Rand, it would seem pretty unlikely that this could be taken to mean the church universal, since the wording of the BF&M is "it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper." I don't see how any Baptists could take the church here to mean something other than the local church, since baptism is a prerequisite to being part of it. Do any Baptists who believe in the church universal believe one enters that church by baptism? If so, wouldn't that be baptismal regeneration?
I know I'm late this discussion. I came to this on search for a discussion list I'm on where the Lord's Supper is at issue.
Anyhoo, this is actually not clear in the BFM if we go by the debate on the BFM the year it was passed. This question was raised from the floor immediately before the vote. However, time had been consumed on the debate over Article 1.
I believe it was Daniel Vestal that finally uttered the words, "...after all it's just a book" (referring to the Bible), which pretty much shut down the debate, because after that they demanded a vote. It was the biggest case of opening one's mouth and inserting one's foot in public that had happened in a looong time at the SBC.
Anyhoo, I remember this well. Immediately before they called the vote, a gentleman took the microphone and raised a question about this article. He was cut off by the chair and a vote was called. His question was never answered. He was, however, concerned about the language and wanted to know if it meant the SBC was affirming closed communion.
