Belgic Confession

We believe and profess one catholic or universal Church, which is a holy congregation of true Christian believers, all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed by His blood, sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit.

This Church has been from the beginning of the world, and will be to the end thereof; which is evident from this that Christ is an eternal King, which without subjects He cannot be. And this holy Church is preserved or supported by God against the rage of the whole world; though it sometimes for a while appears very small, and in the eyes of men to be reduced to nothing; as during the perilous reign of Ahab the Lord reserved unto Him seven thousand men who had not bowed their knees to Baal.

Furthermore, this holy Church is not confined, bound, or limited to a certain place or to certain persons, but is spread and dispersed over the whole world; and yet is joined and united with heart and will, by the power of faith, in one and the same Spirit.

Genesis 22:17; 2 Samuel 7:16; 1 Kings 19:18; Psalm 46:5; Psalm 89:37,38; Psalm 102:14; Psalm 110:2-4; Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 2:2; Jeremiah 31:36; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 28:20; Luke 1:32,33; Luke 12:32; Luke 17:21; John 16:33; Acts 4:32; Romans 9:29; Romans 11:2,4; Romans 12:4; Ephesians 4:3,4; 2 Timothy 2:19; Revelation 12:6,14.

We believe that we have no access unto God but alone through the only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous; who therefore became man, having united in one person the divine and human natures, that we men might have access to the divine Majesty, which access would otherwise be barred against us. But this Mediator, whom the Father has appointed between Him and us, ought in no wise to affright us by His majesty, or cause us to seek another according to our fancy. For there is no creature, either in heaven or on earth, who loves us more than Jesus Christ; who, though existing in the form of God, yet emptied himself, being made in the likeness of men and of a servant for us, and in all things was made like unto his brethren. If, then, we should seek for another mediator who would be favourably inclined towards us, whom could we find who loved us more than He who laid down His life for us, even while we were His enemies? And if we seek for one who has power and majesty, who is there that has so much of both as He who sits at the right hand of God and to whom hath been given all authority in heaven and on earth? And who will sooner be heard than the own well beloved Son of God?

Therefore it was only through distrust that this practice of dishonouring, instead of honouring, the saints was introduced, doing that which they never have done nor required, but have on the contrary steadfastly rejected according to their bounden duty, as appears by their writings. Neither must we plead here our unworthiness; for the meaning is not that we should offer our prayers to God on the ground of our own worthiness, but only on the ground of the excellency and worthiness of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is become ours by faith.

Therefore the apostle, to remove this foolish fear, or rather distrust, from us, rightly says that Jesus Christ in all things was made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. And further to encourage us to go to Him, he says: Having then a great high priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need. The same apostle says: Having boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, etc. Likewise: Christ hath his priesthood unchangeable; wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

What more can be required? Since Christ Himself says: I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. To what purpose should we, then, seek another advocate, since it has pleased God to give us His own Son as an Advocate? Let us not forsake Him to take another, or rather to seek after another, without ever being able to find him; for God well knew, when He gave Him to us, that we were sinners.

Therefore, according to the command of Christ, we call upon the heavenly Father through Jesus Christ our only Mediator, as we are taught in the Lord’s Prayer; being assured that whatever we ask of the Father in His Name will be granted us.

Psalm 44:21; Jeremiah 2:13,3; Daniel 9:17,18; Hosea 13:9; Matthew 11:27; Matthew 28:18; Mark 16:19; Luke 11:2; John 4:17; John 10:11; John 14:6,13,17; John 15:1; John 16:23; John 16:23; Acts 4:12; Acts 10:26; Acts 14:15; Romans 5:8; Romans 8:33; 1 Corinthians 1:31; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12,19; Philippians 2:7; Colossians 3:1; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 2:17,18; Hebrews 4:14-16; Hebrews 7:24,25; Hebrews 10:19,22; 1 John 2:1; 1 John 4:10.

We believe that this true faith, being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word of God and the operation of the Holy Spirit, regenerates him and makes him a new man, causing him to live a new life, and freeing him from the bondage of sin. Therefore it is so far from being true that this justifying faith makes men remiss in a pious and holy life, that on the contrary without it they would never do anything out of love to God, but only out of self-love or fear of damnation. Therefore it is impossible that this holy faith can be unfruitful in man; for we do not speak of a vain faith, but of such a faith which is called in Scripture a faith working through love, which excites man to the practice of those works which God has commanded in His Word.

These works, as they proceed from the good root of faith, are good and acceptable in the sight of God, forasmuch as they are all sanctified by His grace. Nevertheless they are of no account towards our justification, for it is by faith in Christ that we are justified, even before we do good works; otherwise they could not be good works, any more than the fruit of a tree can be good before the tree itself is good.

Therefore we do good works, but not to merit by them (for what can we merit?); nay, we are indebted to God for the good works we do, and not He to us, since it is He who worketh in us both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. Let us therefore attend to what is written: When ye shall have done all the things that are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants; we have done that which it was our duty to do. In the meantime we do not deny that God rewards good works, but it is through His grace that He crowns His gifts.

Moreover, though we do good works, we do not found our salvation upon them; for we can do no work but what is polluted by our flesh, and also punishable; and although we could perform such works, still the remembrance of one sin is sufficient to make God reject them. Thus, then, we would always be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be continually vexed if they relied not on the merits of the suffering and death of our Saviour.

Genesis 4:4; Isaiah 26:12; Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 64:6; Habakkuk 2:4; Matthew 7:17; Matthew 10:42; Matthew 25:34,35; Luke 17:10; John 5:24; John 6:29; John 8:36; John 15:5; Acts 15:9; Romans 2:6; Romans 4:4; Romans 6:4,22; Romans 8:15; Romans 9:32; Romans 10:11,17; Romans 11:6; Romans 14:23; 1 Corinthians 4:7; Galatians 3:5; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 1:1,29; Philippians 2:13; Colossians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 2:12; Titus 3:5,8; Hebrews 11:6; 1 Peter 1:23; 2 John 8; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 3:12,21.

We believe that the ceremonies and symbols of the law ceased at the coming of Christ, and that all the shadows are accomplished; so that the use of them must be abolished among Christians; yet the truth and substance of them remain with us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have their completion. In the meantime we still use the testimonies taken out of the law and the prophets to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel, and to regulate our life in all honourableness to the glory of God, according to His will.

Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:1; Galatians 4:10,11; Galatians 5:2-4; Colossians 2:16,17; 2 Peter 1:19.

We believe that our salvation consists in the remission of our sins for Jesus Christ’s sake, and that therein our righteousness before God is implied; as David and Paul teach us, declaring this to be the blessedness of man that God imputes righteousness to him apart from works. And the same apostle says that we are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

And therefore we always hold fast this foundation, ascribing all the glory to God, humbling ourselves before Him, and acknowledging ourselves to be such as we really are, without presuming to trust in any thing in ourselves, or in any merit of ours, relying and resting upon the obedience of Christ crucified alone, which becomes ours when we believe in Him. This is sufficient to cover all our iniquities, and to give us confidence in approaching to God; freeing the conscience of fear, terror, and dread, without following the example of our first father, Adam, who, trembling, attempted to cover himself with fig-leaves. And, verily, if we should appear before God, relying on ourselves or on any other creature, though ever so little, we should, alas! be consumed. And therefore every one must pray with David: O Jehovah, enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight no man living is righteous.

Genesis 3:7; Deuteronomy 27:26; Psalm 32:1,2; Psalm 115:1; Psalm 130:3; Psalm 143:2; Isaiah 33:14; Matthew 18:23-26; Luke 1:77; Luke 16:15; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:23,24; Romans 4:2,6,7; Romans 5:1,19; 1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 1:29,31; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Ephesians 2:8; Ephesians 3:12; Colossians 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 11:6,7; James 2:10; 1 John 2:1.

We believe that Jesus Christ is ordained with an oath to be an everlasting High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek; and that He has presented Himself in our behalf before the Father, to appease His wrath by His full satisfaction, by offering Himself on the tree of the cross, and pouring out His precious blood to purge away our sins, as the prophets had foretold. For it is written:
He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and numbered with the transgressors
; and condemned by Pontius Pilate as a malefactor, though he had first declared Him innocent. Therefore, He
restored that which he took not away, and
suffered, the righteous for the unrighteous, as well in His body as in His soul, feeling the terrible punishment which our sins had merited; insomuch that
his sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.
He called out:
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
and has suffered all this for the remission of our sins.
Wherefore we justly say with the apostle Paul that we know nothing
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified; we count all things but loss and refuse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord, in whose wounds we find all manner of consolation. Neither is it necessary to seek or invent any other means of being reconciled to God than this only sacrifice, once offered, by which
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. This is also the reason why He was called by the angel of God, JESUS, that is to say, SAVIOUR, because He would
save his people from their sins.

We believe that God—

who is perfectly merciful
and also very just—

sent the Son to assume the nature
in which the disobedience had been committed,

in order to bear in it the punishment of sin
by his most bitter passion and death.

So God made known his justice toward his Son,

who was charged with our sin,

and he poured out his goodness and mercy on us,

who are guilty and worthy of damnation,

giving to us his Son to die,

by a most perfect love,

and raising him to life

for our justification,

in order that by him
we might have immortality
and eternal life.

We believe that by being thus conceived
the person of the Son has been inseparably united
and joined together
with human nature,

in such a way that there are not two Sons of God,
nor two persons,
but two natures united in a single person,
with each nature retaining its own distinct properties.

Thus his divine nature has always remained uncreated,

without beginning of days or end of life,45
filling heaven and earth.

Christ’s human nature has not lost its properties
but continues to have those of a creature—

it has a beginning of days;
it is of a finite nature
and retains all that belongs to a real body.
And even though he,
by his resurrection,
gave it immortality,
that nonetheless did not change
the reality of his human nature;
for our salvation and resurrection
depend also on the reality of his body.

But these two natures
are so united together in one person
that they are not even separated by his death.

So then,
what he committed to his Father when he died
was a real human spirit which left his body.
But meanwhile his divine nature remained
united with his human nature

even when he was lying in the grave;

and his deity never ceased to be in him,

just as it was in him when he was a little child,
though for a while it did not so reveal itself.

These are the reasons why we confess him
to be true God and truly human—

true God in order to conquer death

by his power,

and truly human that he might die for us

in the weakness of his flesh.

45Heb. 7:3

So then we confess
that God fulfilled the promise

made to the early fathers and mothers
by the mouth of the holy prophets

when he sent the only and eternal Son of God
into the world
at the time appointed.

The Son took the “form of a slave”
and was made in “human form,”34

truly assuming a real human nature,
with all its weaknesses,
except for sin;
being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary
by the power of the Holy Spirit,
without male participation.

And Christ not only assumed human nature

as far as the body is concerned

but also a real human soul,

in order to be a real human being.

For since the soul had been lost as well as the body,
Christ had to assume them both
to save them both together.

Therefore we confess

(against the heresy of the Anabaptists
who deny that Christ assumed
human flesh from his mother)

that Christ shared the very flesh and blood of children;35
being the fruit of the loins of David according to the flesh,36
descended from David according to the flesh;37
the fruit of the womb of the virgin Mary;38
born of a woman;39
the seed of David;40
the root of Jesse;41
descended from Judah,42

having descended from the Jews according to the flesh;

descended from Abraham—

having assumed descent from Abraham and Sarah,
and was made like his brothers and sisters,

yet without sin.43

In this way Christ is truly our Immanuel—

that is: “God with us.”44

34Phil. 2:7
35Heb. 2:14
36Acts 2:30
37Rom. 1:3
38Luke 1:42
39Gal. 4:4
402 Tim. 2:8
41Rom. 15:12
42Heb. 7:14
43Heb. 2:17; 4:15
44Matt. 1:23

We believe that our most gracious God, in His admirable wisdom and goodness, seeing that man had thus thrown himself into physical and spiritual death and made himself wholly miserable, was pleased to seek and comfort him, when he trembling fled from His presence, promising him that He would give His Son (who would be born of a woman) to bruise the head of the serpent and to make him blessed.