Written in 1561 by Guido de Brès (c. 1522-1567), a Reformed pastor in the Spanish Netherlands (modern Belgium). Originally composed as a defense of the Reformed faith against Roman Catholic persecution — de Brès presented copies to King Philip II of Spain hoping to persuade him that the Reformed were loyal, peaceable citizens, not Anabaptist radicals. Philip was not persuaded; de Brès was arrested and hanged in 1567. The 37 articles of the Confession are the oldest of the "Three Forms of Unity" (with the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dort) that constitute the confessional standard of continental Reformed churches.
The Belgic Confession is Reformed theology as martyr-literature — every article was written knowing that its author might pay in blood for saying these things out loud. Its structure is classical: God (articles 1-9), Scripture (5-7), sin and the Fall (14-15), Christ and redemption (16-21), justification and sanctification (22-24), the law (25), the Church and sacraments (27-35), magistrate (36), last things (37). Article 7 is one of the finest short statements of Scripture's sufficiency ever written: "We believe that those Holy Scriptures fully contain the will of God, and that whatsoever man ought to believe unto salvation, is sufficiently taught therein... For since it is forbidden to add unto or take away anything from the Word of God, it doth thereby evidently appear that the doctrine thereof is most perfect and complete in all respects." The Dutch Reformed carried the Confession across oceans to South Africa, Indonesia, North America, and around the world.