Continuing now with the elements of the third article that I disliked, I will focus on three statements; two I think just say too much and one I feel is doctrinally inadequate and inconsistent with other statements that are made.
In the opening thought the writers add the sentence, “The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation.” This strikes me as awkward and, seeing as how it is an addition to the 2000 version over and above what is said in the 1963 version, it seems like this must be in essence meant to deal with some bad teaching which would be addressed by such a statement. I am unaware of what controversy this might be, unless it is meant to counteract any charges of sexism from the outside as pertains to certain issues of marital submission and women in ministry. Still, seeing as these concerns are also addressed in articles XV and XVIII later on I do not see a reason for including such an unusual statement in this place, nor am I familiar with any passage of Scripture which they would be using to justify this remark.
Similarly, at the end of the article we see the statement made that “every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.” Again, this is not saying something I disagree with in any way, but the placement of it in a church affirmational document just hits me kind of funny. I understand that there is a historical record of real and/or perceived racism in the SBC, but I question (1) is it the place of a confession of faith to address cultural, pragmatic issues of a certain day?, and (2) is this not covered later in article XV? If the BF&M chooses to have articles covering untraditional topics such as the fifteenth one,”The Christian and the Social Order,” then that seems like a more appropriate place to put statements of this nature than forcing it into a more traditional article on anthropology and the fall of man.
Next, the place where I take issue with doctrinal clarity is at the end of the following statement:
Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. [emphasis mine]
This just comes off to weak to me. I know it may be a symptom of my conviction towards a Calvinist doctrine of man’s total depravity, but saying this in the way they did makes it sound like man is simply in a situation where the odds are against him not sinning, though his hand is not forced. But then this seems to contradict the following statement which says, “Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation.” If man is only “inclined toward sin” then what is it that makes him sin “as soon as [he is] capable of moral action”? There is no “therefore” unless the statement of him being inclined actually means that he is incapable of not doing it, which I am sure they are not trying to say since that would for all intents and purposes be the doctrine of Total Depravity. This is one of the nuances of the non-Calvinist view which makes it untenable to me.
I like better what we see attested in regards to this in two prior Baptist affirmations, the Abstract of Principles and The New Hampshire Baptist Confession:
God originally created Man in His own image, and free from sin; but, through the temptation of Satan, he transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original holiness and righteousness; whereby his posterity inherit a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and His law, are under condemnation, and as soon as they are capable of moral action, become actual transgressors. [Abstract of Principles, emphasis mine]
[A]ll mankind are now sinners, not by constraint, but choice; being by nature utterly void of that holiness required by the law of God, positively inclined to evil. [The New Hampshire Baptist Confession, emphasis mine]
It is unfortunate that we have seen the SBC move away from such strong, orthodox confessions in recent years and beginning to affirm weak, seemingly inconsistent attempts at putting man in greater control of his salvation.
