Belgic Confession, Article 22: The Righteousness of Faith
This excerpt from Article 22 of the Belgic Confession presents the Reformed doctrine of justification by faith alone, emphasizing that Christ's merits and righteousness are appropriated through faith as the instrumental means of salvation. The article forcefully defends the sufficiency of Christ against any notion of adding works or other conditions to salvation, articulating a foundational Protestant principle affirmed at the Reformation.
Article 22: The Righteousness of Faith We believe that for us to acquire the true knowledge of this great mystery the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith that embraces Jesus Christ,with all his merits,and makes him its own, and no longer looks for anythingapart from him.For it must necessarily follow that either all that is required for our salvation is not in Christ or, if all is in him, then those who have Christ by faith have his salvation entirely.Therefore, to say that Christ...