Abstract
The Belhar Confession evolved during a moment of political and social crisis in the 1980s in South Africa. The 1980s in South Africa were marked by a deepening crisis of apartheid, fuelled by mass action, escalating violence, and the government’s increasingly repressive measures. This decade saw the ‘roaring’ of resistance, marked by a surge of protests, youth and workers’ boycotts, and strikes, as well as the declaration of a state of emergency and the deployment of troops to black townships. Despite the Christian anti-apartheid struggle that played a significant role in the adoption of the Belhar Confession, its reception among the victims of apartheid is still low. The research explores the theological imperatives of two paragraphs (the first and the last) of the Belhar Confession, as well as their logical development, since they are built upon one another, forming a coherent theological framework.
Contribution: The study concludes with the call to reimagine the message of the Belhar Confession in present-day South Africa. The promotion of the confession’s reception in the church could be enhanced by engaging communities through meaningful readings, exploring the interplay between self-reflection and self-action.
Keywords: trinity; spirituality; affirmation of faith; self-actualisation; self-transcendence; accountability; ecclesiology; community.
Introduction
Paragraph one of the Belhar Confession
This paragraph reads:
[W]e believe in the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who gathers, protects, and cares for the church through Word and Spirit. This, God has done since the beginning of the world and will do to the end. (Belhar Confession 1986:1)
The Belhar Confession (1986) is a landmark faith statement emerging from the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa during the struggle against apartheid. It was drafted to address theological justifications for racial segregation, affirming that unity, reconciliation, and justice are not merely social issues but core tenets of faith. It was accepted as the standard of faith of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA) in 1994.
While Articles 2, 3, and 4 of the Belhar Confession focus on specific aspects of unity, reconciliation, and justice, Article 1 provides the foundational theology (the Trinity), and Article 5 provides the imperative for action (obedience). Article 1 sets the theological context, establishing that the church is not a human institution but one gathered by God.
Key themes of the first and fifth paragraphs are: Trinitarian Focus. The first paragraph defines the Church as gathered by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The church evolved from divine initiatives; it was gathered, countering the idea that human, racial, or political divisions can destroy the true church.
The fifth paragraph (Article 5) of the Belhar Confession focuses on the church’s call to obedience to Jesus Christ as its only Head, even when such obedience brings the church into conflict with authorities or human laws, or leads to punishment and suffering.
I briefly turn to three theological dimensions that are the embodiment of paragraph one of the Belhar Confession. They are: (1) The Essence of Church, (2) The Trinity, and (3) Mission (Sending) Praxis, from which we (URCSA) solemnly affirm our unwavering commitment. These elements are key to the proper understanding of and an actionable response to the message of the confession. Rushing to the Belhar Confession’s tripod paragraphs of unity, reconciliation, and justice without fully grasping the theological imperatives of the three elements in the first paragraph may lead to a superficial or shallow interpretation of the entire confession. Hereinafter, I briefly discuss these, starting with the affirmation ‘We’. Equally, paragraph five is the embodiment of the prophetic witness of ‘Jesus is Lord’ and calls the church to not only resist the emperor but also problematise the oppressive hierarchical system of the empire, of which the emperor is part, which favours a small minority at the expense of the majority non-elite. It calls the church for a triumphant match to defy any worldly imperial powers.
Research methods and design
Methodologies suitable for studying the Belhar Confession are primarily interdisciplinary, combining historical, theological, and social-analytical approaches to understand its role as a ‘confession of struggle’ against apartheid and its ongoing relevance in a society ravaged by inequality, gender-based violence (GBV), endemic corruption and moral degeneration. This approach recognises that the Belhar Confession was not formulated in a vacuum but as a status confessionis (a state of confession) in response to the theological degradation.
It is built on desktop qualitative research into church confessions involving the analyses of existing, non-numerical data to understand the social, emotional, and theological dimensions of the confession experience. It is interdisciplinary research, based on pastoral psychology, to utilise existing documents, such as other confessions of faith, for example, the Belgic Confession.
The flow of the article
The research starts with an in-depth analysis of statements used in the confession, utilising psychological theories of self-actualisation (Maslow 1943) and self-transcendence (Dik, Steger & Autin 2013). These theories are juxtaposed with URCSA members in South Africa. Persons of the Trinity in the confession and their works are elaborated to trace the original intentions of the confession’s writers. The final message of sending out and obedience is concluded with Brazilian educational theorist Freire’s (1970) theory on the political education of the oppressed.
Affirmation ‘We’ believe
The Belhar Confession breathes a warmly experiential and personal spirit, facilitated by its repeated use of the pronoun ‘We’ (Belhar Confession 1986). In this respect, Van der Borght (2014) portrays the church as part of the credo (‘we believe’) because it is God’s work, God’s creation and as an eschatological event and because it is a community chosen for eternal life. Paragraph one of the Belhar Confession starts with the affirmation that to be a Christian is to be a member of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, because the triune God gathers and protects believers from all nations living on earth through his word and spirit (Heidelberg Catechism Q&A).
This new assembly is the fellowship of all those united to Jesus Christ in baptism and in one faith (Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica 2022). Any other community outside these boundaries is not of God, for the church’s authority in its witness to the world follows from Christian unity.1 This affirmation should be characterised by the quote frequently attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo: ‘Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are’2 (Kline 2025).
Courage (the second daughter of Hope) would have us recognise that there is always a way out, that we can always redirect our steps, that we can always do something to solve our problems. Moving forward in tackling the enormous problems that confront us, in the ways recommended by St. Augustine, requires courage (Fauxtations 2018). Above all, it calls for us to replace an ethics of blame with an ethics of compassion and mutual responsibility. The ethics of courage emphasises acting with integrity, taking risks, and upholding ethical values despite potential negative consequences such as opposition or persecution. The ethics of courage involves standing up for what is right, just, and true, and acting despite fear, criticism, or hardship to uphold integrity and moral principles.
Paragraph one of the Belhar Confession takes the Heidelberg Catechism’s Question that defines the church as:
[A] community, gathered, protected, and preserved by the Son of God through His Spirit and Word, chosen for eternal life and united in true faith, to which the believer belongs as a point of departure. (Spronk 2009:n.p)
This ‘holy catholic church’ is a single, continuous body encompassing all believers from the beginning to the end of the world, united in a shared faith and purpose. It is distinct from any single, local congregation and is founded on the true gospel and the communion of saints, encompassing all believers who are united by the Spirit to Christ for God’s purpose. This community carries the cross and resists any conformity to the world’s empires2. In responding to the inquisition by the king of Spain in 1562, De Bres3 declared that they were ready to obey the government in all lawful things, but that they would:
[O]ffer their backs to stripes, their tongues to knives, their mouths to gags, and their whole bodies to the fire, well knowing that those who follow Christ must take His cross and deny themselves. (Venema 1996:n.p.)
The implications of the personal pronoun ‘we’ in this confession signal ‘costly grace’4 as contrasted to ‘cheap grace’ by Bonhoeffer (1937). ‘We’, in this article, refers to the church as the church constituted by a common hearing and receiving of the Word of God. Barth (Church Dogmatics ½ par 20) exhorts us that our first duty is to love and respect the confession as the witness of our fathers (mothers) and brothers (sisters). When we make the affirmation ‘we’, we are witnessing to an encounter we have made with God in Jesus Christ to the extent that we are ‘new creatures’ and have been empowered to pronounce our confession amid worldly contradictions. In our country today, we need God’s community to choose to stand where God stands and not blend in with worldly affairs.
The Belhar Confession, as in other Reformed Confessions, invites us to critically assess its claims on our lives in the light of the gospel. Barth (2009) alludes to this calling in the frame of ‘hearing and receiving’ the word of God within the contemporary world order of empires. The Belhar Confession does not want us to confess a new faith, but to cast ourselves afresh in a committed way to God’s mission to the world (Ernst-Habib 2019). We are, therefore, to hold ourselves accountable to God and his Holy word and subject ourselves to the exhortation in James 1:21: ‘Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls’.
We allow the ‘thorns and the spears’ of confessing the Belhar Confession to go through our hearts so that we can be presented as acceptable to the Lord of the Church, as stated in 2 Timothy 2:15, ‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth’. In this spirit, therefore, there is no space for manipulations of the church process for self-interest or to gain power. We resist entering the arena of corruption of power, self-enrichment, self-honour and self-gratification as our future is not for sale (Corruption Watch 2020). We are not called to manipulate church systems to advance self-interests. We are exhorted by Archbishop Justin Welby’s statement, ‘The most important decision any person can ever make is to become a disciple of Jesus Christ’ (Kuhrt 2015:113). ‘We’ is an expression of self-actualisation and self-transcendence in the Belhar Confession.
Psychologists such as Maslow (1943), Dik et al. (2013) and Frankl (1966) help us to grasp the ‘we’ in our confession. The confession enjoins us to authenticity. Varga (Standard Encyclopaedia of Philosophy 2024) asserts that the term ‘authentic’ is used either in the strong sense of being ‘of undisputed origin or authorship’, or in a weaker sense of being ‘faithful to an original’ or a ‘reliable, accurate representation’. To say that something is authentic is to say that it is what it professes to be, or what it is reputed to be, in origin or authorship. ‘We’ in paragraph one of the Belhar Confession speaks about our sincerity in our resolution regarding what we live for. Bernard (2002) captures this when he specifies authenticity as ‘the idea that some things are in some sense really you, or express what you are, and others aren’t’ (quoted in Guignon 2004:viii). This internal affirmation, whether spoken or thought, reinforces positive beliefs, increases self-esteem, reduces stress, and improves overall well-being by shifting focus from negative aspects of life to positive ones as guided by God.
The moment we turn our attention from the pursuit of our self-interests and personal happiness and succeed in crossing the boundaries of egotism and materialistic pleasure to spiritual consciousness and undertake the quest for meaning and altruism (showing a disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others), we start experiencing genuine spirituality (GotQuestions 2022). When we say ‘we believe’ we are authentic and responding to what Paul says in Philippians 2:5–12 to encourage believers to adopt the humility and selfless obedience of Jesus Christ.
Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa members regarding self-transcending spirituality
Psychologists such as Viktor Frankl (in Wong 2016) help us to understand our position regarding our confession with their theoretical framework of self-transcendence. By self-transcendence, they refer to a fundamental human capacity and a core of authentic spirituality, representing the expansion of consciousness beyond the self towards something higher, such as a divine or spiritual realm (Frankl, in eds. Hicks & Routledge 2013). This universal process of expanding consciousness beyond the personal self to a greater connection with Christ frees us to function free of habitual self-constraining beliefs, leading to a more self-directed and true self where spirituality serves as a driving force towards authentic identity (Du Toit 2012; Wise and Shine 2024).
By transcending self-fulfilment and adopting a broader perspective, we can experience a profound sense of purpose, joy, interconnectedness and generosity. Frankl5 (2006) defines generosity as a gateway to self-transcendence by shifting focus from personal concerns to the needs of others, fostering a broader sense of meaning and purpose, and liberating the individual from ego-centred limitations. This process involves transcending personal desires to connect with a larger whole, leading to a deeper realisation of one’s potential and well-being. Embracing the path of self-transcendence and generosity requires commitment to self-emptiness towards real ‘kenosis’.6 Kenosis is Christ’s act of taking on a human nature with all its limitations, except for sin. As one Bible scholar wrote:
At His incarnation He remained ‘in the form of God’ and as such He is Lord and Ruler over all, but He also accepted the nature of a servant as part of His humanity. (Cronkright 2021:155)
Self-transcendence and theology of opportunism and partiality
In pursuing the soul of the Belhar Confession, we should pause and ponder the Theology of Opportunism and Partiality. The latter refers to exploiting religious beliefs, practices and institutions for personal gain, often through deceptive tactics and a disregard for theological principles. It can use the tenets of faith, like unity, reconciliation and justice, in pursuit of cheap reconciliation. It focuses on self-serving benefits, such as distortion of truth, which contrast sharply with the core tenets of true faith, such as honesty, integrity, and love (Garriott 2019). The opportunist will be favourable towards those from whom he or she can derive some sort of benefit. If there’s no prospect of gain from the relationship, the opportunist will show little interest in maintaining the relationship. Opportunism-driven partiality damages the church and derails its witness and discipline (Benton & Tsang 2006).
Opportunism-driven partiality harms the church’s doctrine and unity. In an ideal context, religious tenets are perceived as antithetical to corruption on all fronts. Orogun and Pillay (2021:9) maintains that Africa takes a frontline in religious activities yet is bedevilled by corruption-aided opportunism. Dare we teach others about unity and reconciliation while we are entrenched in self-fulfilling pursuits? We need unity, reconciliation and justice; not the shallow kind, but the kind that is rooted in truth and love, one which is free of self-serving and manipulation. We need religious tenets that are not rooted in religious thought or practice that prioritises personal or group gain by taking advantage of circumstances or exploiting people’s faith and vulnerabilities, rather than upholding principles of genuine love, truth, and justice. We reject deceitful tactics such as false promises (Hoag 2013), pressure for avoiding costly grace, and the distortion of scripture (Garriott 2019), to sway believers.
Persons of the Trinity in the Belhar Confession7
Paragraph one of the Belhar Confession is the most crucial for understanding the teaching of the Trinity. It starts by casting the faith of a true Church as grounded in the Triune God who reveals Himself as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Snyman 2022). In whatever He does, all three persons of the Trinity are involved. In the act of creation, throughout history and to the end of the world, all three persons of the Trinity are involved. The paragraph points to God who is and does what the results of His works are. God is always on His way out to the world (in the world) to redeem people for Himself. Defoe (2015) portrays God as seeking fellowship with humans from the beginning. He can be said to be the ‘sending’ God. God the Father sends Himself, later He sends His Son. God the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit and, eventually, God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit send the church (Van der Rheenen 1996:14). From the very foundation of the world, God has been a great initiator of reconciliation and unity of everything to Himself (Col 1:20). ‘God sending Himself’ refers to the idea that within the Trinity, the Father eternally ‘sends’ the Son (Jesus Christ) into the world as an act of love and redemption, while the Holy Spirit is then sent by both the Father and Son to dwell within believers, thus demonstrating the distinct yet unified nature of the three divine persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – as one God (Boaheng 2021).
In Genesis 3:9, we are told that God liked to walk through the garden, sharing His time with the first couple. When they were hiding, He would call, ‘Where are you’? Defoe (2015) attests that the pain of estrangement and abandonment of the first couple is echoed down through the ages to the present. Ever since the fall of humans in the Garden of Eden, God has sent His angels, prophets, kings and people to bring His message of reconciliation. According to the Bible, God frequently sent angels, prophets and sometimes even kings to the Israelites to deliver messages, provide guidance, and warn them against straying from their covenant with him; prophets were the most prominent way through which God communicated with the Israelites, often delivering messages to kings and people about their actions and the consequences of their choices. God is intrinsically involved in human affairs, directing how people should relate to Him and to one another (Van Der Rheenen 1996:14). The church is thus holistic, transformative, contemporary and modelled on Christ’s compassion, solidarity, example and teachings (WCC 2023).
Lastly, God has sent the church to which URCSA is part of. The proper understanding of the Belhar Confession should embrace who God is, His nature, what He is doing to humankind and what the church is. He gathers people, cares for them, and protects them to fulfil His will in the world. He uses various means and individuals to reach His purpose. His work and involvement in human affairs should never be taken lightly. God has an irresistible love for humanity. This means that God’s love for humankind is so powerful and unconditional that it cannot be resisted, meaning it is always present and available to everyone, regardless of their actions or beliefs; it is a love that actively draws people towards Him, even when they may not actively be seeking Him out. In the same manner, He engineers His church to exhibit the same as carrying out His mission of unity, reconciliation and justice. A full grasp of who God is and what He does is a prerequisite to understanding His mission of love to the world. Anyone who misses this paradox may run the risk of missing the point.
Church self-understanding: Ecclesiology
Following from the previous paragraphs, the church should have proper self-understanding to guard against the wrong teachings that may derail it. There are many errors and heresies that have pestered the church from the beginning. These errors and heresies8 include fighting for recognition, self-preservation, self-interest and position within the places of honouring God and even political naivety.
The church may easily live and exist for itself and for self-preservation. Such a church may not, for example, fight against the self-serving that renders her incapable of taking reconciliation and redemption to the world through word and deed (Walter 1996). The church that fights for God’s mission in the world, not its own preservation, is characterised by unity, reconciliation and justice (Walter 1996). As God is engaged in the fight of poverty, corruption, inequality, femicide and moral degeneration, the church should be there alongside Him. The church fulfils God’s mission by finding itself where God is at work in the world, by living the life of Christ, and by participating in the suffering of Christ with the marginalised. In Luke 4:18–19, Jesus signified in His life and ministry, actively sought out, ministered to, and identified with those on the fringes of society, such as the poor, the sick, the outcast, and the oppressed.
In the following paragraphs, we spend some moments on the doctrine of ecclesiology, explaining the calling of the church to the world as implied in Article 1 of the Belhar Confession. Ecclesiology – the theological study of the church – explores the nature, identity, and role of the church within Christian theology. It examines the church’s origins, its relationship to Jesus Christ, its structure, its mission, and its eschatological significance.
For a full grasp of the message of the Belhar Confession, one should have a true understanding of ecclesiology (the essence of the church). Ecclesiology studies the doctrine of the church from its origin, its nature, its being, its constitution, its ordinances, and its activities. In this respect, we are indebted to scholars such as Trebilco (2011), De Beeer (2020) and Dreyer 2015) who assert that the church can be described as non-institutional, unstructured and ekklesia (assembly) than we have it today. Contemporary groups calling themselves church should be differentiated from the early church that was ‘the sum total of people living in a special relationship with God and being connected to both the heavenly and earthly realities of life’ (De Beer 2020:170). They had ‘clear boundary roles’ who saw themselves as a distinct group (Trebilco 2011:308). Different from contemporary churches that are either individually independent from other churches, or they are connected with some other churches through a form of structure the early church was designated as the people of God, the family of the Father, the body of Christ, and the community of the Spirit does not exist anymore (Dreyer 2015:4). According to Dreyer (2015:4) the contemporary church is sometimes trapped in a crisis of inability to be ‘church’; sometimes not even conscious of what the ‘church’ is or should be. De Beer (2020:200) views the contemporary church as having a missional crisis of credibility in that it does not welcomes the shift in the understanding of biblical ecclesia of Old and New Testaments as a different entity from modern churches’ understanding of being church (De Beer 2020:200). The implications of ecclesiology’s interpretation of modern ‘church’ and ‘biblical ecclesia’ for the mission of the church today is clear distinction between the modern church as institution and Spirit-driven missional assemblies that function similar to the biblical ecclesia (De Beer 2020:185).
Any meaningful study of ecclesiology should acknowledge the relationship between the church and biblical ecclesia. The contemporary church is different from biblical ecclesia in many respects, according to De Beer (2009:169). Ignorance of the true nature of the church is displayed in the doctrines of many groups calling themselves ‘church’. Theologians have set out to study Scriptures and arrived at a sound understanding of what the church (as called and gathered by the Holy Spirit) is. A Biblical understanding of ecclesiology9 would go a long way to correct many of the common problems in churches today. A key Scripture on ecclesiology is Acts 2:42: ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer’.
Concluding message of paragraph one of the Belhar Confession to present-day South Africa
The Belhar Confession remains essentially relevant for all of the ages and all situations. Today, South Africa faces yet more hostilities and abnormalities that stand right in the face of the church. Several political commentators, investigative journalists, and public media are inundated with the horrors happening in the country. The investigative journalist Jacques Pauw (2022) labels South Africa as a ‘poisoned land’ because of the level of corruption and unethical behaviours. We can rightly conclude that, like the government that has lost the will to fight the evil in the country, the church also lacks the courage and determination to be a prophetic church.
A disturbing and persistent acute problem facing South Africa is Gender-Based-Violence and Femicide (GBVF). This malice is caused by a combination of intersecting factors, including patriarchal power imbalances, harmful social and cultural norms such as rigid gender stereotypes and religious beliefs, significant economic issues such as poverty and unemployment, a history of structural inequality, and the failure of the legal system to effectively implement laws meant to protect women. These interconnected factors create an environment where violence against women becomes normalised, and individuals are left vulnerable to abuse. Political and cultural differences rage, even among people who should show goodwill. The church is no stranger to extreme polarisation, theological backbiting, and political squabbling. Jesus’s prayer in John 17 – that the church be one as He and the Father are one – seems increasingly unattainable.10 The promises and hope that the 1994 elections promised have been decimated. Prominent investigative journalists and political figures and commentators, such as Pauw (2022), Madonsela (2017), Pilger (2007), Mathekga (2016), Tabane (2015), Bruce (2014), Boesak (2009), Ramphele (2017) and Malala (2015), as well as many others, present a gloomy situation of South Africa. The reality of the matter is that a significant decline in the church’s role as a fearless critic of injustice and a voice for the marginalised of the apartheid era has occurred in South Africa. While the church was a powerful force in the anti-apartheid struggle, its influence has diminished because of factors such as its integration into government, a perceived loss of prophetic theology, a reluctance to challenge the status quo, a fear of persecution if it told the truth, and the rise of self-serving or exploitative prophetic practices. Political entanglement has weakened church leaders and theologians joining the government, thus leading to a loss of independence and critical capacity (Tagwirei 2024). A Christian non-conformist lifestyle, or a rejection of conformity to the world, is rooted in the Biblical concept of spiritual transformation as described in Romans 12:2, which urges believers to not be ‘conformed to this world’ but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds to discern God’s will.
The transition to democracy in South Africa has, in some ways, fostered a ‘self-interest theology’ and a sense of having ‘arrived’, leading the church to forget its critical role. The prophetic theology has been swallowed by the secular government that it helped to come to power. To regain its voice and integrity, the church needs to be more authentic, fearless, independent and become the voice of the voiceless (Boesak 2009). The ‘loud silence’ or ‘armchair theology’ in present-day South Africa signifies a departure from the church’s prophetic role in addressing ongoing social injustices, poverty, femicide and inequality, contrasting with its active engagement during the apartheid era. Critics argue that some churches have adopted a quiet, detached approach to critical social issues, failing to provide necessary public theological engagement and advocate for the marginalised. This silence raises a concern, especially given the lingering effects of apartheid and the urgent calls for critical theology and social justice in the nation (Urbaniak 2018). Wepener and Pieterse (2018) and Maluleke (2000) reflect on the paternal value of embodied and enacted expressions of anger in the current South African context. They argue that God’s anger is an expression of His love, and that preaching and liturgies in South Africa should be characterised by anger.
Paragraph five: Sending off
We believe that, in obedience to Jesus Christ, its only head, the church is called to confess and to do all these things, even though the authorities and human laws might forbid them, with punishment and suffering as consequences (Eph 4:15–16; Ac 5:29–33; Pt 1 2:18–25, 310; 1 Pt 3:15–18).
Jesus is Lord
We believe that, in obedience to Jesus Christ, its only Head, the Church is called to confess and to do all these things, even though the authorities and human laws might forbid them and punishment and suffering be the consequence:
To the one and only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be the honour and the glory forever and ever. (Belhar Confession 1986:n.p.)
Botha (1995) has suggested that it is necessary to read the Belhar Confession backwards, starting with Article 5, and confessing ‘Jesus is Lord’. Botha maintains that these rearrangements, as the prophetic witness of the confession, call URCSA to proclaim Jesus is Lord, giving the church courage and joy as it responds to internal and external challenges (Ernst-Habib 2019).
The prophetic declaration of ‘Jesus is Lord’ stems from the New Testament scriptures in the imperial and colonial context of the Roman Empire, with the designation of Kurios ascribed to only the emperor. Early Christian communities assigning the title to Jesus, an imperial and colonial subject who was publicly crucified, would have been in resistance – whether overtly or privately, given the threat of persecution – to the emperor and the empire. The prophetic witness of ‘Jesus is Lord’ calls us to not only resist the emperor but also to problematise the oppressive hierarchical system of the empire, of which the emperor is a part, which favours a small minority at the expense of the majority non-elite (Nyiawung 2010). Furthermore, the conspiracy of the Jews with the imperial cult of the Roman Empire to have Jesus crucified illustrates that the prophetic witness of ‘Jesus is Lord’ is also in opposition to the oppressive systems found in religious communities, which mirrored that of the Empire. Confessing ‘Jesus is Lord’ calls us, then, to also consider the oppressive hierarchical systems of which we form part (Winn 2018). The aim of the Belhar Confession, as Russell Botman has clearly presented, is not about proclaiming orthodox doctrines, but about becoming disciples and focussed followers of Jesus Christ as Lord (cf. Botman, quoted in Ernst-Habib 2019).
The last article of the Belhar Confession, as it were, gives thanks and joy that sustain Christians as they confess their triumphed Lord and tell the world who He is (Boesak 2008). The last paragraph (Article 5) resonates with Karl Barth’s words in parargraph 30 of Church Dogmatics 11/2 (Barth 2009), which tell us who God is, who we are and what we are called to do. It challenges us to show in our lives ‘how Christ is Good News and joy for us’ (Ernst-Habib 2019).
The prophetic witness of ‘Jesus is Lord’ calls the whole church to not only resist the emperor but also to problematise the oppressive hierarchical system of the empire, of which the emperor is part, which benefits a small minority at the expense of the majority non-elite. Confessing ‘Jesus is Lord’, calls us, then, to consider the oppressive hierarchical systems of which we find ourselves in as his followers (Ernst-Habib 2019).
The fifth and final paragraph of the Belhar Confession stresses the church’s calling to obey Jesus Christ, its only Head, even when facing persecution or suffering for confessing and acting on that obedience. It emphasises that the church should not fear authorities or human laws but should fix its eyes on Jesus, the perfector of its faith. The chapter addresses fears that might be present when denouncing injustices, dehumanisation, and oppression. Church history is full of stories where the church was batting for the wrong ideology, convinced that it was fighting for God. Katz (2019) gives examples of a long list of injustices committed by the church during the crusades, slavery, colonisation, Nazism, and examples of mass incarceration committed in the name of Christianity.
Paragraph Five of the Belhar Confession concludes with words committing respondents to justice and righteousness that the church should pursue, regardless of suffering from opposing forces; for to act justly and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God, highlights integrity and social justice by connecting God’s expectation of His people to both internal character (humility) and external actions (justice and kindness) in line with Micah 6:8:
[H]e has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love kindness, and to walk humbly. (New Revised Standard Version [NSV])
Conclusion
The concluding paragraphs of the Belhar Confession allude to the fact that believers are people who always confess their faith. Genuine Christian faith inherently involves both an inward belief and an outward, ongoing declaration of that belief. This is a core aspect of Christian identity and practice. Earthly authorities who feel threatened by the church’s confession may forbid it through worldly laws, punishment and suffering. Therefore, Christians need to exert themselves and carry their cross and follow Jesus (Mt 16:24 and Lk 9:23). Christians are people who confess Christ and people who believe in the witness of faith found in Him. If they cease to confess and believe, then they can no longer legitimately be called Christians, believers, or followers of Christ.
In this article, I argued that the Belhar Confession is a Christian affirmation of faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. It functions as a foundational identity, defining believers by their relationship with God rather than worldly status, nationality, or performance. This identity is rooted in Christ’s love for the world, providing a stable foundation that resists cultural pressures and worldly pleasures. It is an ‘otherworldly’ marker, often challenging societal norms by prioritising spiritual truths over temporary circumstances.
Brazilian educational theorist Freire (1970) suggests a pedagogy of the oppressed, a teaching that may help the oppressor and the oppressed achieve freedom. Freire suggests that education is a fundamentally political act that can either serve to domesticate people or liberate them. Including the Belhar Confession in Sunday School lessons, Catechism and sermons is an appropriate way of creating consciousness from dehumanisation to humanisation among members. Internal church pedagogy should be modelled to help the oppressed identify the social and political causes of their reality and recognise their own capacity to transform it. Love, humility, faith and determination to change the society for good should be the end goal of a confessing community (Cronkright 2021).
Acknowledgements
Competing interests
The author declares that he has no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
CRediT authorship contribution
Selaelo T. Kgatla: Conceptualisation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Visualisation, Writing – original draft. The author confirms that this work is entirely their own, has reviewed the article, approved the final version for submission and publication, and takes full responsibility for the integrity of its findings.
Ethical considerations
This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.
Funding information
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data availability
The author declares that all data that support this research article and its findings are available in the article and its references.
Disclaimer
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Footnotes
1. In his chapter ‘Unity of the church and church authority’, Jackson (2015) concludes that unity cannot occur without authentic Christianity.
2. This widely cited, though potentially paraphrased, quote attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo emphasises that true hope is not passive, but active. It states: ‘Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are’ (Fauxtations 2018).
3. This true church is epitomised by De Bres, the author of the Belgic Confession, in 1562.
4. ‘Costly grace’ is a theological concept describing grace as a costly, transformative gift from God that requires active, committed discipleship and sacrifice from believers, not merely passive acceptance (Bonhoeffer 1937). It stands in contrast to ‘cheap grace’, which is seen as a superficial, unearned forgiveness that demands nothing in return and does not lead to genuine transformation or a life committed to following Jesus Christ.
5. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist, who found meaning and purpose in his suffering, and developed a theory of logotherapy based on the human quest for self-transcendence (Frankl 2006).
6. The term kenosis refers to the doctrine of Christ’s ‘self-emptying’ in His incarnation. The word comes from the Greek of Philippians 2:7, which says that Jesus ‘emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men’ (ESV). The word translated ‘emptied’ is a form of kenoo, from which we get the word kenosis.
7. ‘Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’ refers to the Christian concept of the Trinity, which describes God as one being existing in three distinct persons: the Father, Jesus Christ (the Son), and the Holy Spirit; essentially stating that while these three are separate, they are all part of the same divine essence, unified as one God (Snyman 2022).
8. Heresy means to pick or choose. Vine’s Greek Lexicon states: ‘Heresy means to choose, especially choosing of a self-willed opinion’. It is invariably because of personal preference. Apartheid in South Africa is a classic example.
9. Ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership (Kou 2024).
10. Wentz (2019) argues that we live in an age of hostility and division, which is taken for granted. The priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17 was a model to the disciples what they were to be in and to the world – ONE.
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