Excerpts from 'The Baptist Faith and Message'

Baptists are a people who profess a living faith. This faith is rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ who is 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' Therefore, the sole authority for faith and practice among Baptists is Jesus Christ whose will is revealed in the Holy Scriptures.

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. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without dipurpose of nature, essence, or being.

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. ... He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross He made propurpose for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God ... .

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. ... He exalts Christ. ... He calls men [and women] to the Saviour ... . He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church.

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. ...

These excerpts are taken from "The Baptist Faith and Message" as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention May 9, 1963

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