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The Belgic Confession, 1561
ARTICLE 18—THE INCARNATION OF THE SON OF GOD
We confess, therefore, that God has fulfilled the promise
He made to the fathers by the mouth of His holy prophets when, at the time
appointed by Him, He sent into the world His own only-begotten and eternal son,
who took the form of a servant and was born in the likeness of men. He truly
assumed a real human nature with all its infirmities, without sin, for He was
conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit
and not by the act of a man. He not only assumed human nature as to the body,
but also a true human soul, in order that He might be a real man. For since the
soul was lost as well as the body, it was necessary that He should assume both
to save both. Contrary to the heresy of the Anabaptists, who deny that Christ
assumed human flesh of His mother, we therefore confess that Christ partook of
the flesh and blood of the children.
He is a fruit of the loins of David; born of the seed of
David according to the flesh;
a fruit of the womb
of the virgin Mary;
born of woman;
a branch of David;
a shoot from the
stump of Jesse;
sprung from the
tribe of
descended from the
Jews according to the flesh;
of the seed of
Abraham, since the Son was concerned with the descendants of Abraham. Therefore
He had to be made
like His brethren in every respect, yet without sin.
In this way He is
in truth our Immanuel, that is, God with us.
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