Our beliefs

Wide in fellowship. Clear in conviction.

Manna is made for Christians of every tradition, by people who hold the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689. Here is what that means, and why the two belong together.

What the confession teaches Read it in full

Confession
of Faith

Put forth by the Elders and Brethren of many Congregations of Christians (baptized upon Profession of their Faith) in London and the Country.

1677

The whole church

We read with the whole church.

With Christians everywhere we confess the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed: one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man, crucified and risen; and the life of the world to come. That ground is wide, and we are glad to stand on it with you.

Early churchApostles’ CreedThe church’s ancient baptismal confession.
325 · 381Nicene CreedThe Trinity, confessed against the first great errors.
451ChalcedonChrist, one person in two natures.
1646Westminster ConfessionThe great Presbyterian confession, drawn up in London.
1658Savoy DeclarationWestminster, revised by the Congregationalists.
1677 · 1689Second London Baptist ConfessionWestminster and Savoy, revised by the Particular Baptists.Where we stand

Manna’s shelf holds writers who disagreed with one another, sometimes sharply. We keep them side by side because each read Scripture with care, and each can still teach us. Its editions include the Douay–Rheims, the Bible of English-speaking Catholics for centuries.

Thomas AquinasCatholic
Martin LutherLutheran
John CalvinReformed
John WesleyMethodist
Adam ClarkeMethodist
Matthew HenryPresbyterian
Keil & DelitzschLutheran
John Nelson DarbyBrethren
Charles SpurgeonBaptist

Where we stand

The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith.

It first appeared in 1677, printed without names, because Baptists and other Nonconformists in England were being persecuted. When toleration came in 1689, representatives of more than a hundred Particular Baptist churches met in London and endorsed it publicly, which is why it carries that year.

It is a careful revision of the Westminster Confession and the Savoy Declaration, keeping their shape and much of their wording, and differing chiefly on the church and on baptism. Its thirty-two chapters move from Scripture and God, through salvation and the Christian life, to the church and the last judgment.

This ancient document is the most excellent epitome of the things most surely believed among us.

Charles Spurgeon, in the preface to his 1855 edition. His Morning and Evening readings and The Treasury of David are both in Manna.

What it teaches

The confession, briefly.

Nine of its thirty-two chapters, each in a sentence or two, with the confession’s own words or the Scripture it rests on.

Chapter 1

Of the Holy Scriptures

The Bible is God’s word, enough for everything we need to know of salvation, faith and obedience. It stands over every tradition, this confession included.

The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedienceChapter 1.1

Chapter 2

Of God and the Holy Trinity

There is one living and true God, eternal, holy and good, who is three persons, equal in nature, power and glory.

In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy SpiritChapter 2.3

Chapter 3

Of God’s Decree

God is sovereign over all things. Nothing falls outside his wise and good purpose, and his choosing of a people rests on grace, not on anything he foresaw in them.

We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his willEphesians 1:11

Chapter 7

Of God’s Covenant

God saves by covenant. The covenant of grace was promised from the first pages of Scripture and made complete in Christ: one way of salvation, from the beginning.

He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.Genesis 3:15

Chapter 8

Of Christ the Mediator

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son made man, one person, truly God and truly man. He lived the life we could not, died for sinners, rose again, and now reigns and prays for his people.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus1 Timothy 2:5

Chapter 11

Of Justification

God declares sinners righteous, not because of anything in them, but because of Christ’s obedience and death, received through faith alone.

Those whom God effectually calls, he also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteousChapter 11.1

Chapter 17

Of the Perseverance of the Saints

Those whom God has called and made new, he keeps. Their standing rests on his faithfulness, not on the strength of their grip.

I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.John 10:28

Chapter 26

Of the Church

Christ is the only head of his church. He gathers his people into local congregations, each answerable to him, served by elders and deacons.

He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.Colossians 1:18

Chapter 29

Of Baptism

Baptism belongs to those who profess repentance and faith, and is given by immersion. Here Baptists differ from many brothers and sisters, and we hold it with conviction and with charity.

Those who do actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to, our Lord Jesus Christ, are the only proper subjects of this ordinance.Chapter 29.2

The other twenty-three chapters take up creation, providence, the fall, free will, adoption, faith and repentance, good works, assurance, the law, Christian liberty, worship and the Lord’s Day, marriage, the Lord’s Supper, and the last judgment. Read the whole confession.

How it shapes Manna

What this means for the app.

Scripture, word for word
Every verse in Manna is quoted exactly, and every line from a commentator is checked against its source.
Grace before obedience
The studies begin with what God has done in Christ. What we are asked to do comes after, as a response, never as a way to earn.
Written for the whole church
The studies stay with the plain sense of each passage and the ground of the creeds. Where faithful Christians differ, on baptism, church order or the end times, they say so in a sentence and do not argue.
Clear about where we stand
We would rather tell you than leave you guessing. That is what this page is for.

Questions

Ask us anything.

If something here raises a question, or you would like to know more about a chapter, write to us. A person reads every message.

Write to us Read the confession