Second London Baptist Confession on Canon of the Old Testament
66 books — Apocrypha useful but not Scripture
The Books commonly called Apocrypha not being of Divine inspiration, are no part of the Canon (or rule) of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority to the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or made use of, then other humane writings.
THE POSITION
Chapter 1.2 lists all thirty-nine Old Testament and twenty-seven New Testament books by name, and 1.3 names the Apocrypha and excludes it. The paragraph reproduces WCF 1.3 nearly word for word, adding only the parenthetical gloss '(or rule)' after 'Canon'.
27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.
13 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 Canon of the Old Testament", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/lbc1689/ot-canon (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/lbc1689/ot-canon).