# First Confession. · Page 1 of 4

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Drawn up at Amsterdam, the 27th of September,
1627, called “Scriptural Instruction,” concerning
who the people are, on whom the peace of God rests,
and how they are bound to peace and unity; given
in answer to the following several questions, of which
the first is:

What are the fundamental and unmistakable
marks by which the children of God and members
of Jesus Christ (being the church of God) can and
must be known, according to the testimony of the
word of the Lord?

In order to answer this question correctly, we
must consider what the means are, by which men
become children of God, members of Jesus Christ,
and the church of God. For although the blessed
Lord Jesus Christ is the only meritorious cause of
the justification of man, their adoption by God as
his children, and the foundation of their eternal
salvation (Rom. 3:24,25; 1 Cor. 1:30; Tit. 3:7;
Heb. 5:12; Eph. 1:5; Col. 3:11; Acts 4:12);
God, the heavenly Father, of whom all things are,
1 Cor. 8:6; and who is the true Father of the whole
family in heaven and earth, Eph. 3:14,15, has
nevertheless been pleased to impute the merits of
his Son Jesus Christ to man, and make him partaker
of the same, through the means of faith in his beloved,
only, and only begotten Son (Rom. 3:25;
Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8; John 3:15,36; 6:40);
whereby he owns them as children, and adopts them
as heirs of everlasting life, according to the testimony
of John, who says: “He” (that is, Christ)
“came unto his own, and his own received him
not. But as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name: which were born, not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God.” John 1:11–13. Paul confirms
this with these words: “Ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Gal. 3:26. Through
this means—faith—apprehended from the word of
God, and confirmed by the Holy Spirit, men are
born of God; hence, the appellation, children of
God, truly belongs to them, since they have God
for their father, and Christ for their brother. God
the Father acknowledges them as his sons and
daughters; and Christ, for this reason, is not ashamed
to call them his brethren. (Rom. 10:17; 2 Cor.
4:13; Rom. 8:16; John 1:12; 1 John 5:1; James
2:18; 1 Pet. 1:23; Matt. 5:45; John 1:12,13;
3:2; 20:17; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Matt. 12:50;
2 Cor. 6:18; Heb. 2:11,12). These children of
God and brethren of Jesus Christ, are heirs of God,
yea, joint heirs in the inheritance of their brother
Jesus Christ, as has been promised to them by God
the Father, through the means of faith, all the acquired
benefits of our Savior Jesus Christ, which
are, chiefly: forgiveness of sins, justification, and
peace with God; and, because they are children of
the resurrection, they shall not come into condemnation,
but are passed from death unto life; they
shall enjoy salvation, eternal life, and unspeakable
happiness, yea, possess all things that the Lord
Christ possesses. Rom. 8:17; Eph. 1:11; John
27
7:3; Acts 10:43; Rom. 3:26; 4:5; 5:1; Gal. 2:16;
Luke 20:26; John 5:24; Matt. 16:16,17; Mark
16:16; Rom. 10:9; 1 Pet. 1:9; John 3:16;
6:47; 17:3; 20:31; 1 John 5:11; 1 Pet. 1:8;
Luke 22; Rev. 21:7.

Hence, we reply, in conclusion to the question
presented: That the fundamental, certain mark of the
children of God and members of Jesus Christ, is that
by virtue of which this appellation belongs to them
in truth according to the promise of God, namely,
the only saving faith which worketh by love; upon
which God himself looks with gracious eyes, and
which alone avails before him (Gal. 5:6; Jer. 5:3;
Hos. 2:2; Jer. 5:1; Acts 8:37; 15:11; Is. 26:2)
wherefore we, being one or unanimous with God,
must have respect to it alone, seeing that the Lord
Christ himself, promising Peter salvation upon his
faith and confession, adds: “Thou art Peter, and
upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matt. 16:18.

We shall now briefly show, what faith in Christ is,
what is to be believed, what its design is, and what
are the internal and external operations of faith.

This faith in Christ, by which men become partakers
of all the acquired benefits of Jesus Christ, is
neither an uncertain opinion nor merely a bare confession
of the mouth, but a firm and sure confidence
of the heart, which doubts not the things promised
by God in Christ; but has a firm assurance that he
who has promised them is able also to perform them.
Heb. 11:13; 3:6; Rom. 10:10; 4:20,21. By this
firm and sure confidence the believer in the promises
of God is established in Jesus Christ his Savior, because
he knows that all the promises of God are yea
and amen in him; on which he lays firm hold, as on
an anchor of his soul, both sure and steadfast. Acts
10:43; 1 Pet. 1:10,11; John 8:56; Heb. 11:26;
2 Cor. 1:20; Heb. 6:18,19. He believes with his
heart that God,—for the fulfilling of his gracious
promises, willing to show his great love toward mankind
who, through sin, had fallen into death and
manifold corruptions, by redeeming them,—sent into
this world for this purpose, when the time of all
prophecies was fulfilled, his only, dear and beloved
Son, who from eternity was with his Father in great
glory and beloved by him before the foundation of
the world, possessing great riches and being equal
with God his Father, by whom all things were made,
and without whom not anything was made of all that
was made in heaven or upon earth, and in whom
they all stand, since he upholds all things by the
word of his power. Gen. 22:18; Deut. 8:15; Is.
7:15; 9:6; 11:1; 40:9; Micah 5:2; John 3:16;
Rom. 5:8; 9:31; 1 John 4:9,10; Gen. 3:19; Wis.
2:24; 4 Esdr. 7:48; Rom. 4:5,12; 1 Cor. 15:21;
Rom. 5:16; 4 Esdr. 3:7; Gen. 3:17; Rom. 1:2;
8:3; Col. 1:13; Eph. 1:7; Gal. 4:4; Mark 12:6;
1:11; Matt. 17:5; 3:17; Heb. 1:8; 7:3; 13:8;
1:3; John 16:28; 17:5,24; 2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:6;
Rev. 1:18.



## Original source

[Read this passage on Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65855/pg65855-images.html#Page_27)

[Edition details](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65855)

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