Featured Baptist Confession Making 1644 and 1689

Don't see an article at your link, but I found this interesting page there about their 'International Fellowship of Reformed Baptists':

reformation-today.org/ifrb/

 

Thanks for calling attention to this article, Brother Glen. Looks quite interesting. Since that link just goes to the home page, I'm adding one that should go directly to the article.

Baptist Confession Making 1644 and 1689​

 

Oh, I did. Didn't I say it was...interesting.

 

Brother Glen, I have printed and read the article. Pretty interesting. I would have enjoyed a bit more history on the 1644 Confession, but I understand that was not his emphasis -- especially considering it was presented on the 300th anniversary of the 1689 Confession. I like the way he pointed out that the Westminster Confession was mediated through the Savoy Confession to the Baptists (that is, ideas that came from Savoy rather than Westminster). Thanks again.

Here's another article on the topic: Confessing the Faith in 1644 and 1689, James M. Renihan | The Reformed Reader

 

I've been saying the same for at least the last decade on the BB!

It's sort of a distillation process --WCoF --Savoy --to the London 1689.

Of course the 1689 was a work in progress itself. The 1644 version was based on The True Confession and The Marrow of Theology by William Ames (1576-1633). There was the 1646 revision and the 1677 edition as well. I think there was one more in the middle of the 17th century.

 

Excellent article, brother Glen. Thank you for posting.
Robert Oliver is a fine Pastor and historian, though quite elderly now.

 

BTW, Pam is going in for her 2nd round of chemo today... please hold us in your prayers

 

Just prayed for your dear wife.

 

Thank you

 

That "cribbing" was intentional as the framers of the 1689 were not seeking a novel invention. They only departed from the WCF in those areas that differentiated between Baptists and Presbyterians. The general aim was peace, as the preamble of the 1689 testifies: 1689 LBC with preamble

 

Yes, and their differentiation from Presbyterianism involved more than just believers baptism and biblical ecclesiology. Some other examples are: deleting the term "Sacrament", deleting the term "Reformed", and taking as a basis what is "necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture" rather than the Presbyterians' what "by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture."

 

Thanks for this valuable article. One point worth mentioning are the two versions of the Trinity found in the 1644, and the 1646 version. The 1646 teaches "Incarnate Sonship", and the 1644 and 1689 teach "Eternal Sonship". Both I think are valid. But incarnate sonship seeks to alleviate the appearance of time in eternity. That is the Father and Word are without the appearance of the Father causing the Son, as in Eternal Sonship, that depicts the Father generating the Son. I always thought eternal sonship might conflict with the doctrine of divine simplicity.

 

The 1644 uses Son (Catholic Trinity). the 1646 uses Word in place of Son. If you study the two trinitarian views and return to the creeds, you can see it. The 1646 teaches "Incarnate Sonship", and the 1644 and 1689 teach the Catholic "Eternal Sonship"