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
THERE is but one, and only one, living and true God. He
is self-existent and infinite in His being and His perfections.
None but He can comprehend or understand His essence. He is
pure spirit, invisible, and without body, parts, or the changeable
feelings of men. He alone possesses immortality, and dwells
amid the light insufferably bright to mortal men. He never
changes. He is great beyond all our conceptions, eternal,
incomprehensible, almighty and infinite. He is most holy, wise, free and absolute. All that He does is the out-working of His
changeless, righteous will, and for His own glory. He is most
loving, gracious, merciful and compassionate. He abounds in
goodness and truth. He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin.
He rewards those who seek Him diligently. But He hates sin.
He will not overlook guilt or spare the guilty, and He is perfectly
just in executing judgment.
Gen. 17:1; Exod. 3:14; 34:6,7; Deut. 4:15,16; 6:4; 1 Kings 8:27; Neh.9:32,33; Ps. 5:5,6; 90:2; 115:3; Prov. 16:4; Isa. 6:3; 46:10; 48:12; Jer. 10:10;
23:23,24; Nah. 1:2,3; Mal. 3:6; John 4:24; Rom.11:36; 1 Cor. 8:4,6;
1 Tim.1:17; Heb. 11:6.
God is all-sufficient, and all life, glory, goodness and blessedness
are found in Him and in Him alone. He does not stand in need
of any of the creatures that He has made, nor does He derive any
part of His glory from them. On the contrary, He manifests
His own glory in and by them. He is the fountain-head of all
being, and the origin, channel and end of all things. Over all
His creatures He is sovereign. He uses them as He pleases, and
does for them or to them all that He wills. His sight penetrates
to the heart of all things. His knowledge is infinite and infallible.
No single thing is to Him at risk or uncertain, for He is not
dependent upon created things. In all His decisions, doings and
demands He is most holy. Angels and men owe to Him as their
creator all worship, service and obedience, and whatever else He
may require at their hands.
Job 22:2,3; Ps. 119:68; 145:17; 148:13; Ezek.11:5; Dan. 4:25,34,35; John
5:26; Acts 15:18; Rom. 11:34-36; Heb. 4:13; Rev. 5:12-14.
Three divine Persons constitute the Godhead-the Father, the
Son (or the Word), and the Holy Spirit. They are one in
substance, in power, and in eternity. Each is fully God, and yet
the Godhead is one and indivisible. The Father owes His being
to none. He is Father to the Son who is eternally begotten of
Him. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
These Persons, one infinite and eternal God not to be divided in
being, are distinguished in Scripture by their personal
nature or in relations within the Godhead, and by the variety of works which
they undertake. Their tri-unity (that is, the doctrine of the
Trinity) is the essential basis of all our fellowship with God, and
of the comfort we derive from our dependence upon Him.
Exod. 3:14; Matt. 28:19; John 1:14,18; 14:11; 15:26; 1 Cor. 8:6; 2 Cor.
13:14; Gal. 4:6; 1 John 5:7.
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