XII. Chapters 10-14 & 20 of the 1689 LBCoF

XII. Chapters 10-14 & 20 of the 1689 LBCoF



Chapter 10 - Of Effectual Calling

1. Those whom God hath predestined unto life, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call,(1) by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ;(2) enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly to understand the things of God;(3) taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh:(4) renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ;(5) yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace.(6) (1) Ro 8:30; 11:7; Eph 1:10-11, 2Th 2:13-14. (2) Eph 2:1-6. (3) Ac 26:18; Eph 1:17-18. (4) Eze 36:26. (5) Dt 30:6; Eze 36:27; Eph 1:19. (6) Ps 110:3; SS 1:4.

2. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, nor from any power or agency in the creature,(7) being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses, until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit;(8) he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed in it, and that by no less power than that which raised up Christ from the dead.(9) (7) 2Ti 1:9; Eph 2:8. (8) 1Co 2:14; Eph 2:5; Jn 5:25. (9) Eph 1:19-20.

3. Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit;(10) who worketh when, and where, and how He pleaseth;(11) so also are all elect persons, who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word. (10) Jn 3:3,5-6. (11) Jn 3:8.

4. Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry of the Word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit,(12) yet not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will nor can truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved:(13) much less can men that receive not the Christian religion be saved, be they never so diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature and the law of that religion they do profess.(14) (12) Mt 22:14; 13:20-21; Heb 6:4-5. (13) Jn 6:44-45,65; 1Jn 2:24-25. (14) Ac 4:12; Jn 4:22; 17:3.


Chapter 11 - Of Justification

1. Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth,(1) not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous;(2) not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone;(3) not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in His death for their whole and sole righteousness,(4) they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.(5) (1) Ro 3:24; 8:30. (2) Ro 4:5-8; Eph 1:7. (3) 1Co 1:30-31; Ro 5:17-19. (4) Php 3:8-9; Eph 2:8-10. (5) Jn 1:12; Ro 5:17.

2. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification;(6) yet it is not alone in the person justified, but ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.(7) (6) Ro 3:28. (7) Gal 5:6; Jas 2:17,22,26.

3. Christ, by His obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did, by the sacrifice of Himself in the blood of His cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God's justice in their behalf(8); yet inasmuch as He was given by the Father for them, and His obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for anything in them,(9) their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.(10) (8) Heb 10:14; 1Pe 1:18-19; Isa 53:5-6. (9) Ro 8:32; 2Co 5:21. (10) Ro 3:26; Eph 1:6-7; 2:7.

4. God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect,(11) and Christ did in the fullness of time die for their sins, and rise again for their justification;(12) nevertheless, they are not justified personally, until the Holy Spirit doth in time due actually apply Christ unto them.(13) (11) Gal 3:8; 1Pe 1:2; 1Ti 2:6. (12) Ro 4:25. (13) Col 1:21-22; Tit 3:4-7.

5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified,(14) and although they can never fall from the state of justification,(15) yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly displeasure;(16) and in that condition they have not usually the light of His countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.(17) (14) Mt 6:12; 1Jn 1:7,9. (15) Jn 10:28. (16) Ps 89:31-33. (17) Ps 32:5; Ps 51:1-19; Mt 26:75.

6. The justification of believers under the Old Testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament. (18) (18) Gal 3:9; Ro 4:22-24.


Chapter 12 - Of Adoption

1. All those that are justified, God vouchsafed, in and for the sake of His only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption,(1) by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of children of God,(2) have His name put on them,(3) receive the spirit of adoption,(4) have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are enabled to cry Abba, Father,(5) are pitied,(6) protected,(7) provided for,(8) and chastened by Him as by a Father,(9) yet never cast off,(10) but sealed to the day of redemption,(11) and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation.(12) (1) Eph 1:5; Gal 4:4-5. (2) Jn 1:12; Ro 8:17. (3) 2Co 6:18; Rev 3:12. (4) Ro 8:15. (5) Gal 4:6; Eph 2:18. (6) Ps 103:13. (7) Pr 14:26. (8) 1Pe 5:7. (9) Heb 12:6. (10) Isa 54:8-9; La 3:31. (11) Eph 4:30. (12) Heb 1:14; 6:12.


Chapter 13 - Of Sanctification

1. They who are united to Christ, effectually called, and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created in them through the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection, are also further sanctified, really and personally(1) through the same virtue, by His Word and Spirit dwelling in them;(2) the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed,(3) and the several lusts thereof are more and more weakened and mortified,(4) and they more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces,(5) to the practice of all true holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.(6) (1) Ac 20:32; Ro 6:5-6. (2) Jn 17:17; Eph 3:16-19; 1Th 5:21-23. (3) Ro 6:14. (4) Gal 5:24. (5) Col 1:11. (6) 2Co 7:1; Heb 12:14.

2. This sanctification is throughout the whole man,(7) yet imperfect in this life; there abideth still some remnants of corruption in every part,(8) when ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war; the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.(9) (7) 1Th 5:23. (8) Ro 7:18,23. (9) Gal 5:17; 1Pe 2:11.

3. In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail,(10) yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome;(11) and so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, pressing after an heavenly life, in evangelical obedience to all the commands which Christ as Head and King, in His Word hath prescribed to them.(12) (10) Ro 7:23. (11) Ro 6:14. (12) Eph 4:15-16; 2Co 3:18; 7:1.


Chapter 14 - Of Saving Faith

1. The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts,(1) and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word;(2) by which also, and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God, it is increased and strengthened.(3) (1) 2Co 4:13; Eph 2:8. (2) Ro 10:14,17. (3) Lk 17:5; 1Pe 2:2; Ac 20:32.

2. By this faith a Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the authority of God Himself,(4) and also apprehendeth an excellency therein above all other writings and all things in the world,(5) as it bears forth the glory of God in His attributes, the excellency of Christ in His nature and offices, and the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit in His workings and operations: and so is enabled to cast his soul upon the truth thus believed;(6) and also acteth differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth; yielding obedience to the commands,(7) trembling at the threatenings,(8) and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come;(9) but the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon Him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of the covenant of grace.(10) (4) Ac 24:14. (5) Ps 19:7-10; 119:72. (6) 2Ti 1:12. (7) Jn 15:14. (8) Isa 66:2. (9) Heb 11:13. (10) Jn 1:12; Ac 16:31; Gal 2:20; Ac 15:11.

3. This faith, although it be different in degrees, and may be weak or strong,(11) yet it is in the least degree of it different in the kind or nature of it, as is all other saving grace, from the faith and common grace of temporary believers;(12) and therefore, though it may be many times assailed and weakened, yet it gets the victory,(13) growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ,(14) who is both the author and finisher of our faith.(15) (11) Heb 5:13-14; Mt 6:30; Ro 4:19-20. (12) 2Pe 1:1. (13) Eph 6:16; 1Jn 5:4-5. (14) Heb 6:11-12; Col 2:2. (15) Heb 12:2.


Chapter 20 - Of the Gospel, and of the Extent of the Grace Thereof

1. The covenant of works being broken by sin, and made unprofitable unto life, God was pleased to give forth the promise of Christ, the seed of the woman, as the means of calling the elect, and begetting in them faith and repentance;(1) in this promise the gospel, as to the substance of it, was revealed, and [is] therein effectual for the conversion and salvation of sinners.(2) (1) Ge 3:15. (2) Rev 13:8.

2. This promise of Christ, and salvation by Him, is revealed only by the Word of God;(3) neither do the works of creation or providence, with the light of nature, make discovery of Christ, or of grace by Him, so much as in a general or obscure way;(4) much less that men destitute of the revelation of Him by the promise or gospel, should be enabled thereby to attain saving faith or repentance.(5)
(3) Ro 1:17. (4) Ro 10:14-15,17. (5) Pr 29:18; Isa 25:7; 60:2-3.

3. The revelation of the gospel unto sinners, made in divers times and by sundry parts, with the addition of promises and precepts for the obedience required therein, as to the nations and persons to whom it is granted, is merely of the sovereign will and good pleasure of God;(6) not being annexed by virtue of any promise to the due improvement of men's natural abilities, by virtue of common light received without it, which none ever did make, or can do so;(7) and therefore in all ages, the preaching of the gospel has been granted unto persons and nations, as to the extent or straitening of it, in great variety, according to the counsel of the will of God. (6) Ps 147:20; Ac 16:7. (7) Ro 1:18-32.

4. Although the gospel be the only outward means of revealing Christ and saving grace, and is, as such, abundantly sufficient thereunto; yet that men who are dead in trespasses may be born again, quickened or regenerated, there is moreover necessary an effectual insuperable work of the Holy Spirit upon the whole soul, for the producing in them a new spiritual life;(8) without which no other means will effect their conversion unto God.(9) (8) Ps 110:3; 1Co 2:14; Eph 1:19-20. (9) Jn 6:44; 2Co. 4:4,6.

---------------------