1689 London Baptist Confession
1. Such of the elect as are converted at riper years, having sometime
lived in the state of nature, and therein served divers lusts and pleasures, God in their
effectual calling giveth them repentance unto life.
( Titus
3:2-5 )
2. Whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth not, and the best of men may, through
the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them, with the prevalency of
temptation, fall into great sins and provocations; God hath, in the covenant of grace,
mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling be renewed through repentance
unto salvation.
( Ecclesiastes
7:20; Luke
22:31, 32 )
3. This saving repentance is an evangelical grace, whereby a person, being by the Holy
Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, doth, by faith in Christ, humble
himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency, praying for
pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and endeavour, by supplies of the Spirit, to
walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things.
( Zechariah
12:10; Acts
11:18; Ezekiel
36:31; 2
Corinthians 7:11; Psalms
119:6; Psalms
119:128 )
4. As repentance is to be continued through the whole course of our lives, upon the
account of the body of death, and the motions thereof, so it is every man's duty to repent
of his particular known sins particularly.
( Luke
19:8; 1
Timothy 1:13, 15 )
5. Such is the provision which God hath made through Christ in the covenant of grace for
the preservation of believers unto salvation; that although there is no sin so small but
it deserves damnation; yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them
that repent; which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary.
( Romans
6:23; Isaiah
1:16-18 Isaiah
55:7 )
For further study:
"Baptist Roots in America: The Historical Background of Reformed Baptists in America", Samuel E. Waldron, Simpson Publishing Co. (1991)
"A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith", Samuel E. Waldron, Evangelical Press, 1989
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