The Baptist Confession of Faith
Introduction
30 November 2025
So, in this first session that we are going to be dealing with this afternoon, are going to be working our way through establishing why the London Baptist Confession of Faith was written and the introduction that is given to that confession. So, as I've mentioned, this is going to feel a bit more like a history lesson than it is teaching specific doctrine, but it is very important to establish the grounds as to why hundreds of years later we are gathering as a 21st century church, upholding a confession of faith which was written in the 17th century. So, this takes us back to the 17th century and when the London Baptist Confession of Faith was written, but we need to go back decades before that to understand its significance.
So, if we're aware of when the Protestant Reformation began in the 16th century, we go then a few decades later when churches were beginning to be established and formed and within the city of London there were a group of congregations called Particular Baptist churches. Now these churches were ministered led by Puritans. Now that means they desired to regulate worship and order in church according to scripture because there was a lot of church which was not regulated according to scripture and these Particular Baptists as well as the leaders being Puritans they were certainly also Reformed in their doctrine.
And what they did they put together a very lengthy document which was the first of its kind which was a confession of faith which was named the First London Confession of Faith. Not the second, which is what we're dealing with in our studies through this course. It was the First London Confession. Now that's important to mention. Now the reason why they did this was because of their difference with what was traditionally deemed to be the Reformed position. And that mainly centred upon their position on the subject of baptism. Because as the Protestant Reformation grew and became more widespread across Western Europe, Protestant Reformed churches were being established, upholding the Doctrines of Grace and the Five Solas, and these churches were Presbyterian and they had a very specific and distinct understanding of the Covenant.
So, let me just briefly go through these two points which are the distinctions, the difference between what we would uphold here as Reformed Baptists.
Ecclesiology
So, first of all with regards to them being Presbyterian, this is regarding their ecclesiology, namely how their church would be structured. So, they had a leadership which was governed by a plurality of elders and each of the churches within a specific area were called presbyteries and the presbytery had a sort of ruling governing body of elders that acted as a sort of high court over the churches within that area which was called the presbytery. And so, there were presbyteries in all of the different areas in a country like Scotland as there were in other countries in Europe with these different local presbyteries and it even also had a hierarchical structure of a national governance as well over all of the Presbyterian Church.
Now this was something that was formalized first in Scotland under John Knox after he had studied under John Calvin in Geneva. So, if you're aware of some of the points in the Protestant Reformation you'll know that John Calvin was very significant in establishing the biblical doctrine of the Reformation. John Knox studied under him and he brought this Reformed doctrine to Scotland. And this included establishing these Presbyterian churches. This is why Scotland historically has such a rich, biblically grounded history. One of the strongest anywhere in the world, right here in this land.
The Covenant
Another key difference as well as the governance structure, that being Presbyterian, is also with regards to the view that they had on the covenant. Now the Presbyterian understanding of the covenant is that from Genesis, the Book of Genesis, to the time of the new covenant in the coming of Christ, that the administration of the covenant always remains the same, namely that there is an earthly and outward administration which is led by humans using signs. And there's also an inward and spiritual one administered by the Holy Spirit.
So, Presbyterians would argue that in the Old Testament circumcision was the physical and outward sign administered by man which was applied to the eight-day-old baby boys who were children of the household of Israel and the inward and spiritual administration namely faith was a work done by God for those whom He would call. And they would argue that this covenant administration remains the same now, namely that baptism is the physical and outward sign administered by man, and this can be applied to the children of believers as a sign of God's covenant promise. And they would also argue that the inward administration, namely that of faith, is done by the work of the Spirit of God to those whom He would call. And they would cite passages like Jeremiah 31 and Galatians 3:7 to make their argument.
Now, it's going to be quite a while before we get to the subject of baptism in our confession and also in terms of dealing with ecclesiology and governance structure. But as Reformed Baptists, we do not doctrinally agree with or align with either of these points, both in terms of the structure of the church and also the administration of baptism to babies and infants, which would not be unprofessional faith. But it's important, crucial, that we understand that this would have been what was traditionally understood to be the Reformed position, which was equalling Presbyterian.
Anabaptists
At the same time, there were Baptist churches, namely churches that upheld the doctrine of believing in the importance of believers’ baptism and one of the most prominent ones during this time in history was a group called the Anabaptists. Now you might be thinking -okay well the Anabaptists they align with what we align with on baptism but let me tell you some other things that the Anabaptists stood upon. They believed in man's free will to choose salvation. They also believed that faith and works were inseparable for salvation. So, there were fundamental doctrinal errors that distorted the gospel amongst the Anabaptists. Also, during that time, there were several Presbyterian church leaders who were zealous to maintain Calvinistic orthodoxy and they actively aimed to point out and to crush any heresy. and they were known, given the title, as heresy hunters.
Particular Baptists
And so, when the Particular Baptists come along and they say, we believe in believers’ baptism, we have a different view of the covenant, we have a different view of ecclesiology, the Reformed churches, namely the Presbyterians, they've got their heresy hunter radars on and they want to sniff out. Is this also like the Anabaptists? And this is why these Particular Baptists, for those who really studied this, this included men like William Kiffin and Samuel Richardson, if you don't know them, don't worry. They put together this First London Confession of Faith. And the reason why they did this was in order to clarify their biblical belief about believers' baptism and their differences on church ecclesiology, but their main desire was to refute any charge that they were not Reformed or not Calvinistic. They put this confession together to show to their Presbyterian brothers and sisters - we too are Reformed in our doctrine. We are Calvinistic. We uphold the doctrines of grace.
Now at this time, this was during a period when the Presbyterians were beginning to put together their own confession of faith, which is called the Westminster Confession of Faith. And this was later amended and it was released shortly after the First London Baptist Confession of Faith. But this First Baptist Confession, it did help to satisfy the Presbyterians of their Calvinistic beliefs. That there was no fundamental doctrinal error and so at long last, decades after the beginning of the Reformation, Particular Baptists, Reformed Baptists, had a recognized presence in the Reformation at a local church level. So, if you ever encounter Presbyterians today who say, well if you're a Baptist that means you're not Reformed, then you can sit them down and give them this history lesson. Because the Presbyterians themselves gave them the sign of approval and they were out to sniff out anything that was not Reformed.
Now in the introduction that we have on our sheets, the writers state that they deemed it necessary to express ourselves the more fully and distinctly. Because let's remember the document that we're dealing with is not the First London Baptist Confession of Faith, it is the Second. So, these Particular Baptists later in the 17th century, they put together a second publication. And the approach that they adopted for the second publication was to take much of the language and writings of the best available documents at hand. And that included the Westminster Confession of Faith and another document, the Savoy Declaration. Now the motivation for doing this amongst these Reformed Baptists was unity and peace among the Baptists but also alongside their Presbyterian brothers and sisters. They wanted to promote love amongst those who differed in realms of biblical truth and orthodoxy and also because this was a time when the Reformed Church including and especially the Reformed Baptists were under much persecution.
So, this is a key thing to acknowledge. The Baptists, the Reformed Baptists, they had a very clear and marked respect for the Presbyterian churches and at this time the Presbyterians had a marked respect for these Reformed Baptists. Now we don't actually have mention of who the specific authors of this Second Confession of Faith were, but because they're both, they're anonymous when the document's put together. But it's easy to find who these men were because it says these were put, this document was put together by elders and brethren of many congregations in the London and surrounding area. So, all of the Particular Baptist churches around that London area would have been the ones who were responsible for putting this together. So, it was a specific group, involving some of the same men who put the First Confession together. And in this introduction, which we'll read just as we finish, they do cover pastoral concerns, identifying the decay of religion in their day, urging parents to catechize their children, so that people, like we would long for today, would be grounded upon the truth. And this then, the introduction ends with an earnest prayer, a prayer that the Holy Spirit would work through this.
The structure of the 2LBCF
Now just before I read the introduction, let me just give you a little bit more detail about the structure of the confession of faith. Because the confession of faith was written to give a very thorough and rigorous run through of biblical doctrine, which is what we're going to work through. So, it can kind of be structured in four main sections.
The first six chapters of the 32 chapters in the confession of faith are dealing with the Holy Scriptures and the doctrine of God. So that's the first six chapters.
Then the big chunk of the confession, chapters 7 to 20, are relating to the covenant and God's plan, His accomplishment, and application of the redemption that we have in Jesus Christ. So that's chapters 7 to 20.
Then the next section, which is chapters 21 to 30, is with regards to God-cantered living, the freedom and boundaries that we have in our Christian lives. And so, this deals with Christian liberty relating to worship of God, matters concerning the law and the church, and church administrations such as what we have, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
And then the final two chapters (31 & 32) deal with eschatology, the last judgment, the end times.
So that's the structure of the confession of faith. And here today we've been dealing with introducing the confession and introducing this introduction that these men put together, which is the introduction to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. So let me read this introduction and then following that I'll pray and then we're going to break into groups for some discussion. So, this is the introduction to the confession of faith:
Courteous Reader: It is now many years since divers of us (with other sober Christians then living, and walking in the way of the Lord, that we profess) did conceive ourselves to be under a necessity of publishing a Confession, of our Faith, for the information and satisfaction of those that did not thoroughly understand what our principles were, or had entertained prejudices against our profession, by reason of the strange representation of them by some men of note who had taken very wrong measures, and accordingly led others into misapprehension of us and them. And this was first put forth about the year 1643, in the name of seven congregations then gathered in London; since which time divers impressions thereof have been dispersed abroad, and our end proposed in good measure answered, inasmuch as many (and some of those men eminent both for piety and learning) were thereby satisfied that we were no way guilty of those heterodoxies and fundamental errors which had too frequently been charged upon us without ground or occasion given on our part.
And forasmuch as that Confession is not now commonly to be had, and also that many others have since embraced the same truth which is owned therein, it was judged necessary by us to join together in giving a testimony to the world of our firm adhering to those wholesome principles by the publication of this which is now in your hand. And forasmuch as our method and manner of expressing our sentiments in this doth vary from the former (although the substance of this matter is the same), we shall freely impart to you the reason and occasion thereof. One thing that greatly prevailed with us to undertake this work was (not only to give a full account of ourselves to those Christians that differ from us about the subject of baptism, but also) the profit that might from thence arise unto those that have any account of our labors in their instruction and establishment in the great truths of the Gospel, in the clear understanding and steady belief of which our comfortable walking with God, and fruitfulness before him in all our ways, is most nearly concerned; and therefore we did conclude It necessary to express ourselves the more fully and distinctly; and also to fix on such a method as might be most comprehensive of those things we designed to explain our sense and belief of; and finding no defect in this regard in that fixed on by the Assembly, and, after them by those of the congregational way, we did readily conclude it best to retain the same order in our present Confession; and also when we observed that those last mentioned did in their Confessions (for reasons which seemed of weight both to themselves and others) choose not only to express their mind in words concurrent with the former in sense concerning all those articles wherein they were agreed, but also for the most part without any variation of the terms, we did in like manner conclude it best to follow their example in making use of the very same words with them both in these articles (which are very many) wherein our faith and doctrine are the same with theirs; and this we did the more abundantly to manifest our consent with both in all the fundamental articles of the Christian religion, as also with many others whose orthodox Confessions have been published to the world on the behalf of the Protestant in diverse nations and cities. And also to convince all that we have no itch to clog religion with new words, but do readily acquiesce in that form of sound words which hath been, in consent with the Holy Scriptures, used by others before us; hereby declaring, before God, angels, and men, our hearty agreement with them in that wholesome Protestant doctrine which, with so clear evidence of Scriptures, they have asserted. Some things, indeed, are in some places added, some terms omitted, and some few changed; but these alterations are of that nature as that we need not doubt any charge or suspicion of unsoundness in the faith from any of our brethren upon the account of them.
In those things wherein we differ from others we have expressed ourselves with all candor and plainness, that none might entertain jealousy of aught secretly lodged in our breasts that we would not the world should be acquainted with; yet we hope we have also observed those rules of modesty and humility as will render our freedom in this respect inoffensive, even to those whose sentiments are different from ours.
We have also taken care to affix texts of Scripture at the bottom, for the confirmation of each article in our Confession; in which work we have studiously endeavored to select such as are most clear and pertinent for the proof of what is asserted by us; and our earnest desire is that all into whose hands this may come would follow that (never enough commended) example of the noble Bereans, who searched the Scriptures daily that they might find out whether the things preached to them were so or not.
There is one thing more which we sincerely profess and earnestly desire credence in – viz., that contention is most remote from our design in all that we have done in this matter; and we hope that the liberty of an ingenuous unfolding our principles and opening our hearts unto our brethren, with the Scripture grounds of our faith and practice will by none of them be either denied to us, or taken ill from us. Our whole design is accomplished if we may have attained that justice as to be measured in our principles and practice, and the judgment of both by others, according to what we have now published, which the Lord (whose eyes are as a flame of fire) knoweth to be the doctrine which with our hearts we most firmly believe and sincerely endeavor to conform our lives to. And O that, other contentions being laid asleep, the only care and contention of all upon whom the name of our blessed Redeemer is called might for the future be to walk humbly with their God in the exercise of all love and meekness toward each other, to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, each one endeavoring to have his conversation such as becometh the gospel; and also, suitable to his place and capacity, vigorously to promote in others the practice of true religion and undefiled in the sight of God our Father! And that in this backsliding day we might not spend our breath in fruitless complaints of the evils of others, but may every one begin at home, to reform in the first place our own hearts and ways, and then to quicken all that we may have influence upon to the some work, that if the will of God were so, none might deceive themselves by resting in and trusting to a form of godliness without the power of it, and inward experience of the efficacy of those truths that are professed by them.
And verily there is one spring and cause of the decay of religion in our day which we cannot but touch upon and earnestly urge a redress of, and that is the neglect of the worship of God in families by those to whom the charge and conduct of them is committed. May not the gross ignorance and instability of many, with the profaneness of others, be justly charged upon their parents and masters, who have not trained them up in the way wherein they ought to walk when they were young, but have neglected those frequent and solemn commands which the Lord hath laid upon them, so to catechise and instruct them that their tender years might be seasoned with the knowledge of the truth of God as revealed in the Scriptures; and also by their own omission of prayer and other duties of religion of their families, together with the ill example of their loose conversation, having, inured them first to a neglect and the contempt of all piety and religion? We know this will not excuse the blindness and wickedness of any, but certainly it will fall heavy upon those that have been thus the occasion thereof; they indeed die in their sins, but will not their blood be required of those under whose care they were, who yet permitted them to go on without warning – yea, led them into the paths of destruction? And will not the diligence of Christians with respect to the discharge of these duties in ages past rise up in judgment against and condemn many of those who would be esteemed such now?
We shall conclude with our earnest prayer that the God of all grace will pour out those measures of his Holy Spirit upon us, that the profession of truth may be accompanied with the sound belief and diligent practice of it by us, that his name may in all things be glorified through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have introduced today on the confession of faith. Help us to have more clarity on the historical grounds by which this was written. And as the weeks go on, we pray that what we study of the doctrine of the confession would teach us, may it feed our souls, may it strengthen and equip us in the profession of faith by which we stand and live our lives. And may the conversation, the discussions we have now be profitable to that end, for we ask all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
STUDY QUESTIONS
Why did the Protestant Reformation begin?
What were some of the key doctrinal issues that were being fought for at this time?
Summarise where the ‘Reformed Baptists’ fit into the Protestant Reformation.
In what ways does this confession result in ‘doctrine dividing’ with other churches?
In what ways does this confession result in ‘doctrine uniting’ with other churches?
What should be essential in a church regarding what brings us together?