The Belgic Confession (Part 3)

Article 30
The Government of and Offices in the Church

We believe that this true Church must be governed by the spiritual policy which our Lord hath taught us in His Word namely, that there must be ministers or pastors to preach the Word of God, and to administer the sacraments; also elders and deacons, who, together with the pastors, form the council of the Church; that by these means the true religion may be preserved, and the true doctrine everywhere propagated, likewise transgressors punished and restrained by spiritual means; also that the poor and distressed may be relieved and comforted, according to their necessities. By these means everything will be carried on in the Church with good order and decency, when faithful men are chosen, according to the rule prescribed by St. Paul in his Epistle to Timothy.

Eph. 4:11; 1 Cor. 4:1-2; 2 Cor. 5:20; John 20:23; Acts 26:17-18; Luke 10:16
Acts 6:3; 14:23
Matt. 18:17; 1 Cor. 5:4-5
1 Tim. 3:1; Tit. 1:5

Article 31
The Ministers, Elders, and Deacons

We believe that the ministers of God's Word, and the elders and deacons, ought to be chosen to their respective offices by a lawful election of the Church, with calling upon the name of the Lord, and in that order which the Word of God teacheth. Therefore every one must take heed not to intrude himself by indecent means, but is bound to wait till it shall please God to call him; that he may have testimony of his calling, and be certain and assured that it is of the Lord.

As for the ministers of God's Word, they have equally the same power and authority wheresoever they are, as they are all ministers of Christ, the only universal Bishop, and the only Head of the Church. Moreover, that this holy ordinance of God may not be violated or slighted, we say that every one ought to esteem the ministers of God's Word and the elders of the Church very highly for their work's sake, and be at peace with them without murmuring, strife, or contention, as much as possible.

1 Tim. 5:22
Acts 6:3
Jer. 23:21; Heb. 5:4; Acts 1:23; 13:2
1 Cor. 4:1; 3:9; 2 Cor. 5:20; Acts 26:16-17
1 Pet. 2:25; 5:4; Isa. 61:1; Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18
1 Thes. 5:12,13; 1 Tim. 5:17; Heb. 13:17

Article 32
The Order and Discipline of the Church

In the meantime we believe, though it is useful and beneficial, that those who are rulers of the Church institute and establish certain ordinances among themselves for maintaining the body of the Church; yet they ought studiously to take care that they do not depart from those things which Christ, our only Master, hath instituted. And therefore, we reject all human inventions, and all laws which man would introduce into the worship of God, thereby to bind and compel the conscience in any manner whatever.

Therefore we admit only of that which tends to nourish and preserve concord and unity, and to keep all men in obedience to God. For this purpose excommunication or church discipline is requisite, with the several circumstances belonging to it, according to the Word of God.

Col. 2:6-7
1 Cor. 7:23; Matt. 15:9; Isa. 29:13; Gal. 5:1; Rom. 16:17-18
Matt. 18:17; 1 Cor. 5:5; 1 Tim. 1:20

Article 33
The Sacraments

We believe that our gracious God, on account of our weakness and infirmities, hath ordained the sacraments for us, thereby to seal unto us His promises, and to be pledges of the good will and grace of God toward us, and also to nourish and strengthen our faith, which He hath joined to the Word of the gospel, the better to present to our senses, both that which He signifies to us by His Word, and that which He works inwardly in our hearts, thereby assuring and confirming in us the salvation which He imparts to us. For they are visible signs and seals of an inward and invisible thing, by means whereof God worketh in us by the power of the Holy Ghost. Therefore the signs are not in vain or insignificant, so as to deceive us. For Jesus Christ is the true object presented by them, without whom they would be of no moment.

Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments which Christ our Lord hath instituted, which are two only, namely, the sacrament of baptism, and the holy supper of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom. 4:11; Gen. 9:13; 17:11
Col. 2:11,17; 1 Cor. 5:7
Matt. 26:36; 28:19

Article 34
Holy Baptism

We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law, hath made an end, by the shedding of His blood, of all other sheddings of blood which men could or would make as a propitiation or satisfaction for sin; and that He, having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, hath instituted the sacrament of baptism instead thereof, by which we are received into the Church of God, and separated from all other people and strange religions, that we may wholly belong to Him whose ensign and banner we bear, and which serves as a testimony unto us that He will forever be our gracious God and Father. Therefore He has commanded all those who are His to be baptized with pure water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, thereby signifying to us, that as water washeth away the filth of the body, when poured upon it, and is seen on the body of the baptized, when sprinkled upon him, so doth the blood of Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost, internally sprinkle the soul, cleanse it from its sins, and regenerate us from children of wrath unto children of God. Not that this is effected by the external water, but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God; who is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, that is, the devil, and to enter into the spiritual land of Canaan.

Therefore the ministers, on their part, administer the sacrament, and that which is visible, but our Lord giveth that which is signified by the sacrament, namely, the gifts and invisible grace; washing, cleansing, and purging our souls of all filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts and filling them with all comfort; giving unto us a true assurance of His fatherly goodness; putting on us the new man, and putting off the old man with all his deeds.

Therefore we believe that every man who is earnestly studious of obtaining life eternal ought to be but once baptized with this only baptism, without ever repeating the same, since we cannot be born twice. Neither doth this baptism only avail us at the time when the water is poured upon us and received by us, but also through the whole course of our life.

Therefore we detest the error of the Anabaptists, who are not content with the one only baptism they have once received, and moreover condemn the baptism of the infants of believers, whom we believe ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as the children in Israel formerly were circumcised upon the same promises which are made unto our children. And indeed, Christ shed His blood no less for the washing of the children of the faithful than for adult persons; and therefore, they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of that which Christ hath done for them; as the Lord commanded in the law, that they should be made partakers of the sacrament of Christ's suffering and death shortly after they were born, by offering for them a lamb, which was a sacrament of Jesus Christ. Moreover, what circumcision was to the Jews, that baptism is to our children. And for this reason Paul calls baptism the circumcision of Christ.

Rom. 10:4
Col. 2:11; 1 Pet. 3:21; 1 Cor. 10:2
Matt. 28:19
1 Cor. 6:11; Tit. 3:5; Heb. 9:14; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 1:6
John 19:34
Matt. 3:11; 1 Cor. 3:5,7; Rom. 6:3
Eph. 5:26; Acts 22:16; 1 Pet. 3:21
Gal. 3:27; 1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:22-24
Mark 16:16; Matt. 28:19; Eph. 4:5; Heb. 6:2
Acts 2:38; 8:16
Matt. 19:14; 1 Cor. 7:14
Gen. 17:11-12
Col. 2:11-12
John 1:29; Lev. 12:6
Col. 2:11

Article 35
The Holy Supper of Our Lord Jesus Christ

We believe and confess that our Savior Jesus Christ did ordain and institute the sacrament of the Holy Supper, to nourish and support those whom He hath already regenerated and incorporated into His family, which is His Church.

Now those who are regenerated have in them a twofold life, the one corporal and temporal, which they have from the first birth, and is common to all men; the other spiritual and heavenly, which is given them in their second birth, which is effected by the word of the gospel, in the communion of the body of Christ; and this life is not common, but is peculiar to God's elect. In like manner God hath given us, for the support of the bodily and earthly life, earthly and common bread, which is subservient thereto, and is common to all men, even as life itself. But for the support of the spiritual and heavenly life which believers have, He hath sent a living bread, which descended from heaven, namely, Jesus Christ, who nourishes and strengthens the spiritual life of believers, when they eat Him, that is to say, when they apply and receive Him by faith, in the Spirit.

Christ, that He might represent unto us this spiritual and heavenly bread, hath instituted an earthly and visible bread as a sacrament of His body, and wine as a sacrament of His blood, to testify by them unto us, that, as certainly as we receive and hold this sacrament in our hands, and eat and drink the same with our mouths, by which our life is afterwards nourished, we also do as certainly receive by faith (which is the hand and mouth of our soul) the true body and blood of Christ our only Savior in our souls, for the support of our spiritual life.

Now as it is certain and beyond all doubt that Jesus Christ hath not enjoined to us the use of His sacraments in vain, so He works in us all that He represents to us by these holy signs, though the manner surpasses our understanding, and cannot be comprehended by us, as the operations of the Holy Ghost are hidden and incomprehensible. In the meantime we err not when we say that what is eaten and drunk by us is the proper and natural body, and the proper blood, of Christ. But the manner of our partaking of the same is not by the mouth, but by the Spirit through faith. Thus, then, though Christ always sits at the right hand of His Father in the heavens, yet doth He not, therefore, cease to make us partakers of Himself by faith. This feast is a spiritual table, at which Christ communicates Himself with all His benefits to us, and gives us there to enjoy both Himself and the merits of His sufferings and death, nourishing, strengthening, and comforting our poor comfortless souls, by the eating of His flesh, quickening and refreshing them by the drinking of His blood.

Further, though the sacraments are connected with the thing signified, nevertheless both are not received by all men; the ungodly indeed receives the sacrament to his condemnation, but he doth not receive the truth of the sacrament. As Judas and Simon the sorcerer, both indeed received the sacrament, but not Christ who was signified by it, of whom believers only are made partakers.

Lastly, we receive this holy sacrament in the assembly of the people of God, with humility and reverence, keeping up among us a holy remembrance of the death of Christ our Savior, with thanksgiving, making there confession of our faith and of the Christian religion. Therefore no one ought to come to this table without having previously rightly examined himself; lest by eating of this bread and drinking of this cup he eat and drink judgment to himself. In a word, we are excited by the use of this holy sacrament to a fervent love towards God and our neighbor.

Therefore we reject all mixtures and damnable inventions, which men have added unto and blended with the sacraments, as profanations of them, and affirm that we ought to rest satisfied with the ordinance which Christ and His apostles have taught us, and that we must speak of them in the same manner as they have spoken.

Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:23-25
John 3:6
John 3:5
John 5:23,25
1 John 5:12; John 10:28
John 6:32-33,51
John 6:63
Mark 6:26
1 Cor. 10:16-17; Eph. 3:17; John 6:35
John 6:55-56; 1 Cor. 10:16
Acts 3:21; Mark 16:19; Matt. 26:11
Matt. 26:26, etc.; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Cor. 10:2-4
Isa. 55:2; Rom. 8:22-23
1 Cor. 11:29; 2 Cor. 6:14-15; 1 Cor. 2:14
Acts 2:42; 20:7
1 Cor. 11:27-28

Article 36
The Magistrates

We believe that our gracious God, because of the depravity of mankind, hath appointed kings, princes, and magistrates, willing that the world should be governed by certain laws and policies; to the end that the dissoluteness of men might be restrained, and all things carried on among them with good order and decency. For this purpose He hath invested the magistracy with the sword, for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well. And their office is, not only to have regard unto and watch for the welfare of the civil state, but also that they protect the sacred ministry, and thus may remove and prevent all idolatry and false worship; that the kingdom of antichrist may be thus destroyed, and the kingdom of Christ promoted. They must, therefore, countenance the preaching of the word of the gospel everywhere, that God may be honored and worshipped by every one, as He commands in His Word.

Moreover, it is the bounden duty of every one, of what state, quality, or condition soever he may be, to subject himself to the magistrates; to pay tribute, to show due honor and respect to them, and to obey them in all things which are not repugnant to the Word of God; to supplicate for them in their prayers, that God may rule and guide them in all their ways, and that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

Wherefore we detest the error of the Anabaptists and other seditious people, and in general all those who reject the higher powers and magistrates, and would subvert justice, introduce a community of goods, and confound that decency and good order which God hath established among men.

Ex. 18:20, etc.; Rom. 13:1; Prov. 8:15; Jer. 21:12; 22:2-3; Ps. 82:1,6;101:2; Deut. 1:15-16; 16:18; 17:15; Dan. 2:21,37; 5:18 Isa. 49:23,25; 1 Kings 15:12; 2 Kings 23:2-4
Tit. 3:1; Rom. 13:1
Mark 12:17; Matt. 17:24
Acts 4:17-19; 5:29; Hos. 5:11
Jer. 29:7; 1 Tim. 2:1-2
2 Pet. 2:10
Jude 8, 10

Article 37
The Last Judgment

Finally, we believe, according to the Word of God, when the time appointed by the Lord (which is unknown to all creatures) is come, and the number of the elect complete, that our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, corporally and visibly, as He ascended, with great glory and majesty, to declare Himself Judge of the quick and the dead, burning this old world with fire and flame to cleanse it. And then all men will personally appear before this great Judge, both men and women and children, that have been from the beginning of the world to the end thereof, being summoned by the voice of the archangel, and by the sound of the trumpet of God. For all the dead shall be raised out of the earth, and their souls joined and united with their proper bodies in which they formerly lived. As for those who shall then be living, they shall not die as the others, but be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and from corruptible become incorruptible.

Then the books (that is to say, the consciences) shall be opened, and the dead judged according to what they shall have done in this world, whether it be good or evil. Nay, all men shall give an account of every idle word they have spoken, which the world only counts amusement and jest; and then the secrets and hypocrisy of men shall be disclosed and laid open before all.

And, therefore, the consideration of this judgment is justly terrible and dreadful to the wicked and ungodly, but most desirable and comfortable to the righteous and the elect; because then their full deliverance shall be perfected, and there they shall receive the fruits of their labor and trouble which they have borne. Their innocence shall be known to all, and they shall see the terrible vengeance which God shall execute on the wicked, who most cruelly persecuted, oppressed, and tormented them in this world; and who shall be convicted by the testimony of their own consciences, and, being immortal, shall be tormented in that everlasting fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.

But on the contrary, the faithful and elect shall be crowned with glory and honor; and the Son of God will confess their names before God His Father, and His elect angels; all tears shall be wiped from their eyes; and their cause, which is now condemned by many judges and magistrates as heretical and impious, will then be known to be the cause of the Son of God. And for a gracious reward, the Lord will cause them to possess such a glory as never entered into the heart of man to conceive.

Therefore we expect that great day with a most ardent desire, to the end that we may fully enjoy the promises of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus (Rev. 22:20).

Matt. 24:36; 25:13; 1 Thes. 5:1-2; Rev. 6:11; Acts 1:7; 2 Pet. 3:10 Acts 1:11
2 Thes. 1:7-8; Acts 17:31; Matt. 24:30; 25:31; Jude 15; 1 Pet. 4:5; 2 Tim. 4:1
2 Pet. 3:7,10; 2 Thes. 1:8
Rev. 20:12-13; Acts 17:31; Heb. 6:2; 9:27; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10
1 Cor. 15:42; Rev. 20:12-13; 1 Thes. 4:16
John 5:28-29; 6:54; Dan. 12:2; Job 19;26-27
1 Cor. 15:51-53
Rev. 20:12-13; 1 Cor. 4:5; Rom. 14:11-12; Job 34:11; John 5:24; Dan. 12:2; Ps. 62:13; Matt. 11:22; 23:33; John 5:29; Rom. 2:5-6; 2 Cor. 5:10; Heb. 6:2; :27
Rom. 2:5; Jude 15; Matt. 12:36
1 Cor. 4:5; Rom. 2:1-2,16; Matt. 7:1-2
Rev. 6:15-16; Heb. 10:27
Luke 21:28; 1 John 3:2; 4:17; Rev. 14:7; 2 Thes. 1:5-7; Luke 14:14
Dan. 7:26
Matt. 25:46; 2 Thes. 1:6-8; Mal. 4:3
Rom. 2:15
Rev. 21:8; 2 Pet. 2:9
Mal. 4:1; Matt. 25:41
Matt. 25:34; 13:43
Matt. 10:32
Isa. 25:8; Rev. 21:4
Isa. 66:5
Isa. 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9
Heb. 10:36-38

Back to the Confessions of Faith page

Article 30 The Government of and Offices in the Church

Article 31 The Ministers, Elders, and Deacons

Article 32 The Order and Discipline of the Church

Article 33 The Sacraments

Article 34 Holy Baptism

Article 35 The Holy Supper of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Article 36 The Magistrates

Article 37 The Last Judgment