The first thing you should probably do is change the title in your grey book for the twelfth article from “The Creation of All Things” to “The Creation of the World and the Angels.” The reason is because this article briefly summarizes the creation of all things and spends more time on the creation of angels.
In the first section, which begins at “We believe…” and ends with “in order that man may serve God”, we encounter a brief summary of key points about creation. First, as already stated in the second and tenth articles, God created both invisible and visible things (“heaven” and “earth”) from nothing. The earth did not exist when God created (Gen. 1:1-2). Second, God created all things “when it seemed good to him.” God was not pressured or bored; it was His delight and it was at His time. Third, the purpose of creation is to serve God, for all things are created “for serving their Creator” (Eph. 2:10).
The rest of the twelfth article concerns angels and demons. Notice that the discussion is limited. The Scriptures do not answer all our questions about angels and demons, but they do acknowledge their existence. This avoids unbiblical fantasies about angels (i.e. chubby angelic porcelain figures or gun-toting mercenaries from Hollywood, etc.). The Belgic acknowledges their presence within the limits of the Scriptures. It acknowledges the revelations of 2 Pet. 2:4 and Jude 6 that not all angels remained loyal servants of God. It acknowledges that devils lie in wait for the church to destroy (1 Pet. 5:8). But it also acknowledges their inevitable destruction, for “they are condemned to everlasting damnation, daily awaiting their torments.” They are drowning in the sea of God’s redemption, pulling anything down with them in their inevitable descent to the bottom.
But why is there this section in the twelfth article? We are given two reasons at the end. The first reason is to avoid the error of the Sadducees. The Sadducees were anti-spiritualists. They denied the existence of any spiritual realm. In modern-day language, the Sadducees are naturalists. Naturalists believe the world is a closed system with no spiritual realm. Naturalists think everything can be discovered by reason and science.
The second reason is the error of the Manicheans. They were the modern-day Star Wars philosophers, thinking that God and Satan are equal powers and this world is merely the chess board for their game.
Both of these groups are denied credibility in this article. The Sadducees or naturalists think there is no God while the Manicheans think that God is playing a game with the devil and we’re just the pawns. Neither of these groups is correct, however. We worship the Creator of all things, including the angels and the “excrement-covered” spirits, as the truer translation states. We marvel at His goodness, freedom, and power to create all things. We know God created all things. But we also humble ourselves because we have limited knowledge. God doesn’t reveal everything to us at once. Like a father to his children, He reveals what He knows we can handle because of our limitations.
In the first section, which begins at “We believe…” and ends with “in order that man may serve God”, we encounter a brief summary of key points about creation. First, as already stated in the second and tenth articles, God created both invisible and visible things (“heaven” and “earth”) from nothing. The earth did not exist when God created (Gen. 1:1-2). Second, God created all things “when it seemed good to him.” God was not pressured or bored; it was His delight and it was at His time. Third, the purpose of creation is to serve God, for all things are created “for serving their Creator” (Eph. 2:10).
The rest of the twelfth article concerns angels and demons. Notice that the discussion is limited. The Scriptures do not answer all our questions about angels and demons, but they do acknowledge their existence. This avoids unbiblical fantasies about angels (i.e. chubby angelic porcelain figures or gun-toting mercenaries from Hollywood, etc.). The Belgic acknowledges their presence within the limits of the Scriptures. It acknowledges the revelations of 2 Pet. 2:4 and Jude 6 that not all angels remained loyal servants of God. It acknowledges that devils lie in wait for the church to destroy (1 Pet. 5:8). But it also acknowledges their inevitable destruction, for “they are condemned to everlasting damnation, daily awaiting their torments.” They are drowning in the sea of God’s redemption, pulling anything down with them in their inevitable descent to the bottom.
But why is there this section in the twelfth article? We are given two reasons at the end. The first reason is to avoid the error of the Sadducees. The Sadducees were anti-spiritualists. They denied the existence of any spiritual realm. In modern-day language, the Sadducees are naturalists. Naturalists believe the world is a closed system with no spiritual realm. Naturalists think everything can be discovered by reason and science.
The second reason is the error of the Manicheans. They were the modern-day Star Wars philosophers, thinking that God and Satan are equal powers and this world is merely the chess board for their game.
Both of these groups are denied credibility in this article. The Sadducees or naturalists think there is no God while the Manicheans think that God is playing a game with the devil and we’re just the pawns. Neither of these groups is correct, however. We worship the Creator of all things, including the angels and the “excrement-covered” spirits, as the truer translation states. We marvel at His goodness, freedom, and power to create all things. We know God created all things. But we also humble ourselves because we have limited knowledge. God doesn’t reveal everything to us at once. Like a father to his children, He reveals what He knows we can handle because of our limitations.
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