Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Jan/91

Contributor - Henry VanEssen

Title - From Belgium?

Topic - Reformed Denomination

The Theological Commission of our denomination presented the General Synod of 1990 with a new translation of the Belgic Confession of Faith. This may not mean much to most Pioneer Christian Monthly readers. What is the Belgic Confession? What do we in North America have to do with Belgium?

A Flock Following

Our denomination is governed by a Constitution. This Constitution seeks to enable the Reformed Church "to minister to the total life of all people by preaching, teaching, and proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and by all Christian good works." (Book of Church Order, Preamble,; hereafter BCO). This "is achieved most effectively when good order and proper discipline are maintained by means of certain offices, governmental agencies, and theological and liturgical standards." (BCO, Preamble). Our denomination seeks to maintain good order through rules brought together in the Government of the Reformed Church in America. The way to exercise discipline is spelled out in the Disciplinary Procedures. The heart of our worship and the way we believe we should worship our Lord we find in the Liturgy together with the Directory for Worship.

How do we know how to govern ourselves? How do we know how to worship and how to discipline? Where is the foundation for all this? All three flow out of our relationship with God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Shepherd and we are His flock. He leads us, and we follow. Thus in all that we do as His flock we are to be obedient to Him and to His teaching. Where do we find His teaching? The Scriptures are His teaching. The Scriptures of the Old And New Testament are our only rule of faith and practice. (Liturgy & Psalms p. 54, 116). For us, the books of the Old and New Testaments are "the Word of God and the perfect doctrine of salvation." We "reject all doctrines contrary thereto." (L. & P. 104, 110). The rules for good order, the manner of worship, and the way of discipline must therefore flow out of the teaching of Scripture, and never contradict it.

Reformed Background

This is not as simple as it may seem. For what does Scripture teach? The presence of the many denominations in North America who confess that they follow the Lord Jesus Christ but who apparently cannot follow Him as one flock, testifies most painfully that there is great difference concerning the content of the Christian faith, and its implications.

The Reformed Church is but one denomination among many. Our roots are found in the Reformation of the fifteen hundreds. During those years many Christians became convinced that the Church needed to be brought back to faithfulness to the Scriptures. They sought to re-form the Church in her way of being governed, in her way of worship, and in her way of discipline. This urge to re-form came from their realization of what Scripture truly teaches about the way of salvation and the spiritual worship believers owe their God and Saviour. In those early years there were only two denominations: the Eastern Orthodox Church in Greece, Russia, etc.) and the Western Roman Church. The reform movement took place in the Western Church. It was the fruit of a conviction which grew very slowly at first. John Wycliffe in England was one whose eyes were opened. He died in 1384. John Huss of Prague was burned at the stake in 1414 by decision of the Church Council of Constance, France, because of his re-form thoughts.

No New Church

As the years passed, more and more believers became convinced of the necessity to re-form the Church because of what they believed to be the true teaching of Scripture however, none of them had any idea of starting a new denomination. They all longed to reform the existing Church. They all confessed One Church. People like Martin Luther did everything they could to stay in the Western Roman Church and have it conform more closely with Scripture.

Those who were in charge of the Roman Church would not have anything to do with these reformers. Many reformers were put to death by fire or torture and the rest were excommunicated. That means that they were, by official decision put out of the fellowship of the Roman Church and not allowed to attend worship or receive the sacraments. These people were forced out, but they themselves knew that the Lord had not cast them out. They knew themselves to still be members of the body of Christ - His Bride - His Church. In spite of the fact that they were no longer allowed to be part of the Roman organization they continued to worship the Lord God. Those who had thrown the reformers out, were considered to be thieves and robbers (John 10:8, 10). They also proved to the reformers, that they could no longer be considered the Church of Christ. Thus Luther, Calvin, and many others held that they were the true continuing Church, and those who had thrown them out were the false Church. (See Belgic Confession Article 29). There was in fact no new Church.

Confessing Their Faith

These re-forming and reformed believers were constantly accused of bringing damnable wrong teachings which would lead people to everlasting punishment. In those days, many governments supported the Roman Church and used their forces of law and order and their armies to root out these "new" teachings. In order to inform local and other governments that the faith of the reformers did not constitute a danger to the state these believers wrote down what they believed and presented it to the authorities.

One of the documents which survives today, is our Belgic Confession. It was written by a man named Guido De Bres who lived most of his life in what is known today as Belgium. In composing this summary of the Christian faith he closely followed a draft by John Calvin sent to the French Reformed Church and used by them as the basis for their confession. De Bres wrote the Belgic Confession around 1560. It is clear that he did this in consultation with others. It was printed and a copy of it was thrown, wrapped in oil cloth over the wall of the castle of the governor of the city of Doornik. This took place during the night of November 1-2, 1561. It has an introductory letter to king Phillip II of Spain who also controlled what is now Belgium and the Netherlands. A concluding word was added to the lesser magistrates.

Standard of Faith

It did not take long before this Confession was discussed at a provincial synod. That took place in 1563 in Armentieres (now in France). There the decision was reached that all elders and deacons upon being elected were to sign this confession indicating their agreement with and their promise to uphold its teaching. In 1565 it was decided in the Synod of Antwerp that the confession would be read at the beginning of each meeting to demonstrate their unity in the faith and to see whether any changes or improvements were called for. Many other synods in the last half of the sixteenth century upheld the Belgic Confession of Faith as the standard of their faith. The Synod of Dort of 161819 finally gave an authorized version for all the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. By then two other confessional standards had also made their appearance: the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) and the Canons (=rules) of Dort (1619). At that time it was also decided that all those who wanted to become ministers of the Gospel in the Reformed Church were to sign a declaration in which they indicated agreement with all .three Standards of the Reformed Faith.

The Belgic Confession Today.

Our denomination is a direct daughter of that continuing Church of Christ of which Calvin and Guido De Bres were members. Theologically our official name is Church of the Lord Jesus Christ Reformed and Ever Reforming According to the Word of God. Our denomination was part of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands until the American Revolution. After that the churches in the Eastern United States decided to disconnect themselves from Classis Amsterdam though they kept their theological treasures.

Thus we must realize what our situation is. We are not a denomination which has been organized by people through schism or because of particular teachings. This denomination is still the direct result of the Western Roman Church throwing out those who loved the Church and sought to re-form it from within. We confess ourselves to be re-formed and always re-forming. This means that we now must always grant others the listening ear and the open mind which was denied to us nearly 500 years ago. We ourselves may need to be re-formed once again! Those who truly seek to serve the Lord and Saviour of us all, may never be thrown out. What if there are those who are not true to the faith? It is the angels at the Last Day who are to separate the tares from the wheat (Matthew 13:30). Therefore, it is our task to hold each other accountable for the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). To help us with that task we have the Belgic Confession, together with the other two Standards.

Should We Know It?

Ministers of our denomination are still required to sign a declaration when they are ordained or when they are transferred into another Classis. In that declaration they are asked to "sincerely and gladly declare before God and with you that I believe the gospel of the grace of God in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and as expressed in the Standards of the Reformed Church in America. I accept the Scriptures as the only rule of faith and life. I accept the Standards as historic and faithful witnesses to the Word of God." (BCO p. 102). It should be clear from the above that the Belgic Confession of Faith is important to our faith and life as a Church. It is important not only to pastors. All members of the Church should know what they believe, so that together we may remain faithful in our service of Christ our Saviour and King.

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