This article on Article 28 of the Belgic Confession is about the relation of church and salvation.

Source: Una Sancta, 1997. 2 pages.

There Is No Salvation Outside of It

The Church is the "congregation" of our Lord Jesus Christ. This assembly is equipped with the offices and the administration (of the sacraments). All who believe in Jesus Christ must join this Church.

Some people say: “The moment someone believes in Jesus Christ he or she belongs to the Church.” That is not right. Sure, such a person is a building block a brick, but that person has not yet been placed in the wall. He or she is a sheep, but not yet taken up in the flock.

In order to belong to the Church you must join it. Our Belgic Confession of Faith places great emphasis on this calling in article 28. The first reason for this calling which is presented is "since … there is no salvation outside of it."

There has been much thinking about these words, also much has been said and written. People have often said: "It is clear that the Confession has in mind here the 'invisible' Church, the sum total of all the believers. The invisible body of Christ. For nobody would dare to say: a person who has not joined the instituted church cannot have a part in Christ and cannot be saved."

On the surface this argument seems correct. Yet it does not ring true. This becomes clear when you read article 28 as a whole. The article deals with the calling to join the Church. This cannot refer to the so called invisible Church. You can only join a visible congregation, an "institution.”

Does the Confession then mean to say that someone who does not join the Church cannot have a part in Christ? This is not the case and that is clear from the wording of article 28. The article says:

… it is the duty of all believers, according to the Word of God, to separate from those who do not belong to the church, and to join this assembly …

The Confession thus begins from the basis that there can be people who are believers but who still live in a congregation that may not carry the name "Church.” They have the duty (the word for "duty" in the Dutch Confession is "ambt" meaning "office") to separate from those who do not belong to the church and to join this true assembly wherever God has established it.

So to say it clearly, the Confession would not even think of saying that someone who has not yet joined the true Church: "You can have no part in Christ.”

What then is the sense of those Words "there is no salvation outside of it"?

Since paradise the Church has been in the world. That Church was God's people; this church has part in salvation. Outside this Church was the world that lived without God, and was a victim of death. Adam, Abel, Seth and Henoch belonged to this Church. Later this Church would work through the generations of Abraham and the people of Israel. Death ruled outside of it; but in the Church was the taste of life and salvation. After the coming of Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit the apostolic Church was there. Salvation was to be found in that Church; in the secular world around her death ruled. Christ gives salvation to His Church, not to the world.

When the (Free) Reformed Churches say in their Confession: "You must join us, the Church of the Reformation", then they say that they believe they are the continuation of the Church, the Church of the patriarchs. They are one with the Church that was God's nation of Israel; one with the Church of the apostles and the martyrs; the Church which by God's grace, has salvation. That salvation is the fruit of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And now you must not be small minded and reason thus: "Can anyone who is not a member of the (Free) Reformed Church be saved?" That entire way of reasoning lay outside of Guido De Bres's field of vision when he compiled the Confession. Neither did the Churches think about this when they accepted the Confession as an expression of their faith. They simply meant to say: Here in the Church is the continuation of the Church of the prophets and the apostles. To this Church God has given salvation. Who would be saved must join her.

What is the intent of all that talk about that expression in article 28 anyway? It is God's business whether there will be people saved outside the (Free) Reformed Churches. We can calmly leave that to Him. But we must make it our business, in obedience, to join the true Church.

There will be some who do not want to do that for whatever reason. They will seek their future elsewhere with this justification: you can find salvation somewhere else too. I will reply: be careful, for God asks us to be obedient. That is valid also and in particular in relation to joining the true Church.

Some people can see where the Lord calls them to be gathered. But, for whatever reason, such persons refuse to obediently go in the way which is clearly the way the Lord wants them to go. If such persons say: "I can be saved elsewhere too", I will reply "I do not know whether you will be saved. But I do know that someone who knowingly goes down the path of disobedience does not have the right to think or say 'I will be saved'."

What God wants to do in His immeasurable, forgiving love is His sovereign business. But nobody who knowingly walks the forbidden path may claim salvation for himself.

I say again: be careful. God has given salvation to His Church and whoever keeps himself outside that Church plays a dangerous game. Apart from your own salvation, it is also wrong before the Lord Jesus and His Church to remain outside of it.

By means of His Church and the office bearers, Christ wants to instruct his sheep and keep His flock on the straight path. Is it then not unthinkable and foolish to withdraw yourself from the care of the great and good Shepherd?

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