Heidelberg Catechism Part 1

LORD'S DAY 1 Question 1: What is thy only comfort in life and death? Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with His precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto Him. Question 2: How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily? Answer: Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance. 1 Cor. 6:19-20, What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Rom.

14:7-9, For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whetherwe die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, weare the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living. 1 Cor. 3:23, And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

1 Pet. 1:18-19, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. John 1:7, The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through Him might believe. John 3:8, He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Heb. 2:14-15, Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. John 6:39, And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. John 10:28-29, And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.

Luke 21:18, But there shall not an hair of your head perish. Matt. 10:30, But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Rom. 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

2 Cor. 1:22, Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. 2 Cor. 5:5, Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 1Rom.

8:14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God Rom. 7:22, For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Luke 24:47, And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 1 Cor. 6:10-11, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. John 9:41, Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth. Rom. 3:10, 19, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. John 17:3, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Eph. 5:8-10, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. THE FIRST PART OF THE MISERY OF MAN LORD'S DAY 2 Question 3: Whence knowest thou thy misery? Answer: Out of the law of God. Question 4: What doth the law of God require of us? Answer: Christ teaches us that briefly, Matt. 22:37-40, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.

This is the first and the great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Question 5: Canst thou keep all these things perfectly? Answer: In no wise; for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor.4 1Rom 3:20, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin 2Luke 10:27,And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. 3Rom.

3:10, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. John 1:8, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us 4Rom. 8:7, Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Tit. 3:3, For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

LORD'S DAY 3 Question 6: Did God then create man so wicked and perverse? Answer: By no means; but God created man good, and after His own image, in true righteousness and holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him and live with Him in eternal happiness to glorify and praise Him. Question 7: Whence then proceeds this depravity of human nature? Answer: From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise; hence our nature is become so corrupt, that we are all conceived and born in sin. Question 8: Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness? Answer: Indeed we are; except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God. Gen. 1:31, And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.

And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Gen. 1:26-27, And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. Col.

3:10, And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him. Eph. 4:24, And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph. 1:6, To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.

1 Cor. 6:20, For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. Gen. 3:6, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Rom.

5:12,8-19, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned; Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the right- eousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Psa. 51:5, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Gen.

5:3, And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth. Gen. 6:5, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Job 14:4, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one. Job 15:14, 16, What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?; How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water? John 3:5, Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Eph. 2:5, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved). LORD'S DAY 4 Question 9: Doth not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him in His law, that which he cannot perform? Answer: Not at all; for God made man capable of performing it; but man, by the instigation of the devil, and his own wilful disobedience, deprived himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts. Question 10: Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished? Answer: By no means; but is terribly displeased with our original as well as actual sins; and will punish them in His just judgment temporally and eternally, as He hath declared, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them." Question 11: Is not God then also merciful? Answer: God is indeed merciful, but also just; therefore His justice requires, that sin which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment of body and soul.

Eccl. 7:29, Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions. John 8:44, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

2 Cor. 11:3, But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Gen. 3:4, 7, And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Rom.

5:12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Psa. 5:5, The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Rom. 1:18, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

Deut. 28:15, But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee. Heb. 9:27, And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Deut.

27:26, Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words ofthis law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen. Gal. 3:10, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Ex.

34:6, And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Ex. 20:5, Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me. Job 34:10-11, Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that He should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that He should commit iniquity. For the work of a man shall He render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.

Psa. 5:5-6, The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. Gen. 2:17, But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Rom. 6:23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. [Previous] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 [Next] [Table of Contents] [Confessions Page]