All Articles For Believing and Confessing

Lord’s Day 34 Q. 92. What is the law of God? A. God spake all these words, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, saying: I am the Lord thy God, which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 2. Thou shalt not…. Q. 93. How are these commandments divided? A. Into two tables: the first of which teaches us how we must behave towards God; the second, what duties we owe to our neighbor. Q. 94. What doth God enjoin in the first commandment? A....

Lord’s Day 33 Question 88. Of how many parts doth the true conversion of man consist? Answer. Of two parts: of the mortification of the old, and the quickening of the new man. Question 89. What is the mortification of the old man? Answer. It is a sincere sorrow of heart that we have provoked God by our sins, and more and more to hate and flee from them. Question 90. What is the quickening of the new man? Answer. It is a sincere joy of heart in God, through Christ, and with love and delight to live according to...

Previous article in this series: March 15, 2016, p. 275. The third chapter of the SHC concerns the fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith, the doctrine of the Trinity. Convinced of this truth from the very beginning, the Christian church confesses that although God is one divine being, He exists as three distinct persons. Together the three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the one true and living God. In the first article on this chapter we concerned ourselves with the truth that God is one, “one in essence or nature [being], subsisting in himself, all sufficient in...

Lord’s Day 32 Q. 86. Since then we are delivered from our misery merely of grace, through Christ, without any merit of ours, why must we still do good works? A. Because Christ, having redeemed and delivered us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit after His own image; that so we may testify by the whole of our conduct our gratitude to God for His blessings, and that He may be praised by us; also, that every one may be assured in himself of his faith by the fruits thereof; and that by our godly conversation...

Lord’s Day 31 Q. 83. What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven? A. The preaching of the holy gospel, and Christian discipline, or excommunication out of the Christian church; by these two, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers, and shut against unbelievers. Q. 84. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the holy gospel? A. Thus: when according to the command of Christ it is declared and publicly testified to all and every believer, that, whenever they receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, all their sins...

God Is One Previous article in this series: January 1, 2016, p. 157. We believe and teach that God is one in essence or nature, subsisting in himself, all sufficient in himself, invisible, incorporeal, immense, eternal, Creator of all things both visible and invisible, the greatest good, living, quickening and preserving all things, omnipotent and supremely wise, kind and merciful, just and true. Truly we detest many gods because it is expressly written: “The Lord your God is one Lord” (Deut. 6:4). “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2-3). “I am...

Lord’s Day 30 Question 80. What difference is there between the Lord’s Supper and the popish mass? Answer. The Lord’s Supper testifies to us that we have a full pardon of all sin by the only sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself has once accomplished on the cross; and, that we by the Holy Ghost are ingrafted into Christ, who according to His human nature is now not on earth, but in heaven at the right hand of God His Father, and will there be worshiped by us—but the mass teaches, that the living and dead have not the...

Previous article in this series: November 15, 2015, p. 84. Councils And in the same order also we place the decrees and canons of councils. Wherefore we do not permit ourselves, in controversies about religion or matters of faith, to urge our case with only the opinions of the fathers or decrees of council; much less by received customs, or by the large number of those who share the same opinion, or by the prescription of a long time. Who is the judge? Therefore, we do not admit any other judge than God himself, who proclaims by the Holy Scriptures...

Lord’s Day 29 Question 78. Do then the bread and wine become the very body and blood of Christ? Answer. Not at all; but as the water in baptism is not changed into the blood of Christ, neither is the washing away of sin itself, being only the sign and confirmation thereof appointed of God; so the bread in the Lord’s supper is not changed into the very body of Christ; though agreeably to the nature and properties of sacraments, it is called the body of Christ Jesus. Question 79. Why then doth Christ call the bread His body, and...

Previous article in this series: August 2015, p. 438.   The True Interpretation of Scripture   The apostle Peter has said that the Holy Scriptures are not of private interpretation (II Pet. 1:20), and thus we do not allow all possible interpretations. Nor consequently do we acknowledge as the true or genuine interpretation of the Scriptures what is called the conception of the Roman [Catholic] Church, that is, what the defenders of the Roman [Catholic] Church plainly maintain should be thrust upon all for acceptance. But we hold that interpretation of the Scripture to be orthodox and genuine which is...