Notes And Thoughts On The Analogy Of Faith 3

And here are some additional notes and thoughts on the Analogy of Faith and how it relates to the Baptist historical tradition.

The Analogy of Faith is a doctrine that was particularly important to the early English Baptists, as it was and is to all Calvinist Christians. And, over the past four hundred years, Baptists have shared a number of uniquely Calvinist doctrines with their Reformed Christian brothers.

For an example, we can see the Analogy of Faith reflected in this Seventeenth Century document.

London Baptist Confession Of Faith, 1689 Chapter 1 Paragraph 9.
The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself; and therefore when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which are not many, but one), it must be searched by other places that speak more clearly.

And here is the Bible passage that is cited as a reference for this paragraph 9.

2 Peter 1
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

And so, a question. What is a Baptist to do with a deep, rich theological history, some of which might make a modern-day Baptist uncomfortable, some of which might be disagreeable to a modern-day Baptist?

I have no answer. But, on the other hand, it seems that such theological history should not be dismissed out of hand.