Second Helvetic Confession, Chapter 3b

Of God, His Unity and Trinity

Believing and Confessing
By Prof. Ronald Cammenga

Sample:

The third chapter of the SHC concerns the fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith, the doctrine of the Trinity. Convinced of this truth from the very beginning, the Christian church confesses that although God is one divine being, He exists as three distinct persons. Together the three divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the one true and living God. In the first article on this chapter we concerned ourselves with the truth that God is one, “one in essence or nature [being], subsisting in himself, all sufficient in himself,” to use the language of the SHC.

In this article we will treat the second main part of the doctrine of the Trinity, namely, God’s threeness. We will also note some other confessional statements, as well as the biblical support for the doctrine of the Trinity cited by the SHC. And finally, we will consider the SHC’s concluding paragraph in which various heresies and heretics are identified and condemned.