THE BELGIC CONFESSION OF FAITH – A Commentary – By
Dr. Chuck Baynard
The Belgic Confession of Faith, Article XII
The Creation of All Things, Especially the Angels
We believe that the Father by the Word, that is, by His Son, has
created of nothing the heaven, the earth, and all creatures, when it seemed
good unto Him; giving unto every creature its being, shape, form, and several
offices to serve its Creator; that He also still upholds and governs them by
His eternal providence and infinite power for the service of mankind, to the
end that man may serve his God.
He also created the angels good, to be His messengers and to serve His
elect; some of whom are fallen from that excellency in which God created them
into everlasting perdition, and the others have by the grace of God remained
steadfast and continued in their first state. The devils and evil spirits are
so depraved that they are enemies of God and every good thing; to the utmost
of their power as murderers watching to ruin the Church and every member
thereof, and by their wicked stratagems to destroy all; and are, therefore, by
their own wickedness adjudged to eternal damnation, daily expecting their
horrible torments.
Therefore we reject and abhor the error of the Sadducees, who deny the
existence of spirits and angels; and also that of the Manichees, who assert
that the devils have their origin of themselves, and that they are wicked of
their own nature, without having been corrupted.
God created all things that
exist out of nothing by the power of His word alone.
From the plurality of the terms used and from the Scripture as rendered
by the pen of John we can see the Son as the Word was present and was also the
Creator. Likewise we see the presence of the Holy Spirit in the creation
account. Not addressed here in the
Belgic Confession and space doesn’t permit a proper treatment, but God created
all in the space of six literal 24 hours and the so called frame-work hypotheses
is pure bunk and though accepted in some reformed circles is gross error if not
heresy and is not to be embraced by the saints of God.
God created the angels of heaven
good as all things created by God were good by God’s own declaration. Yet like
man God permitted some to fall, the rest in grace preserving eternally in
righteousness to the point that they are called holy angels. One third of the
angels fell in the sin of Satan and were cast out of heaven. There is one devil
in the sense this is usually reserved for Satan himself, but in a sense all
fallen angels are devils. So called evil spirits and devils are all fallen
angels as God did not create evil creatures as such, but the will of the
creature led them into all evil and in total warfare against God for all
eternity. Human spirits do not wander the earth and all spiritual presences are
of God or of these fallen angels. Thus the Bible tells us to test the spirits
because fallen angels were once angels of light and are spiritual beings capable
in making themselves manifest in diverse ways and forms even as the holy angels
are.
The Bible is clear that these spiritual beings exist and
to deny such is to deny the very word of God and all saints should condemn as
heresy any belief that denies the truth of God’s revealed word. Nothing of any
substance whatsoever, visible or invisible to the created was created from
nothing and nothing exists which was not created by God. The devils are fallen
angels as the Bible says and not of their own making but of the Creation of God
and created good. Their sinful condition was of themselves, not their creation.
