The Baptist Standards

Baptists have been a creedal, confessional people from the beginning. B.H. Carroll, the founder of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary wisely said, "All the modern hue and cry against dogma is really against morals. The more we reduce the number of the creed articles, the more we undermine practical religion.” I am delighted that Founders Press is making this compendium of Baptist Standards available in one volume. Baptist Churches will find this an invaluable resource to help anchor their members in the faith once for all delivered to the saints which has been revealed in Scripture and unashamedly confessed through the ages.

Reformed Baptists are a part of the “one holy catholic and apostolic church.” Sadly, many Baptists are unaware of our creedal and confessional heritage. Founders aims to remedy that and has done a great service to us by retrieving and tracing our family history in their new work, The Baptist Standards: Our Catechisms, Confessions, and Creeds. I cannot think of another work that brings the historic documents that shaped and informed the Reformed Baptist tradition in one volume. With Dr. Tom Nettles as our guide through these time-tested resources, this book will serve as an invaluable reference tool for pastors and church members alike.

Historically, Protestant churches have recognized the proper use of two books: first and supreme, the Holy Scriptures; and second, as subordinate yet essential authorities, their doctrinal standards. The Reformed churches preserved the Three Forms of Unity. The Presbyterians upheld the Westminster Standards. The Lutherans gathered their theology in the Book of Concord. The Baptists likewise possess confessional standards that are just as storied, just as historically rooted, and just as theologically significant. Yet for far too long, these standards have lacked a single, accessible, and carefully produced volume worthy of their importance. That is why I am grateful to see The Baptist Standards now in print. Produced with the high quality we have come to expect from Founders Ministries, this volume provides a much-needed resource for churches, pastors, families. and students alike. It is a work that not only serves the present generation but will endure as a faithful confessional witness for generations to come.

This work is a veritable treasure trove of the creeds and confessions that have been most influential among Baptists. No other book pulls these documents together into one volume, which makes it essential for any pastor or layman. One thing that makes this volume unique is that it not only contains the venerable First and Second London Confessions, but also A True Confession and The Savoy Declaration, which are the paedobaptist confessions upon which those influential Baptist confessions were most immediately based. The inclusion of the harder-to-find Orthodox Catechism (Baptist version of the Heidelberg Catechism) adds significant value to this book as well. Moreover, Dr. Tom Nettles, a leading scholar of Baptists, provides useful background to help the reader situate these creeds and confessions in their historical contexts. I am excited about this book and pray that it will be read and studied widely among Baptists who are recovering their biblical and theological heritage.

The historic creeds and confessions of faith produced by the church over the past two millennia admittedly do not have inspiration and infallibility on their side; they do not share equal authority with the sixty-six books of Holy Scripture. But they are the byproduct of the Holy Spirit's illumination, for Jesus promised that He would be with His church in every age until His return. The creeds and confessions were forged in the fires of controversy as our forefathers contended for the faith once for all delivered to the saints in combating false teachers and false prophets. They enable us to read the Bible with the historic church, thus sparing us from novel and heretical interpretations. I am thankful to see these vital documents published in one volume through Founders Press. May the Lord use this compilation to illuminate the Old Paths for a new generation of church goers and leaders to the glory of God.

Christianity is not a religion of lone rangers. We are all members of a body that stretches across time, and we risk shipwreck when we detach ourselves from that body. That’s why Hercules Collins appended the Nicene, Athanasian, and Apostles Creeds to An Orthodox Catechism (1680)—he and other particular baptists understood the folly of trying to rebuild the Christian faith in each generation. Instead, Christians should return to old paths and unmoved foundations. Our faith is an historical faith that has weathered many storms. This new collection of old documents is a testimony to that fact and will continue to bless the church of the future just as it has blessed the church of the past.

As an MDiv student over a decade ago, I vividly recall sitting in Dr. Tom Nettles’ course on Charles Spurgeon and James Petigru Boyce—and finally finding “my people.” In the years since, I’ve seen prominent Baptists and even dear friends drift toward paedobaptist traditions, often citing the perceived theological depth and historical depth of those streams compared to Baptist life. One pressing need today is for Baptists to recover—and for many, to discover—the rich heritage we already possess. The Baptist Standards meets that need wonderfully. This carefully compiled volume gathers a treasure trove of timeless confessions, catechisms, and creeds that have defined our tradition: the First London Baptist Confession of Faith (1646), the Second London (1689/1677) with scriptural proofs, the Baptist Catechism (1695), An Orthodox Catechism (1680), early ecumenical creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, Athanasian, and Chalcedon), plus valuable appendices including A True Confession (1596), the 1644 First London, the Savoy Declaration, and more. What distinguishes this book is its relentless commitment to sola scriptura. As Dr. Nettles explains in his insightful introduction, these documents are not rivals to Scripture but faithful summaries and guardians of its truths. They help us proclaim the gospel clearly, address error precisely, and unite around the Calvinistic soteriology and Baptist ecclesiology that mark our distinctives. Nettles shows convincingly that being truly biblical requires being critically creedal—safeguarding sound doctrine in uncertain times. I wholeheartedly commend this resource as essential reading for Baptist pastors, scholars, students, and lay believers. It will strengthen your convictions, enrich your discipleship, and renew your appreciation for the faith once delivered to the saints. Confessional Baptists: make this your standard.

As a pastor and professor, I find The Baptist Standards a most welcome resource for teaching students and church members alike. This compilation of the ancient creeds and various Baptist confessions and catechisms impresses upon the reader both the rich history of Baptists and our place within the church universal. Moreover, The Baptist Standards is a perfect resource for family or individual devotion, guiding the reader step by step through the common faith we confess with the ancient church, all the way to the doctrines and confessions that have shaped our Baptist tradition. The Baptist will find this work to be an all-encompassing companion that they will always have at their side.

As a pastor this collection is a Godsend. A one-stop collection of the documents of our tradition is a discipleship force-multiplier in our efforts to make disciples who make disciples and Dr. Nettles' explanatory material helps embed our people in God's glorious providence in our story as Baptists. I'm grateful Founders has given us this resource and look forward to distributing it broadly within our congregation.

Historically, Baptists have set forth their beliefs in Confessions of Faith. Firmly believing that the Bible alone is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, they nonetheless recognized the value of recording in confessions and creeds those things most surely believed among them, in order to protect the churches from error and to promote their flourishing in the truth. By doing so, they removed any question as to what they believed and provided an objective standard for all to see. In The Baptist Standards: Our Catechisms, Confessions, and Creeds, the compilers have done an excellent job of gathering some of the finest historical documents into one volume. This serves as a helpful one-stop source for the saints and should prove invaluable for years to come.

How do Reformed Baptists understand the Scripture? What separates Reformed Baptists from other orthodox traditions? When it comes to answering these questions, thankfully, I will no longer need to consult or recommend multiple volumes. As a convinced Reformed Baptist, I am excited for the publication of this book: The Baptist Standards: Our Catechisms, Confessions, and Creed. This single volume brings together the most important confessional documents of the Reformed Baptist tradition. And from within these historical documents are found the most articulate, profound, and well-thought-out expressions of the teaching of the Scripture. So, outside of the Scriptures themselves, I can’t think of a more valuable resource for Reformed Baptists than this.

This volume demonstrates the catholicity of the Church's testimony over the ages as doctrinal standards developed, while also offering clear historical context for each major development, climaxing in the crescendo of early Baptist standards.

If you are anything like me, you are ruthlessly committed to the sufficiency of Scripture. Coincidentally, if you resonate with that conviction, you might also be somewhat dismissive of the confessions and creeds of church history. You might fear that recognizing them with any measure of esteem somehow maligns that Scripture truly is supremely sufficient. But as you immerse yourself in these historical documents, what you find is that the men who contributed to their development were just as committed to the same conviction: the sufficiency of Scripture. They exercised incredible precision in articulating and systematizing what Scripture teaches. A commitment to the sufficiency of Scripture is not a reason to dismiss the confessions and creeds, it is a reason to be well-versed in them. It may also keep you from theological and doctrinal error.

These historic standards provide a clear summary of biblical truth for the church today. By combining the 1689 Confession with other classic Baptist documents, this volume serves as a reliable guide for maintaining doctrinal precision. It identifies our place in historic orthodoxy while upholding our distinct Baptist principles. In an age of relativity, these standards offer a certain and stable rule for every faithful steward in the house of God. I highly recommend this essential resource.