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Christianity Is a Revealed Faith
Christianity is not a religion discovered by human insight but one revealed by God Himself. From the opening lines of Chapter 1 of the 1689 (Second London Baptist Confession of Faith), the Particular Baptists make this point unmistakably clear. Against both the claims of Rome on one side and the “inner light” enthusiasm of the Quakers and radical Anabaptists on the other, the confession anchors the Christian faith firmly in the written Word of God. God must speak, and He has spoken.
The Necessity of Holy Scripture
The confession begins by asserting the necessity of Scripture. While God does reveal Himself in creation, leaving all people without excuse (Rom. 1:19–23), general revelation cannot save. It does not reveal Christ as God and Savior or the gospel. For that, special revelation is required. Scripture alone is “the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience.” This language is deliberate and historically significant. Earlier confessions spoke of Scripture’s authority and perfection, but the Second London uniquely emphasizes infallibility: the Bible not only does not err, it cannot err. Because God is its author, His Word shares His truthfulness.
God’s Final Word in His Son
Following the pattern of Hebrews 1, the confession acknowledges that God formerly spoke in many ways, through visions, dreams, prophets, even a donkey, but has now spoken finally and fully in His Son. Those revelations have been committed to writing for the good of the church: “to declare His will unto His church,” “for the better preserving and propagating of the truth,” and “for the more sure establishment and comfort of the church” against “the corruption of the flesh, the malice of Satan, and the world” (Rom. 15:4). Nothing further is needed. There is no ongoing stream of new revelation; God’s speech in Scripture is complete.
The Identity of Scripture: The Word of God Written
Chapters 2 and 3 identify what Scripture is. The Bible is “the Word of God written,” consisting of the sixty-six canonical books inspired by God Himself. Though written by many human authors across centuries and genres, Scripture has one divine author. It is “given by inspiration of God”, God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16), so that every word is truly God’s Word.
As B. B. Warfield wrote:
“No less than sixty-six separate books, one of which consists itself of one hundred and fifty separate compositions, immediately stare us in the face. These treatises come from the hands of at least thirty distinct writers, scattered over a period of some fifteen hundred years, and embrace specimens of nearly every kind of writing known among men. Histories, codes of law, ethical maxims, philosophical treatises, discourses, dramas, songs, hymns, epics, biographies, letters both official and personal, prophecies, every kind of composition known beneath heaven seems gathered here in one volume.”
By contrast, the Apocryphal books are “of no authority in the church of God,” and therefore do not bind the conscience, though they may be read as other human writings.
The Authority of Scripture and What Is Necessarily Contained
The confession then unfolds the attributes of Scripture. First, it is authoritative because God, “who is truth itself”, is its author. Scripture stands in a category entirely its own, above all human writings. Consequently, Christians are bound to believe not only what Scripture teaches explicitly, but also what is necessarily contained in it.
This language is intentional. The Second London does not ground doctrine in speculative reasoning but in what the text itself necessarily teaches. Doctrines such as the Trinity, the limitation of ecclesiastical office to qualified men, and the Christian observance of the Lord’s Day arise not from conjecture, but from faithful inference grounded in Scripture itself.
Scripture as Self-Authenticating
Second, Scripture is self-authenticating. Its divine origin is evidenced by its unity, fulfilled prophecy, historical reliability, transforming power, and supremely by “the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts” (1 Thess. 2:13). While apologetics and external evidences have their place, full assurance and persuasion come only through the Spirit working by the Word.
The Sufficiency of Scripture Alone
Third, Scripture is sufficient. Nothing may be added, neither claims of new revelation nor the traditions of men. Galatians 1:8–9 stands as a perpetual warning. As John Owen observed, summarized by J. I. Packer: “If their ‘private revelations’ agree with Scripture, they are needless, and if they disagree, they are false.” Sola Scriptura is not a denial of tradition’s usefulness, but the insistence that Scripture alone has authority to bind the conscience.
Scripture and the Ordering of Church Practice
This sufficiency also governs church practice. While Scripture does not prescribe every logistical detail of worship and governance, such circumstances are to be ordered “by the light of nature and Christian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word.” This grants liberty in circumstances, not license to introduce elements of worship not commanded by God. All things are to be done “decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).
The Clarity of Scripture and the Ordinary Means of Grace
The confession further affirms the clarity of Scripture. Not all passages are equally plain, yet the saving message of Scripture is clear enough to be understood through ordinary means. God has appointed the reading and preaching of Scripture, prayer, singing, and the sacraments as means of grace, illuminated by the Spirit and administered through pastors and teachers. “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (Ps. 119:130).
The Preeminence of Scripture in Preservation and Interpretation
Finally, the confession addresses the preeminence of Scripture. God has, “by His singular care and providence,” preserved His Word throughout history and ensured its availability to His people in their own languages. Scripture is its own final interpreter: “the infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself.” Clear passages give light to the less clear, and no church, council, or institution possesses infallible interpretive authority.
Scripture as the Supreme Judge of All Controversies
All of this culminates in Scripture’s supremacy. The Bible is “the supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined.” Every subordinate authority, confessions, elders, councils, and teachers, must be tested by it. Here, and here alone, our faith is finally resolved (2 Pet. 1:3).
In an age tempted either by spiritual subjectivism or by human tradition, Chapter 1 of the 1689 stands as a clear and pastoral confession: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).
This article is part of an ongoing series of confessional exposition through the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, seeking to recover its theology for the instruction and stability of the modern church.
Particularly Modern 