Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 17:1 (Spring 2020)
Article: Broad Complementarianism In The Southern Baptist Convention
Author: Denny R. Burk

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Broad Complementarianism In The Southern Baptist Convention

Denny Burk

Denny Burk is professor of Biblical Studies, director of The Center for Gospel and Culture at Boyce College, and president of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood in Louisville, Kentucky.

The story of the Conservative Resurgence within the Southern Baptist Convention is a story about the determination of grassroots Southern Baptists to reform the organs of the denomination to reflect their belief in the inerrancy of Scripture. At the time, all sides of that long controversy seemed to realize that the heart of the conflict was about biblical authority and how that authority should shape the congregations of the SBC. As a part of that, the question of men’s and women’s roles in the church and in the home was front and center. Would Southern Baptists accept what the Bible says about manhood and womanhood, or would they set aside the scriptural vision for a feminist alternative? Conservatives favored the former, moderates the latter, and therein was a controversy that resulted in a victory for conservatives. One of the chief pieces of evidence of this victory appeared when Southern Baptists adopted revisions to their statement of faith in 1998 and 2000—revisions that specify a countercultural position on the roles of men and women within the church and the home:

“While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture” (Article VI, BF&M 2000).

“The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to

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serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation” (Article XVIII, BF&M 2000).

This position reflects not only the conviction of grassroots Southern Baptists, but it also reflects the beliefs of countless other non-Southern Baptist evangelicals who hold in common with Southern Baptists a belief in the inerrancy of Scripture. It is a countercultural position and an expressly complementarian one. It is the position of Southern Baptists today. As recently as 2016, the Southern Baptist Executive Committee commissioned a report confirm...