The Role of Confessions in Baptist Life: Why Documents like the 1689 and BF&M Still Matter
In a time of doctrinal uncertainty within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), many pastors and churches are asking anew: What anchors our identity? One often-neglected but deeply important answer is our confessions of faith.
For the Spurgeon Baptist Association of Churches (SBAOC), recovering the importance of confessional standards like the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith and the Baptist Faith and Message (2000) is not a return to tradition for tradition’s sake. It is a return to clarity, unity, and doctrinal faithfulness grounded in Scripture.
1. Confessions: Subordinate but Necessary Authorities
Reformed Baptists have always affirmed that Scripture alone is the final authority, yet they have also insisted that confessions are necessary as faithful summaries of biblical truth.
Benjamin Keach, one of the key Particular Baptists behind the 1689 Confession, understood this well. Confessions were not substitutes for Scripture, but safeguards of it—tools to preserve and transmit truth.
Similarly, Charles Spurgeon warned against abandoning confessional clarity:
“Brethren, we shall not adjust our Bible to the age; but before we have done with it… we shall have to adjust the age to the Bible” (Spurgeon, 1888).
Confessions function as:
Guardrails against doctrinal drift
Tools for teaching and discipleship
Standards for cooperation among churches
Without them, churches are vulnerable to what one generation assumes and the next abandons.
2. The 1689 Confession: A Historic Reformed Baptist Anchor
The Second London Baptist Confession (1689) represents the most mature doctrinal expression of early Particular Baptists. It stands firmly within the broader Reformed tradition while maintaining Baptist distinctives.
Michael Haykin emphasizes its importance:
“The 1689 Confession demonstrates that Baptists were not theological innovators but heirs of the Reformation, committed to the same gospel and doctrinal core” (Haykin, 2011).
This confession:
Grounds Baptist theology in Scripture
Connects Baptists to the wider Reformed tradition
Clarifies doctrines like God’s sovereignty, covenant theology, and the church
Likewise, historian Tom Nettles writes:
“The framers of the 1689 Confession sought to show that Baptists held to a coherent, orthodox, and deeply biblical system of theology” (Nettles, 2007).
For SBAOC churches, the 1689 is not merely historical—it is a living doctrinal resource that anchors us in truth.
3. The Baptist Faith and Message: A Contemporary Statement
While the 1689 Confession provides historic depth, the Baptist Faith and Message (2000) offers a contemporary framework for cooperation among Southern Baptists.
It clearly affirms:
The authority and inerrancy of Scripture
Salvation by grace alone
The exclusivity of Christ
Biblical qualifications for pastoral leadership
Albert Mohler has been a strong advocate for confessional clarity within the SBC:
“A confession of faith is a summary of what a church believes the Bible teaches. Without such a confession, a church has no doctrinal boundaries” (Mohler, 2015).
Recent SBC debates—particularly regarding pastoral roles and doctrinal integrity—demonstrate why such clarity is essential. Without a shared understanding of truth, cooperation becomes confusion.
For SBAOC churches, the BF&M serves as:
A doctrinal baseline for partnership
A public declaration of belief
A tool for accountability
4. Why Confessions Matter Now More Than Ever
The current SBC moment highlights several challenges:
Doctrinal ambiguity
Cultural pressure
Institutional instability
Confessions provide stability precisely because they:
Define truth clearly
Protect churches from theological drift
Unite churches around shared convictions
Spurgeon strongly warned about what happens when confession is neglected:
“The new theology is nothing but old error newly dressed up… If we once give up the grand old truths, we shall have nothing left worth preaching” (Spurgeon, 1887).
Similarly, Mohler has noted that confessional clarity is not restrictive—but liberating:
“Confessions are not chains; they are guardrails that preserve the gospel and protect the church” (Mohler, 2015).
5. Confessions and the Life of the Local Church
Confessions are not merely academic—they are profoundly practical.
In the life of a local church, they serve to:
Shape preaching and teaching
Guide leadership decisions
Protect doctrinal integrity
Ground church discipline
Nettles observes:
“Confessional commitment fosters both unity and accountability by defining the theological boundaries within which the church operates” (Nettles, 2007).
For SBAOC churches, this means:
Teaching members what we believe and why
Training leaders in sound doctrine
Ensuring long-term faithfulness
A confessional church is a stable church, because it is rooted not in preference, but in truth.
6. Confessional Identity and Cooperative Ministry
One of the great strengths of Baptist life is voluntary cooperation. But cooperation requires clarity.
The 1689 Confession historically united Particular Baptist churches across regions. Today, the BF&M serves a similar purpose within the SBC.
Haykin notes:
“Confessions historically enabled Baptists to cooperate meaningfully without sacrificing theological integrity” (Haykin, 2011).
Without such shared convictions, cooperation becomes shallow and fragile.
For SBAOC:
Confession strengthens unity
Clarity strengthens mission
Theology strengthens cooperation
Conclusion: Holding Fast to What Has Been Entrusted
Confessions are not relics of the past—they are tools for the present and guides for the future.
They:
Root us in Scripture
Connect us to our heritage
Protect us from error
Unify us in truth
In a time of reassessment within the SBC, the call to the Spurgeon Baptist Association of Churches is clear:
Recover confessional clarity
Teach doctrinal truth
Stand firmly on Scripture
We follow in the steps of:
Keach and the 1689 Baptists
Spurgeon and doctrinal courage
Faithful pastors and theologians who contended for truth
Final Word
“Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” — Jude 3
References
Haykin, M. A. G. (2011). The Baptist confessions of faith. B&H Academic.
Keach, B. (1697). Articles of faith of the particular Baptists.
Mohler, R. A., Jr. (2015). Confessionalism, accountability, and the church. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Nettles, T. J. (2007). By His grace and for His glory: A historical, theological, and practical study of the doctrines of grace in Baptist life. Founders Press.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1887). The greatest fight in the world.
Spurgeon, C. H. (1888). The downgrade controversy.
Southern Baptist Convention. (2000). The Baptist Faith and Message 2000.
Second London Baptist Confession of Faith. (1689).