The Heidelberg Catechism -Part I Misery

The Heidelberg Catechism, written in 1563, originated in one of the few pockets of Calvinistic faith. It is a remarkably warm-hearted and personalized confession of faith, eminently deserving of its popularity among Reformed churches to the present day.

Part I: Misery

Lord’s Day 2 

Question & Answer 3 

Q. How do you come to know your misery?

 

A. The law of God tells me. (1)

1. Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7-25

 

Question & Answer 4

Q. What does God’s law require of us?

 

A. 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.' (2)

"On these two commandments hang

all the laws and prophets."

 

1. Deuteronomy 6:5

2. Leviticus 19:18

 

Question & Answer 5

Q. Can you live up to all this perfectly?

 

A. No. (1)

I have a natural tendency

to hate God and my neighbor. (2)

 

1. Romans 3:9-20; Romans 3:23; 1 John 18, 10

2. Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 7:23-24; Romans 8:7;

    Ephesians 2:1-3; Titus 3:3

Lord’s Day 3 

Question & Answer 6

Q. Did God create people so wicked and perverse?

 

A. No.

God created them good (1) 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)

1. Genesis 1:31

2. Genesis 1:26-27

3. Ephesians 4:24

4. Colossians 3:10

5. Psalms 8

Question & Answer 7

Q. Then where does this corrupt human nature come from?

 

A. The fall and disobedience of our first parents,

Adam and Eve in Paradise. (1)

This fall has so poisoned or nature (2)

that we are all conceived and born in sinful condition. (3)

 

1. Genesis 3

2. Romans 5:12; Romans 5:18-19

3. Psalms 51:5

Question & Answer 8

Q. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do

any good and inclined toward all evil?

 

A. Yes, (1) unless we are born again by the Spirit of God. (2)

1. Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Job 14:4; Isaiah 53:6

2. John 3:3-5

 

Lord’s Day 4

 

Question & Answer 9

Q. But doesn't God do us an injustice by requiring in his law

what we are unable to do?

 

A. 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. (4)

 

1. Genesis 1:31; Ephesians 4:24

2. Genesis 3:13; John 8:44

3. Genesis 3:6

4. Romans 5:12; Romans 5:18-19

 

Question & Answer 10

Q. Does God permit such disobedience and

rebellion to go unpunished?

 

A. 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." (2)

1. Exodus 34:7; Psalms 5:4-6; Nahum 1:2; Romans 1:18;

    Ephesians 5:6; Hebrew 9:27

2. Galatians 3:10; Deuteronomy 27:26

 

Question & Answer 11

Q. But isn't God also merciful?

 

A. 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 for body and soul. (3)

 

1. Exodus 34:6-7; Psalms 103:8-9

2. Exodus 34:7; Deuteronomy 7:9-11; Psalms 5:4-6; Hebrew 10:30-31

3. Matthew 25:35-46

Source: Christian Reformed Church