Heidelberg Catechism of 1563: The First Part - Of the Misery of Man

2^nd Lord’s Day

Question 3. Whence knowest thou thy misery?

Answer: Out of the law of God.^a

References:
(a) Rom 3:20

Question 4. What does the law of God require of us?

Answer: Christ teaches us that briefly, Mat 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 neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”^a

References:
(a) Deu 6:5; Lev 19:8; Mar 12:30; Luk 10:27

Question 5. Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?

Answer: In no wise;^a for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbour.^b

References:
(a) Rom 3:10; Rom 3:20; Rom 3:23; 1Jo 1:8; 1Jo 1:10
(b) Rom 8:7; Eph 2:3; Tts 3:3; Gen 6:5; Gen 8:21; Jer 17:9; Rom 7:23

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3^rd Lord’s Day

Question 6. Did God then create man so wicked and perverse?

Answer: By no means; but God created man good,^a and after his own image,^b 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.^c

References:
(a) Gen 1:31
(b) Gen 1:26-27
(c) Col 3:9-10; Eph 4:23-24; 2Co 3:18

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;^a hence our nature is become so corrupt, that we are all conceived and born in sin.^b

References:
(a) Gen 3; Rom 5:12; Rom 5:18-19
(b) Psa 51:5; Gen 5:3

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;^a except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.^b

References:
(a) Gen 8:21; Jhn 3:6; Gen 6:5; Job 14:4; Job 15:14; Job 15:16; Isa 53:6
(b) Jhn 3:3; Jhn 3:5; 1Co 12:3; 2Co 3:5

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4^th Lord’s Day

Question 9. Does not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him in his law, that which he cannot perform?

Answer: Not at all;^a for God made man capable of performing it; but man, by the instigation of the devil,^b and his own wilful disobedience,^c deprived himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts.

References:
(a) Eph 4:24; Ecc 7:29
(b) Jhn 8:44; 2Co 11:3; Gen 3:4
(c) Gen 3:6; Rom 5:12; Gen 3:13; 1Ti 2:13-14

Question 10. Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

Answer: By no means; but is terribly displeased^a with our original as well as actual sins; and will punish them in his just judgment temporally and eternally,^b as he has declared, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”^c

References:
(a) Gen 2:17; Rom 5:12
(b) Psa 5:5; Psa 50:21; Nah 1:2; Exd 20:5; Exd 34:7; Rom 1:18; Eph 5:6; Hbr 9:27
(c) Deu 27:26; Gal 3:10

Question 11. Is not God then also merciful?

Answer: God is indeed merciful,^a but also just;^b 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.

References:
(a) Exd 34:6-7; Exd 20:6
(b) Psa 7:9; Exd 20:5; Exd 23:7; Exd 34:7; Psa 5:5-6; Nah 1:2-3