God elected us in Christ and for Christ's sake, so that those who are already implanted in Christ by faith are chosen, but those out of Christ are rejected (2 Cor. xiii. 5). [779]
Although God knows who are his, and a 'small number of the elect' is spoken of, yet we ought to hope well of all, and not rashly count any one among the reprobate (2 Tim. ii. 19; Matt. xx. 16; Phil i. 3 sqq.).
We reject those who seek out of Christ whether they are chosen, and what God has decreed concerning them from eternity. We are to hear the gospel and believe it, and be sure that if we believe and are in Christ, we are chosen. We must listen to the Lord's invitation, 'Come unto me' (Matt. xi. 28), and believe in the unbounded love of God, who gave his own Son for the salvation of the world, and will not that 'one of these little ones should perish' (John iii. 16; Matt. xviii. 14). [780]
Let, therefore, Christ be the mirror in which we behold our predestination. We shall have a sufficiently evident and sure testimony of being written in the book of life if we live in communion with him, and if in true faith he is ours and we his.
And if we are tempted concerning our predestination, let this be our comfort--that God's promises are general to believers, as he himself says: 'Seek, and ye shall find, and whosoever asketh shall receive' (Matt. vii. 8 sq.). We pray with the whole Church, 'Our Father which art in heaven;' by baptism we are ingrafted into the body of Christ, and we are often fed in the Church by his flesh and blood unto life everlasting. Thus strengthened, let us 'work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it, is God who worketh in us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure' (Phil. ii. 12, 13). [781]
Chap. XI. Jesus Christ true God and Man, and the only Saviour of the World.--We believe and teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was from eternity predestinated by the Father to be the Saviour of the world; that he was begotten of the Father from all eternity in an ineffable manner (Isa. liii. 8; Micah v. 2; John i. 1). Therefore the Son, according to his Divinity, is coequal and consubstantial with the Father; true God, not merely by name or adoption or by conferring of a dignity, but in essence and nature (1 John v. 20; Phil. ii. 6; Heb. i. 2, 3; John v. 18; xvii. 5).
We abhor the blasphemous doctrine of Arius and Servetus in opposition to the Son of God.
We also believe and teach that the same eternal Son of God became the Son of Man, of the seed of Abraham and David, not through the will of man (Ebionites), but he was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the ever-Virgin Mary (ex Maria semper virgine), as taught in the gospel history and the Epistles (Matt. i. 18; Luke i. 34, 35; 1 John iv. 3; Heb. ii. 16). The body of Christ was therefore neither a mere appearance, nor brought down from heaven (the Gnostics, Valentinus and Marcion). Moreover his soul was not without reason (Apollinaris), nor his flesh without a soul (Eunomius); but he had a rational soul, and a flesh with senses capable of true suffering (Matt. xxvi. 36; John xii. 27).
Hence we acknowledge in one and the same Lord Jesus Christ two natures, a divine and a human, which are conjoined and united in one person without absorption or confusion and mixture.
We worship one Lord Christ, not two; one true God-Man, coequal (or of one substance, consubstantialis, homoousios) with the Father as regards his divine nature, and coequal with us men, sin only excepted (Heb. iv. 15), as regards his human nature.
We therefore abominate Nestorianism, which dissolves the unity of person, and Eutychianism, Monothelitism, and Monophysitism, which destroy the proper character of the human nature.
We do not teach that the divine nature of Christ did suffer, nor that the human nature of Christ is every where present. The true body of Christ was not deified so as to put off its properties and to be absorbed into the divine substance. But we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did truly suffer for us in the flesh (1 Pet. iii. 18; iv. 1), and that the Lord of glory was crucified for us (1 Cor. ii. 8). For we accept believingly and reverently the 'communication of properties,' which is deduced from the Scriptures and employed by the ancient Church in explaining and harmonizing seemingly contradictory passages. [782]
We believe and teach that Christ, in the same flesh in which he died, rose from the dead (Luke xxiv. 30), and ascended to the right hand of God in the highest heaven (Eph. iv. 10), which signifies his elevation to the divine majesty and power, but also a definite place (John xiv. 2; Acts iii. 21).
The same Christ will come again to judgment, when the wickedness of the world shall have reached the highest point, and Antichrist corrupted the true religion. He will destroy Antichrist, and judge the quick and the dead (2 Thess. ii. 8; Acts xvii. 51, 52; 1 Thess. iv. 17). The believers will enter into the mansions of the blessed; the unbelievers, with the devil and his angels, will be cast into everlasting torment (Matt. xxv. 41; 2 Tim. ii. 11; 2 Pet. iii. 7).
We reject all who deny the real resurrection; who teach the ultimate salvation of all the godless, and even the devil. We also reject the Jewish dream of a millennium, or golden age on earth, before the last judgment.
We believe and teach that Christ is the only Redeemer of the whole world, in whom all are saved that were saved before the law, under the law, and under the gospel, or will yet be saved to the end of the world (John x. 1, 7; Acts iv. 12; xv. 11; 1 Cor. x. 1, 4; Rev. xiii. 8).
We therefore confess and teach with a loud voice: Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of the world, the King and High-priest, the true Messiah, whom all the shadows and types of the Law and the Prophets did prefigure and promise. God did send him to us, and we need not look for another. There remains nothing but that we should give all glory to him, believe in him, and rest in him alone.
And, to say much in a few words, we sincerely believe and loudly confess all that has been determined out of the Holy Scriptures concerning the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, and is contained in the creeds and decrees of the first four oecumenical Councils held in Niceæ, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, in the Creed of St. Athanasius, and all similar creeds; and we reject all contrary to the same. In this manner we retain, unchanged and entire, the Christian, orthodox, and catholic faith; knowing that nothing is contained in the aforesaid creeds which does not correspond with the Word of God and aid in setting forth the true faith. [783]
Chap. XII. The Law of God.--The law of God explains the will of God and the difference between what is good and bad, just and unjust. It is therefore good and holy. It is twofold: the law of nature inscribed on the hearts of men (Rom. ii. 15), and the written law of Moses. The latter we divide for perspicuity's sake into the moral law, comprehended in the two tables of the Decalogue (Exod. xx.; Deut. v.); the ceremonial law, concerning worship and sacred rites; and the judicial, concerning polity and economy.
The law of God is complete, and allows no addition nor subtraction (Deut. iv. 2; Isa. xxx. 21). It is given to us, not that by keeping it we might be justified, but that we may be led to a knowledge of sin and guilt, and, despairing of our own strength, turn by faith to Christ (Rom. iv. 15; iii. 20; viii. 3; Gal. iii. 21-24). Christ is the end of the law, and redeemed us from the curse of the law (Rom. x. 4; Gal. iii. 13). He enables us to fulfill the law, and his righteousness and obedience are imputed to us through faith.
The law is abolished inasmuch as it no more condemns and works wrath in them that believe, who are under grace, and not under the law. Besides, Christ has fulfilled all the types of the law, and put the substance in the place of the shadows; in him we have all fullness. Nevertheless, the law is useful in showing us all virtues and vices, and in regulating the life of new obedience. Christ did not come to destroy, but to fulfill the law (Matt. v. 17).
We therefore condemn old and modern Antinomianism.
Chap. XIII. The Gospel of Jesus Christ.--The law works wrath and announces the curse (Rom. iv. 15; Deut. xxvii. 26); the gospel announces grace and blessing (John i. 17). Nevertheless, those who lived before and under the law were not deprived altogether of the gospel, but had great promises (Gen. iii. 15; xxii. 18; xlix. 10). The promises were partly temporal, partly spiritual and eternal. By the gospel promises the fathers obtained salvation in Christ.
In the strict sense of the term the gospel is the glad tidings of salvation by Christ, in whom we have forgiveness, redemption, and everlasting life. Hence the history of Christ recorded by the four Evangelists is justly called the gospel.
Compared with the legalism of the Pharisees the gospel appeared to be a new doctrine, as it is even now called new by the Papists; but in fact it is the oldest doctrine, for God foreordained from eternity to save the world through Christ, and has revealed this plan in the gospel (2 Tim. i. 9, 10). It is therefore a grave error to call our evangelical faith a recent innovation.
Chap. XIV. Of Repentance and Conversion.--Repentance (metanoia) is a change of heart produced in a sinner by the word of the gospel and the Holy Spirit, and includes a knowledge of native and actual depravity, a godly sorrow and hatred of sin, and a determination to live hereafter in virtue and holiness. True repentance is turning to God and all good, and turning away from the devil and all evil. It is the free gift of God, and not the result of our own strength (2 Tim. ii. 25).
We have examples of true repentance in the woman that was a sinner (Luke vii. 38), in Peter after his fall (xxii. 62), in the prodigal son (xv. 18), and the publican in the temple (xviii. 13).
It is sufficient to confess our sins to God in private and in the public service; it is not necessary to confess to a priest, for this is nowhere commanded in the Scriptures; although we may seek counsel and comfort from a minister of the gospel in time of distress and trial (comp. James v. 16).
The keys of the kingdom of heaven, out of which the Papists forge swords, sceptres, and crowns, are given to all legitimate ministers of the Church in the preaching of the gospel and the maintenance of discipline (Matt. xvi. 19; John xx. 23; Mark xvi. 15; 2 Cor. v. 18, 19). We condemn the profitable popish doctrine of penance and of indulgences, and apply to them Peter's word to Simon Magus: ' Thy money perish with thee' (Acts viii. 20).
Chap. XV. Of True Justification of Believers.--'To justify' means, with the Apostle when treating of this subject, to remit sins, to absolve from guilt and punishment, to receive into grace, and to pronounce just (Rom. viii. 33; Acts xiii. 38; Deut. xxv. 1; Isa. v. 23).