Sword & Trowel 2018: Issue 1 Geneva with


St Pierre Cathedral


Again, here is the Belgic Confession, the original doctrinal standard of the Dutch Reformed Church:


‘We believe and pro- fess one catholic or universal Church, which is a holy congregation of true Christian believers,


holy and kept me in the true faith, just as He calls, gathers together, en- lightens and makes holy the whole Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus in the one, true faith. In this Church, He generously forgives each day every sin committed by me and by every believer.’


It sounds as if the church is made up of true believers gathered, en- lightened, and sanctifi ed by the Holy Spirit.


Or here is John Calvin’s Geneva Confession:


‘While there is one only Church of Jesus Christ, we always ac- knowledge that necessity requires companies of the faithful [note – churches are made up of companies of the faithful] to be distributed in different places. Of these assemblies each one is called the Church… we believe that the proper mark by which we rightly discern the Church of Jesus Christ is that his holy gospel be purely and faithfully preached, proclaimed, heard, and kept, that his sacrament be properly administered, even if there be some imperfections and faults, as there always will be among men.’


all expecting their salvation in Jesus Christ, being washed by His blood, sanctifi ed and sealed by the Holy Spirit.’


And lastly, here is the very famous


defi nition given in the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine Articles, article 19:


‘The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.’


Taken at face value, these defi ni- tions all give the substance of what Congregationalists and Baptists would say about the nature of the visible church. Why then did the Magisterial Reformers end up with churches which, from a Congrega- tional and Baptist standpoint, were so painfully obviously defi ned by culture rather than by New Testament faith? In other words, where the Lutheran


and Reformed movements prevailed in a free city or a country, all citizens became members of the established


Great Advances Sown by the Reformation page 21 


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