1689 London Baptist Confession, Chapter 5
Of Divine Providence
God the good Creator of all things, in his infinite power, and wisdom, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all Creatures, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were Created; according unto his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable Councel of his own will; to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness and mercy.
Scripture references for paragraph 1
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Hebrews 1:33The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Job 38:1111and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?
Isaiah 46:1010I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
Isaiah 46:1111I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it.
Psalms 135:66The LORD does all that pleases Him in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths.
Matthew 10:2929Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
Matthew 10:3030And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Matthew 10:3131So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Ephesians 1:1111In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
Although in relation to the foreknowledge and Decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly; so that there is not any thing, befalls any by chance, or without his Providence; yet by the same Providence he ordereth them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.
Scripture references for paragraph 2
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Acts 2:2323He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.
Proverbs 16:3333The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.
Genesis 8:2222As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.”
God in his ordinary Providence maketh use of means; yet is free to work, without, above, and against them at his pleasure.
Scripture references for paragraph 3
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Acts 27:3131But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men remain with the ship, you cannot be saved.”
Acts 27:4444The rest were to follow on planks and various parts of the ship. In this way everyone was brought safely to land.
Isaiah 55:1010For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
Isaiah 55:1111so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
Romans 4:1919Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb.
Romans 4:2020Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,
Romans 4:2121being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.
Daniel 3:2727and when the satraps, prefects, governors, and royal advisers had gathered around, they saw that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men. Not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them.
The Almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God, so far manifest themselves in his Providence, that his determinate Councel extendeth it self even to the first fall, and all other sinful actions both of Angels, and Men; (and that not by a bare permission) which also he most wisely and powerfully boundeth, and otherwise ordereth, and governeth, in a manifold dispensation to his most holy ends: yet so, as the sinfulness of their acts proceedeth only from the Creatures, and not from God; who being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be, the author or approver of sin.
Scripture references for paragraph 4
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Romans 11:3232For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.
Romans 11:3333O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
Romans 11:3434“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
2 Samuel 24:11Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
1 Chronicles 21:11Then Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.
2 Kings 19:2828Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
Psalms 76:1010Even the wrath of man shall praise You; with the survivors of wrath You will clothe Yourself.
Genesis 50:2020As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
Isaiah 10:66I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
Isaiah 10:77But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations.
Isaiah 10:1212So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.
Psalms 50:2121You have done these things, and I kept silent; you thought I was just like you. But now I rebuke you and accuse you to your face.
1 John 2:1616For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
The most wise, righteous, and gracious God, doth oftentimes, leave for a season his own children to manifold temptations, and the corruptions of their own heart, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption, and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled; and to raise them to a more close, and constant dependence for their support, upon himself; and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for other just and holy ends.
Scripture references for paragraph 5
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
2 Chronicles 32:2525But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 32:2626Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart—he and the people of Jerusalem—so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.
2 Chronicles 32:3131And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.
2 Samuel 24:11Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
2 Corinthians 12:77or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
2 Corinthians 12:88Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
2 Corinthians 12:99But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
Romans 8:2828And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
As for those wicked and ungodly men, whom God as a righteous judge, for former sin doth blind and harden; from them he not only withholdeth his Grace, whereby they might have been inlightned in their understanding, and wrought upon in their hearts: But sometimes also withdraweth the gifts which they had, and exposeth them to such objects as their corruptions makes occasion of sin; and withall gives them over to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, and the power of Satan, whereby it comes to pass, that they harden themselves, even under those means which God useth for the softning of others.
Scripture references for paragraph 6
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Romans 1:2424Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
Romans 1:2626For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
Romans 1:2828Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
Romans 11:77What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
Romans 11:88as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”
Deuteronomy 29:44Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
Matthew 13:1212Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
Deuteronomy 2:3030But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.
2 Kings 8:1212“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”
2 Kings 8:1313“But how could your servant, a mere dog, do such a monstrous thing?” said Hazael. And Elisha answered, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
Psalms 81:1111But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me.
Psalms 81:1212So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
2 Thessalonians 2:1010and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
2 Thessalonians 2:1111For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie,
2 Thessalonians 2:1212in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.
Exodus 8:1515When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, however, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.
Exodus 8:3232But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time as well, and he would not let the people go.
Isaiah 6:99And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
Isaiah 6:1010Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
1 Peter 2:77To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
1 Peter 2:88and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word—and to this they were appointed.
As the Providence of God doth in general reach to all Creatures, so after a most special manner it taketh care of his Church, and disposeth of all things to the good thereof.
Scripture references for paragraph 7
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
1 Timothy 4:1010To this end we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, and especially of those who believe.
Amos 9:88Surely the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD.
Amos 9:99“For surely I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve; but not a pebble will reach the ground.
Isaiah 43:33For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
Isaiah 43:44Because you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you and nations in place of your life.
Isaiah 43:55Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west.
Source and edition
1689 London Baptist Confession. NonlinearFruit/Creeds.json, Unlicense. Creeds.json, English transcription
Unlicense. Source transcription.
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