Tag Archives: Heidelberg Catechism

Truly God, Truly Man

Posted on by
Reply

Q. 16. Why must he be a true and righteous man?

A. Because God’s righteousness requires that man who has sinned should make reparation for sin, but the man who is himself a sinner cannot pay for others.

Q. 17. Why must he at the same time be true God?

A. So that by the power of his divinity he might bear as a man the burden of God’s wrath, and recover for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

Q. 18. Who is this mediator who is at the same time true God and a true and perfectly righteous man?

A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely given to us for complete redemption and righteousness.

Q. 19. Whence do you know this?

A. From the holy gospel, which God himself revealed in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, afterward proclaimed through the holy patriarchs and prophets and foreshadowed through the sacrifices and other rites of the Old Covenant, and finally fulfilled through his own well-beloved Son.

 These questions today bring us to the heart of our Christian Faith.  If you want to know how Christianity is different from all the other religions in the world, look no further.  The Apostle Paul wrote, “God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (2 Cor 5:19).  In no other religion will you find God breaking the barrier between the transcendent and the immanent.  Only in Christ will you find God bearing our burden of sin and restoring us to righteousness and life.  Indeed, Christ alone is “our righteousness, our holiness, our redemption” (1 Cor 1:30).

The entire testimony of Scripture makes this known.   From Genesis to Revelation we are promised a deliverer, and we find our deliverer in Christ. The law demonstrated our need, the prophets told us what to expect, the Temple sacrifice foreshadowed how Christ would complete our salvation.

The truth remains, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Prayer

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we come to you, we praise you, and we give you thanks for our righteousness, our holiness, our redemption which is a gift from Christ’s own hand.  We thank you that there is no other name but Jesus, not even our own, by which we are saved.  It is in his name we pray.  Amen.

Going Under

Posted on by
Reply

Q. 12. Since, then, by the righteous judgment of God we have deserved temporal and eternal punishment, how may we escape this punishment, come again to grace, and be reconciled to God?

A. God wills that his righteousness be satisfied; therefore, payment in full must be made to his righteousness, either by ourselves or by another.

Q. 13. Can we make this payment ourselves?

A. By no means. On the contrary, we increase our debt each day.

Q. 14. Can any mere creature make the payment for us?

A. No. First of all, God does not want to punish any other creature for man’s debt. Moreover, no mere creature can bear the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin and redeem others from it.

Q. 15. Then what kind of mediator and redeemer must we seek?

A. One who is a true and righteous man and yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is at the same time true God.

There once was a group of believers who were meeting by a river when one of their group fell into the water.  It was obvious that the man couldn’t swim, as he thrashed about wildly.  One of the believers was a strong swimmer and was called on to rescue the drowning man.  Though he was able to save him, he just watched until the wild struggles subsided.  Then he dove into the water and pulled the man to safety.

When the rescue was over, the rescuer explained his slowness to act.  “If I had jumped in immediately, he would have been strong enough to drown us both.  Only by waiting until he was too exhausted to try to save himself, could I save him.”

It seems to be all too easy for us to be like that drowning man.  Our self efforts can actually prevent us from being saved!  Unfortunately some people must reach the point of being too exhausted to continue trying to save themselves (by dealing with their own sin) before they become willing to trust in the Savior and accept his gift of salvation.

We cannot save ourselves; the water is too deep, the debt is too great.  We need a savior who knows the danger (our sin), but is also stronger than the waves.  We need Jesus!

Prayer

Father God, we know our debt is too great to repay.  We thank you that in Christ, you have removed our sin as far as the east is from the west.  Help us to trust and rely in him alone for our salvation. 

For Jesus’ sake.  Amen.