§272Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes seem to be absent and incapable of stopping evil. But in the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the voluntary humiliation and Resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil. Christ crucified is thus "the power of God and the …

§648Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In it the three divine persons act together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics. the Father's power "raised up" Christ his Son and by doing so perfectly introduced his Son's humanity, including his body, into the Trinity. Jesus is concl…

§668"Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living."548 Christ's Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in God's power and authority. Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and on earth. He is "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion", for the Father "has put all things under his fe…

Chapter 18.—Of the Perfect Man, that Is, Christ; And of His Body, that Is, The Church, Which is His Fullness. To understand what the apostle means when he says that we shall all come to a perfect man, we must consider the connection of the whole passage, which runs thus: “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. A…

The catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof; and is the spouse, the body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel, consists of all those throughout the world that profe…

All who regard another head or seek another foundation than Christ are not the Church but are adversaries of God. In the faith of Christ, Christians are His members; these members cannot do anything without the head. It follows from this that all who live in the head are members and children of God, and that is the Church or communion of the saints, the bride of Christ.

Since there is always but one God, one Mediator between God and man, and one Shepherd of the whole flock, one Head of this body, one Spirit, one salvation, one faith, one Testament or covenant: it follows necessarily that there is only one Church, which we therefore call the catholic Church, because it is universal and is diffused through all parts and quarters of the world, an…

We believe the Divine and Sacred Scriptures to be God-taught; and, therefore, we ought to believe the same without doubting; yet not otherwise than as the Catholic Church hath interpreted and delivered the same. For every foul heresy receiveth, indeed, the Divine Scriptures, but perversely interpreteth the same, using metaphors, and homonymies, and sophistries of man's wisdom, …

We believe that what is called, or rather is, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, containeth generally all the faithful in Christ, those who, having already departed, are in the Church Triumphant, and those still living and militant on earth, the Church Militant. And since the Church Militant is composed of men, it is subject to have those in its communion who are stumbling…

It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, according to the covenant made between them both, to be the Mediator between God and man; the Prophet, Priest, and King; Head and Savior of His church, the heir of all things, and judge of the world; unto whom He did from all eternity give a people to be His seed and to be by Him…

The Church is the body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of her Great Commission. Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.

The Springfield Presbytery, having sat with gravity during its brief existence and observing that bodies religious may decay and die as well as bodies natural, chose to prepare its last will and testament. This satirical document dissolved the Presbytery itself after only nine months, declaring that human ecclesiastical structures tend to usurp the authority that belongs to Chr…