Second London Baptist Confession on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
At regeneration, which precedes and causes faith
This Effectual Call is of God's free, and special grace alone, not from any thing at all foreseen in man, nor from any power, or agency in the Creature, coworking with his special Grace, the Creature being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses, until being quickned & renewed by the holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call.
THE POSITION
Chapter 10 makes the Spirit's work the cause of the sinner's willing rather than its consequence. The creature is wholly passive until quickened and renewed by the Spirit, and only then is enabled to answer the call; effectual calling takes away the heart of stone and renews the will, so that the person comes 'most freely, being made willing by his Grace' (10.1). Regeneration therefore precedes and produces faith, which places the Spirit's indwelling before the conscious act of believing.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.
9 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
The confessional standard of the Particular Baptists, first printed 1677 and adopted by the London General Assembly of 1689. It takes over the Westminster Confession chapter by chapter and rewrites it at four points that matter: the covenant (ch. 7), the gospel and the extent of its grace (ch. 20, which Westminster has no counterpart to), the church (ch. 26), and baptism (ch. 29). This entry rests on the 1677/1689 printing with its own Scripture proofs, read against the Westminster text clause by clause.
Cite this page
"Second London Baptist Confession on Indwelling of the Holy Spirit", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/lbc1689/indwelling (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/lbc1689/indwelling).