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)
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
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
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
