THE BELGIC CONFESSION OF FAITH
– A Commentary – By Dr. Chuck Baynard
The Belgic Confession of Faith,
Article XIX
The Union and Distinction of the
Two Natures in the Person of Christ
We believe that by this conception the person of the Son is inseparably
united and connected with the human nature; so that there are not two Sons of
God, nor two persons, but two natures united in one single person; yet each
nature retains its own distinct properties. As, then, the divine nature has
always remained uncreated, without beginning of days or end of life, filling
heaven and earth, so also has the human nature not lost its properties but
remained a creature, having beginning of days, being a finite nature, and
retaining all the properties of a real body. And though He has by His
resurrection given immortality to the same, nevertheless He has not changed the
reality of His human nature; forasmuch as our salvation and resurrection also
depend on the reality of His body. But these two natures are so closely united
in one person that they were not separated even by His death. Therefore that
which He, when dying, commended into the hands of His Father, was a real human
spirit, departing from His body. But in the meantime the divine nature always
remained united with the human, even when He lay in the grave; and the Godhead
did not cease to be in Him, any more than it did when He was an infant, though
it did not so clearly manifest itself for a while. Wherefore we confess that He
is very God and very man: very God by His power to conquer death; and very man
that He might die for us according to the infirmity of His flesh.
This article opens with an explanation of the union of Christ and man we
mentioned in the previous article as the hypostatic union. This confession
immediately proceeds to establish the fact Christ is fully God. Likewise, God
eternally existing without beginning or end is given to the person of Christ.
The Westminster formulation of it being proper for God to eternally exist and
for the Son to eternally be begotten of God, and for the Holy Spirit to
eternally proceed from Father and Son is written in this manner for this very
cause of establishing the eternal existence and co-equality of all three persons
in the Godhead.
In continuing to mention that there was a soul that was at the time of
death separated from the body though a Biblical truth is emphasized here to
again hold the fully man portion of this doctrine solidly within the Bible.
Christ then as the Bible declares becomes the first fruit among many brethren.
The end of this article states a divine truth in human language in that
if only God, then Christ could not die and there is no atonement for it is
written that without the shedding of blood there is no atonement. That Christ
was fully God is testified to by first the inability of death to hold Christ in
its bonds whereby Christ as only God could do defeated death, both physically
and spiritually.
