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Examined Doctrine

Second London Baptist Confession on Continuation of spiritual gifts

1689 · REFORMED BAPTIST · DOCUMENT, NOT A PERSON
DISPUTED AMONG SCHOLARSQUESTION NOT FRAMED
NO STANCE — AND WHY

The question is not framed in these terms

This locus asks in categories that came later. Assigning a stance would answer on the figure's behalf, so the summary records what was addressed instead.

which maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary, those former ways of Gods revealing his will unto his people being now ceased.
2LBC 1.1 (1677/1689 printing, original spelling)

THE POSITION

This is blank of the third kind — never framed in these terms. The confession closes revelation without ever ruling on the gifts: 1.1 says the former ways by which God revealed his will have ceased, which is why Scripture is necessary, and 1.6 forbids adding to Scripture "by new Revelation of the Spirit." Both are claims about the modes of revelation and the closure of the canon. Neither mentions tongues, healing or prophecy, neither dates a cessation to the apostolic age, and none of the thirty-two chapters — all of which have now been read for this question — carries a paragraph on the charismata. The 1.1 clause is inherited word for word from WCF 1.1, so on this locus the two confessions are not two witnesses but one, and this corpus records the same blank for both.

SCRIPTURE
HEBREWS 1:1 · BSB

1 On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.

WHAT OTHERS HOLD HERE

Yes, the gifts continueATHANASIUS · BASIL THE GREAT · THE CHURCH OF ELEVEN22 STATEMENT OF FAITH · JOSH HOWERTON · IRENAEUS · JOHN PIPER
No, they ceased with the apostolic ageVODDIE BAUCHAM · CALVIN · CHRYSOSTOM · JONATHAN EDWARDS · JOHN MACARTHUR · JOHN OWEN · JUSTIN PETERS · R.C. SPROUL
Open in principle, cautious in practiceAUGUSTINE · M. HEISER · TIM KELLER · LUTHER · GAVIN ORTLUND
See all 23 figures on continuation of spiritual gifts →

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 Continuation of spiritual gifts", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/lbc1689/spiritual-gifts (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/lbc1689/spiritual-gifts).

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