The Belgic Confession of Faith (12)

Article 10

In Matthew 16 we read a very important question, “Who say ye that I am?” Peter could answer without any doubt, “Thou art the Christ, the Anointed, the One sent by the Father, the Prophet, the Priest, the King, the Mediator, but also the Son of the living God.”

There are heretics who say, “Christ is the Son of God, but He has not always been the Son of God. There was a time when the Father did not have a Son and that Son did not exist. He was created, the ‘first created,’ and because of His special qualification, His wisdom, His submission to the will of God, He was adopted to be the Son of God. The Father gave Him special honor and special dignity and therefore now He is called the Son of God.” But if Christ is not the eternal Son of God, then His suffering and His dying and His payment have no eternal value. We need a Savior who is coessential with the Father and the Holy Ghost.

Our fathers, having defended the doctrine of the Trinity in Articles 8 and 9, now turn in Article 10 to prove that the Second Person in the Trinity is really God, of the same essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Therefore we read “that Jesus Christ is true and eternal God.” We also read, “We believe.” This is not just a believing with the mind, a historical believing. This is the confession of one who knows something of this Mediator, one who has seen something of the brightness of His glory.

This article was written to defend the Godhead, the divinity, of Jesus Christ. We can divide it into three parts:

1) His Godhead — it speaks of who Jesus Christ is — “according to His divine nature, begotten from eternity, not made nor created, but coessential and coeternal with the Father”;

2) Scriptural proofs for this doctrine — “as these testimonies when compared together teach us. Moses saith, that God created the world”;

3) An invitation to a doxology to glorify Him — it says in the last sentence, “He therefore is that true, eternal, and almighty God, whom we invoke, worship and serve.”

Why did our fathers speak of the Godhead of the Lord Jesus Christ? In the history of the church there have been many who rejected the Godhead of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of them was a presbyter of Alexandria, named Arius. He met the followers of Origines who taught subordination in the divine essence. They emphasized that there was a different level of existence between the three Persons, and this influenced Arius in his theological development. Arius believed that there had been a time that God was alone, and that He was so holy, so far above us and so great, that He could not create the creation without a mediating cause. There must be somebody in between, a mediating cause, who also would create. Who was this? That is the Logos, Arius found, of which we read in John 1 —the Logos, the Word. He is the one who stands between God and between the creation —the Logos. By means of the Logos, He created what we now see: the heaven and the earth, and human beings. The Logos assumed the human nature at the appointed time, the fullness of time, and He was then called Jesus, the Son of God. But, he said that that Logos was also created. He is a supreme being, but created. Thus Arius said that this Logos was the first created, and not as the Bible says in Colossians 1:15, “the firstborn.” Arius was also a very crafty man who even took his errors to the marketplace and there tried to convince the people of this heresy.

The Lord then gave that Athanasius was enabled to teach what Scripture says. In the Council of Nicea a statement was adopted which says, “Christ the Son is homo-ousios.” That means that Christ is of the same essence with the Father: begotten of the Father, not created. The Father has life in Himself and He now gives that life and it is given to the Son to have life in Himself. So the life of the Father, reverently speaking, is communicated to the Son, so the Son lives out of the Father, the Father lives in the Son, and there is an eternal begetting, an eternal communicating of the same life which the Father has unto the Son.

When did this Son begin to exist? There is no beginning, for the Father does not have a beginning and He always gave His life unto His Son. And as the Father has life in Himself, so the Son has life in Himself. The Father is independent, but also is the Son independent. He is not a creature, but He is the Son of God Himself.

Therefore our fathers stated that He is not made, that He is not created, for then He should be a creature, but He is coessential and coeternal with the Father and is the express image of the Father. We were created after the image of God, consisting in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, but we were not the express image of God. God did not express Himself in us. When Adam and Eve lived, they had something of the majesty of God; Adam was called the son of God. It was evident in creation that they were created by God after the image of God, which consisted in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, but they were no God themselves. They were not of the same essence as God. But Christ could say, “Whosoever has seen Me, has seen the Father.” Christ is the express image of His Person and the brightness of His glory.

This express image of His glory was not seen while Christ was on earth. He was hiding that glory behind the veil of His human nature. But one day all eyes will see that brightness of His glory. When He comes back on the clouds of heaven, then all eyes will see Him and they will see Him in His glory. This will be a terrible sight for His enemies. They will not be able to look at Him, and yet they must stand before Him. But it will be a joyful and glad moment for God’s people, for His children, when they will see Him, their beloved Savior and King, Jesus Christ, crowned with honor and glory!

The Son is equal to the Father in all things. The Father is almighty and the Son is almighty; the Father is eternal and the Son is eternal. In Scripture there are many proofs of that and we will mention a few. The Father is divine and the Son is also divine, and this is evident by His divine names. In Isaiah 9 He is called “The everlasting Father” and He is called “The mighty God.” In the same book, Isaiah 7, we read He is “Immanuel,” God with us. We read in Jeremiah that He is called “the Lord our righteousness” — Christ the Lord. In John 1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So He is called God — divine names.

The Second Person also has divine attributes. He is everywhere— omnipresent. “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” He is eternal; He was before Abram was and He was in the beginning with God, before the creation. He is also omniscient. If you have this Mediator, or the house of your hope is built on this Mediator, then consider what kind of Mediator He is. He is one who knows everything, who knows your needs, who knows your weakness, who knows the power of your enemies. In John 2:24 we read, “He knew all men.” He knew what was in their heart. When the woman, that sinner, came in the midst of the guests who were gathered in the house of Simon and she bowed at Jesus’ feet and wept, then she made his feet wet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. Simon wondered how Jesus would allow this, but the Lord knew what was in his heart. Simon did not even have to say it.

He is also almighty. We read in Revelation 1:8, “I am Alpha and Omega,” the first and the last, I am “the beginning and the ending.” I am the One “which is to come, the Almighty” Savior. No case is too hard for Him; no power too strong for Him. But He is also unchangeable, immutable. We read in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today and for ever.”

We see not only in His divine attributes that He is God, but we read also of His divine works. Who created the heaven and the earth? The Father created, we would say, but we also read in John 1, “All things were made by Him,” by the Logos, by the Son of God. “Without him was not any thing made that was made.” We read of His providence. The Father loveth the Son and “has given all things into His hand,” into the hand of His providence.

The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. Priests can not do that. That can only be done by God Himself. He preserves God’s people, the saints, for we read, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” They are engraven in the palms of His hands, and no one can pluck them out of that hand. We read also of Him that He was raised from the dead, and that He will judge the quick and the dead. We read that He quickeneth them, “Even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.” This is also the work of the Son. “The hour will come and now is that the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear that voice will live.” Resurrection and glorification are His work. It is Christ “who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.”

If Christ is for you, then all the attributes of God are for you

There is also His divine honor. We are baptized also in the name of the Son. When Christ was baptized, then the Father testified, “This is My beloved Son.” Also the blessing which is laid on the congregation is in the name of the triune God, thus also in the name of the Son. This is a divine honor.

This article also says, “He therefore is that true, eternal, and almighty God.” True God — not a God who is adopted to be God. Eternal — not born in time and then made a God, but eternal. Almighty — of the same power as the Father and of the Holy Ghost. And then the most essential thing — “whom we invoke, worship, and serve.”

Now the question is, do we worship and serve this Son of God? Do we really belong to His people? Is He really our Mediator? Hezekiah cried on his sickbed, “I am oppressed; undertake for me.” Can we say that He is the true, eternal, and almighty God whom we invoke, worship, and serve? Or is He yet no more than a person to us? Then I hope that there may come a time in your life that you say, “Lord, Thou art so hidden, but I need Thee, I need an almighty Savior. I need One who is unchangeable.” Oh, blessed and privileged people who may know and serve Him! For if Christ is for you, then all the attributes of God are for you. Then the unchangeable God — the all-wise God, the all-knowing God, the omnipresent God is for you. Wherever you are, you are never alone. However foolish you are, or dark your way is, He knows the way. However weak you feel, He is almighty. However lonely you feel, He is with you all the way, even unto the end of the world. That means there is no end whatever, no limit to His might. He is unchangeable and that is forever. He is merciful and there is no end, no limit to His mercy. Then His grace is as wide as the ocean. Then His love is an everlasting love. Then His wisdom is a wisdom which surpasses all understanding. Oh, since He is the Son of God, but also God Himself, then He who has been revealed in your life, this man, the Greater Boaz, will not be in rest until He “hath finished the thing this day,” for He will not forsake the work of His own hands.

When we review the history of the church, then we know that many times Satan has tried to rob the crown from the head of Christ. Sometimes he did it in a subtle way, not so openly. He would say, “You need to do some good works. Jesus is the Son of God, sure, and He merited salvation, but you need to be qualified for it. You need to do good works in order to be a suitable object for His mercy. You have to allow Him to begin His work in you.” As the Remonstrants said, “He paid the price. Now it is up to you to accept Him with your free will. Then this willing Savior will do His work in you.” That is robbing the Son of God of His divine honor as the One who is the beginning and the end of the work of salvation.

Later liberal theologians said, “Christ Jesus was a great prophet, a supreme leader, an example for the people to follow, and an example of how the Lord wants you to live. That’s true humanity. Behold Him and follow Him.” There was also the error of Karl Barth and another German theologian, Brunner. They said that Christ is the Son of God, but that He was not truly human, and they denied that He really became like unto us. The Anabaptists believe that He took His human nature out of heaven.

Today there are many who believe that Christ is just the leader of the oppressed, that He is one who sympathizes with the underdog, the lower class people, and those who are oppressed by the rich; and that He is just a man who will change the world order in this society. But all these do not honor the Son of God and worship Him as the only Mediator given by God. They confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but his humanity is a great problem to them.

We have heard about the Mediator, the Son of God who is the only Mediator and is not subordinate to the Father. We can say, “The Father thought, the Son bought, and the Holy Spirit wrought salvation,” but yet there is such a unity in the divine essence. The Father works through the Son and by the Holy Ghost. The Son is also God. That Mediator, that Savior who will be on the throne at the last day, is also the Son of God. He is the everlasting Father; His goings forth are from everlasting. We believe with our fathers that He is the everlasting Son of God — true, eternal, almighty — “whom we invoke, worship and serve.”

“Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little.” Blessed are they who may bow before, surrender unto, and truly serve this Christ.

Tale-Bearing

“Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people.... Thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.”

— Leviticus 19:16-17

Tale-bearing emits a threefold poison; for it injures the teller, the hearer, and the person concerning whom the tale is told. Whether the report be true or false, we are by this precept of God’s Word forbidden to spread it. The reputations of the Lord’s people should be very precious in our sight, and we should count it shame to help the devil to dishonor the Church and the name of the Lord. Some tongues need a bridle rather than a spur. Many glory in pulling down their brethren, as if thereby they raised themselves. Noah’s wise sons cast a mantle over their father, and he who exposed him earned a fearful curse. We may ourselves one of these dark days need forbearance and silence from our brethren; let us render it cheerfully to those who require it now. Be this our family rule, and our personal bond — speak evil of no man.

The Holy Spirit, however, permits us to censure sin, and prescribes the way in which we are to do it. It must be done by rebuking our brother to his face, not by railing behind his back. This course is manly, brotherly, Christlike, and under God’s blessing will be useful. Does the flesh shrink from it? Then we must lay the greater stress upon our conscience, and keep ourselves to the work, lest by suffering sin upon our friend we become ourselves partakers of it. Hundreds have been saved from gross sins by the timely, wise, affectionate warnings of faithful ministers and brethren. Our Lord Jesus has set us a gracious example of how to deal with erring friends in His warning given to Peter, the prayer with which He preceded it, and the gentle way in which He bore with Peter’s boastful denial that he needed such a caution.

— CS

Rev. C. Vogelaar is pastor of the Ebenezer Netherlands Reformed Church of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

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