Reformed Baptist Distinctives

For those who missed these posts that are buried in my archives, I am republishing a series of posts I did on Reformed Baptist distinctives. These are distinctive beliefs that distinguish Reformed Baptists from other Baptists who do not hold these beliefs. These distinctive beliefs are stated in the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith (BCF) and held by many Reformed Baptists who maintain the BCF as their Confession of Faith.

Reformed Baptist Distinctives Part I--The Sovereignty of God in All Things, Including the Salvation of His People

Reformed Baptist Distinctives Part II--The Regulative Principle of Worship

Reformed Baptist Distinctives Part III--Cessation of the Miraculous Revelatory Sign Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Reformed Baptist Distinctives Part IV--God's New Covenant is With His Elect Only. God has Written His Moral Law on Their Hearts

In addition, I also did a series of posts on some of the major distinctives of the BCF that distinguish it from the Reformed Presbyterian Westminster Confession of Faith of 1646 (WCF) .

Different views of the Church in the BCF and the WCF

Differences between the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith and the Westminster Confession of Faith on Baptism

Christian Liberty and the Civil Magistrate : differences between the BCF and the WCF

Scripture Alone: The Presuppositional Apologetics of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith and the 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith

From the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith CH 1 "Of the Holy Scriptures" we have the following declarations:

1.4 Holy Scripture demands belief, yet its authority does not depend on the testimony of any person or church, [1] but entirely on God its author, who is truth itself. Therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God. [2]

1. Luke 16:27-31 Galatians 1:8-9 Ephesians 2:20
2. 2 Timothy 3:15 Romans 1:2 Romans 3:2 Acts 2:16 Acts 4:25 Matthew 13:35 Romans 9:17 Galatians 3:8 Romans 15:4 1 Corinthians 10:11 Matthew 22:32 Luke 16:17 Matthew 22:41ff John 10:35 Galatians 3:16 Acts 1:16 Acts 2:24ff Acts 13:34-35 John 19:34-36 John 19:24 Luke 22:37 Matthew 26:54 John 13:18 2 Timothy 3:16 2 Peter 1:19-21 Matthew 5:17-18 Matthew 4:1-11

1.9 The infallible rule for the interpretation of Scripture is Scripture itself. Therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any [part of] Scripture (which is not a miscellany, but a unity) it must be understood in the light of other passages that speak more clearly. [1]

1. Isaiah 8:20 John 10:34-36 Acts 15:15-16

Similarly, the 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith in CH 1 "Of the Holy Scripture" declares:

IV. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.[9]

IX. The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.[23]

Thus, both Confessions hold to the self-authenticating nature of Scripture, that is, that its authority is based solely on the fact that is is the Word of God. Thus Scripture does not need to be defended by anything outside of itself, but is rather to be proclaimed as God's revelation of His truth.

The most prominent apologetic method that presupposes the truth of God's Word is presuppositional apologetics. Presuppositional apologetics argues that knowledge itself is impossible without presupposing the God of the Bible and the truth of His Word, The Bible. The most prominent proponents of this method of apologetics were Cornelius Van Til and Greg Bahnsen.
Related websites:


http://www.vantil.info/

Presuppositional Apologetics (articles from Monergism)

Reformed Apologetics

Tabular Comparison of the 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith, 1658 Savoy Declaration of Faith, and the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith

A Tabular Comparison of the 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith and the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith

Tabular Comparison of the 1646 Westminster Confession of Faith, the 1658 Savoy Declaration of Faith, the 1677/1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith and the 1742 Philadelphia Confession of Faith (new!)