1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith - Particular Baptist

[Hazelelponi]

This is a sermon from a conference so it's a nearly 3 hour long talk from Pastor J. Ryan Davidson concerning the London Baptist Confession of Faith.

Link to Sermon

^^ Sermon is located on the external website Sermon Audio.

The Pastor touches on many aspects of the confession, including briefly the history of Particular Baptists (now just called Reformed Baptist generally).

I have enjoyed the teaching overall, and thought it would be good to share here for those who might really enjoy it.

The Pastor also gave some books that can be read which expound further on confessions generally and one which teaches more indepth on the 1689.

Those book recommendations are: A Toolkit for Confessions: Symbolics 101 by James Renihan as well as A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession by Samuel E. Waldron.

Enjoy and God bless you all.

 

[Jonaitis]

I may not fully subscribe to all the parts of the Confession anymore, but I still think it is a great summary of the Christian belief.

'An Appendix on Baptism' is probably one of the strongest explanations on baptism written by any Particular Baptist.

I truly believe Nehemiah Coxe was responsible for much of its content and editing. He was truly a leader in the early Particular Baptist movement.

 

[Hazelelponi]

I may not fully subscribe to all the parts of the Confession anymore, but I still think it is a great summary of the Christian belief.

'An Appendix on Baptism' is probably one of the strongest explanations on baptism written by any Particular Baptist.

I truly believe Nehemiah Coxe was responsible for much of its content and editing. He was truly a leader in the early Particular Baptist movement.

I am very weak on reformation history overall, I'm solid on the highlights now but the details aren't my forte. I don't suppose I've even heard of Nehemiah Coxe.

I've been spending my study time now trying to go through the confessions and figuring out what I can uphold with true belief and what I feel sketchy on personally.

My husband found this sermon for me to listen to, and is buying me these books as well. (He actually knows of this church more personally and was excited they have sermons online now for me to listen to and learn from)

But history - I'm pretty sketchy which is probably why the confessions are taking me this much time.. lol.

Do you have any book recommendations about reformation church history that's more detailed?

 

[Jonaitis]

I am very weak on reformation history overall, I'm solid on the highlights now but the details aren't my forte. I don't suppose I've even heard of Nehemiah Coxe.

I've been spending my study time now trying to go through the confessions and figuring out what I can uphold with true belief and what I feel sketchy on personally.

My husband found this sermon for me to listen to, and is buying me these books as well. (He actually knows of this church more personally and was excited they have sermons online now for me to listen to and learn from)

But history - I'm pretty sketchy which is probably why the confessions are taking me this much time.. lol.

Do you have any book recommendations about reformation church history that's more detailed?

The Particular Baptist movement began much later than the Reformation. We would call it another wave of the Reformation.

However, if you are interested in learning about Particular Baptist, I would check out this volume set. Each volume of this five-volume set contains professionally written biographical sketches of the English Particular Baptists. If you are interested in the English Reformation in general, I would look into A.G. Dickens 'English Reformation'. Michael Reeves has a good video series on it too (and I think some books). There is also others like the Dutch Reformation, but you should probably settle with a few things first lol. Or are you just interested in the Reformers?

 

[Hazelelponi]

The Particular Baptist movement began much later than the Reformation. We would call it another wave of the Reformation.

However, if you are interested in learning about Particular Baptist, I would check out this volume set. Each volume of this five-volume set contains professionally written biographical sketches of the English Particular Baptists. If you are interested in the English Reformation in general, I would look into A.G. Dickens 'English Reformation'. Michael Reeves has a good video series on it too (and I think some books). There is also others like the Dutch Reformation, but you should probably settle with a few things first lol. Or are you just interested in the Reformers?

As you may remember I was saved in 2014, before that this sort of thing I had no interest in. I didn't even know about the reformation other than religious freedom was what caused many to come to these shores.

My understanding of God, Scripture etc since I've been saved fell pretty much immediately in line with Reformed theology, though at first I had no understanding of what that even was, this thing we generally call Orthodox Reformed theological doctrine.

My husband was born and raised a Primitive Baptist (heavily Calvinistic) so I knew some, but it's been a journey for me to settle what my beliefs are - I can't just blindly accept what he believes, says and/or teaches me - even though I think God gave him to me to help me, this still has to be my own journey, my own understanding developed in the way I learn best.

Im learning as a new Christian, but all I can really truly say I know is that I can't listen to any reformed pastor without a peace and quiet in my spirit that agrees with them. And it's not so for other kinds of pastors, quite the opposite really.

Hard to explain but I have known since the very first reformed Pastor I read a sermon by, that they - these men who came out of the reformation - knew the very same God I came to know and love.

I'll never be able to really explain it, but these men worship my God and know him as I do, so I listen to them joyfully. This is just a truth I can't explain. But I've been reformed since before I knew what the word meant.

Now - I'm wanting to get more in depth in study than ever before, confessions and the like, and clearly there are times context I don't have matters.

So I guess I don't know what I need to get into, and what doesn't matter.

 

[Jonaitis]

As you may remember I was saved in 2014, before that this sort of thing I had no interest in. I didn't even know about the reformation other than religious freedom was what caused many to come to these shores.

My understanding of God, Scripture etc since I've been saved fell pretty much immediately in line with Reformed theology, though at first I had no understanding of what that even was, this thing we generally call Orthodox Reformed theological doctrine.

My husband was born and raised a Primitive Baptist (heavily Calvinistic) so I knew some, but it's been a journey for me to settle what my beliefs are - I can't just blindly accept what he believes, says and/or teaches me - even though I think God gave him to me to help me, this still has to be my own journey, my own understanding developed in the way I learn best.

Im learning as a new Christian, but all I can really truly say I know is that I can't listen to any reformed pastor without a peace and quiet in my spirit that agrees with them. And it's not so for other kinds of pastors, quite the opposite really.

Hard to explain but I have known since the very first reformed Pastor I read a sermon by, that they - these men who came out of the reformation - knew the very same God I came to know and love.

I'll never be able to really explain it, but these men worship my God and know him as I do, so I listen to them joyfully. This is just a truth I can't explain. But I've been reformed since before I knew what the word meant.

Now - I'm wanting to get more in depth in study than ever before, confessions and the like, and clearly there are times context I don't have matters.

So I guess I don't know what I need to get into, and what doesn't matter.

I see, I know many people like yourself, including my best friend whose father is our leading and preaching elder. He began to question about this tradition that his parents raised in him, and took the time to spend most of his private studies in examining his own convictions.

I was someone from the other side that came to fall in line with Reformed Theology gradually from time I was about 18 years old until I began to see inconsistencies in last few years or so (now 27). I agree with most of the Reformed tradition, but there is too much speculative positions that I cannot defend. I am beginning to realise that when I began to accept the tradition, I was automatically taking everything I heard to be correct because it was part of this tradition. I was falling into the Romanist trap from a historically Protestant position. I truly believe in Semper Reformanda, and that there is much that still needs better articulation, such as the doctrine of divine simplicity. We will always have some blind spots, but that is no excuse to not find them.

Samuel Renihan and Richard Barcellos are some good modern leaders that have works written concerning the Reformed Baptist heritage if you're interested in learning about the confession and historical background of it.

 

[Hazelelponi]

I see, I know many people like yourself, including my best friend whose father is our leading and preaching elder. He began to question about this tradition that his parents raised in him, and took the time to spend most of his private studies in examining his own convictions.

I was someone from the other side that came to fall in line with Reformed Theology gradually from time I was about 18 years old until I began to see inconsistencies in last few years or so (now 27). I agree with most of the Reformed tradition, but there is too much speculative positions that I cannot defend. I am beginning to realise that when I began to accept the tradition, I was automatically taking everything I heard to be correct because it was part of this tradition. I was falling into the Romanist trap from a historically Protestant position. I truly believe in Semper Reformanda, and that there is much that still needs better articulation, such as the doctrine of divine simplicity. We will always have some blind spots, but that is no excuse to not find them.

Samuel Renihan and Richard Barcellos are some good modern leaders that have works written concerning the Reformed Baptist heritage if you're interested in learning about the confession and historical background of it.

Thanks for the recommendations..

 

[JM]

You can find out more in the titles listed below. Coxe explains why you shouldn't baptize infants based on the nature of the New Covenant and who belongs to the church. Denault offers a very insightful look into the history of the early Baptists.

Covenant Theology: From Adam to Christ by Coxe and Owen

The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology by Denault