Creekside Bible Church of Cupertino is affiliated with the Southern Baptists, as was noted in a previous WAW article.
Although our church is not involved much at the national level with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), it is good to be aware of what the trends are. Our involvement is more with the State Convention of California. At the national level there is an annual conference in early June where church representatives gather for ministry business and vote on Resolutions and various leadership positions. In this past June’s meeting, 11,692 people voted on 11 different Resolutions.
Resolutions are official public statements of opinion by the organization that address various theological, cultural and moral issues. They are not binding on any local church, but demarcate current trends in Southern Baptist thinking on various critical issues. Many of the Resolutions are well-written and give evidence of concise but potent careful thought, biblical reflection, and practical implications. Putting spiritual convictions like these in writing also clarifies matters and brings an objective permanence for evaluation and application.
The Resolution below is an excellent summary of the basic attitude all Christians should have toward Jews and Israel. Antisemitism has been around for thousands of years and will remain strong (and grow worse) until Christ, the greatest Jew, returns at the end of the age.
Today Christians are being duped, confused and misled from many directions, including influential alt-right political commentators such as Tucker Carlson, Candance Owens and others. For centuries some Covenant theologians and pastors have soured the Church toward the Jews and Israel with their replacement theology, wrongly declaring that the “church is the new Israel.” As a result, aintisemitism has reached a dangerous fever pitch today in the American church.
Today many Christians stumble over the idea that God still maintains a commitment to Israel in light of the fact that the nation of Israel in largely secular and rejects Jesus as the Messiah. But God knows that and even talks about it in detail in Romans 9 through 11 and many other passages.
God knows Israel is rebellious. They always have been, from the time Moses threw the two stones of the 10 Commandments at their feet until the time that Jeremiah warned them that they would be wiped out by the Babylonians in the 6th century BC. And their worst sin of all as a collective people was the rejection of Jesus (John 1:11). But at the end of the age God will woo that nation to repentance and corporate salvation (Rom 1:26) as a witness to the world of His patience, grace, and saving power. Until then a small remnant of individual Jews are being saved as they hear the gospel. They are first-fruits of the future redemptive harvest that is coming to that people. The SBC Resolution on a biblical attitude towards Israel is as follows:
On Antisemitism
WHEREAS, Since the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023, antisemitism has surged across the United States and the world, manifesting in physical violence, harassment, university campus glorification of terrorism, and a broad aggression directed at Jewish people; and
WHEREAS, This rising hatred includes conspiracy theories perpetuated online and through social media, falsely accusing the Jewish people as a whole of controlling media, finance, politics, weather, and culture for sinister ends that are modern echoes of historic libels that have incited persecution for centuries; and
WHEREAS, Such conspiracy theories and condemnations of the Jewish people are contrary to the truth and the clear teaching of Scripture regarding human dignity; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have historically expressed our profound gratitude for the Jewish people and have consistently condemned antisemitism as unchristian and contrary to the gospel; and
WHEREAS, God chose Abraham and his descendants for his redemptive purpose; to them he gave the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the worship, and the promises, all of which are fulfilled in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ (Genesis 12, 15, 17; Luke 24; Romans 9:4-5); and
WHEREAS, God maintains his purpose for and promise to the Jewish people as revealed in Scripture; salvation is “from the Jews” (John 4:22); the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16-17); and God will by his grace bring his chosen remnant of Israel to salvation through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham (Romans 9:1-5, 11:24-32; Galatians 3:16); now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, June 9-10, 2026, unequivocally condemn this new surge of antisemitism in all its forms, including violence, cultural hatred, and conspiracy theories of Jewish controlled cabals, as sinful, unchristian, and an assault on both biblical truth and basic human dignity; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we stand unashamedly with the Jewish people against all such hatred, including all acts of terror against them worldwide; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we reaffirm our love for the Jewish people as those “loved because of the patriarchs” (Romans 11:28), and our commitment to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to them with urgency, respect, and boldness, as part of our obedience to the Great Commission; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we call upon Southern Baptists to combat antisemitism in our churches and communities through biblical teaching, personal friendship with Jewish neighbors, courageous public witness, and prayer for the peace of Jerusalem and the salvation of Israel (Psalm 122:6); and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we affirm God’s love and offer of salvation through Jesus Christ to all people without distinction, while rejecting every form of ethnic or religious hatred and upholding religious liberty for all and praying for the day when “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26) when true peace comes through the glorious and triumphal return of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16; Titus 2:13).
