A Comparison of...

There is a confession of faith that most reformed churches suscribe to, namely the Westminster Confession of Faith, 1646 (WCF)and there is a confession of faith which many Baptists, including Spurgeon, suscribed to, namely the London Baptist Confession, 1689 (LBC). I have decided to compare these two confessions of faith to see what are the main differences between old Reformers and old Baptists. There will be be no argument here, only a cursory comparison.

Both confessions begin with the Holy Scriptures, and both further divide this section into ten subsections.

In the first section, both agree almost to the point of using the exact sentences. For example, the WCF states that

Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation.

and the LBC states that

Although the light of nature and the works of creation and providence manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God so much that man is left without any excuse, they are not sufficient to provide that knowledge of God and His will which is necessary for salvation.

Both state that God wrote down his word so that neither man nor Satan could tamper with it, and because He has ceased revealing his will in the way he used to.

In the second section, they give the same list of inspired books, which are to be "the rule of faith and life" (WCF; LBC), and both confessions devote section three to denying the Apocrypha a place in the canon.

In fact, they say nothing different, and agree that: the Holy Spirit assures us that the scriptures are from God and therefore authoritative (section V); scripture contains, explicitly or by necessary deduction, all things necessary for God's glory and for our faith and life (section VI); not all things are equally plain, but what one must know for salvation is plain for anyone who will take the time to read it (section VII); God has preserved the scriptures through the ages, and the scriptures, though the original languages have the final authority in controversies, should be translated into all languages for people to read(section VIII); if one passage of scripture is difficult, then we should understand it in the light of another, more clear, passage (section IX); and that all controversies of religion are to be solved by reading scripture and being taught through scripture by the Holy Spirit (section X).

Finally, these confessions state that all decrees of councils (that includes these confessions) must be judged by the scriptures (section 10).

Note:

The version of the LBC that I used was edited by Spurgeon. This version, as well as the original and the WCF, can be found at this site