Visible saints - those professing the faith and obedience of the gospel, who have not destroyed their own profession by fundamental error or by an unholy life.

This is the Baptist distinctive stated quietly. A church is gathered from those who profess, and the test is applied to each person, which is what makes it a gathered church rather than a parish containing everyone born in it.

When he found Saul, he brought him back to Antioch. For a whole year, they met with the church there and taught a lot of people. It was in Antioch that people first started calling the followers of Jesus 'Christians.'

Acts 11:26

Confession 26.2

The universal church is everyone Christ has saved across all time, which nobody can see; a particular church is a visible congregation of people professing the faith, which anyone can walk into.

They do not have the same membership, and the confession admits it plainly: the purest churches are subject to mixture and error. Holding both is what lets it insist that the church cannot fail and that any given congregation can - even, it says, to the point of ceasing to be a church at all.

Confession 26.1

The purest churches under heaven are subject to mixture and error, and some have degenerated so far as to be no churches at all.

And in the same paragraph: Christ always has had and always will have a kingdom in this world. The confession is realistic about institutions without being despairing about the church, and the two clauses are held together deliberately.

'And I tell you, you're Peter, and on this rock I'll build my community, and nothing - not even death - will be able to overpower it.'

Matthew 16:18

Confession 26.3

The Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all power for the calling, ordering and government of the church is invested by the Father - and no one else can be head of it in any sense.

The paragraph names the papacy explicitly and rejects the claim in the strongest terms the period had available. The positive claim underneath it is what matters most: church authority is delegated, never original.

He's also the head of the body, which is the community of believers. He's the beginning, the first to rise from the dead, so he's first in everything.

Colossians 1:18

Confession 26.4

The Pope of Rome, who it says cannot in any sense be head of the church, but is that antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition.

It is the sharpest sentence in the document, and it is doing historical work as much as theological work: the men who signed it had lived through a civil war, the reign of a Catholic king, and laws that made their own meetings a crime. Later confessional bodies have variously kept the clause, footnoted it, or dropped it. The 1689 states it, and a summary that quietly left it out would not be reporting the document.

Don't let anyone fool you in any way. That day won't come until there's a big rebellion first, and the one who stands against God - the one doomed to be destroyed - shows up.

He'll put himself above everything people call god or worship, and he'll even take a seat in God's own temple, acting like he's God himself.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

Confession 26.4

To walk together in particular societies, or churches - for building each other up, and for the public worship he requires of them.

This is the paragraph that makes the local congregation a command rather than a convenience. Being called and being gathered are one movement in the confession's account: he calls people to himself through the ministry of the word, and walking together is part of what he calls them to.

Because wherever two or three gather in my name, I'm right there with them.

Matthew 18:20

Confession 26.5

Being a saint by calling, showing it in what they profess and how they live - and willingly consenting to walk together, giving themselves up to the Lord and to one another.

Consent is the word to watch. Membership here is not residence in a parish and not inheritance; it is an agreement entered into by people who could have declined. This, and the admission of only professing believers to baptism, are where the confession parts company with the Presbyterians whose document it otherwise follows.

So those who accepted what Peter said were baptized, and about three thousand people joined them that day.

They devoted themselves to learning from the apostles, sharing life together, eating meals, and praying.

Acts 2:41-42

Confession 26.6

All the power and authority needed to carry on its own worship and discipline, given to it directly by Christ.

Given to each church, not lent down through a larger body. This is congregational government, and it is the practical difference between the 1689 and the Presbyterian confession it otherwise follows so closely.

If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the community. And if they won't even listen to the community, treat them like you would someone outside your group or a tax collector.

I'm telling you the truth: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you set free on earth will be set free in heaven.

Matthew 18:17-18

Confession 26.7

Two: elders, also called bishops or pastors, and deacons.

Two offices, not three, and no rank above the local church. Bishop and elder are treated as two words for the same office, which is the reading the confession takes from how the New Testament uses them interchangeably.

Hey, it's Paul and Timothy here - servants of Jesus the Messiah. We're writing to everyone in Philippi who belongs to Jesus, including your leaders and helpers.

Philippians 1:1

Confession 26.8

Chosen by the vote of the church itself, and set apart with fasting, prayer and the laying on of hands by the existing eldership.

Both halves are required. The congregation chooses, which is why the confession says common suffrage; and existing elders set apart, which stops it being a purely popular appointment.

They chose leaders for each group of believers, prayed and fasted, and put them in God's care, trusting him to look after them.

Acts 14:23

Confession 26.9

Due respect, and a share of all their good things according to their ability - enough for a comfortable supply, so that the pastor is not tangled up in secular work, and can still be hospitable to others.

The confession gives two grounds, and they are not the ones usually offered. The first is the law of nature: someone who does a thing full time has to live on it, and the work is described as constantly attending to the word and prayer and watching for souls. The second is an express order from Christ, that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel.

In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who spread the good news should get their living from it.

1 Corinthians 9:14

Confession 26.10

Yes. Others gifted and fitted by the Spirit, and approved and called by the church, may and ought to.

Preaching belongs to the pastor by office and is not confined to him. The two conditions - gifted by the Spirit, and approved by the church - are both required, which is what stops it becoming a free-for-all.

Each of you has received a gift. Use it to serve others, faithfully managing what God has given you.

If you speak, let it be as if God himself is speaking through you. If you serve, do it with the strength God provides. That way, in everything, God will be honored through Jesus Christ. He deserves all the praise and power forever. Amen.

1 Peter 4:10-11

Confession 26.11

No. All believers are bound to join a particular church when and where they have the opportunity - and all who enjoy a church's privileges are under its discipline.

The two clauses go together. The confession will not let anyone hold the benefits of belonging while declining the accountability that comes with them.

Confession 26.12

Disturb the order of the church, or absent yourself from its meetings or from the ordinances, because of that offence. You wait on Christ while the church takes the matter further.

The paragraph assumes the first duty has already been done, because going to the person comes first. What it rules out is what usually follows when that does not settle it: withdrawing quietly, or making the whole congregation carry the argument. Being offended does not release anyone from the assembly.

Be humble, gentle, and patient with each other. Put up with one another because you love each other.

Do everything you can to keep the unity that comes from God's Spirit, holding it together with peace.

Ephesians 4:2-3

Confession 26.13

Continual prayer for the good and prosperity of all the churches of Christ everywhere, help wherever their own place and calling allows it, and - where they are near enough for it to be practical - communion with each other.

This is the positive side of the independence the chapter has spent fourteen paragraphs establishing. Congregations govern themselves, and that is not to be read as congregations having nothing to do with each other. What such a joint meeting may and may not do is settled immediately afterwards.

Pray all the time, in every situation, guided by the Spirit. Stay alert and keep praying for all God's people.

Ephesians 6:18

Confession 26.14

None. Such assemblies may consider and advise, and are entrusted with no church power and no jurisdiction over the churches themselves.

This is the sentence that makes an association of churches an association rather than a hierarchy. Advice may be weighty and it is still advice.

So the apostles and the elders got together to figure out what to do about this issue.

Acts 15:6

Confession 26.15