"A New Exposition of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689," ed. Rob Ventura: A Review

A New Exposition of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689
Ventura, Rob, ed. (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications Ltd., 2022.)

Within some Baptist circles there is evidence of a growing movement to recover a more historically grounded approach to the faith. Names such as James Dolezal and Matthew Barrett come to mind as those leading this Renaissance-style return “to the sources” (ad fontes). Nowhere is this more evident than within the Reformed Baptist world. The London Baptist Confession of Faith is foundational to the theology and practice of many Reformed Baptists. Rob Ventura, the editor of A New Exposition of the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, writes in his introduction that the modern desire for more liberty and less creed is “a degeneration of the vertebrate to the jellyfish, and means less unity and less morality, and it means more heresy.” This book attempts to establish the Confession historically, to clearly explain its finer points, and ultimately to serve the contemporary church. My overall takeaway is that this book can provide helpful clarification on areas of great importance to the life of the church, and that the historical context and footnotes provided are often very useful. It does, however, suffer from a lack of consistency in editing and clarity. Because of its length, I will focus the following examples and analysis on those chapters which I believe best represent the highlights of the book, followed more briefly by those chapters which embody its shortcomings.

Each chapter in the Exposition addresses an individual chapter from the Confession, each repeating the original text (with Scripture references) followed by the author’s commentary. The first contribution is a historical overview from Austin Walker. Although short, it provides needed context for understanding the development of early confessional Baptist theology. He breaks up the chronology between seventeenth-century developments and later reception of the Confession leading up to its present-day use in the United States and internationally. In the first half of his overview, he examines the use of the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), and the desire of the framers of the Confession to remain in agreement with the WCF as much as possible, “declaring that they belonged to the tradition established by the Reformation.” Walker goes on to say that, for the framers of the Confession, their distinct convictions on congregationalist ecclesiology and baptism only for believers were not a barrier to being considered within the fold of the Reformed tradition. Finally, Walker surveys the more recent history in an interesting look at the waning use of the Confession until the middle of the twentieth century, followed by re-popularization, in part through the efforts of the Banner of Truth Trust.

Chapter two, Of God and the Holy Trinity, is written by Sam Waldron, president of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary. Here, the Confession states and affirms beliefs about God consistent with classical Christian theism. I’ve chosen to include Waldron’s chapter in this review as an example of the volume’s usefulness in introducing and explaining the Confession’s statements on some rather technical topics. The Confession begins with the being and attributes of God. Waldron chooses to interact with only four of the eight attributes listed: Singularity, Aseity, Incomprehensibility, and Simplicity. In my estimation this is a wise choice, as there are many accessible discussions of the rest of the attributes in other accessible literature, and space did not permit a full explanation of all of them. In particular, Waldron’s interaction with the impassibility of God under the heading of Simplicity is clarifying and helpful. This section includes background drawn in part from Richard Muller’s Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, defining impassibility as the doctrine that “God does not suffer.” Waldron is careful to affirm both that God does not experience suffering or change, and that God has “unchanging affections with regard to things in the world.” Overall, Waldron clearly explains the text of the Confession, provides exegetical proof and historical background regarding the development of the doctrine in question, and then gives practical considerations for how the doctrine of God should be considered by the reader.

Chapter eleven, Of Justification, is similarly useful and timely. Mark Sarver, on the faculty of Reformed Baptist Seminary, gives a systematic presentation of the doctrine, the nature of faith, and distinguishing marks which separate Reformed beliefs from Roman Catholic or Arminian views. “Only those who have been effectually called or regenerated can truly believe,” Sarver writes, since “our justification rests, not only on Christ’s satisfaction of the justice of God… but also on the ground of Christ’s perfect obedience to the law of God.” The Confession states that sinners are not justified by anything they have done. Using the example of a man convicted of murder, Sarver asks the reader to imagine that the man genuinely reforms himself. Even if “the governor notices that while in jail the man’s old heart of hatred is replaced by love,” it would still be unjust for the governor to release the man without administering the justice due for his crimes. Sarver refutes the notion that somehow our love, affections, or works toward God or others is enough to merit our justification. Even our faith is not meritorious. “Dear doubting believer,” he writes, “if you have begun to trust in your faith rather than Christ, look away from yourself to him.” Another highlight of the chapter is a healthy sprinkling of Luther throughout, especially on the “sweet exchange” which takes place between Christ and the believer: “learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to praise him and, despairing of yourself, say, ‘Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, just as I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and have given to me what is yours.’” (Sarver also contributes chapter fourteen, Of Saving Faith, which is likewise distinguished by its careful nuance and analysis.)

These two chapters, while exemplary, are by no means the only noteworthy aspects of the Exposition. Chapter twenty-nine on baptism, by Jim Savastio and Mike Renihan, features the clearest, most systematic organization in the entire book. The authors move paragraph by paragraph through the text, beginning each new section by quoting the text of the Confession they are commenting on. This helps readers keep track of where they’re at, especially within a lengthy section in the middle of multiple pages of commentary, quotations, and exegesis. I only wish their argument in favor of “credo baptism” would have included historical context for how Baptists came to disagree with their “Presbyterian and Reformed brethren.”

At their best, the authors of this book are careful to provide historical context and fairly assess others’ views, all while asserting their own position. This, unfortunately, does not hold true throughout the Exposition. The best chapters are well outlined with clear definitions of terms. The authors provide historical context, explain the nuances of classic doctrine, and carefully delineate between their position, other confessional positions, and non-Protestant views of the subject matter. Here, however, I must address the shortcomings of the book.

Some of the most obvious shortcomings of the book have to do with editing. The individual chapters of the Exposition range in terms of quality of structure and flow. Jim Domm’s chapter on providence, for example, begins with a bold-titled section heading with eight numbered points under it. Then follows some italic headings, leading to “Question 2.” This is confusing because there was no Question 1. These shortcomings create an at times frustrating reading experience. This leads me to a second criticism: a number of chapters do not focus enough on the text of the Confession. Some chapters—see the reference to Savastio and Renihan above—are laser focused on the text. Others, however, seem to be addressing the general subject matter of the doctrine at hand while doing little direct expository commentary on the Confession. Chapter four on creation, by Earl M. Blackburn, follows this general themed approach and is exemplary of the book’s occasional tendency to make assertions without providing evidence, or to provide proof which is not consistent in quality with other chapters. Blackburn spends much of his chapter arguing that the word day in the Genesis creation narrative can only refer to six literal days. In the course of his argument, he attacks what he calls “atheistic, unproven hypotheses and theories,” while also going after “the erroneous belief of theistic evolution (TE)… [which] wants to marry God and modern science.” He spends little time, however, exploring what the writers of the Confession intended to affirm by the words they wrote. It would have greatly strengthened his argument if he had taken the time to interact with differing views of creation and on the meaning of day in Genesis 1–2 within the Reformed Baptist and broader Reformed and Presbyterian world, which of course consider themselves no less biblical and confessional. In any case, while Blackburn’s excursus is interesting, it seems to me well beyond the volume’s stated scope of expositing the Confession. Ultimately, his chapter would only have benefited from a narrower focus on his assigned text and an even-handed interaction with differing viewpoints.

One last observation regarding editing: I noticed a lack of consistent attention to detail. There are citations, for example, in the form of online links with long and complex URLs which are needlessly tedious for readers to type in exactly if they want to verify sources. As just one more example, a certain chapter includes the Hebrew word for man, אָדָם (adam). The Hebrew text in the Exposition, however, is printed left to right (backward in Hebrew) and with incorrect vowel pointing. While many may not notice such details, these inconsistencies do not lend credibility.

In summary, there is much to applaud in this book. It gives historical context and excellent commentary on many of the finer points of the London Baptist Confession of Faith. Many of the authors are well read and have extensive experience clarifying complex topics and formulations for the reader. The Exposition does not, however, equally maintain this quality between its various authors and chapters. With that caveat in mind, I would recommend this book for anyone interested in recovering their earliest Baptist heritage, understanding the current renewal of 1689 Baptist covenant theology, or wanting to know more about how systematic theology relates to biblical exegesis within a confessional church tradition.