The creeds and confessions of the Christian church stand under Scripture, yet, they stand over our lives.  In confessing basic Christian truths our lives are informed as we learn more and more what it means to live in relationship with the Living God and with his world.

This week we take a look at another level of expression of our Christian Faith: The Belgic Confession.  Each article of the Belgic Confession is like a drop of truth in the ocean of God’s truth.  It is the oldest of the confessions of the Christian Reformed Church that comes from the 16th-17th century reformation period.  Its origin is from the Netherlands, written by a preacher named Guido DeBres.  It was a tumultuous time with terrible persecution of the Christian church by the Roman Catholic government at the time.

In 1562, this confession was sent to King Phillip II with these words, “We will obey the government in all lawful things, but we will ‘offer our backs to stripes, our tongues to knives, our mouths to gags, and our whole bodies to the fire’ rather than deny the truths expressed in this confession.”  Pastor DeBres died a martyr in 1567 along with many others confessing their Christian faith in the articles of the Belgic Confession.

Sunday, we will take a deep dive into these articles with a single stroke overview.  You can find a copy of the Belgic Confession here: https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/confessions/belgic-confession  There are 37 articles of faith in this confession.  Why do these matter?  Its a great read! (Take into consideration who is claiming this as a great read 🙂  Do these articles still speak truth and power into our context today?  I believe they do.  It spoke truth into its context of the 16th century and still speaks to our context today.

Take a look at Article 36 about the Civil Government.  What do you think of that?  Can anything out of this article serve as a guide to us today?  See you Sunday!

Pastor Mark