The Second Helvetic ConfessionThe Second Helvetic ConfessionGod Is One. We believe and teach that God is one in essence or nature, subsisting in himself, all sufficient in himself, invisible, incorporeal, immense, eternal, Creator of all things both visible and invisible, the greatest good, living, quickening and preserving all things, omnipotent and supremely wise, kind and merciful, just and true. Truly we detest many gods because it is expressly written: "The Lord your God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4). "I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me" (Ex. 20:2-3). "I am the Lord, and there is no other god besides me. Am I not the Lord, and there is no other God beside me? A righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me" (Isa. 45:5, 21). "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Ex. 34:6).
God Is Three. Notwithstanding we believe and teach
that the same immense, one and indivisible God is in person inseparably
and without confusion distinguished as Father, Son and Holy Spirit so,
as the Father has begotten the Son from eternity, the Son is begotten by
an ineffable generation, and the Holy Spirit truly proceeds from them both,
and the same from eternity and is to be worshipped with both.
Thus there are not three gods, but three persons, consubstantial,
coeternal, and coequal; distinct with respect to hypostases, and with respect
to order, the one preceding the other yet without any inequality. For according
to the nature or essence they are so joined together that they are one
God, and the divine nature is common to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
For Scripture has delivered to us a manifest distinction
of persons, the angel saying, among other things, to the Blessed Virgin,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy,
the Son of God" (Luke 1:35). And also in the baptism of Christ a voice
is heard from heaven concerning Christ, saying, "This is my beloved
Son" (Matt. 3:17). The Holy Spirit also appeared in the form of a
dove (John 1:32). And when the Lord himself commanded the apostles to baptize,
he commanded them to baptize "in the name of the Father, and the Son,
and the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28:19). Elsewhere in the Gospel he said:
"When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness
to me," etc. (John 15:26). In short, we receive the
Apostles'
Creed because it delivers to us the true faith.
Heresies. Therefore we condemn the Jews and Mohammedans, and all those who blaspheme that sacred and adorable Trinity. We also condemn all heresies and heretics who teach that the Son and Holy Spirit are God in name only, and also that there is something created and subservient, or subordinate to another in the Trinity, and that there is something unequal in it, a greater or a less, something corporeal or corporeally conceived, something different with respect to character or will, something mixed or solitary, as if the Son and Holy Spirit were the affections and properties of one God the Father, as the Monarchians, Novatians, Praxeas, Patripassians, Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, Aetius, Macedonius, Antropomorphites, Arius, and such like, have thought.
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Page edited: 04/22/2003
