The Heidelberg Catechism

Lord's Day 2 (Q & A 3 4 5)
Lord's Day 3 (Q & A 6 7 8)
Lord's Day 4 (Q & A 9 10 11)

Lord's Day 2

Q & A 3

Q. How do you come to know your misery?

A. The law of God tells me.^1

   ^1 Rom. 3:20; 7:7-25

Q & A 4

Q. What does God's law require of us?

A. Christ teaches us this in summary in Matthew 22—

      Love the Lord your God
      with all your heart
      and with all your soul
      and with all your mind
      and with all your strength.^1^*
      This is the first and greatest commandment.

      And the second is like it:
      Love your neighbor as yourself.^2

      All the Law and the Prophets hang
      on these two commandments.

   ^1 Deut. 6:5
   ^2 Lev. 19:18
   *Earlier and better manuscripts of Matthew 22 omit the words "and with all your strength." They are found in Mark 12:30.

Q & A 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 Rom. 3:9-20, 23; 1 John 1:8, 10
   ^2 Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 7:23-24; 8:7; Eph. 2:1-3; Titus 3:3

Lord's Day 3

Q & A 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 him in eternal happiness
   for his praise and glory.^5

   ^1 Gen. 1:31
   ^2 Gen. 1:26-27
   ^3 Eph. 4:24
   ^4 Col. 3:10
   ^5 Ps. 8

Q & A 7

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

A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents,
      Adam and Eve, in Paradise.^1
   This fall has so poisoned our nature^2
      that we are born sinners—
      corrupt from conception on.^3

   ^1 Gen. 3
   ^2 Rom. 5:12, 18-19
   ^3 Ps. 51:5

Q & A 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 Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Job 14:4; Isa. 53:6
   ^2 John 3:3-5

Lord's Day 4

Q & A 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 humans with the ability to keep the law.^1
   They, however, tempted by the devil,^2
      in reckless disobedience,^3
      robbed themselves and all their descendants of these gifts.^4

   ^1 Gen. 1:31; Eph. 4:24
   ^2 Gen. 3:13; John 8:44
   ^3 Gen. 3:6
   ^4 Rom. 5:12, 18, 19

Q & A 10

Q. Will God permit
   such disobedience and rebellion
   to go unpunished?

A. Certainly not.
   He is terribly angry
      about the sin we are born with
      as well as the sins we personally commit.

   As a just judge
   he punishes them now and in eternity.^1

   He has declared:
      "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do
      everything written in the Book of the Law.\9^2

   ^1 Ex. 34:7; Ps. 5:4-6; Nah. 1:2; Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:6; Heb. 9:27
   ^2 Gal. 3:10; Deut. 27:26

Q & A 11

Q. But isn't God also merciful?

A. God is certainly merciful,^1
   but he is also just.^2
   His justice demands
      that sin, committed against his supreme majesty,
      be punished with the supreme penalty—
      eternal punishment of body and soul.^3

   ^1 Ex. 34:6-7; Ps. 103:8-9
   ^2 Ex. 34:7; Deut. 7:9-11; Ps. 5:4-6; Heb. 10:30-31
   ^3 Matt. 25:35-46