Part II: Deliverance: God the Holy Spirit
Lord's Day 20 (Q & A
53)
Lord's Day 21 (Q & A
54 55 56)
Lord's Day 22 (Q & A
57 58)
Lord's Day 23 (Q & A
59 60 61)
Lord's Day 24 (Q & A
62 63 64)
Q & A 53
Q. What do you believe
concerning "the Holy Spirit"?
A. First, he, as well as the Father and the Son,
is eternal God.^1
Second, he has been given to me personally,^2
so that, by true faith,
he makes me share in Christ and all his blessings,^3
comforts me,^4
and remains with me forever.^5
^1 Gen. 1:1-2; Matt. 28:19; Acts 5:3-4
^2 1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; Gal. 4:6
^3 Gal. 3:14
^4 John 15:26; Acts 9:31
^5 John 14:16-17; 1 Pet. 4:14
Q & A 54
Q. What do you believe
concerning "the holy catholic church"?
A. I believe that the Son of God
through his Spirit and Word,^1
out of the entire human race,^2
from the beginning of the world to its end,^3
gathers, protects, and preserves for himself
a community chosen for eternal life^4
and united in true faith.^5
And of this community I am^6 and always will be^7
a living member.
^1 John 10:14-16; Acts 20:28; Rom. 10:14-17; Col. 1:18
^2 Gen. 26:3b-4; Rev. 5:9
^3 Isa. 59:21; 1 Cor. 11:26
^4 Matt. 16:18; John 10:28-30; Rom. 8:28-30; Eph. 1:3-14
^5 Acts 2:42-47; Eph. 4:1-6
^6 1 John 3:14, 19-21
^7 John 10:27-28; 1 Cor. 1:4-9; 1 Pet. 1:3-5
Q & A 55
Q. What do you understand by
"the communion of saints"?
A. First, that believers one and all,
as members of this community,
share in Christ
and in all his treasures and gifts.^1
Second, that each member
should consider it a duty
to use these gifts
readily and cheerfully
for the service and enrichment
of the other members.^2
^1 Rom. 8:32; 1 Cor. 6:17; 12:4-7, 12-13; 1 John 1:3
^2 Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:20-27; 13:1-7; Phil. 2:4-8
Q & A: 56
Q. What do you believe
concerning "the forgiveness of sins"?
A. I believe that God,
because of Christ's atonement,
will never hold against me
any of my sins^1
nor my sinful nature
which I need to struggle against all my life.^2
Rather, in his grace
God grants me the righteousness of Christ
to free me forever from judgment.^3
^1 Ps. 103:3-4, 10, 12; Mic. 7:18-19; 2 Cor. 5:18-21; 1 John
1:7; 2:2
^2 Rom. 7:21-25
^3 John 3:17-18; Rom. 8:1-2
Q & A 57
Q. How does "the resurrection of the body"
comfort you?
A. Not only my soul
will be taken immediately after this life
to Christ its head,^1
but even my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ,
will be reunited with my soul
and made like Christ's glorious* body.^2
^1 Luke 23:43; Phil. 1:21-23
^2 1 Cor. 15:20, 42-46, 54; Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2
Q & A 58
Q. How does the article
concerning "life everlasting"
comfort you?
A. Even as I already now
experience in my heart
the beginning of eternal joy,^1
so after this life I will have
perfect blessedness such as
no eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no human heart has ever imagined:
a blessedness in which to praise God eternally.^2
^1 Rom. 14:17
^2 John 17:3; 1 Cor. 2:9
*The first edition had here the German word for "holy." This was
later corrected to the German word for "glorious."
Q & A 59
Q. What good does it do you, however,
to believe all this?
A. In Christ I am right with God
and heir to life everlasting.^1
^1 John 3:36; Rom. 1:17 (Hab. 2:4); Rom. 5:1-2
Q & A: 60
Q. How are you right with God?
A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.^1
Even though my conscience accuses me
of having grievously sinned against all God's
commandments
and of never having kept any of them,^2
and even though I am still inclined toward all evil,^3
nevertheless,
without my deserving it at all,^4
out of sheer grace,^5
God grants and credits to me
the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,^6
as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner,
as if I had been as perfectly obedient
as Christ was obedient for me.^7
All I need to do
is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.^8
^1 Rom. 3:21-28; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil 3:8-11
^2 Rom. 3:9-10
^3 Rom. 7:23
^4 Tit. 3:4-5
^5 Rom. 3:24; Eph. 2:8
^6 Rom. 4:3-5 (Gen. 15:6); 2 Cor. 5:17-19; 1 John 2:1-2
^7 Rom. 4:24-25; 2 Cor. 5:21
^8 John 3:18; Acts 16:30-31
Q & A 61
Q. Why do you say that
by faith alone
you are right with God?
A. It is not because of any value my faith has
that God is pleased with me.
Only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness
make me right with God.^1
And I can receive this righteousness and make it mine
in no other way than
by faith alone.^2
^1 1 Cor. 1:30-31
^2 Rom. 10:10; 1 John 5:10-12
Q & A 62
Q. Why can't the good we do
make us right with God,
or at least help make us right with him?
A. Because the righteousness
which can pass God's scrutiny
must be entirely perfect
and must in every way measure up to the divine
law.^1
Even the very best we do in this life
is imperfect
and stained with sin.^2
^1 Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:10 (Deut. 27:26)
^2 Isa. 64:6
Q & A 63
Q. How can you say that the good we do
doesn't earn anything
when God promises to reward it
in this life and the next?^1
A. This reward is not earned;
it is a gift of grace.^2
^1 Matt. 5:12; Heb. 11:6
^2 Luke 17:10; 2 Tim. 4:7-8
Q & A 64
Q. But doesn't this teaching
make people indifferent and wicked?
A. No.
It is impossible
for those grafted into Christ by true faith
not to produce fruits of gratitude.^1
^1 Luke 6:43-45; John 15:5
