THE BELGIC CONFESSION OF FAITH – A Commentary – By
Dr. Chuck Baynard
The Belgic Confession of Faith, Article XI
The Holy Spirit Is True and Eternal God
We believe and confess also that the Holy Spirit from eternity proceeds
from the Father and the Son; and therefore neither is made, created, nor
begotten, but only proceeds from both; who in order is the third person of the
Holy Trinity; of one and the same essence, majesty, and glory with the Father
and the Son; and therefore is the true and eternal God, as the Holy Scriptures
teach us.
The third person of the Trinity,
the Godhead spoken of by Paul in Romans one. While each has personal attributes,
characteristics, and is distinct, all three are one God.
Of one essence yet three subsistencies to use Calvin’s term which is
the best way to explain the three yet one aspect of God. The reformed
formulation has always been that it is proper for the Father to be eternally
existing and the Son to be eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Sprit
to be eternally proceeding from Father and Son.
Remember the caution concerning divisions of any kind whatsoever from
previous articles. Also watch out for the easiest heresy to enter, that of
modalism. We do not have a Father
of wrath, a Loving Son, and a gift
bearing Spirit, we have one God made manifest in three distinct and separate
persons, yet of one essential substance. In this sense the words of Christ that
if you have saw Him you have seen the Father can be said of the Holy Spirit and
it isn’t wrong to say where one person is the other three are present by
necessity because these three are one. Don’t
try to understand it perfectly, receive the truth of the Bible by faith and
cling tight to its eternal truth. This brings up the last point that is crucial,
the formulation above by our reformed forefathers uses the word eternally with
all three persons so there can be no confusion that all three are properly God
and do not have a beginning or end.
