A.D. 1689 · extended material
Second London Confession
Is the New Covenant simply a new administration of the one covenant of grace, or is it the covenant of grace itself, formally enacted?
Historical Context
Particular Baptists sought public doctrinal clarity and legitimacy in the years surrounding England's 1689 Toleration Act, standing in a covenantal tradition shaped by figures like John Owen.
Controversy
Westminster and Savoy held that one covenant of grace has been administered under multiple historical covenants, including the Mosaic; Particular Baptists rejected this “one covenant, two administrations” model, following Owen's view that the covenant of grace is formally enacted only in the New Covenant.
Confession / Clarification
Adapted Westminster and Savoy closely on God, Christ, and salvation, but insisted the New Covenant alone is the covenant of grace itself rather than one more administration of it — a distinction developed further into its implications for baptism and church membership.
Downstream Influence
The thread's terminus for now: the same trinitarian, Christological, and covenantal skeleton inherited from Nicaea through Westminster, refined on how the covenant of grace itself relates to its historical administrations.