A group of current and former Southern Baptist leaders has signed a statement affirming what they call the “traditional Southern Baptist” understanding of the doctrine of salvation, with the goal of drawing a distinction with the beliefs of “New Calvinism.”

The statement was posted May 31 at SBCToday.com and includes a preamble and 10 articles, along with signatures from two entity presidents (Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Paige Patterson and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Chuck Kelley), four state executive directors (Georgia’s Bob White, Mississippi’s Jim Futral, Louisiana’s David Hankins, Alaska’s Mike Procter), and in addition to Patterson, five other former SBC presidents (Bailey Smith, Jimmy Draper, Jerry Vines, Morris Chapman and Bobby Welch).

The document was titled, “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation.”

“For the most part, Southern Baptists have been glad to relegate disagreements over Calvinism to secondary status along with other important but ‘non-essential’ theological matters,” the document reads in the preamble. “The Southern Baptist majority has fellowshipped happily with its Calvinist brethren while kindly resisting Calvinism itself. And, to their credit, most Southern Baptist Calvinists have not demanded the adoption of their view as the standard. We would be fine if this consensus continued, but some New Calvinists seem to be pushing for a radical alteration of this long-standing arrangement.”

The document further asserts that the “vast majority of Southern Baptists are not Calvinists and that they do not want Calvinism to become the standard view in Southern Baptist life.”

“We believe it is time to move beyond Calvinism as a reference point for Baptist soteriology,” the statement reads. Soteriology is the study of the doctrine of salvation.

Eric Hankins, pastor of First Baptist Church in Oxford, Miss., wrote an introduction to the statement at SBCToday.com. He is a signer of the statement.

“The concern of the developers of this statement was that the viewpoint of this majority was not well-represented by the term ‘non-Calvinist’ and that an instrument was needed by which that majority might articulate positively what they believe vis-a-vis Calvinism,” Hankins wrote. “Its purpose is to engender a much-needed Convention-wide discussion about the place of Calvinism in Southern Baptist life.”

Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, said he chose not to sign the statement.

“Southern Baptists have always found a way to work together, within the framework of historical Christian faith and Baptist doctrine, to support and promote our cooperative enterprises of global missions, theological education and benevolent ministries,” Page said. “While I fully affirm any group of Southern Baptists to express their deeply held convictions about doctrinal matters, especially a matter as important as the doctrine of salvation, I would prefer that any collective document to which I affix my signature be a consensus statement, developed jointly with those of various soteriological persuasions, that expresses our core commitments to those matters we hold in common. The Baptist Faith and Message is such a document.”

At the same time, Page also said he believes the convention needs a “consensus accord,” and said he will announce at the SBC annual meeting in June plans for putting one together.

“Given the depth of the fracture lines around the issue of soteriology across the convention,” Page said, “I sense a need to assemble a representative group of Southern Baptists who can hammer out such a consensus ‘accord’ that will enable the majority of Southern Baptists to work together for the kingdom purposes which initially bound us together, an initiative I plan to announce at this year’s annual meeting.”

Tom Elliff, president of the International Mission Board, and Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, released a joint statement about the document. It read:

“As the heads of the two SBC mission boards (IMB and NAMB), we and all our personnel have already affirmed the BF&M 2000 as prerequisites for employment. We do understand the sentiment behind the proposed statement, but we believe the BF&M 2000 effectively conveys the doctrinal positions traditionally held by Southern Baptists. While alternate doctrinal statements may occasionally arise, it is both our role and our intention to consistently lead in a manner that reflects those doctrines approved by the convention we serve.”

For a longer version of this story, which includes the full text of the statement, visit http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37939 – BP