1561
Confession of Faith · 37 articles
Belgic Confession
Written by Guido de Brès for the persecuted churches of the Netherlands, it sets out the whole of Reformed doctrine, from the knowledge of God to the last judgment.
Introduction
WHY WE CONFESS
Scripture alone is the rule of faith and life. Creeds and confessions do not stand beside the Bible or above it; they are the church’s summary of what the Bible teaches, spoken back to God and to the world.
The word “creed” comes from the Latin credo, “I believe.” By confessing the same faith in the same words, churches in different places and centuries show that they are one in Christ. Our federation was constituted on this basis: unity in faith and confession.
Ministers, elders and deacons subscribe to these standards, and the Heidelberg Catechism is preached in our churches so that every generation learns the faith.
Our confessional standards
The Three Forms of Unity
Three documents from the Reformation in the Low Countries and Germany, received together by the Synod of Dort and confessed by Reformed churches around the world.
1563
Catechism · 52 Lord’s Days
Heidelberg Catechism
129 questions and answers on our only comfort in life and in death, arranged for preaching through the year: misery, deliverance and gratitude.
1619
Canons · Five main points
Canons of Dort
The Synod of Dort’s answer to the Remonstrants, confessing the sovereign grace of God in election, redemption, conversion and perseverance.
With the whole church
THE ECUMENICAL CREEDS
With Christians of every age we confess the three creeds of the early church, which the Belgic Confession receives in Article 9.
Early church · Twelve articlesThe Apostles’ CreedThe baptismal confession of the early church, summarizing the faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.Read the creed 325 · 381The Nicene CreedConfesses the full deity of the Son, of one substance with the Father, and of the Holy Spirit, against the Arian heresy.Read the creed c. 500 · 42 versesThe Athanasian CreedA careful statement of the Trinity, one God in three persons, and of the two natures of Christ in one person.Read the creed