Baptist Confession of Faith Introduction
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BAPTIST CONFESSION OF FAITH (1689)
REWRITTEN IN MODERN ENGLISH BY ANDREW KERKHAM
1ST ED. 1999, REVISED ED. 2001
The Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 has its roots firmly in the Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647. It differs from the Westminster Confession in adding Chapter 20 (The Gospel and its Gracious Extent), and in its understanding of the Church and Baptism. Chapter 20 is identical to the same chapter in the Congregationalists' Savoy Declaration of Faith and Order of 1658, and where the Baptist Confession differs in minor points from the Westminster Confession it usually follows the Savoy Declaration.
This revision seeks to follow the original text as closely as possible, yet at the same time to make it readable and understandable for people today. This has been achieved mainly through breaking up longer sentences, substitution of present-day words for words that have become archaic, and keeping transposition of phrases to an absolute minimum. It is important to note that this revision does not seek to alter the truths of the original 1689 Baptist Confession in any way whatever; rather, the intention is to make those same truths more readily understandable to the present generation. Note: the abbreviation WCF refers to the Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647.
The expanded system of scripture references is that found in Samuel E. Waldron's valuable work, A modern exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (2nd ed., Evangelical Press, 1995), and used with permission.
See the BCF Assistant for the original text of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.
