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The Confession of Faith is 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 Bres, a preacher of the Reformed churches of the Netherlands, who died a martyr to the faith in 1567. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Belgica was and is the name of two Belgian research vessels, with a name derived ultimately from the Latin Gallia Belgica. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... -1...

The Confession is part of the Three Forms of Unity. Historic creeds of the Reformed Churches developed during the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation. ...

History

During the sixteenth century the churches in the Netherlands were exposed to terrible suppression by the Roman Catholic government. To protest against this suppression, and to prove to the Catholic authorities that the adherents of the Reformed faith were not rebels, as was laid to their charge, but law-abiding citizens who believed they professed the true Christian doctrine according to the Holy Scriptures, de Bres prepared this confession in 1561. In the following year a copy was sent to King Philip II, 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 Bres himself fell as one of the many thousands who sealed their faith with their lives, his work has endured. 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 Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Philip II (Spanish: ; Portuguese: ) (May 21, 1527 – September 13, 1598) was King of Spain from 1556 until 1598, King of Naples from 1554 until 1598, king consort of England (as husband of Mary I) from 1554 to 1558, Lord of the Seventeen Provinces (holding various titles for the individual territories... John Calvin (July 10, 1509 – May 27, 1564) was a French Protestant theologian during the Protestant Reformation and was a central developer of the system of Christian theology called Calvinism or Reformed theology. ...

The work of de Bres, 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 officebearers in the Reformed churches were required to subscribe.^[1] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A synod (also known as a council) is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. ... For other uses, see Antwerp (disambiguation). ... xxx cciiiox The Synod of Dort was a National Synod held in Dordrecht in 1618/19, by the Dutch Reformed Church, in order to settle a serious controversy in the Dutch churches initiated by the rise of Arminianism. ...

Composition

The Belgic Confession consists of 37 articles which deal with the doctrines of God (1-2, 8-13), Scripture (3-7), humanity (14), sin (15), Christ(18-21), salvation (16-17, 22-26), the Church (27-36), and the end times (37).

Further reading

• The Belgic Confession: Its History and Sources by Nicolaas Hendrik Gootjes

External links

• New English translation - only one based on text of the Synod of Dort
• Spanish translation of the Belgic Confession
• Historic Church Documents: Belgic Confession
• Belgic Confession
• Audio Recording of the Belgic Confession (mp3)
• Belgic Confession (Turkish)

Notes