Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 16:2 (Fall 2025)
Article: Benjamin Keach’s Use of "Sedes Doctrinae" in His Defense of Believer’s Baptism
Author: Lucas Admiraal

STR 16:2 (Fall 2025) p. 17

Benjamin Keach’s Use of Sedes Doctrinae in His Defense of Believer’s Baptism

Lucas Admiraal

Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary

Abstract: Benjamin Keach (1640–1704), a prominent Baptist pastor and theologian, wrote Gold Refined, which is an explanation of the biblical foundations of baptism by immersion and believers-only baptism. He uses the sedes doctrinae, those clear texts in Scripture that rightly form the basis of doctrine. More specifically, Keach based his position on Christ’s institution of baptism in the Great Commission (Matt 28:19–20). By not basing his response to his Reformed paedobaptist peers primarily on covenant theology, Keach exemplified the Baptist concern to determine the proper recipients of baptism based solely on the baptismal texts. This essay provides an analysis of Keach’s interpretive method found in Gold Refined, offers insight into the sources from which Keach himself drew this method, and considers how Keach’s approach can serve as a corrective to contemporary defenses of believers-only baptism.

Key Words: baptism, Baptist, Benjamin Keach, covenant theology, Gold Refined, great commission, hermeneutics, infant baptism

Benjamin Keach (1640–1704) was a prominent Particular Baptist pastor and theologian who defended Baptist theology at a time of rich growth for Baptist churches despite harsh repression from the English government. His treatise entitled Gold Refin’d; Or, Baptism in Its Primitive Purity (1689) is an explanation of the biblical foundations of baptism by immersion and believers-only baptism. His work makes use of sedes doctrinae, those clear texts in Scripture upon which doctrine ought to be based. In particular, Keach argued for his position from Christ’s institution of baptism found in Matt 28:19–20.

By avoiding a response to his Reformed paedobaptist peers based primarily on covenant theology (the chief source of their own doctrine of baptism), Keach exemplified the Baptist concern to maintain the clarity of Scripture and to decide the proper recipients of baptism based on the baptismal texts themselves. This essay offers insight into the sources from which Keach drew this method, provides an analysis of his use of the method in Gold Refined, and considers how his approach can serve as a model for contemporary defenses of believers-only baptism.

STR 16:2 (Fall 2025) p. 18

State Of The Question

The seventeenth century was a hotbed of theological dissension in England. Perspectives on baptism ranged from an endorsement of infant baptism and ba...