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"The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience..."
Above is the opening statement of our confession. It was an addition that was made to clarify that the confession was subordinate to Scripture and would not be held over and against (or add to) the Bible. Therefore, the Bible is the final and sufficient authority in all matters of faith and practice at Word of Grace Baptist Church (2 Tim. 3:16-17). At times, however, it is helpful to issue statements to clarify biblical truth and to correct doctrinal errors and heresies that may arise. See below for a brief history of our Confession of Faith.
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In 1677, the English Particular Baptists, in their effort to establish unity of faith and protection from error in the Baptist churches as well as give testimony to the world, saw fit to put forth a more robust and detailed confession of faith than previous statements had been of what was believed and taught in their churches. The First Baptist Confession of 1644/46 was relatively concise and at this point had become quite scarce due to persecution, and the fact that it was illegal to contradict the Church of England. Finding no defect in general in the Westminster Confession and the Savoy Declaration put forth by their Puritan brothers, the Baptists would put these together with their First Confession and would edit and revise these statements according to the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures to produce their Second Baptist Confession of Faith (of 1677).
Religious liberty was afforded to the Separatists in 1689 in the Act of Toleration. At that time, representatives from 107 Baptist churches met together in London to deliberate upon, Preface, correct and affirm the Second Confession resulting in one of the most important statements of faith in the history of the Church, The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.
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Word of Grace Baptist Church accepts this confession as a faithful exposition of vital biblical doctrines, to aid in the instruction, edification, correction, and protection of the church. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith does not serve to supplement, add to or subtract from the Word of God. The Confession does serve as a summary statement of the doctrine believed and preached by Word of Grace Baptist Church.