P2 What Southern Baptists teach about the Bible - The later years

2 Peter 1:20-21 "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

Introduction:

Today's post, like yesterday's, has taken much of its material from the SBC website's section that details the Biblical heritage of Baptist's beliefs about the scriptures. (http://sbc.net/aboutus/heritage/default.asp.)

I think you will find the quotes below to be illuminating and encouraging to your own faith. Yesterday we looked at three key figures from the beginning days of the SBC in the 19th century: John L. Dagg and James P. Boyce and John Broadus. In today's post we will consider further statements from  leaders in the SBC during the 20th century. Such statements can prove instructive and helpful in understanding what great Godly Christian thinkers of the past have taught about the scriptures. Enjoy, be edified and encouraged for the glory of God in Christ! 

1. J.M. Frost
Corresponding Secretary, Baptist Sunday School Board"We accept the Scriptures as an all-sufficient and infallible rule of faith and practice, and insist upon the absolute inerrancy and sole authority of the Word of God. We recognize at this point no room for division, either of practice or belief, or even sentiment. More and more we must come to feel as the deepest and mightiest power of our conviction that a "thus saith the Lord" is the end of all controversy."
--Baptist: Why and Why Not (1900)

2. J.B. Tidwell
Chairman, Bible Department, Baylor University, (1910-1946)

"These writers certainly claimed that what they say is of God. To them the inspiration is not just plenary but verbal. They were not left to choose their words promiscuously (that is, at their own whim). Their individuality was preserved, but the words used were given them of God. Not just the thought came from God, but every word with every inflection. Every verse and line, and even upon the tense of the verb, every number of the noun, and every little particle they regarded as coming from God and demanded in the pain of grave disaster that we should preserve it in its entirety."
--Thinking Straight About the Bible, or Is the Bible the Word of God (1935)

3. Herschel Hobbs President, Southern Baptist Convention
Chairman, Baptist Faith and Message Committee (1963)Infallible has two meanings; one is "without error" the other that "it fulfills its intended function." A dull knife can be an infallible knife if you use it to cut butter. You will weaken the statement by putting in that word. I know it's your pet word, and it's the pet word of a lot of people, but it isn't as strong as the words "without any mixture of error."
--from Interview Concerning Hobbs' Defense of Baptist Faith and Message Wording on the Bible