Chapter 31
What We Believe
Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689)
We believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God, and the sole basis for any statement of faith. We adopt the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 as a faithful and historic expression of that faith — not as a rival to Scripture, but as an assistance in controversy and a confirmation in belief.
1.
The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous being then made perfect in holiness, are received into paradise, where they are with Christ, and behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell; where they remain in torment and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day; besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.
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2.
At the last day, such of the saints as are found alive, shall not sleep, but be changed; and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies, and none other; although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever.
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3.
The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor; the bodies of the just, by His Spirit, unto honor, and be made conformable to His own glorious body.
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