Belgic Confession, Article 29: The Marks of the True Church
This excerpt from Article 29 of the Belgic Confession presents the classical Reformed marks of the true church: pure preaching of the gospel, proper administration of the sacraments, and faithful church discipline. It provides both the ecclesiastical criteria for identifying a true church and the spiritual marks of genuine church members, while contrasting these with the characteristics of false churches that exalt human authority over Christ's Word.
Article 29: The Marks of the True Church We believe that we ought to discerndiligently and very carefully, by the Word of God,what is the true church—for all sects in the world today claim for themselves the name of “the church.”We are not speaking here of the company of hypocrites who are mixed among the good in the church and who nonetheless are not part of it, even though they are physically there. But we are speaking of distinguishing the body and fellowship of the true church from all...