Belgic Confession · Article XVIII

Of the incarnation of Jesus Christ

Note. This is the older English translation from the 1793 Constitution of the Reformed Dutch Church in North America. Later translations (for example the Christian Reformed Church's 1985 version) are in modern English and are copyrighted, so they are not used here. Scripture references appear in the text as the translation gives them.

We confess therefore that God did fulfil the promise, which he made to the fathers by the mouth of his holy prophets when he sent into the world, at the time appointed by him, his own, only begotten and eternal Son, “who took upon him the form of a servant, and became like unto man,” really assuming the true human nature, with all its infirmities, sin excepted, being conceived in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Ghost, without the means of man. And did not only assume human nature as to the body, but also a true human soul, that he might be a real man. For since the soul was lost as well as the body, it was necessary that he should take both upon him, to save both. ​Therefore we confess (in opposition to the heresy of the Anabaptists, who deny that Christ assumed human flesh of His mother) that Christ is become a partaker of the flesh and blood of the children; that he is a fruit of the loins of David after the flesh; made of the seed of David according to the flesh; a fruit of the womb of the Virgin Mary; made of a woman; a branch of David; a shoot of the root of Jesse; sprung from the tribe of Judah; descended from the Jews according to the flesh: of the seed of Abraham, since he took on him the seed of Abraham; “and became like unto his brethren in all things sin excepted:” so that in truth he is our Immanuel, that is to say, God with us.

Edition & Source Public domain

Source
The Belgic Confession
Translation
English translation printed in the Constitution of the Reformed Dutch Church in North America (1793)
Published
1561; revised 1618–1619
Copyright
Public domain.
License
Public domain
Attribution
Public domain: published before 1931. Text taken from the proofread Wikisource transcription of that printing. Compared with a second English text on apuritansmind.com (a lightly modernized version of the same lineage): the two agree in substance and differ in wording, for example 'saith' against 'says'. Not yet proofread against a printed edition.

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Cite as The Belgic Confession. 1561; revised 1618–1619. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Belgic_Confession