The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession: Of the Holy Scriptures (1.4, 5) ______________________________________
Letter from the Pastor 11/18/2025
Introduction
Twenty years ago, Dr. Ivan Spencer, one of my professors in college, asked me to read a book with him outside of class. The book was The Universe Next Door by James Sire which introduced me to the idea of “worldview.” In the book, Sire listed seven questions that, when answered, would reveal a person’s deepest, most closely held views on the world and reality. “Why is it possible to know anything at all?” “How do we know what is right and wrong?” “What is prime reality?” Sire helped me understand that, whether or not we realize it, we all have fundamental presuppositions about existence, and those basic assumptions shape how we think, feel, and behave. So, ask yourself a few questions. What is really real? What is the authority from which all others derive their own authority? What is the truth against which all other claims must be measured? These questions cut down to the root of all our other beliefs, and it’s crucial we understand how to answer them.
The 1689 Second London Confession of Faith (1.4, 5)
Paragraph 4
The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, depends not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God (who is truth itself), the author thereof; therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God.
Paragraph 5
We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church of God to a high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scriptures; and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, and the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, and many other incomparable excellencies, and entire perfections thereof, are arguments whereby it does abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God; yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth, and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.
The Authority of the Scriptures
What makes the Bible an authoritative book? The Confession argues that the Bible does not receive its authority from men or the church. Rather, the Confession makes a logical argument: the authority of the Bible rests upon the authority of its author, God. In other words, if God possesses authority, and if the Bible is the very Word of God, then the Bible also possesses authority. If God cannot lie, then neither can his Word. Whether or not one believes God to be the author of the Scriptures does not change its authority.
Here the Confession cites several proof texts from Scripture which are worth noting.
2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness
Let’s break that verse down into smaller bits. The Greek word for Scripture is graphe which means “writings.” Scripture claims that the original writings of Scripture are the locus of divine inspiration. And what is divine inspiration? This verse teaches that God breathed out the Scriptures. Though the Scriptures were written by men, God is their ultimate author. And Scripture accounts for this dual authorship in 2 Peter 1:22, 21.
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
The Bible recognizes its own dual authorship. So, did men write the Bible? Yes. Did God write the Bible? Yes. It simply will not do to argue that the Bible contains error because humans wrote it, for the Holy Spirit carried them in the task.
The 2 Timothy passage begins with the word “all.” All the writings of Scripture are God-breathed. You may have heard the term “Verbal Plenary Inspiration.” Verbal means we believe the words of Scripture to be breathed out by God. This is why we preach expositionally and seek to understand the books, paragraphs, sentences, words, grammar, and syntax of the Bible. Plenary means “all.” All of the words of Scripture, not just some of them are divinely inspired.
Now, I know what you are thinking: “Jonathan, you say the Bible is authoritative because the Bible says it’s authoritative. You’re arguing in a circle! You’ve snuck your conclusion into your arguments!” Well, that’s actually not what I’ve argued. I’ve argued the Bible’s authority rests on God’s authority.
If you combine the logic of paragraph four and five you see the beauty of the Confession’s argument. Paragraph four argues that the Bible’s authority rests on God as its author, not men or the church. In other words, objectively, if the Bible is the Word of God, then it’s authoritative. Paragraph five argues that we, as individuals, may be moved (subjectively) to believe in the authority of the Bible by the testimony of the church, or the clarity, beauty, and historicity of the Bible, but our full persuasion of the authority of Scripture comes by the work of the Spirit. In other words, our historical verification of the content of Scripture does not grant authority, it only evidences the authority already contained in Scripture. As Sam Waldron says, “If the Bible as God’s voice from heaven does not attest itself, no amount of voices from heaven will ever be sufficient to attest it.[1]
The authors of the Confession intentionally begin by affirming the Scriptures as the ultimate and final authority concerning the faith and doctrine. They understood that while creeds and confessions as important and helpful, they are nonetheless subordinate to the authority of Scripture. Therefore, the Bible is the ruling rule and confessions are the rules which are ruled by the Bible. The Bible possesses divine and absolute authority while the confession only possesses relative and ecclesiastical authority.
By opening the Confession with a statement of the Bible’s authority, the authors prepare us for a Biblically rich statement of all other doctrines to follow. They are signaling to us their commitment to derive all subsequent teaching from their interpretation of the Word of God and we will be responsible to read what they have written and compare it with the light of Holy Scripture. The Confession is authoritative only to the degree that it accurately reflects and summarizes the teaching of Scripture. So, as we read the Confession, may we constantly go back to the fundamental authority in matters of doctrine: the very Word of God.
In Christ,
Pastor Jonathan
[1] Sam Waldron, A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, 51.