A Faith to Confess: The Baptist Confession
of Faith of 1689
Rewritten in Modern English
©1975, Carey Publications, Ltd.,
75 Woodhill Road, Leeds, U.K., LS16 7BZ
THE saints are those whom God has accepted in Christ the
Beloved, and effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit. To
them He has given the precious faith that pertains to all His elect.
The persons to whom such blessings have been imparted can
neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but they
shall certainly persevere in grace to the end and be eternally
saved, for God will never repent of having called them and made
gifts to them. Consequently He continues to beget and to
nourish in them faith, repentance,love, joy, hope, and all the
graces of the Spirit that issue in immortality. Many storms and
floods may arise and beat upon them, yet they can never be
moved from the foundation and rock on which by faith they are
firmly established. Even if unbelief and Satan's temptations
cause them for a time to lose the sight and comfort of the light
and love of God, yet the unchanging God remains their God, and
He will certainly keep and save them by His power until they
come to the enjoyment of their purchased possession; for they are
engraven on the palms of His hands, and their names have been
written in the book of life from all eternity.
Ps. 89:31,32; Mal. 3:6; John 10:28,29; 1 Cor. 11:32; Phil. 1:6; 2 Tim. 2:19; 1 John 2:19.
It is on no free will of their own that the saints' perseverance
depends, but on the immutability of the decree of election, which
in its turn depends upon the free and unchangeable love of God
the Father, the efficacious merit and intercession of Jesus Christ
and the saints' union with Him, the oath of God, the abiding
character of the Spirit's indwelling of the saints, the divine nature
of which they are partakers and, lastly, the terms of the covenant
of grace. All these factors guarantee the certainty and infallibility
of the saints' perseverance.
Jer. 32:40; John 14:19; Rom. 5:9,10; 8:30; 9:11,16; Heb. 6:17,18; 1 John
3:9.
In various ways-the temptations of Satan and of the world,
the striving of indwelling sin to get the upper hand, the neglect
of the means appointed for their preservation-saints may fall
into fearful sins, and may even continue in them for a time. In
this way they incur God's displeasure, grieve His Holy Spirit, do
injury to their graces, diminish their comforts, experience
hardness of heart and accusations of conscience, hurt and scandalize others,
and bring God's chastisements on themselves. Yet
being saints their repentance will be renewed, and through faith
they will be preserved in Christ Jesus to the end.
2 Sam. 12:14; Ps. 32:3,4; 51:10,12; Isa. 64:5,9; Matt. 26:70,72,74; Luke
22:32,61,62; Eph. 4:30.
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