The History of the Belgic Confession

• The History of the Belgic Confession

  This confession is the first of our three confessional documents. It was written in Doornik,

  a town in present day Belgium, in AD 1561 by Guido de Bres. It was sent to King Philip II

  of Spain to present to him what the Bible taught and to show that the Reformed Churches

  were no rebels. They would submit to his rule as all things lawful for them to do. It was

  also widely circulated. It followed the French Confession fairly closely, which was written

  by John Calvin. However, it was rewritten by Guido de Bres and several assistants. It

  ended up a better confession and was revised in a meeting of the churches in 1565 in

  Antwerp and officially adopted by the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands in 1618-19 at the Synod of Dordt as a faithful summary of the Biblical faith.

  However, the origin of this confession lies further back. It was born from a realisation that

  the Roman Catholic Church had drifted further and further away from the Biblical truth over  the many years of her existence, not only doctrinally, but also morally. This realisation was born from a study of the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts of the Bible

  that had become available in the west after the fall of Constantinople to the Moslems.

  Suddenly Bible students were freed from the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church

  (RCC), the Vulgate. 

  With this renewed interest in the Bible itself came a realisation that what the Roman

  Catholic Church taught was not what the Bible taught. With that realisation came also the

  realisation that there was a need to distinguish between the authority of the Bible, of the

  Church and of Confessional documents. The Reformation was a realisation that the Bible

  was the ultimate authority and every other authority was subject to it, for only the Bible was God’s word. The Church had to submit to Scripture and not add to it or subtract anything from it. Confessional documents had to echo the Bible and not human teachings. This realisation set the stage for a break with the Roman Catholic Church.

  Part of this procedure was to state officially what the Reformed Churches believed. The

  Belgic Confession (BC) was born in a time of confusion and a clear statement of the faith

  was highly necessary. The Belgic Confession was one such confession. They wanted to

  show what the Bible taught about a variety of topics in which they differed from the Roman Catholic Church. They wanted to instruct the Reformed believers in the correct faith and maintain that faith in the churches. They wanted to tell the world around them what they believed. They wanted to show by reference to the Bible where the Roman Catholic Church erred and what the correct faith was. They also had to differentiate themselves from the errors of the Anabaptists and of the Lutherans. 

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  This was however, powerfully resisted by the Roman Catholic Church who were

  determined to hold on to their political and religious power. Many people died or suffered

  cruelly under their persecution. The Belgic Confession was born in an area which was

  originally a loose association of princes who ruled their local areas in Holland, Belgium and Northern France. By intermarriage, however, they came under the power of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V of Spain, who extended his kingdom by taking over the rest of the Netherlands as well. He was an ardent Roman Catholic and wanted to compel all his subjects to submit to the authority of the pope. However, in the Netherlands there

  was much resistance to his rule and there was already opposition to some of the Roman

  Catholic Church’s errors. He attempted to compel submission, but this only served to

  increase opposition. Consequently, his attempts to eradicate what he saw as heresies

  intensified, especially after the civil uprising caused by Anabaptists in Germany in 1525. 

  Charles V died in 1555 and was replaced by Philip II, who was more autocratic still and

  civil and religious oppression increased still more under his reign. His rule caused civil

  rebellion under the leadership of the Prince William of Orange I, who was the leader of the

  Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years' War (1568–

  1648) and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1648. It also

  resulted in greater religious freedom. God’s work in the Reformation could not be stopped,

  and in the end it triumphed. The Reformed Churches could organise themselves openly

  and the BC guided them in that.

  That, however, was not the end of the road in the adoption of the BC. With the rise of a

  heresy called Arminianism the place of the BC in the churches came into dispute. Those

  who supported the heresy wanted to maintain the pride of mankind in the face of the

  Bible’s condemnation. They also were interested in maintaining political power over the

  churches. They claimed that the BC was a personal confession of Guido de Bres and one

  or two helpers. They also claimed that it was not officially adopted by the churches.

  Therefore there was no valid requirement to subscribe to the Reformed faith outlined in it.

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  Many wanted to subscribe to this confession only insofar as it reflected Scripture and in

  this way escape its confines. This, however, was not accepted by others. Already in

  Antwerp in 1565 an ecclesiastical assembly was working on the revision of the BC and

  national synods of the sixteenth century had required ministers and elders to subscribe to its teachings. The matter was finally settled at the Synod of Dordt in 1618-19, which was

  held to deal with this heresy and restore peace to the churches. Besides ratifying the BC it adopted it as one of the doctrinal standards of the Reformed Churches along with the

  Heidelberg Catechism. It also produced a Church Order for governing the churches as well as the Canons of Dordt which became the third standard of these churches and a rejection of the errors of the heretics.

  The BC then had a turbulent history. It was banned as heretical by the Spanish emperors

  and destroyed wherever possible. Those who had it were put to death. It was hated by

  heretics because it exposed their errors and prevented them from claiming the right of

  political power over the churches. However, for those who were willing to submit to the

  Bible’s teaching about mankind and the government of the church the BC has always been a blessing with its clear and Biblical explanations of the various doctrines.