Covenant Theology, Scripture, and Reformed Confessions — Unit 7: The Three Forms of Unity: Belgic, Heidelberg, Dort

Key Verse

"For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." (Romans 14:8, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Name the three documents called the Three Forms of Unity and say what kind of document each one is.

2. Describe the origin, structure and main teaching of the Belgic Confession, including its marks of the true church.

3. Describe the Heidelberg Catechism, its three parts and its opening question on comfort.

4. Describe the Canons of Dort, their occasion and their structure of positive teaching and rejection of errors.

5. State at least two objections to these documents fairly and answer them from the Reformed side.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative and confessional. The Three Forms of Unity are the standards of the Dutch Reformed family of churches, and they are loved far beyond it. We state the objections of others fairly and then give our answer, because Scripture says, "Test all things; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Course 1 told the history of the Reformation in France, the Netherlands and the Palatinate, and the story of the Synod of Dort. Here we study what the documents themselves teach.

What the Three Forms Are

The "Three Forms of Unity" is the name given to three documents: the Belgic Confession (1561), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) and the Canons of Dort (1619). The Reformed churches of the Netherlands came to hold them together as their doctrinal standards, and they are still the standards of churches that come from that tradition, such as the Christian Reformed Church and the United Reformed Churches. The word "unity" points to the purpose: these documents were meant to express the agreement of the churches and to hold them together in one faith.

The three are different kinds of writing, and the difference is useful. The Belgic Confession is a confession: a full, orderly statement of what the church believes, addressed to the world. The Heidelberg Catechism is a catechism: a set of questions and answers for teaching, especially the young. The Canons of Dort are a judicial document: the decision of a church synod on a set of disputed questions. In short, the Belgic Confession says what we believe, the Catechism teaches how we believe it with our hearts, and the Canons defend the gospel of grace against a particular error. Each stands under Scripture, as Unit 6 taught.

The Belgic Confession

The Belgic Confession was written in 1561 by Guido de Brès, a Reformed pastor in the southern Low Countries, in the French language. At that time the Netherlands and Belgium were under the Spanish crown, and Protestants were persecuted and often accused of being rebels and Anabaptist radicals. De Brès wrote to show that the Reformed believers held the old catholic faith, and that they were loyal and orderly people. He was himself put to death for his faith in 1567. The Confession was revised in the following decades, and its final text was received by the Synod of Dort in 1619.

It has thirty-seven articles. Article 1 confesses one God, and Article 2 teaches that we know God in two ways: by creation, preservation and government of the world, and more clearly by His holy and divine Word. Articles 3 to 7 teach the Scriptures. Article 7, as we saw, teaches their sufficiency, and Article 9 accepts the three ancient creeds. Articles 8 to 11 teach the Trinity and the deity of the Son and the Spirit. The middle articles teach creation, providence, the fall, election, the person and work of Christ, justification by faith alone, and the new life of obedience. Articles 27 to 32 teach the church, Articles 33 to 35 the sacraments, Article 36 civil government and Article 37 the last judgment.

Two parts deserve special attention. First is Article 29, which gives the marks of the true church. The true church is known by the pure preaching of the gospel, the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them, and the exercise of church discipline in punishing sin. Where these are, there is a true church, even if it is small and weak. These marks became a basic Reformed test, and Course 4 will return to them. Second is Article 34, which teaches that baptism replaces circumcision and that children of believers should be baptized as heirs of God's covenant. This connects the Confession to the covenant theology of this course and will be examined in Course 4, in the unit "Baptism of Believers and Their Children."

The Heidelberg Catechism

The Heidelberg Catechism was published in 1563 in the Palatinate, a German territory whose capital was Heidelberg. Its ruler was the Elector Frederick III, who wanted a clear Reformed teaching for his churches and schools. The Catechism is traditionally credited to two men, Zacharias Ursinus, a young professor at Heidelberg, and Caspar Olevianus, a pastor and preacher. Historians discuss how much each man contributed. Ursinus is usually seen as the main author, whose lectures on the Catechism became a famous commentary, listed in our further reading.

The Catechism has 129 questions and answers, divided into fifty-two sections called Lord's Days, so that it could be preached through in a year, one section for each Sunday. This is still the practice in many Reformed churches.

Its structure is simple and memorable. The second question asks what we must know to live and die in the joy of our comfort, and answers with three things: how great our sin and misery are, how we are set free from them, and how we are to thank God for that deliverance. Teachers often name the three parts guilt, grace and gratitude. In the first part the law shows our sin. In the second part, the longest, the Apostles' Creed is explained, with the teaching on faith, justification and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper. In the third part the Ten Commandments are explained as the pattern of a thankful life, and the Lord's Prayer is explained as the believer's prayer of thanks and need.

The first question is the best known. It asks, "What is your only comfort in life and in death?" The answer says that I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has paid fully for all my sins with His blood and set me free from the power of the devil. He watches over me so that nothing happens without my Father's will, and by His Spirit He assures me of eternal life and makes me ready to live for Him. Notice the tone. It is a personal and pastoral answer, not a cold definition. The Catechism's proof texts for the opening include Romans 14:7-9, the key verse of this unit.

The Heidelberg Catechism is Reformed in its teaching on grace, but it has a warm and gentle spirit. It was written for a mixed church that included Lutheran and Reformed believers, and historians still debate how much it owes to Reformed sources, to Melanchthon, and to the older catechisms of the German churches. The best answer, we believe, is that it draws on all of them and is faithful to Scripture.

The Canons of Dort

The Canons of Dort were adopted by the Synod of Dort in 1619, in answer to the teaching of the Remonstrants. After the death of Jacobus Arminius in 1609, his followers set out their teaching in a document called the Remonstrance in 1610, in five articles. They disagreed with the Reformed churches on election, the extent of Christ's atonement, the bondage of the human will, the power of grace and perseverance. The Synod met in the city of Dordrecht from November 1618 to May 1619. It was not only a Dutch gathering. It included delegates from several Reformed churches in other lands, including Britain, Germany and Switzerland. Course 1 gave the historical story. Here we look at the document.

The Canons follow the points of the Remonstrance but organize them in four Main Heads of Doctrine, because the third and fourth are joined together. Head 1 is on divine predestination. Head 2 is on the death of Christ and the redemption of men by it. Heads 3 and 4 together are on the corruption of man and his conversion to God. Head 5 is on the perseverance of the saints. Within each head, the Canons first give the positive teaching of the Scriptures, and then add a "Rejection of Errors," in which they name and refute the specific claims of the Remonstrants. This method is wise: it first teaches what is true and only then shows what is false.

The popular letters TULIP, which summarize these teachings, are not used by the Canons themselves, and they came later as a memory device. The Canons are more careful, and more pastoral, than the acronym. Head 2 teaches that the death of Christ is of infinite worth, sufficient to pay for the sins of the whole world, and also that the gospel promise must be proclaimed to all people without distinction (Head 2, Articles 3 and 5). Head 1 speaks tenderly to believers who doubt, and Head 5 is written to comfort the saints, teaching that they persevere because God preserves them. Course 2 studies the doctrines of grace in detail. Here it is enough to say that the Canons were written not only to refute but to comfort.

Objections and Our Answers

Objection 1: The Canons misrepresent the Remonstrants and were a political result.

Arminian and Wesleyan Christians say that the Synod was shaped by Dutch politics, that the Remonstrants were not given a fair hearing, and that the Canons describe them as holding positions they did not hold. Some historians stress the political conflict between the supporters of the Prince of Orange and their opponents.

Our answer. It is true that the Synod met in a time of political strain, and Course 1 did not hide this. The Remonstrants were summoned to the Synod, but they and the Synod disagreed over how the hearing should be conducted, and they were dismissed. A fair reader should examine the Canons itself. Its Heads are measured, and its reasoning is based chiefly on Scripture, with citations on every main point. A document is not proved false by the troubles of the time when it was written. The question is whether it agrees with the Bible. We hold that it does, and Course 2, in the unit "Arminian, Wesleyan and Amyraldian Objections Answered," takes these objections up in detail.

Objection 2: The Canons go beyond what some Reformed writers believed.

Some historians point out that the British delegates at Dort, such as John Davenant, held that Christ died for all in some sense, while also teaching that grace is given only to the elect. They ask whether the Canons exclude this view. Others hold that the Canons deliberately chose wording that allowed some room.

Our answer. This is a real discussion, and honest Reformed students should know it. The Canons themselves say that Christ's death is sufficient for all and that the gospel must be offered to all, and they teach that it is effective for the elect. Most Reformed readers have taken Head 2 to teach particular redemption. Whatever the exact range of room for different expressions at the time, the central teaching of the Canons about unconditional election and effectual grace is clear. Course 2, in the unit "Particular Redemption (limited atonement) and the Free Offer of the Gospel," takes this up.

Objection 3: Article 34 and the Catechism's teaching on baptism are not biblical.

Baptist and many Pentecostal Christians hold that only believers should be baptized, and that the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism are wrong to include infants.

Our answer. We respect their love for Scripture, and we do not hold that their view is held in bad faith. Our confessions read baptism in light of the covenant God made with Abraham and his children, which is why this course begins with covenant theology. Course 4, in the unit "Baptism of Believers and Their Children," sets out the Baptist objections and answers them fully.

Objection 4: Documents from the sixteenth century are too European for the church today.

Students in Latin America, Africa and Asia may ask whether sixteenth-century Dutch and German documents belong to them.

Our answer. The Reformed churches have never claimed that these documents are written in Scripture, but they have found that the gospel they teach is for all nations. The questions of comfort, sin, grace and thanks are not Dutch or German but human. The documents have been translated into many languages, and churches in many continents hold them as their own. We will return to this in Unit 10.

Pastoral Application

A woman in the congregation has lost her husband after a long illness. She comes to the pastor and says, "I have prayed for years. Does God even care about me? Have I done something wrong?"

The pastor does not give a lecture. First, he sits with her and lets her speak. Second, he asks if he may read her a question from the Catechism that the church has taught for generations. He reads the first question and answer, slowly: that she is not her own, but belongs, body and soul, in life and in death, to her faithful Savior Jesus Christ. Third, he opens Romans 14:8 and says that her husband's death, and her own, falls inside the care of the Lord to whom they belong. Fourth, he promises to visit and pray, and he invites her to the afternoon service, where the church is working through the Catechism. He has not answered every question about why the illness came. But he has given her a sure comfort that is not her own words or his, but the Word of God summarized in a confession.

Summary

The Three Forms of Unity are the Belgic Confession (1561), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563) and the Canons of Dort (1619). The Belgic Confession, written by Guido de Brès, has thirty-seven articles and gives the three marks of the true church in Article 29. The Heidelberg Catechism, credited to Ursinus and Olevianus, has 129 questions in fifty-two Lord's Days and follows the pattern of guilt, grace and gratitude, beginning with the comfort that we belong to Christ. The Canons of Dort answered the Remonstrants in four Main Heads, each with positive teaching and a rejection of errors. Objections concern politics, the range of room within Dort, infant baptism and the European origin of the documents. We answer that the question is whether these standards agree with Scripture, and we believe that they do.

Further Reading

• The Belgic Confession (1561), especially Articles 1-9, 27-29 and 34.

• The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Questions 1-2 and the Lord's Days.

• The Canons of Dort (1619), the four Main Heads and the Rejections of Errors.

• Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism.

• The Second Helvetic Confession (1566), for comparison with the Three Forms.

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (1872-73), for the doctrines of grace.

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