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Examined Doctrine

Second London Baptist Confession on the Lord's Supper

1689 · REFORMED BAPTIST · DOCUMENT, NOT A PERSON
READ IN A PRIMARY SOURCEAFFIRMS°
STANCE

Real but spiritual presence, received by faith

Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible Elements in this Ordinance, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally, and corporally, but spiritually receive, and feed upon Christ crucified & all the benefits of his death: the Body and Blood of Christ, being then not corporally, or carnally, but spiritually present to the faith of Believers.
2LBC 30.7 (1677/1689 printing, original spelling)

THE POSITION

Chapter 30.7 follows WCF 29.7 closely: worthy receivers really and indeed feed on Christ crucified, not carnally or corporally but spiritually, and Christ is spiritually present to faith. Paragraph 30.6 rejects transubstantiation as repugnant to Scripture and to common sense, 30.5 insists the elements remain in substance and nature truly and only bread and wine, and 30.2 rejects the Mass as a real sacrifice.

SCRIPTURE
1 CORINTHIANS 10:16 · BSB

16 Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?

8 OTHERS HOLD THIS

AugustineCalvinJonathan EdwardsTim KellerJohn OwenR.C. SproulWesleyWestminster Confession
The elements become Christ's body and bloodAQUINAS
True bodily presence in, with, and under the elementsLUTHER · PHILIP MELANCHTHON
A memorial and sign; no presence in the elementsM. HEISER · JOHN MACARTHUR · ZWINGLI
Truly the body and blood, with no account of the modeBASIL THE GREAT · CHRYSOSTOM · IRENAEUS
See all 23 figures on the lord's supper →

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.

18 OF 18 POSITIONS QUOTED
Everything Second London Baptist Confession holds →
Cite this page

"Second London Baptist Confession on the Lord's Supper", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/lbc1689/lords-supper (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/lbc1689/lords-supper).

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