Article XXIV
The Fruit of Living Faith
True faith is not an empty concept but a transformative power that inevitably produces good works through love.
We believe that this true faith, produced in a person through hearing the Word of God and through the work of the Holy Spirit, regenerates that person and makes them new, causing them to live a new life and freeing them from slavery to sin. Far from making people less eager to live good and holy lives, this justifying faith does the exact opposite: without it, they’ll never do anything out of love for God, but only out of self-love and fear of condemnation. It’s therefore impossible for this holy faith to remain inactive in a person, since we aren't talking about empty faith but about what Scripture calls “faith working through love.” This faith leads a person to devote themselves to the works God has commanded in his Word. Because these works grow from the good root of faith, they are good and acceptable before God, since they are all sanctified by his grace.
Grace, Works, and Humility
While good works are necessary fruits of faith, they do not earn our justification, as God is the source of both the desire and the ability to perform them.
Yet these works don't count toward our justification, because we are justified through faith in Christ even before we do good works. Otherwise, the works couldn't be good, any more than a tree’s fruit can be good unless the tree itself is good first. Therefore, we do good works, but not to earn merit—for what could we possibly merit? Instead, we owe God for the good works we do; he doesn't owe us, since he is the one who gives us both the desire and the ability to act according to his good pleasure. This accords with what is written: “When you have done everything you were commanded to do, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what we were obligated to do.’”1 Still, we don't deny that God rewards good works; but by his grace, he crowns his own gifts.2
Resting in Christ Alone
Our salvation rests solely on the merit of Christ's suffering, as our own works are always stained by sin.
Moreover, although we do good works, we don't base our salvation on them, because we cannot do any work that isn't stained by our sinful nature and therefore deserving of punishment. Even if we could point to one such work, the memory of a single sin would be enough for God to reject it. In this way, we would always be doubtful, drifting back and forth without any certainty, and our poor consciences would always be tormented if they didn't rest on the merit of our Savior’s death and suffering.3
Read the original Latin
Nous croyons que cette vraie foi étant engendrée en l'homme par l'ouïe de la Parole de Dieu et par l'opération du Saint-Esprit, le régénère, et le fait un nouvel homme, le faisant vivre d'une nouvelle vie, l'affranchissant de la servitude du péché. Ainsi tant s'en faut que cette foi justifiante refroidisse les hommes de vivre bien et saintement, que tout au rebours, sans elle jamais ils ne feront rien pour l'amour de Dieu, mais seulement pour l'amour d'eux-mêmes et craignant d'être condamnés. Il est donc impossible que cette sainte foi soit oisive en l'homme, vu que nous ne parlons pas de la foi vaine, mais de celle que l'Écriture appelle foi opérante par la charité, laquelle induit l'homme à s'exercer dans les œuvres que Dieu a commandées par sa Parole; lesquelles œuvres procédant de la bonne racine de foi, sont bonnes et reçues devant Dieu, puisqu'elles sont toutes sanctifiées par sa grâce. Cependant elles ne viennent point en compte pour nous justifier: car c'est par la foi en Christ que nous sommes justifiés même avant de faire de bonnes œuvres; autrement elles ne pourraient être bonnes, non plus que le fruit d'un arbre ne peut être bon, que premièrement l'arbre ne soit bon. Nous faisons donc de bonnes œuvres, mais non point pour mériter (car que mériterions-nous?) mais plutôt nous sommes redevables à Dieu pour les bonnes œuvres que nous faisons, et non pas Lui envers nous, puisque c'est lui qui met en nous le vouloir et le faire selon son bon plaisir, regardant à ce qui est écrit: Quand vous aurez fait tout ce qui vous est commandé, dites: Nous sommes des serviteurs inutiles, ce que nous devions faire nous l'avons fait. Nous ne voulons pas cependant nier que Dieu ne rémunère les bonnes œuvres, mais c'est par sa grâce qu'il couronne ses dons. Au reste, quoique nous fassions de bonnes œuvres, nous n'y fondons point notre salut: car nous ne pouvons faire aucune œuvre qui ne soit souillée par notre chair, et aussi digne de punition, et quand nous en pourrions montrer une, la mémoire d'un seul péché suffit pour la rejeter devant Dieu: de cette manière nous serions toujours en doute et flottant çà et là sans aucune certitude; et nos pauvres consciences seraient toujours tourmentées, si elles ne se reposaient sur le mérite de la mort et passion de notre Sauveur.
Notes
- 1 ↩The French “serviteurs inutiles” literally means “useless” or “unprofitable servants”; “unworthy servants” preserves the confession’s emphasis on having no claim to reward without suggesting that service itself has no value.
- 2 ↩The phrase means that even when God rewards believers’ good works, he is graciously rewarding what he himself has given and produced in them.
- 3 ↩The French “notre chair” literally means “our flesh” and here refers to fallen human nature as the source of sin’s defilement.
The Belgic Confession companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit