Abstract
Article 2 of the Belgic Confession deals with the following issue: By what means does God make Himself known to us? The first part of Article 2 that echoes the teaching of Calvin via the Gallic Confession reads as follows: “We know Him [God] 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 characters (read: letters – MAK) leading us to see clearly the invisible things of God, even his everlasting power and divinity, as the apostle Paul says (Rom. 1:20). All which things are sufficient to convince men and leave them without excuse.” This article of 1561 agrees with Calvin’s Institutes of 1559 (1, V, 1) and the early Reformed Confessions before the Canons of Dordt (1618-1619). It seems as though, after Calvin, a doctrine of insufficiency regarding this first means of revelation gradually developed. In the Westminster Confession of 1647 this means of understanding God’s revelation (i.e by receiving God’s communication through the creation, preservation and government of the universe) was explicitly interpreted as insufficient. Man’s inherent ability to know God by means of his own mental capacity, the so-called light of nature, that remained after the Fall, was also regarded as insufficient. The issue of whether the interpretation of Article 2A had not been changed in the first century after Calvin should therefore be seriously considered by Reformed churches. Furthermore, the church of today, situated in a world that experiences such phenomenal scientific and technological changes, should ask what relevance Article 2A of the the Belgic Confession has for the church and the world.
Highlights
The issue argued in this article is the following: Has the Reformed tradition followed in the footsteps of Calvin and the Reformation in understanding the revelation of God in the creation, preservation and government of the universe?
The issue discussed include the following questions: Is the history of the interpretation as well as the dogmatic evaluation of this confessional article not perhaps clouded by the influence of political aspirations and anti- and pro-Roman-Catholic tensions? What was the result of the Presbyterian ( Puritan) versus Episcopalian controversies and the Arminian and anti-Arminian legacies? What was the effect of the struggle between Presbyterians and Puritans on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the attempts of the English rulers to appease Roman Catholicism?
Afterwards did I investigate how the Reformed tradition has seemingly deviated from the correct understanding of Romans 1
Summary
The issue argued in this article is the following: Has the Reformed tradition followed in the footsteps of Calvin and the Reformation in understanding the revelation of God in the creation, preservation and government of the universe?. This article attempts to evaluate the Reformed tradition after Calvin with regard to the understanding of the Belgic Confession, Article 2A. The issue discussed include the following questions: Is the history of the interpretation as well as the dogmatic evaluation of this confessional article not perhaps clouded by the influence of political aspirations and anti- and pro-Roman-Catholic tensions? Afterwards did I investigate how the Reformed tradition has seemingly deviated from the correct understanding of Romans 1. The method applied in this article will be to analyse the exegetical results of a study of Romans and to proceed to give an interpretation of Article 2A, as it was probably understood by Calvin and during the time of the Reformation. It is of the utmost importance that the church will reflect on the correct Scriptural view (in contrast to the views of main-line, non-Christian religions, and of people who have not yet have access to Scripture) and to evaluate these views in relation to constant discoveries of new wonders in God’s creation
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