Daniel R. Hyde |

Reformed Catholic Theology

Why I Love the Belgic Confession

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Sinclair Ferguson memorably wrote that of the three Persons of the holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit wasn’t the forgotten, but the unknown member of the Godhead.[1] Similarly, among the Three Forms of Unity—the historic confessions of faith of Reformed churches—the Belgic Confession is certainty the most unknown. Those of us in Reformed churches are familiar with our beloved Heidelberg Catechism through regular catechetical preaching. Philip Schaff once described the Heidelberg as being “baptized with the pentecostal fire of the great Reformation” and being “the product of the heart as well as the head, full of faith and unction from above.”[2] I remember the first time I read its opening question, “What is your only comfort in life and in death.” I felt like the new wine of Reformed truth was entering into me as a new wine skin. We’re familiar with the Canons of Dort—the capstone of our confessions and armament against Arminianism. This document gives expression to the “doctrines of grace” or so-called “five points of Calvinism.” I, too, recall reading the Canons for the first time and being struck by the precision of its doctrines of predestination, the sufficiency and efficiency of Christ’s satisfaction, the nature of sin, the power of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, and the preserving work of the Triune God. I was moved by how these doctrines led to devotion, precision led to piety, and exposition led to experience. Although unknown, though, I love the Belgic Confession.[3] Let me offer three reasons why.

Celebrated for its History

The history of the Belgic Confession is why I love the Belgic Confession. Its history is the stuff of legend: a persecuted minority, a repressive regime (Spain), and heroic preachers. One of those preachers in the southern Low Countries (now Belgium) was Guido de Brès. The family business was making idols for Roman Catholics. Yet God heard his mother’s prayers, just as he heard those of Monica for Augustine. de Brès’ became a minister of the Gospel. His ministry was like Paul’s: “as dying, and, behold, we live” (2 Cor. 6:9). He preached in a town for a season, then entered exile in London, Geneva, and throughout the Low Countries. The Reformed churches came to believe the time was right to publicly confess their faith. They desired to show the Roman Catholic magistrate that their faith was apostolic and ancient. de Brès tossed a package containing this Confession over the wall of the magistrate leading to a manhunt that led to his death.

Why do I love this history? Very simply: it testifies that the doctrine we confess with our lips is worth the price of our lives. Will you love this confession by professing its truths before a dark and dying world or will you hide its light “under a bushel?” (Matt. 5:15)

Celebrated for its Theology

The theology of the Belgic Confession is why I love the Belgic Confession. It contains the “old paths” (Jer. 6:16) of the prophets and apostles, ancient church fathers and ecumenical councils. Reformed theology is truly Reformed Catholic (Christian) theology. Like the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds it begins with God (art. 1) and ends with his eternal kingdom brought by the return of King Jesus (art. 37). It speaks of how we know God: “He makes Himself more clearly and fully known to us by His holy and divine Word” (art. 2). It speaks of the most blessed and all-glorious Triune God (art. 9). It speaks of his creation and providence (arts. 12–13), man’s heinous sin (arts. 14–15), God’s predestinating work a la ancient Augustinianism (art. 16), the person and work of the Son (arts. 17–26), and the existence and reality of a holy catholic church (arts. 27–36).

I’ve had so many inquirers come to our church over the past 20 years. They come after years of legalism in churches and pouring out their hearts to God for answers to life’s big questions. I remember one man to whom I gave a copy of the Belgic Confession, told him to read and then get back to me. His summary was, “I felt like it was Christianity 101 that I’ve always believed.” That was music to my ears. Why? The “Reformed faith” isn’t a cultic set of doctrines and rituals. It’s not a secret club for a few frozen chosen. Reformed Christianity is Christianity. Therefore it has the answer to sinners’ deepest longings and needs. How did this realization bring peace to the soul and experience of grace to the heart of this inquirer?

Celebrated for its Piety

The piety of the Belgic Confession is why I love the Belgic Confession. In the theology of the prophets, apostles, church fathers, and ancient creeds we find the deep-rooted piety our souls need. As Dorothy Sayers once wrote, “The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.”[4] The heroic history and catholic theology of the churches under the cross (kerken onder het kruis) in the Low Countries was not dry, dusty, or dead orthodoxy. Its living faith that led to orthopraxy. Guido de Brès and the Reformed churches professed theology in a way that expressed praxis pietatis, the practice of piety. Let me give some examples:

Scripture

We don’t just confess the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. They are because “God, from a special care which He has for us and our salvation, commanded his servants…to commit His revealed Word to writing” (art. 3). When you read the Word at home and hear the Word read in worship, do you realize that you are experiencing God’s special care for your soul?

Trinity

We don’t just confess the Trinity is true because of a list of Bible proof-texts. The Confession says our Christian experience is a testimony to the reality of the Trinity: “Moreover, we must observe the particular offices and operations of these three persons towards us. The Father is called our Creator by His power; the Son is our Savior and Redeemer by His blood; the Holy Ghost is our Sanctifier by His dwelling in our hearts” (art. 9; emphasis added). Although this sense may ebb and flow in this life, we “expect hereafter to enjoy the perfect knowledge and benefit thereof in heaven” (art. 9).

Sin

We don’t just confess the doctrine of original sin. We don’t just say baptism doesn’t wash it away (per Roman Catholicism). “By [God’s] grace and mercy [it’s] forgiven them.” Affirmation leads to action: “Not that they should rest securely in sin, but that a sense of this corruption should make believers often to sigh, desiring to be delivered from this body of death” (art. 15). Don’t despair because of your original sin, but desire deliverance from it!

Jesus

We don’t just confess the doctrine that Jesus is our Mediator at the right hand of God in the Apostles’ Creed: “He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” This confession is of immense practical benefit for assurance.

Our Mediator “ought in no wise to affright us by His majesty or cause us to seek another according to our fancy,” as Roman Catholic theology implies with Jesus as Judge and the many saints and intercessors besides him (art. 26). Instead,

“there is no creature, either in heaven or on earth, who loveth us more than Jesus Christ…If, then, we should seek for another mediator who would be well affected towards us, whom could we find who loved us more than He who laid down His life for us, even when we were His enemies?…And who will sooner be heard than the own well-beloved Son of God?”

In our sinful hearts, though, we convince ourselves of the contrary: “But I’m too sinful, too unlovable, to unworthy.” Yet listen to this: “Let us not forsake Him to take another, or rather to seek after another, without ever being able to find Him”—and here’s my favorite line in all of the Confession—“for God well know, when He gave Him to us, that we were sinners” (art. 26). Doesn’t that want to cause you to sing?

Amazing love! How can it be?

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Conclusion

These are just a few of the gems of piety that flow from the doctrines contained in this historic Reformed Confession. This is why I love the Belgic Confession. I pray it becomes the same for you.

For further reading:

  1. H. Gootjes, The Belgic Confession: Its History and Sources, Texts & Studies in Reformation & Post-Reformation Thought (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007).
  2. Daniel R. Hyde, With Heart and Mouth: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession (Grandville: Reformed Fellowship, 2008).

[1] Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Holy Spirit (Downer’s Grove: IVP, 1996), 11–12.

[2] The Creeds of Christendom, ed. Philip Schaff, rev. David S. Schaff, 3 vols. (1931, repr.; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), 1:542.

[3] This article originally was published as “Our Unknown Confession.” The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth 17:3 (July/August 2011): 162–63.

[4] Dorothy Sayers, “The Greatest Drama Ever Staged,” in The Whimsical Christian (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1978), 11.

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