Heidelberg Catechism Quotes

The Heidelberg Catechism, Question and Answer 22: Q. “What, then, must a Christian believe? A. All that is promised us in the gospel, a summary of which is taught us in the articles of the Apostles’ Creed, our universally acknowledged confession of faith.

I’ll forever be grateful to my childhood pastor for making me read the Heidelberg Catechism and meet in his office with him to talk about it before I made a profession of faith in the fourth grade. I was nervous to meet with him, even more nervous to meet before all the elders. But both meetings were pleasant. And besides, I was forced to read through all 129 questions and answers at age nine.That was a blessing I didn’t realize at the time. Ever since then I’ve had a copy of the Catechism and have grown to understand it and cherish it more and more over the years.

you were to ask Christians around the world what God wants from the people he has saved, most would probably answer “obedience.” There is great truth in that answer, but it is not enough. If the sovereign God’s primary goal in sanctifying believers is simply to make us more holy, it is hard to explain why most of us make only “small beginnings” on the road to personal holiness in this life, as the Heidelberg Catechism puts it (see Catechism Q. 113). In reality, God wants something much more precious in our lives than mere outward conformity to his will. After all, obedience is tricky business and can be confusing to us. We can be obedient outwardly while sinning wildly on the inside, as the example of the Pharisees makes clear. In fact, many of my worst sins have been committed in the context of my best obedience.

The substance of our comfort therefore is briefly this--That we are Christ's, and through him reconciled to the Father, that we may be beloved of him and saved, the Holy Ghost and eternal life being given unto us.

Q. What is your only comfort in life and death? A. 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 has 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, wherefore by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him

Because God is with us in the human struggle, we are no longer destined to fruitlessly rearrange the circumstances of our lives. We no longer depend on another move, another relationship, or another weight-loss program to rescue us from nothingness, from that persistent ache in the pit of our souls. We can flourish because in Jesus Christ the Creator came to us and restored our dignity as God’s children.

This, therefore, is that christian comfort, spoken of in this question of the catechism, which is an only and solid comfort, both in life and death--a comfort consisting in the assurance of the free remission of sin, and of reconciliation with God, by and on account of Christ, and a certain expectation of eternal life, impressed upon the heart by the holy Spirit through the gospel, so that we have no doubt but that we are the property of Christ, and are beloved of God for his sake, and saved forever, according to the declaration of the Apostle Paul:

Not fewer than three sermons a week were to be preached "in all public places," and on the afternoon of Sunday the Heidelberg Catechism was to be expounded in all the churches.

Some take this phrase to mean that Christ suffered the pains of hell while on the Cross. Calvin takes this approach, as does the Heidelberg Catechism.2

While there are and will be disagreements concerning “pro-life” and “pro-choice” positions, there can hardly be disagreement about the incursion of the state into a zone of human freedom and responsibility. We may pause over the question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism: What is your only comfort, in life and in death? That I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—not to myself but to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ . .

The sixteenth-century Heidelberg Catechism, which unfortunately is little known among believers today, provides a framework for understanding the monergistic work of the Spirit. It’s structured around three words: guilt, grace, and gratitude. These words refer to our guilt, God’s grace, and our response of gratitude.

For me, the right to claim Question One of the Heidelberg Catechism as my own, as the most profound statement of a truly childlike faith and ethic, is too precious to cede either to the numpties of postmodern evangelicalism or the geniuses of Rome, even the great Newman:

Lord's Day 25 Q. It is through faith alone that we share in Christ and all his benefits: where then does that faith come from?  A. The Holy Spirit produces it in our hearts1 by the preaching of the holy gospel,2and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments.3 1 John 3:5; 1 Cor. 2:10-14; Eph. 2:8 2 Rom. 10:17; 1 Pet. 1:23-25 3 Matt. 28:19-20; 1 Cor. 10:16 Q. What are sacraments?  A. Sacraments are visible, holy signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that by our use of them he might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and seal that promise.1 And this is God's gospel promise: to grant us forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace because of Christ's one sacrifice accomplished on the cross.2 1 Gen. 17:11; Deut. 30:6; Rom. 4:11 2 Matt. 26:27-28; Acts 2:38; Heb. 10:10 Q. Are both the word and the sacraments then intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation?  A. Yes! In the gospel the Holy Spirit teaches us and by the holy sacraments confirms that our entire salvation rests on Christ's one sacrifice for us on the cross.1 1 Rom. 6:3; 1 Cor. 11:26; Gal. 3:27 Q. How many sacraments did Christ institute in the New Testament?  A. Two: holy baptism and the holy supper.1 1 Matt. 28:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26

My comfort, both in life and death, Is knowing I am not my own, But every moment, every breath Belongs to Christ and him alone.

We all lose dreams and cherished people, which could make life a continual experience in despair. But if we lean on the great two-thousand-year-old faith of the church, then life is a continual experience of the salvation of God, to whom we belong. In God’s hands nothing, and no one, is ever lost. Our only comfort. According

Scripture teaches that God created all things ex nihilo—“out of nothing.” Therefore all things derive their existence from the Creator, even the dust of the ground that God used to create humanity. Apart from the Creator there is only nothingness, or non-being.5 So when human beings base our identities on anything other than God—a job, being in love, accumulating wealth—it results only in returning to nothing.

the Heidelberg Catechism asks, “What comfort is there that Christ shall come to judge?” Answer: “That the one who comes to judge is the very same person who previously came to be judged for my sake and has removed all curse from me.”8

summaries of Christian teaching, such as the Apostles’ Creed and the Heidelberg Catechism, and has informed the shape of historic Christian worship.

Thirdly, that we may know that whatever duties we perform towards God and our neighbor, are not meritorious, but are a declaration of our thankfulness; for that which we do from gratitude, we acknowledge we have not deserved.

Maybe God has placed within us the awareness of our mortality to prompt us to cast ourselves upon the ever-living God. The Heidelberg Catechism of 1563 begins with the question, What is your only comfort in life and death? The answer, so beautifully put, is: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who, with his precious blood, has fully paid for all my sins, and delivered me from 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; indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation.