Heidelberg Catechism Review

Question 1

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

Answer 1

That I am not my own,1 but belong— body and soul, in life and in death—2 to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.3 He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,4 and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.5 He also watches over me in such a way6 that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;7 in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.8 6970 Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life9 and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.10

Question 2

What must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort (I am not my own but belong to Jesus Christ)?

Answer 2

Three things: first, how great my sin and misery are;1 second, how I am set free from all my sins and misery;2 third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.3

Question 3

How do you come to know your misery?

Answer 3

The law of God tells me.

Question 4

What does God’s law require of us?

Answer 4

Christ teaches us this in summary in Matthew 22:37-40: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’1 This is the greatest and first commandment. “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’271 “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Question 5

Can you live up to God’s law perfectly?

Answer 5

No, I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor.2

Question 6

Did God create people so wicked and perverse?

Answer 6

No. God created them good1 and in his own image,2 that is, in true righteousness and holiness,3 so that they might truly know God their creator,4 love him with all their heart, and live with God in eternal happiness, to praise and glorify him.5

Question 7

Then where does this corrupt human nature come from?

Answer 7

The fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise.1 This fall has so poisoned our nature2 that we are all conceived and born in a sinful condition.3

Question 8

But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil?

Answer 8

Yes,1 unless we are born again by the Spirit of God.

Question 9

But doesn’t God do us an injustice by requiring in his law what we are unable to do?

Answer 9

No, God created human beings with the ability to keep the law.1 They, however, provoked by the devil,2 in willful disobedience,3 robbed themselves and all their descendants of these gifts.

Question 10

Does God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

Answer 10

Certainly not. God is terribly angry with the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge, God will punish them both now and in eternity,1 having declared: “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”

Question 11

According to God’s righteous judgment we deserve punishment both now and in eternity: how then can we escape this punishment and return to God’s favor?

Answer 11

God requires that his justice be satisfied.1 Therefore the claims of this justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or by another.

Question 12

But isn’t God also merciful?

Answer 12

God is certainly merciful,1 but also just.2 God’s justice demands that sin, committed against his supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty— eternal punishment of body and soul.

Question 13

Can we make this payment for justice ourselves?

Answer 13

Certainly not. Actually, we increase our debt every day.

Question 14

Can another creature—any at all— pay this debt (disobedience and rebellion) for us?

Answer 14

No. To begin with, God will not punish any other creature for what a human is guilty of.1 Furthermore, no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it.

Question 15

What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then?

Answer 15

One who is a true1 and righteous2 human, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.

Question 16

Why must the mediator be a true and righteous human?

Answer 16

God’s justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for sin;1 but a sinful human could never pay for others.

Question 17

Why must the mediator also be true God?

Answer 17

So that the mediator, by the power of his divinity, might bear the weight of God’s wrath in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

Question 18

Then who is this mediator— true God and at the same time a true and righteous human?

Answer 18

Our Lord Jesus Christ,1 who was given to us to completely deliver us and make us right with God.

Question 19

How do you come to know that Jesus is the true God and at the same time a true and righteous human?

Answer 19

The holy gospel tells me. God began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise;1 later God proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs2 and prophets375 and foreshadowed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law;4 and finally God fulfilled it through his own beloved Son.

Question 20

Are all people then saved through Christ just as they were lost through Adam?

Answer 20

No. Only those are saved who through true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his benefits.

Question 21

What is true faith?

Answer 21

True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in Scripture;1 it is also a wholehearted trust,2 which the Holy Spirit creates in me3 by the gospel,4 that God has freely granted, not only to others but to me also,5 forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness, and salvation.6 These are gifts of sheer grace, granted solely by Christ’s merit.

Question 22

What then must a Christian believe?

Answer 22

All that is promised us in the gospel,1 a summary of which is taught us in the articles of our universal and undisputed Christian faith.

Question 23

What are these articles of our universal and undisputed Christian faith?

Answer 23

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Question 24

How are these articles divided?

Answer 24

Into three parts: God the Father and our creation; God the Son and our deliverance; and God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

Question 25

Since there is only one divine being,1 why do you speak of three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

Answer 25

Because that is how God has revealed himself in his Word:2 these three distinct persons are one, true, eternal God.

Question 26

What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth”?

Answer 26

That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them,1 who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence,2 is my God and Father because of Christ the Son.3 I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul,4 and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends upon me in this sad world.5 God is able to do this because he is almighty God6 and desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.

Question 27

What do you understand by the providence of God?

Answer 27

The almighty and ever present power of God1 by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures,2 and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness,78 prosperity and poverty—3 all things, in fact, come to us not by chance4 but by his fatherly hand.

Question 28

How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?

Answer 28

We can be patient when things go against us,1 thankful when things go well,2 and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that nothing in creation will separate us from his love.3 For all creatures are so completely in God’s hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.

Question 29

Why is the Son of God called “Jesus,” meaning “savior”?

Answer 29

Because he saves us from our sins,1 and because salvation should not be sought and cannot be found in anyone else.

Question 30

Do those who look for their salvation in saints, in themselves, or elsewhere really believe in the only savior Jesus?

Answer 30

No. Although they boast of being his, by their actions they deny the only savior, Jesus.1 Either Jesus is not a perfect savior, or those who in true faith accept this savior have in him all they need for their salvation.

Question 31

Why is he called “Christ,” meaning “anointed”?

Answer 31

Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit1 to be our chief prophet and teacher2 who fully reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our deliverance;3 our only high priest4 who has delivered us by the one sacrifice of his body,5 and who continually pleads our cause with the Father;6 and our eternal king7 who governs us by his Word and Spirit, and who guards us and keeps us in the freedom he has won for us.

Question 32

But why are you called a Christian?

Answer 32

Because by faith I am a member of Christ1 and so I share in his anointing.2 I am anointed to confess his name,3 to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks,4 to strive with a free conscience against sin and the devil in this life,5 and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for eternity.

Question 33

Why is he called God’s “only begotten Son” when we also are God’s children

Answer 33

Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God.1 We, however, are adopted children of God— adopted by grace through Christ.

Question 34

Why do you call him “our Lord”?

Answer 34

Because— not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood—1 he has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil,2 and has bought us, body and soul, to be his very own.

Question 35

What does it mean that he “was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary”?

Answer 35

That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God,1 took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit,2 from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary,3 a truly human nature so that he might also become David’s true descendant,4 like his brothers and sisters in every way5 except for sin.

Question 36

How does the holy conception and birth of Christ benefit you?

Answer 36

He is our mediator1 and, in God’s sight, he covers with his innocence and perfect holiness my sinfulness in which I was conceived.

Question 37

What do you understand by the word “suffered”?

Answer 37

That during his whole life on earth, but especially at the end, Christ sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race.182 This he did in order that, by his suffering as the only atoning sacrifice,2 he might deliver us, body and soul, from eternal condemnation,3 and gain for us God’s grace, righteousness, and eternal life.

Question 38

Why did he suffer “under Pontius Pilate” as judge?

Answer 38

So that he, though innocent, might be condemned by an earthly judge,1 and so free us from the severe judgment of God that was to fall on us.

Question 39

Is it significant that he was “crucified” instead of dying some other way?

Answer 39

Yes. By this I am convinced that he shouldered the curse which lay on me, since death by crucifixion was cursed by God.

Question 40

Why did Christ have to suffer death?

Answer 40

Because God’s justice and truth require it: 1 nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God.

Question 41

Why was he “buried”?

Answer 41

His burial testifies that he really died.

Question 42

Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die?

Answer 42

Our death does not pay the debt of our sins.1 Rather, it puts an end to our sinning and is our entrance into eternal life.

Question 43

What further benefit do we receive from Christ’s sacrifice and death on the cross?

Answer 43

By Christ’s power our old selves are crucified, put to death, and buried with him,1 so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer rule us,2 but that instead we may offer ourselves as a sacrifice of gratitude to him.

Question 44

Why does the creed add, “He descended to hell”?

Answer 44

To assure me during attacks of deepest dread and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from hellish anguish and torment.

Question 45

How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?

Answer 45

First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, so that he might make us share in the righteousness he obtained for us by his death.1 Second, by his power we too are already raised to a new life.2 Third, Christ’s resurrection is a sure pledge to us of our blessed resurrection.

Question 46

What do you mean by saying, “He ascended to heaven”?

Answer 46

That Christ, while his disciples watched, was taken up from the earth into heaven1 and remains there on our behalf2 until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.

Question 47

But isn’t Christ with us until the end of the world as he promised us?

Answer 47

Christ is true human and true God. In his human nature Christ is not now on earth;2 but in his divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit he is never absent from us.

Question 48

If his humanity is not present wherever his divinity is, then aren’t the two natures of Christ separated from each other?

Answer 48

Certainly not. Since divinity is not limited and is present everywhere,1 it is evident that Christ’s divinity is surely beyond the bounds of the humanity that has been taken on, but at the same time his divinity is in and remains personally united to his humanity.

Question 49

How does Christ’s ascension to heaven benefit us?

Answer 49

First, he is our advocate in heaven in the presence of his Father.1 Second, we have our own flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that Christ our head will also take us, his members, up to himself.2 Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a corresponding pledge.3 By the Spirit’s power we seek not earthly things but the things above, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.

Question 50

Why the next words: “and is seated at the right hand of God”?

Answer 50

Because Christ ascended to heaven to show there that he is head of his church,1 the one through whom the Father rules all things.