and appreciation for the Bible. The 1976 book “The Battle for the Bible” by Harold Lindsell further pushed the debate on biblical inerrancy in SBC life.
During the ‘70s, each side became more firmly entrenched with the understanding that there would be no middle ground when it came to the Bible. The words “inherent and infallible” became the watchwords of conservatives, laying the groundwork for what became known as the “Conservative Resurgence,” which formally began with the election of Adrian Rogers as SBC president in 1979. Over time, the election of conservative SBC presidents and their role in appointing trustees shifted the balance of power on SBC boards and agencies.
In 1999, Southern Baptists appointed a committee to revisit the BF&M, naming Rogers chairman. The changes brought by that committee provided additional support for the authority of Scripture and affirmed biblical gender roles.
Changes to the BF&M should not be taken lightly or as a knee-jerk response to every shift in culture. That would produce a cumbersome and unusable document. Baptist confessions of faith have provided a way to define, defend and declare what Baptists believe to themselves and the world, changing only when necessary.
As the BF&M’s preamble states: “Each generation of Christians bears the responsibility of guarding the treasure of truth that has been entrusted to us.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Charles Jones is a retired pastor and Baptist historian who lives in Athens, Georgia. This piece is the fifth in a five-part series leading up to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Baptist Faith and Message at the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas.Read the other installments at the following links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and part 4.)
