Article VIII
The Mystery of the Trinity
The confession introduces the one God who exists eternally as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
In keeping with this truth and the Word of God, we believe in one God, who is one essence, in whom there are three persons, truly and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is the cause, origin, and beginning of all things, both visible and invisible.✦ The Son is the Word, the Wisdom, and the Image of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the eternal strength and power proceeding from the Father and the Son.1
Distinct Yet Undivided
The three persons of the Trinity are distinct without being divided, sharing one eternal essence and equal glory.
Yet this distinction doesn't mean that God is divided into three, because Scripture teaches us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each a distinct person with distinct properties, while these three persons are nevertheless one God. It's therefore clear that the Father isn't the Son and that the Son isn't the Father; likewise, the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Yet these persons, though distinct in this way, aren't divided, confused, or mixed together, for neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit took on flesh; only the Son did. The Father has never existed without his Son or his Holy Spirit, because all three are equally eternal and share the same essence. None is first or last, for all three are one in truth and power, in goodness and mercy.
Read the original Latin
Suivant cette vérité et Parole de Dieu, nous croyons en un seul Dieu qui est une seule essence, en laquelle il y a trois personnes réellement, et à la vérité, et éternellement distinguées selon leurs propriétés incommunicables, savoir: le Père, le Fils, et le Saint-Esprit; le Père étant cause, origine et commencement de toutes choses, tant visibles qu'invisibles. Le Fils qui est la Parole, la Sagesse, et l'Image du Père. Le Saint-Esprit, la Vertu et Puissance éternelle procédante du Père et du Fils. Et cependant une telle distinction ne fait pas que Dieu soit divisé en trois, puisque l'Écriture nous enseigne que le Père, le Fils, et le Saint-Esprit ont chacun sa personne distincte par des propriétés; de sorte, toutefois, que ces trois personnes ne sont qu'un seul Dieu. Il est donc manifeste que le Père n'est point le Fils, et que le Fils n'est point le Père: semblablement que le Saint-Esprit n'est pas le Père ni le Fils. Cependant ces personnes ainsi distinctes ne sont pas divisées, ni confondues, ni mêlées: car le Père n'a point pris chair ni aussi le Saint-Esprit, mais ça a été seulement le Fils. Le Père n'a jamais été sans son Fils ni sans son Saint-Esprit, parce que tous trois sont d'éternité égale, en une même essence. Il n'y a point de premier ni de dernier, car tous trois sont un en vérité et puissance, en bonté et miséricorde.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Col.1.16 — For in him all things were created, in the heavens and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him.
Notes
- 1 ↩Here “vertu” means effective strength or power, not moral virtue.
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