Second London Baptist Confession on Justification
Forensic — righteousness imputed, not infused
not by infusing Righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting, and accepting their Persons as Righteous ... but by imputing Christs active obedience unto the whole Law, and passive obedience in his death, for their whole and sole Righteousness.
THE POSITION
Chapter 11.1 denies infusion and affirms imputation in Westminster's own words, then goes further than Westminster does by naming what is imputed. Faith is the alone instrument but never alone in the person justified (11.2), and the elect are decreed justified from eternity yet "not justified personally, untill the Holy Spirit, doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them" (11.4).
24 and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
18 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 Justification", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/lbc1689/justification (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/lbc1689/justification).