If I was asked are you a Southern Baptist? Are you Reformed?

My answer is Yes! Yes! Both!!

I am a Reformed Southern Baptist.

I found the following interesting:

The following is by pastor Justin Nale:

Am I a Reformed Pastor or a Southern Baptist Pastor? Yes!

By Justin Nale

 

My friend Les’ second post in his series argues that there are a number of pastors in the SBC who are not SBC pastors that are reformed, but reformed pastors who are pastoring SBC churches. If I understand his point correctly, he is arguing that that these pastors are not Southern Baptist pastors who happen to be reformed, but reformed pastors who have come into SBC churches with a desire to move them away from Southern Baptist principles and towards reformed principles.

Here is my response; I hope it will be helpful.

1. I am a Reformed, Southern Baptist pastor, and see no contradiction between the two. I affirm the 1689 London Confession (a reformed confession), the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (the SBC statement of faith), and see little tension at all between them.

2. I have not yet seen how a reformed baptist church that affirms covenant theology, upholds the regulative principle, does not practice the invitation system, and preaches the 5 points of Calvinism is anyway out of step with the articulated beliefs and practices of the Southern Baptist Convention. I wholeheartedly confess that reformed SBC churches are a minority, though a growing one. But the fact that they are a minority does not imply that they are out of step with the faith of Southern Baptists as articulated in the BFM2000. Not only that, but since its inception, the SBC has included churches who affirmed the 1689 London Confession and believe that reformed theology is thoroughly biblical.

3. All that said, I hope it is clear therefore that while I think moving churches towards reformed theology is a good thing, I in no way think that doing so means moving our churches away from any article of Southern Baptist theology. It is not either/or, but both/and, for the BFM has its roots in the 1689 Confession and at its essence is a confession of (diluted) reformed theology.

So am I a reformed pastor or a Southern Baptist pastor? I eagerly answer: Yes! I am both. I am a reformed pastor by conviction (I believe I would be unbiblical if I wasn’t reformed) and I am a Southern Baptist by conscientious choice (the Bible doesn’t tell me to be a part of any particular denomination, but I am eager to cooperate with other like-minded baptists in getting the gospel to the ends of the earth.)

Here are comments of Matt Svoboda :

Justin Nale Gets It Right: Reformed or Southern Baptist? Both!

In my humble opinion, Justin Nale gets this right.  He sees right through the false either/or that Les setting up and gets to the heart of the issue.  The BFM2000, which is the standard of what makes a Southern Baptist a Southern Baptist, is in no way contradictory to “reformed” doctrines such as: Regulative Principle, Covenant Theology, Elder-led, 5-point Calvinism, and things such as not having an invitation.

It seems to me that by setting up a false either/or the only thing Les will accomplish is widening the gap between Southern Baptists.  The BFM does not forbid anything the “reformed” teach or practice and yet Les seems to think they are somehow not true Southern Baptists.  We all agree on the BFM2000, why can we not just cooperate around that and allow AUTONOMOUS churches to have freedom on things the BFM doesn’t address?