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With Heart and Mouth: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession
The Belgic Confession is one of the oldest Reformed confessions, a landmark for churches around the world. Daniel Hyde presents a commentary that is accessible and thorough, a resource for laymen and for ministers. From the back cover: The Belgic Confession contains doctrine that is worth dying for, as its author and many adherents learned all too well. Opponents of the Belgic Confession have put its adherents to death because through this powerful document, the church speaks its prophetic biblical message to the world in which it exists. Yet because this confession of faith has been neglected for far too long in the Reformed churches, author Daniel Hyde offers a necessary, fresh exposition and application of its doctrine in the twenty-first century, with the hope of setting the Reformed churches on fire for their historic Christian, Protestant, and Reformed faith in the midst of a cold and lifeless world. The Belgic Confession is not a systematic theology but the historic and systematic confession of faith by the Reformed churches. With this commentary Danny Hyde has done the Reformed churches a great service by placing our confession in its historical, theological, and ecclesiastical contexts again. By reading it in the light of those contexts, he brings it to life for us in our time. Anyone wishing to understand better the Belgic Confession on its own terms and as it has been received by the Reformed churches must consult this intelligent work. -R. Scott Clark, Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Westminster Seminary California. It has been a long time since a Belgic Confession commentary of this caliber was last published in English. Biblical, historical, and erudite, Reverend Hyde helps the Confession speak freshly to our day. With Heart and Mouth will be warmly welcomed by pastors called to teach and preach the Belgic Confession. -Wes Bredenhof, Pastor, Langley Canadian Reformed Church, Langley, British Columbia.
447 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
22 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Daniel R. Hyde
41 books31 followersDaniel R. Hyde (ThM, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary) is the Pastor of the Oceanside United Reformed Church in Oceanside, California. He is the author of over ten books, including Welcome to a Reformed Church, Why Believe in God?, and God in Our Midst.
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January 18, 2024
Hyde, Daniel. R. With Heart and Mouth: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession. Grandville, MI: Reformed Fellowship, Inc., 2008.
Introduction
A confessing church must always be confessing. It is with that in mind that we welcome Daniel Hyde’s exposition of the Belgic Confession, one of the “Three Forms of Unity.” Like the Confession itself, Hyde gives a clear presentation of the gospel and the church. Hyde’s earlier books on baptism, the Reformed church service, and Reformed liturgy have helped impress upon his readers the fact that the Reformed faith is more than the five points of Calvinism. This book is no exception. Echoing, consciously or unconsciously, Michael Horton’s works, Hyde structures his work around the “dramatis personae who takes center stage in Scripture,” with Act 1 as Creation, Act 2 as Fall, Act 3 as Redemption, and Act 4 as Consummation (Hyde 263-264).
God
After a brief account of the life of Guy de Bres, the Confession’s primary author, Hyde, like the Confession itself, begins with God. The Confession’s God–and that of the historic church–is simple: “We all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth that there is only one simple and spiritual Being, which we call God” (BC 1). Hyde wrote this a decade or so before biblicism began to really spread in the Reformed churches, which makes his exposition all the more important. By anchoring theology with the being of God, the Confession, and the historic church, is able to move to the attributes and the Trinity. On a more pastoral level, by beginning with God we are reminded that all of our theology must begin with God (Hyde 36).
Such an account of God, though, is not enough. From here Hyde moves to our knowledge of God, which is ectypal and analogical. Because we are finite and of a different order of being than God, our knowledge is always a copy and an accommodation of God’s knowledge. Moreover, it is analogical because we cannot read our finite concepts back into God himself. There is a pastoral aspect to ectypal knowledge as well: Hyde reminds us that “We have a copy that he has made for us so that we might know him as pilgrims in the wilderness” (39).
From the knowledge of God we move to Holy Scripture, and it is interesting, at least for someone from the Westminster tradition, to see that the Belgic Confession, although it begins with the doctrine of God, spends a substantial time on Scripture (BC 6-9). Hyde reviews the standard arguments, the Roman Catholic and Anabaptist positions, and the Reformed response to it.
His discussion of the Trinity is standard material, but he does mention a few points that are worth hearing in light of the twentieth century’s so-called “Trinitarian revival.” For example, even though there are Persons in the Trinity, a divine Person is not the same as a human person. This might sound obvious, but it has not stopped moderns from reading finite limitations and imperfections into the Godhead. There are relations in the Godhead, but that does not mean God is a “relational being,” always waiting and responding, perhaps even changing, dialoguing with his creation. By contrast, the church has always confessed that we distinguish the persons, at least at the most basic level, by “their incommunicable properties; namely, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Hyde 117). Full stop. Admittedly, such a take does not tell us how to structure our political communities nor give advice on the authority relations between husband and wife. That is the point. We are dealing with divine mysteries, and our language, as noted earlier, must be analogical.
Salvation
If justification by faith alone is the hinge of religion, it is also the hinge of this book, signifying a shift from earlier treatments of God and the world to what God has done for us in Christ. For starters, “our Lord’s accomplished work for us in his priestly ministry upon the cross is the ‘ground,’ or the foundation, of our salvation” (289). It is not just a description of faith alone; rather, Hyde focuses on “the justice by which we stand before God.” Drawing upon the work of R. Scott Clark, Hyde makes clear that we receive a “double grace” when we partake of Christ, allowing us to approach God as a gracious Father rather than a harsh judge (290; cf. Clark, Caspar Olevian and the Substance of the Covenant).
Church
Hyde does a nice job in recovering the churchly piety of the Reformers. He rebukes the practice of having soloists in church (451), reminding us instead “of the people’s praise to the Lord, not the individuals.” Of similar importance is the hearing of the law, confession of sin, and speaking the absolution, not that the minister has power of himself to forgive sins. But rather that God in Christ is forgiving us. Hyde warns us not to overreact to perceived Catholicism in a way that removes us from actual Reformed practice.
Conclusion
This is an excellent volume and is nicely formatted for personal study and Sunday School classes. The questions at the end of each chapter particularly aid in discussion.
Introduction
A confessing church must always be confessing. It is with that in mind that we welcome Daniel Hyde’s exposition of the Belgic Confession, one of the “Three Forms of Unity.” Like the Confession itself, Hyde gives a clear presentation of the gospel and the church. Hyde’s earlier books on baptism, the Reformed church service, and Reformed liturgy have helped impress upon his readers the fact that the Reformed faith is more than the five points of Calvinism. This book is no exception. Echoing, consciously or unconsciously, Michael Horton’s works, Hyde structures his work around the “dramatis personae who takes center stage in Scripture,” with Act 1 as Creation, Act 2 as Fall, Act 3 as Redemption, and Act 4 as Consummation (Hyde 263-264).
God
After a brief account of the life of Guy de Bres, the Confession’s primary author, Hyde, like the Confession itself, begins with God. The Confession’s God–and that of the historic church–is simple: “We all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth that there is only one simple and spiritual Being, which we call God” (BC 1). Hyde wrote this a decade or so before biblicism began to really spread in the Reformed churches, which makes his exposition all the more important. By anchoring theology with the being of God, the Confession, and the historic church, is able to move to the attributes and the Trinity. On a more pastoral level, by beginning with God we are reminded that all of our theology must begin with God (Hyde 36).
Such an account of God, though, is not enough. From here Hyde moves to our knowledge of God, which is ectypal and analogical. Because we are finite and of a different order of being than God, our knowledge is always a copy and an accommodation of God’s knowledge. Moreover, it is analogical because we cannot read our finite concepts back into God himself. There is a pastoral aspect to ectypal knowledge as well: Hyde reminds us that “We have a copy that he has made for us so that we might know him as pilgrims in the wilderness” (39).
From the knowledge of God we move to Holy Scripture, and it is interesting, at least for someone from the Westminster tradition, to see that the Belgic Confession, although it begins with the doctrine of God, spends a substantial time on Scripture (BC 6-9). Hyde reviews the standard arguments, the Roman Catholic and Anabaptist positions, and the Reformed response to it.
His discussion of the Trinity is standard material, but he does mention a few points that are worth hearing in light of the twentieth century’s so-called “Trinitarian revival.” For example, even though there are Persons in the Trinity, a divine Person is not the same as a human person. This might sound obvious, but it has not stopped moderns from reading finite limitations and imperfections into the Godhead. There are relations in the Godhead, but that does not mean God is a “relational being,” always waiting and responding, perhaps even changing, dialoguing with his creation. By contrast, the church has always confessed that we distinguish the persons, at least at the most basic level, by “their incommunicable properties; namely, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Hyde 117). Full stop. Admittedly, such a take does not tell us how to structure our political communities nor give advice on the authority relations between husband and wife. That is the point. We are dealing with divine mysteries, and our language, as noted earlier, must be analogical.
Salvation
If justification by faith alone is the hinge of religion, it is also the hinge of this book, signifying a shift from earlier treatments of God and the world to what God has done for us in Christ. For starters, “our Lord’s accomplished work for us in his priestly ministry upon the cross is the ‘ground,’ or the foundation, of our salvation” (289). It is not just a description of faith alone; rather, Hyde focuses on “the justice by which we stand before God.” Drawing upon the work of R. Scott Clark, Hyde makes clear that we receive a “double grace” when we partake of Christ, allowing us to approach God as a gracious Father rather than a harsh judge (290; cf. Clark, Caspar Olevian and the Substance of the Covenant).
Church
Hyde does a nice job in recovering the churchly piety of the Reformers. He rebukes the practice of having soloists in church (451), reminding us instead “of the people’s praise to the Lord, not the individuals.” Of similar importance is the hearing of the law, confession of sin, and speaking the absolution, not that the minister has power of himself to forgive sins. But rather that God in Christ is forgiving us. Hyde warns us not to overreact to perceived Catholicism in a way that removes us from actual Reformed practice.
Conclusion
This is an excellent volume and is nicely formatted for personal study and Sunday School classes. The questions at the end of each chapter particularly aid in discussion.
November 23, 2025
Reformed Fellowship, Inc. sent me a copy of "With Heart and Mouth: An Exposition of the Belgic Confession" by Daniel R Hyde in exchange for an honest review.
The Belgic Confession is probably the most underappreciated document of the Three Forms of Unity, at least outside of Dutch Reformed circles. Sadly, many people completely miss out on a rich, robust, and pastoral Reformed confession. The present work is a great aid to understanding the Belgic Confession.
The content is pretty straightforward. Each chapter begins with the relevant section of the confession. From there, Hyde carefully and coherently exposits the content of that article. Where necessary, he highlights relevant historical context. The hidden gem of this book is the fact that each chapter ends with study questions. This lends itself easily to deeper personal study or use in Sunday Schools. Thus, what we have here is an excellent work that lends itself to a variety of uses and contexts.
I highly recommend this book. It's probably my favorite secondary source I've read on the Belgic Confession so far. Be sure to check it out!
The Belgic Confession is probably the most underappreciated document of the Three Forms of Unity, at least outside of Dutch Reformed circles. Sadly, many people completely miss out on a rich, robust, and pastoral Reformed confession. The present work is a great aid to understanding the Belgic Confession.
The content is pretty straightforward. Each chapter begins with the relevant section of the confession. From there, Hyde carefully and coherently exposits the content of that article. Where necessary, he highlights relevant historical context. The hidden gem of this book is the fact that each chapter ends with study questions. This lends itself easily to deeper personal study or use in Sunday Schools. Thus, what we have here is an excellent work that lends itself to a variety of uses and contexts.
I highly recommend this book. It's probably my favorite secondary source I've read on the Belgic Confession so far. Be sure to check it out!
October 27, 2021
A very good exposition of the Belgic Confession
December 20, 2023
I really enjoyed this commentary. It was devotional, articulate and thorough. The context and historical development of the confession were woven with a systematic explanation of reformed theology.
June 20, 2008
A fresh exposition of the historic BELGIC CONFESSION - a hallmark of Protestant Christianity.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews