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THE BELGIC CONFESSION OF FAITH – A Commentary – By
Dr. Chuck Baynard
The Belgic Confession of Faith, Article X
Jesus Christ Is True and Eternal God
We believe that Jesus Christ according to
His divine nature is the only begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, not
made, nor created (for then He would be a creature), but co-essential and
co-eternal with the Father, the very image of his substance and the effulgence
of his glory, equal unto Him in all things. He is the Son of God, not only
from the time that He assumed our nature but from all eternity, as these
testimonies, when compared together, teach us. Moses says that God created the
world; and St. John says that all things were made by that Word which he calls
God. The apostle says that God made the world by His Son; likewise, that God
created all things by Jesus Christ. Therefore it must needs follow that He who
is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ, did exist at that time
when all things were created by Him. Therefore the prophet Micah says: His
goingsforth are from of old, from everlasting. And the apostle: He hath
neither beginning of days nor end of life. He therefore is that true, eternal,
and almighty God whom we invoke, worship, and serve.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God! Remove the deity of Christ and you have
defeated God as if that can be done. Nonetheless, all world religions outside
Christianity attempt to remove the cloak of divinity from Christ. If it can be
proven Christ is not God, fully in all regards and co-equal to God, then there
is no atonement and the Bible is a myth of no more value than any other
literature of man. If Christ can be proven to have a beginning either in the
incarnation or before, then the foundation of the Christian church is shattered.
Christ declared that upon His deity he founded the church and the gates of hell
would not prevail against the church. Nonetheless, we see the attack of Satan
and his earthly kingdom begin by casting doubt on the word of God where the
deity of Christ is revealed. Defeat the veracity of Scripture and you remove
Christ and there is no church. This is why we see our theologians from the
beginning not argue so much the existence of God as that God has spoken and we
have the exact record of those things, which God commanded. The word of God
alone has the authority or ability to reveal Christ as the Son of God eternally
existing and eternally begotten of the Father without beginning or end. The only
source of absolute truth is the word of God.
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