The Belgic Confession Week 2

Review:

Article 2.

BY WHAT MEANS GOD IS MADE KNOWN UNTO US

We know Him by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small, are as so many characters leading us to see clearly His  invisible  attributes,  even His eternal power and Godhead, as the Apostle Paul says (Rom. 1:20). All which things are sufficient to convince men and leave them without excuse. Second, He makes Himself more clearly and fully known to us by His holy and divine Word, that is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life, to His glory and our salvation.

The Book of Creation:

First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small, are as so many characters leading us to see clearly His  invisible  attributes,  even His eternal power and Godhead, as the Apostle Paul says (Rom. 1:20). All which things are sufficient to convince men and leave them without excuse.

Fine Tuning Argument: (the creation, preservation, and government of the universe)

The universe is incredibly intricate. The amount of fine tuning is an incredible argument for the existence of God. The universe must have an origin. It is not eternally existent. Someone wound the universe up.

What is holding the world together? It is clearly preserved. Someone is preserving this.

Who is governing all these natural functions that we see? What is behind the rising and setting of the Sun? Who is the one maintaining gravity? What is the reason for matter sticking together?

Creation teaches us that someone or something is behind all of this.

Creatures are the characters of the book of Creation.

All the life we see teaming in the world speaks to all men. Life must have an origin. Everything we observe with our eyes, smell with our noses, taste with our tongues, hear with ears, feel in our spirits tells us that someone or something originated all of this. Every part of creation is like a letter on a page telling us about the Creator.

Creation is indeed a Most Excellent Book.

This book leads all to learn about God.

Everyone has the book of creation. It bear witness to us about God. Every person for all of time has been witnessed to by the book of Creation about God.

What do we learn about God?

His invisible attributes, Eternal Power, and Godhead.

What do we learn about God from creation? We learn about many of His invisible attributes and His eternal power.

Invisible Attributes:

Eternality- Logic would tell us that the one who created time, space, and matter must be beyond those.

Incomprehensibility- The Creator as the one who made us must be beyond us and therefore must be beyond what our minds can fully grasp.

Infinite- The Creator of the cosmos must be in some sense bigger than the cosmos.

Eternal Power:

Think of the power it takes to spin a planet. How much energy must it take to ignite a star? How much focus and energy must it take to craft microscopic life cells? Whoever made all of that must be mightier than we can fathom.

Godhead:

What other name could we give a creator like this than God?

This convinces all men and leaves them without excuse.

Romans 1:20 “20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,”

All of this information truly reveals much about God. And in fact we learn things about God from creation that we do not learn in Scripture.

For example: We see that God loves certain types of beauty. God clearly enjoys telling death to life stories.

A caterpillar “dies” and is then reborn into a more full and beautiful creature.

A seed “dies” and then is reborn into a full and beautiful plant.

But creation can only tell us so much. It tells us just enough so that we are without excuse.

Romans 1:18-32

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

All men know the truth. But in sin, all men suppress the truth. There are no real atheists.

19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Men, in sin take the truth of God and purposely corrupt it.

Central point: Creation is a wonderful book we all must learn from, but it is not enough. We cannot learn about the personal God and how to be saved from creation. We need God to speak more clearly in our language. God must communicate in human speech if we wish to learn more about Him.

The Book of Scripture:

Second, He makes Himself more clearly and fully known to us by His holy and divine Word, that is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life, to His glory and our salvation.

God speaks to us more clearly in Scripture.

In Scripture God speaks to us in the tongues of men. God condescended to us in revealing Himself to us.

God makes Himself fully known to us by Scripture.

God chose the written Word to fully reveal Himself. In the pages of Scripture He tells us who He is. He revealed Himself to us over time, through the words of the Bible.

Question: What does that word “fully” mean? How can God fully reveal Himself to us if He is incomprehensible? The confession clarifies.

Scripture reveals all things necessary to know in this life concerning God’s glory and our salvation.

God does not spell out every detail of who He is. Fully does not mean that God included every detail we could ever know about Him or His Work in Scripture. But God revealed all we need to know in Scripture. The Bible is sufficient. And specifically, God focuses on two things in His Word.

His Glory and our Salvation.

This is the theme of the Bible. Who is God? How are we saved? These topics are exhaustively covered in the Word of God.

The Westminster: To glorify God and to Enjoy Him Forever. This is not only the central purpose of life, but this is what the Bible principally teaches. This is the thesis of God’s Word. Everything we need to know in order to glorify God and to be saved.

Article 3.

THE WRITTEN WORD OF GOD

We confess that this Word of God was not sent nor delivered by the will of man, but that holy men of God spoke as they were moved  by the Holy Spirit, as the Apostle Peter says (2 Pet. 1:21); and that afterwards God, from a special care which He has for us and our salvation, commanded His servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit His revealed word to writing; and He Himself wrote with His own finger the two tables of the law. Therefore we call such writings holy and divine Scriptures.

The confession here answers a question.

Where did Scripture come from?

How did we get this book? It did not just fall from heaven. So where is it’s origin? How did we get it?

Article 3 begins with a denial.

God’s Word is not the product of man’s will.

2 Peter 1:20–21“20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”

Men did not just cook this up. The Christian religion is not a religion developed by man. It did come down to us directly from God. Man did not examine nature and then develop the Bible. God spoke through the prophets.

Holy men spoke as the Holy Spirit moved them.

God spoke through prophets. And these prophets did not speak on their own authority. They were carried along by the Holy Spirit. it was God speaking through them.

God gave two tests to know a true prophet from a false prophet.

If they prophesy falsely. (This will happen, and then it does not happen.)

If they contradict anything God has already commanded.

This means that Scripture must be accurate, and without contradiction. This is the sign God gave for true prophesy.

The Bible is the most scrutinized book in human history. But it has been proven over and over to be completely accurate and without internal contradiction.

This is incredible considering how many different authors Scripture has and how long it was compiled over.

God, in great care for us, had these holy men write down the Word of God.

God spoke to all men in this. He had the Words of Scripture written down by these holy men. He did not just speak to one generation of people. He had His Word written down for our sakes. God then preserved His Word for all time.

Psalm 12:6–7“6 The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. 7 You shall keep them, O Lord, You shall preserve them from this generation forever.”

Article 4.

CANONICAL BOOKS OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE

We believe that the Holy Scriptures are contained in two books, namely, the Old and the New Testament, which are canonical, against which nothing can be alleged. These are thus named in the Church of God. The books of the Old Testament are the five books of Moses, to wit: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,  Deuteronomy;  the  book  of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the two books of Samuel, the two of the Kings, two books of the Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther; Job, the Psalms, the three books of Solomon, namely, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs; the four great prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, (Lamentations), Ezekiel, and Daniel; and the twelve lesser prophets, namely, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Those of the New Testament are the four evangelists, to wit: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles; the thirteen epistles of the Apostle Paul, namely, one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, one to Titus, one to Philemon; Hebrews; the seven epistles of the other apostles, namely, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude; and the Revelation of the Apostle John.

Outline of the Bible:

Book 1. Old Testament.

Books of Moses.

Genesis.

Exodus.

Leviticus.

Numbers.

Deuteronomy.

History.

Joshua.

Judges.

Ruth.

1-2 Samuel.

1-2 Kings.

1-2 Chronicles.

Ezra.

Nehemiah.

Esther.

Poetry.

Job.

Psalms

Books of Solomon.

Proverbs.

Ecclesiastes.

Song of Songs.

The Prophets.

The Major Prophets.

Isaiah.

Jeremiah.

Lamentations.

Ezekiel.

Daniel.

The Minor Prophets.

Hosea.

Joel.

Amos.

Obadiah.

Jonah.

Micah.

Nahum.

Habakkuk.

Zephaniah.

Haggai.

Zechariah.

Malachi.

Book 2: The New Testament.

The Gospels.

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

The Acts of the Apostles.

Epistles of Paul.

Romans

1-2 Corinthians

Galatians

Ephesians

Philippians

Colossians

1-2 Thessalonians

1-2 Timothy

Titus

Philemon

Hebrews (Unknown)

Epistles of the other Apostles.

James

1-2 Peter

1-3 John

Jude.

The Revelation of the Apostle John.

These are canonical (Official) and we cannot put any charges against them. They are without a doubt Scripture.

The church has recognized these books.

Recognition vs. Creation:

A Central issue in the reformation and still today is does the Bible have authority over the church or does the church have authority over the Bible?

Both the Bible and the Church have real authority. Which one has more?

Scripture indicates that the Bible itself is the standard. 2 Timothy 3:15–16“15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”

Historically, the church has seen itself as recognizing the true books of the Bible, not as creating them.

Both the church and the Bible have authority. But God’s perfect, inerrant, authoritative Word must have the final say in all things. God has spoken. Men can be wrong, but God and His Word cannot be wrong.

Takeaways:

God Has Spoken.

Learn to Love God’s Word.

Love the Book of Creation and the Book of Scripture.