|
The Belgic Confession, 1561
The oldest of the doctrinal statements of the "Reformed" (i.e.
"Calvinist) churches is the Confession of Faith, popularly known as the
Belgic Confession, following the seventeenth-century Latin designation
"Confessio Belgica." "Belgica" referred to the whole of the Netherlands,
both north and south, which today is divided into the Netherlands and
Belgium. The confession's chief author was Guido de Bräs, a Dutch preacher
who died a martyr to his faith in 1567.
The Confession was written to prove to the Catholic government that the
adherents of the Reformed faith were not rebels but law-abiding citizens who
professed the true Christian doctrine according to the Holy Scriptures. De
Bräs prepared this confession in the year 1561. A copy was sent to King
Philip II of Spain in 1562, together with an address in which the
petitioners declared that they were ready to obey the government in all
lawful things, but that they would "offer their backs to stripes, their
tongues to knives, their mouths to gags, and their whole bodies to the
fire," rather than deny the truth expressed in this confession. Although the
immediate purpose of securing freedom from persecution was not attained, and
de Bräs himself fell as one of the many thousands who sealed their faith
with their lives, his work has endured and will continue to endure. In its
composition the author availed himself to some extent of a confession of the
Reformed churches in France, written chiefly by John Calvin, published two
years earlier.
The work of de Bräs, however, is not a mere revision of Calvin's work,
but an independent composition. In 1566 the text of this confession was
revised at a synod held at Antwerp. In the Netherlands it was at once gladly
received by the churches, and it was adopted by national synods held during
the last three decades of the sixteenth century. The text, not the contents,
was revised again at the Synod of Dort in 1618-19 and adopted as one of the
doctrinal standards to which all office bearers in the Reformed churches
were required to subscribe. The confession stands as one of the best
symbolical statements of Reformed doctrine. The translation presented here
is based on the French text of 1619.
Contents
Article 1: The Only God
Article 2: The
Means by Which We Know God
Article 3: The
Written Word of God
Article 4: The Canonical Books
Article 5: The Authority of
Scripture
Article 6: The Difference
Between Canonical and Apocryphal Books
Article 7: The Sufficiency of
Scripture
Article 8: The Trinity
Article 9: The Scriptural
Witness on the Trinity
Article 10: The Deity of
Christ
Article 11: The Deity of the
Holy Spirit
Article 12: The Creation of
All Things
Article 13: The Doctrine of
God's Providence
Article 14: The Creation and
Fall of Man
Article 15: The Doctrine of
Original Sin
Article 16: The Doctrine of
Election
Article 17: The Recovery of
Fallen Man
Article 18: The Incarnation
Article 19: The Two Natures
of Christ
Article 20: The Justice and
Mercy of God in Christ
Article 21: The Atonement
Article 22: The Righteousness
of Faith
Article 23: The Justification
of Sinners
Article 24: The
Sanctification of Sinners
Article 25: The Fulfillment
of the Law
Article 26: The Intercession
of Christ
Article 27: The Holy Catholic
Church
Article 28: The Obligations
of Church Members
Article 29: The Marks of the
True Church
Article 30: The Government of
the Church
Article 31: The Officers of
the Church
Article 32: The Order and
Discipline of the Church
Article 33: The Sacraments
Article 34: The Sacrament of
Baptism
Article 35: The Sacrament of
the Lord's Supper
Article 36: The Civil
Government
Article 37: The Last
Judgment |
