Journal: Eikon
Volume: EIKON 06:2 (Fall 2024)
Article: From The Pastor’s Desk: Biblical Complementarity, The Law Amendment, And The Southern Baptist Convention
Author: Heath Lambert

Eikon 6.2 (Fall 2024) p. 13

From The Pastor’s Desk: Biblical Complementarity, The Law Amendment, And The Southern Baptist Convention

Heath Lambert

Heath Lambert is pastor of First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, FL (SBC).

The first time I knew myself to be a Southern Baptist was in the year 2000 when, while watching the news, I saw the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) had adopted an updated doctrinal statement making clear the biblical convictions that the office of pastor was reserved for qualified men and that wives were required to submit to their husbands. Before that news story, the only thing I really knew about my church was that they led me to Christ, faithfully taught the Bible, and loved and served others in Jesus’ name. It would be another few years before I learned that the newsworthy revisions to the Baptist Faith and Message (BFM) were called complementarianism. But as a teenager, I was thankful to be part of a church participating in a convention that was willing to stand by what the Bible said.

That was nearly a quarter century ago. In 2024, the SBC was in the news again over the issue of complementarity, but this time, many conservative Southern Baptists are afraid it is because we are moving away from a commitment to biblical complementarity rather than toward it. That concern is because of a proposed amendment to the SBC constitution known as the Law Amendment, which failed to pass.

The amendment was proposed because, even though the BFM is clear that the office of pastor is reserved for men, many believed it was necessary to repeat that conviction in the SBC constitution to clarify that churches could not be considered in friendly cooperation with the convention without affirming that principle. The failure to get it approved has led some to question whether the SBC is moving away from its historic complementarian convictions.

There are four reasons why I do not believe the failure of the Law Amendment represents such a shift.

Eikon 6.2 (Fall 2024) p. 14

1. The Baptist Faith And Message Is Complementarian

The first reason has to do with the BFM, which is unmistakably complementarian. As I mentioned, it communicates the countercultural convictions of biblical complementarity in the home and church. It communicates these convictions even when so many other denominations are moving away from them.

Even the leaders who strongly argued against the amendment made clear that they were in favor of the complementarian convictions of the BFM and believed they should be upheld.

In failing to pass the Law Amendment, the SBC made no decision to change its complementarian confessional document.

2. Removal Of Egalitarian Churches