Cross Culture Church

OUR BELIEFS

We are rooted firmly in the reformed tradition and are therefore committed to the following historical confessions:

General Confessions

1. I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
2. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;
3. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary;
4. suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He endured the suffering of hell*.
5. On the third day He arose from the dead;
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
7. from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit;
9. I believe a holy catholic** Christian church, the communion of saints;
10. the forgiveness of sins;
11. the resurrection of the body;
12. and the life everlasting.
* Literally: He descended into hell
** The word “catholic” refers not to a denomination, but to the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered died and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.

1. Whoever wills to be in a state of salvation, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic [apostolic/universal] faith,
2. which except everyone shall have kept whole and undefiled without doubt he will perish eternally.
3. Now the catholic faith is that we worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity,
4. neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance.
5. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit.
6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is One, the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.
7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit;
8. the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated;
9. the father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite;
10. the Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
11. And yet not three eternals but one eternal,
12. as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one infinite.
13. So, likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty;
14. and yet not three almighties but one almighty.
15. So the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God;
16. and yet not three Gods but one God.
17. So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;
18. and yet not three Lords but one Lord.
19. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord;
20. so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three Gods or three Lords.
21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
22. The Son is of the Father alone, nor made nor created but begotten.
23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding.
24. So there is one Father not three Fathers, one Son not three Sons, and Holy Spirit not three Holy Spirits.
25. And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less,
26. but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal.
27. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshipped.
28. He therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think thus of the Trinity.
29. But it is necessary to eternal salvation that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
30. The right faith therefore is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.
31. He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds, and He is man of the substance of His mother born in the world;
32. perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning soul and human flesh;
33. equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood.
34. Who although He be God and Man yet He is not two but one Christ;
35. one however not by conversion of the GodHead in the flesh, but by taking of the Manhood in God;
36. one altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person.
37. For as the reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.
38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell,
39. rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father,
40. from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies
42. and shall give account for their own works.
43. And they that have done good shall go into life eternal, and they who indeed have done evil into eternal fire.
44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man shall have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of salvation.

Specific Confessions

Lord’s Day 1
Question 1: What is your only comfort in life and death?
Answer: That I am not my own1, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death2, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ3. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood4, and has set me free from all the power of the devil5. He also preserves me6 in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head7; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation8. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life9 and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him10.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:19.
2. Romans 14:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10.
3. 1 Corinthians 3:23; Titus 2:14.
4. 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 2:12.
5. John 8:34-36; 1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14.
6. John 6:39; John 10:27-30; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Peter 1:5.
7. Matthew 10:30; Luke 21:18.
8. Romans 8:28.
9. Romans 8:16; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14.
10. Romans 8:14; 1 John 3:3.

Lord’s Day 1
Question 2: What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
Answer: Three realities1: First, how great my sins and misery are2; second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery3; third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance4.
1. Matthew 11:28-30; Ephesians 5:8.
2. Matthew 9:12; John 9:41; Romans 3:10; 1 John 1:9-10.
3. Luke 24:46-47; John 17:3; Acts 4:12; Acts 10:43; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:3-7.
4. Psalms 50:14-15; Psalms 116:12-13; Matthew 5:16; Romans 6:12-13; Ephesians 5:10; 2 Timothy 2:15; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:12.

Lord’s Day 2
Question 3: From where do you know your sins and misery?
Answer: From the law of God1.
1. Romans 3:20

Lord’s Day 2
Question 4: What does God’s law require of us?
Answer: Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22: ” Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments1.”
1. Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27.

Lord’s Day 2
Question 5: Can you keep all this perfectly?
Answer: No1, I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbour2.
1. Romans 3:10; Romans 3:20; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10.
2. Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 7:23; Romans 8:7; Ephesians 2:3; Titus 3:3.

Lord’s Day 3
Question 6: Did God, then, create man so wicked and perverse?
Answer: No, on the contrary, God created man good1 and in His image2, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness to praise and glorify Him3.
1. Genesis 1:31.
2. Genesis 1:26-27.
3. 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10.

Lord’s Day 3
Question 7: From where, then, did man’s depraved nature come?
Answer: From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise1, for there our nature became so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin2.
1. Genesis 3; Romans 5:12; Romans 5:18-19.
2. Genesis 5:3; Psalms 51:7.

Lord’s Day 3
Question 8: But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined to all evil?
Answer: Yes1, unless we are regenerated by the Spirit of God2.
1. Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Job 14:4; Job 15:14; Job 15:16; Job 15:35; Isaiah 53:6; John 3:6; Titus 3:3.
2. John 3:3; John 3:5; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 2 Corinthians 3:5.

Lord’s Day 4
Question 9: But does not God do man an injustice by requiring in His law what man cannot do?
Answer: No1, for God so created man that he was able to do it2. But man, at the instigation of the devil, in deliberate disobedience3 robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.
1. Genesis 1:26-27; Ephesians 4:24.
2. Genesis 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:13-14.
3. Genesis 3:4-6; Romans 5:12.

Lord’s Day 4
Question 10: Will God allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?
Answer: Certainly not. He is terribly displeased1 with our original sin as well as our actual sins. Therefore He will punish them by a just judgment both now and eternally2, as He has declared: ” Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 3
1. Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12.
2. Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:7; Psalms 5:6; Psalms 50:21; Nahum 1:2; Romans 1:18; Ephesians 5:6; Hebrews 9:27.
3. Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10.

Lord’s Day 4
Question 11: But is God not also merciful?
Answer: God is indeed merciful1, but He is also just2. His justice requires that sin committed against the most high majesty of God also be punished with the most severe, that is, with everlasting, punishment of body and soul.
1. Exodus 34:6-7; Exodus 20:6.
2. Exodus 20:5; Exodus 23:7; Exodus 34:7; Psalms 5:5-6; Psalms 7:10; Nahum 1:2-3.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 12: Since, according to God’s righteous judgment we deserve temporal and eternal punishment, how can we escape this punishment and be again received into favour?
Answer: God demands that His justice be satisfied1. Therefore we must make full payment, either by ourselves or through another2.
1. Genesis 2:7; Exodus 20:5; Exodus 23:7; Ezekiel 18:4; Luke 16:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:6.
2. Matthew 5:26; Romans 8:3-4.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 13: Can we by ourselves make this payment?
Answer: Certainly not. On the contrary, we daily increase our debt1.
1. Job 4:18-19; Job 9:2; Job 15:15-16; Psalms 130:3; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 16:26; Matthew 18:25.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 14: Can any mere creature pay for us?
Answer: No. In the first place, God will not punish another creature for the sin which man has committed1. Furthermore, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it2.
1. Genesis 3:17; Ezekiel 18:4.
2. Psalms 130:3; Nahum 1:6.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 15: What kind of mediator and deliverer must we seek?
Answer: One who is a true1 and righteous2 man, and yet more powerful than all creatures; that is, one who is at the same time true God3.
1. 1 Corinthians 15:21.
2. Hebrews 7:26.
3. Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:5; Jeremiah 23:6; Luke 11:22; Romans 8:3-4.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 16: Why must He be a true and righteous man?
Answer: He must be a true man because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should pay for sin1. He must be a righteous man because one who himself is a sinner cannot pay for others2.
1. Isaiah 53:4-5; Jeremiah 33:15; Ezekiel 18:4; Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 5:18; 1 Corinthians 15:21; Hebrews 2:14-16.
2. Psalms 49:8; Hebrews 7:26-27; 1 Peter 3:18.

Lord’s Day 6
Question 17: Why must He at the same time be true God?
Answer: He must be true God so that by the power of His divine nature1 He might bear in His human nature2 the burden of God’s wrath3, and might obtain for us and restore to us righteousness and life4.
1. Isaiah 9:5; Isaiah 63:3; Romans 1:4; Hebrews 1:3.
2. Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:11.
3. Deuteronomy 4:24; Psalms 130:3; Nahum 1:6.
4. Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 53:11; Isaiah 54:8; John 3:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 3:18.

Lord’s Day 6
Question 18: But who is that Mediator who at the same time is true God1 and a true2 and righteous man3?
Answer: Our Lord Jesus Christ4, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption5.
1. Isaiah 9:6; Jeremiah 23:6; Malachi 3:1; Romans 8:3; Romans 9:5; Galatians 4:4; 1 John 5:20.
2. Luke 1:42; Luke 2:6-7; Romans 1:3; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 2:16-17; Hebrews 4:15.
3. Isaiah 53:9; Isaiah 53:11; Jeremiah 23:5; Luke 1:35; John 8:46; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 1:19; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 Peter 3:18.
4. Matthew 1:23; Luke 2:11; John 1:1; John 1:14; John 1:18; John 14:6; Romans 9:5; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:9.
5. 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Lord’s Day 6
Question 19: From where do you know this?
Answer: From the holy gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Paradise1. Later, He had it proclaimed by the patriarchs2 and prophets3, and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law4. Finally, He had it fulfilled through His only Son5.
1. Genesis 3:15.
2. Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 49:10.
3. Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 49:5-6; Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 53; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Jeremiah 31:3233; Jeremiah 32:39-41; Micah 7:18-20; John 5:46; Acts 3:22-24; Acts 10:43; Romans 1:2; Hebrews 1:1. –
4. Colossians 2:7; Hebrews 10:1; Hebrews 10:7.
5. Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:24; Galatians 4:4-5; Colossians 2:17.

Lord’s Day 7
Question 20: Are all men, then, saved by Christ just as they perished through Adam?
Answer: No1. Only those are saved who by a true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all His benefits2.
1. Matthew 7:14; Matthew 22:14.
2. Psalms 2:12; Isaiah 53:11; Mark 16:16; John 1:12-13; John 3:16; John 3:18; John 3:36; Romans 3:22; Romans 11:20; Hebrews 4:2-3; Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 10:39; Hebrews 11:6.

Lord’s Day 7
Question 21: What is true faith?
Answer: True faith is a sure knowledge whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word1. At the same time it is a firm confidence2 that not only to others, but also to me3, God has granted forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation4, out of mere grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits5. This faith the Holy Spirit works in my heart by the gospel6.
1. 1 Samuel 2:3; Job 36:3-4; Psalms 119:66; Proverbs 2:1-9; Proverbs 8:10; 2 Corinthians 2:14;.
2. Psalms 9:11; Romans 4:18-21; Romans 10:10; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 11:7; James 1:6.
3. Acts 10:44; Acts 16:14; Romans 1:16; Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 1:21.
4. Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:38.
5. Luke 1:77-78; Acts 10:43; Romans 3:24; Romans 5:19; Ephesians 2:8.
6. Matthew 16:17; John 3:5; John 6:29; Acts 16:14; 2 Corinthians 4:13; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 1:19.

Lord’s Day 7
Question 22: What, then, must a Christian believe?
Answer: All that is promised us in the gospel1, which the articles of our catholic and undoubted Christian faith teach us in a summary.
1. Matthew 28:19; Mark 1:15; John 20:31.

Lord’s Day 7
Question 23: What are these articles?
Answer: (1) I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. (2) I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord; (3) He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; (4) suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He endured the suffering of hell*. (5) On the third day He arose from the dead; (6) He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty; (7)
from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. (8) I believe in the Holy Spirit; (9) I believe a holy catholic Christian church, the communion of saints; (10) the forgiveness of sins; (11) the resurrection of the body; (12) and the life everlasting. *Literally: He descended into hell

Lord’s Day 8
Question 24: How are these articles divided?
Answer: Into three parts: the first is about God the Father and our creation; the second about God the Son and our redemption; the third about God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

Lord’s Day 8
Question 25: Since there is only one God, why do you speak of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? 1
Answer: Because God has so revealed Himself in His Word2 that these three distinct persons are the one, true, eternal God.
1. Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 45:5; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; Ephesians 4:4-6.
2. Genesis 1:2-3; Psalms 33:6; Isaiah 6:1; Isaiah 6:3; Isaiah 48:16; Isaiah 6:1; Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19; Luke 4:18; John 14:26; John 15:26; 2 Corinthians 13:13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 2:18; Titus 3:5-6; 1 John 5:7-8.

Lord’s Day 9
Question 26: What do you believe when you say: I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?
Answer: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and all that is in them1, and who still upholds and governs them by His eternal counsel and providence2, is, for the sake of Christ His Son, my God and my Father3. In Him I trust so completely as to have no doubt that He will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul4, and will also turn to my good whatever adversity He sends me in this life of sorrow5. He is able to do so as almighty God6, and willing also as a faithful Father7.
1. Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:3; Exodus 20:11; Job 33:4; Job 38, 39; Psalms 33:6; Isaiah 40:26; Isaiah 45:7; Acts 4:24; Acts 14:15.
2. Psalms 104:27-30; Psalms 115:3; Matthew 10:29-30; Romans 11:36; Ephesians 1:11; Hebrews 1:3.
3. John 1:12; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5-7; Ephesians 1:5.
4. Psalms 55:23; Matthew 6:25-26; Luke 12:22-24.
5. Romans 8:28.
6. Isaiah 46:4; Romans 8:37-39; Romans 10:12.
7. Matthew 6:32-33; Matthew 7:9-11.

Lord’s Day 10
Question 27: What do you understand by the providence of God?
Answer: God’s providence is His almighty and ever present power1, whereby, as with His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures2, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years3, food and drink, health and sickness4, riches and poverty5, indeed, all things, come not by chance but by His fatherly hand6.
1. Isaiah 29:15-16; Jeremiah 23:23-24; Ezekiel 8:12; Acts 17:25-28.
2. Hebrews 1:3.
3. Jeremiah 5:24; Acts 14:17.
4. John 9:3.
5. Proverbs 22:2.
6. Proverbs 16:33; Matthew 10:29.

Lord’s Day 10
Question 28: What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His providence?
Answer: We can be patient in adversity1, thankful in prosperity2, and with a view to the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father3 that no creature shall separate us from His love4; for all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move5.
1. Job 1:21-22; Psalms 39:10; Romans 5:3; James 1:3.
2. Deuteronomy 8:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
3. Psalms 55:23; Romans 5:4.
4. Romans 8:38-39.
5. Job 1:12; Job 2:6; Proverbs 21:1; Acts 17:25-28.

Lord’s Day 11
Question 29: Why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is, Saviour?
Answer: Because He saves us from all our sins1, and because salvation is not to be sought or found in anyone else2.
1. Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 7:25.
2. Isaiah 43:11; John 15:4-5; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 5:11-12.

Lord’s Day 11
Question 30: Do those believe in the only Saviour Jesus who seek their salvation and well-being from saints, in themselves, or anywhere else?
Answer: No. Though they boast of Him in words, they in fact deny the only Saviour Jesus1. For one of two things must be true: either Jesus is not a complete Saviour, or those who by true faith accept this Saviour must find in Him all that is necessary for their salvation2.
1. 1 Corinthians 1:13; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; Galatians 5:4.
2. Isaiah 9:6; Colossians 1:19-20; Colossians 2:10; Hebrews 12:2; 1 John 1:7.

Lord’s Day 12
Question 31: Why is He called Christ, that is, Anointed?
Answer: Because He has been ordained by God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Spirit1, to be our chief Prophet and Teacher2, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption3; our only High Priest4, who by the one sacrifice of His body has redeemed us5, and who continually intercedes for us before the Father6; and our eternal King, who governs us by His Word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for us7.
1. Psalms 45:8; Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38; Hebrews 1:9.
2. Deuteronomy 18:15; Isaiah 55:4; Acts 26:22; Acts 7:37.
3. John 1:18; John 15:15; Acts 3:22.
4. Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 7:21.
5. Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 10:14.
6. Romans 5:9-10; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 9:24; 1 John 2:1.
7. Psalms 2:6; Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:5; Matthew 28:18; Luke 1:33; John 10:28; Revelation 12:10-11.

Lord’s Day 12
Question 32: Why are you called a Christian?1
Answer: Because I am a member of Christ by faith2 and thus share in His anointing3, so that I may as prophet confess His Name4, as priest present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him5, and as king fight with a free and good conscience against sin and the devil in this life6, and hereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures7.
1. Acts 11:26.
2. 1 Corinthians 6:15.
3. Acts 2:17; 1 John 2:27.
4. Matthew 10:32; Romans 10:10.
5. Romans 12:1; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 5:10.
6. Romans 6:12-13; Galatians 5:16-17; Ephesians 6:11; 1 Timothy 1:18-19; 1 Peter 2:11.
7. Matthew 25:34; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 22:5.

Lord’s Day 13
Question 33: Why is He called God’s only begotten Son, since we also are children of God?
Answer: Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God1. We, however, are children of God by adoption, through grace, for Christ’s sake2.
1. John 1:14; John 1:18; John 3:16; Romans 8:32; Hebrews 1:1-2; 1 John 4:9.
2. John 1:12-13; Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:5-6.

Lord’s Day 13
Question 34: Why do you call Him our Lord?
Answer: Because He has ransomed us, body and soul, from all our sins, not with silver or gold but with His precious blood, and has freed us from all the power of the devil to make us His own possession1.
1. John 20:28; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 Peter 2:9.

Lord’s Day 14
Question 35: What do you confess when you say: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary?
Answer: The eternal Son of God, who is1 and remains true and eternal God2, took upon Himself true human nature from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary3, through the working of the Holy Spirit4. Thus He is also the true seed of David5, and like His brothers in every respect6, yet without sin7.
1. John 1:1; John 17:3; Romans 1:3; Colossians 1:15; 1 John 5:20.
2. Romans 9:5.
3. Luke 1:31; Luke 1:42-43; Galatians 4:4.
4. Matthew 1:18; Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35.
5. 2 Samuel 7:12; Psalms 132:11; Matthew 1:1; Luke 1:32; Acts 2:30; Romans 1:3.
6. Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 2:17.
7. Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26-27.

Lord’s Day 14
Question 36: What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ?
Answer: He is our Mediator1, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin, in which I was conceived and born2.
1. Hebrews 2:16-18; Hebrews 7:26-27.
2. Psalms 32:1; Isaiah 53:11; Romans 8:3-4; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; Galatians 4:4-5; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 Peter 3:18.

Lord’s Day 15
Question 37: What do you confess when you say that He suffered?
Answer: During all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end, Christ bore in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race1. Thus, by His suffering, as the only atoning sacrifice2, He has redeemed our body and soul from everlasting damnation3, and obtained for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life4.
1. Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:12; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18.
2. Isaiah 53:10; Romans 3:25; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:14; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10.
3. Galatians 3:13; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18-19.
4 John 3:16; John 6:51; Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 10:19.

Lord’s Day 15
Question 38: Why did He suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge?
Answer: Though innocent, Christ was condemned by an earthly judge1, and so He freed us from the severe judgment of God that was to fall on us2.
1. Matthew 27:24; Luke 23:14-15; John 18:38; John 19:4; John 19:11.
2. Psalms 69:5; Isaiah 53:4-5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13.

Lord’s Day 15
Question 39: Does it have a special meaning that Christ was crucified and did not die in a different way?
Answer: Yes. Thereby I am assured that He took upon Himself the curse1 which lay on me, for a crucified one was cursed by God2.
1. Galatians 3:13.
2. Deuteronomy 21:23.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 40: Why was it necessary for Christ to humble Himself even unto death?
Answer: Because of the justice and truth of God1 satisfaction for our sins could be made in no other way than by the death of the Son of God2.
1. Genesis 2:17.
2. Romans 8:3-4; Philippians 2:6-8; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 2:14-15.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 41: Why was he buried?
Answer: His burial testified that He had really died1.
1. Matthew 27:59-60; Luke 23:53; John 19:38; Acts 13:29; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 42: Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die?
Answer: Our death is not a payment for our sins1, but it puts an end to sin and is an entrance into eternal life2.
1. Psalms 49:8; Mark 8:37.
2. John 5:24; Romans 7:24; Philippians 1:23.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 43: What further benefit do we receive from Christ’s sacrifice and death on the cross?
Answer: Through Christ’s death our old nature is crucified, put to death, and buried with Him1, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer reign in us2, but that we may offer ourselves to Him as a sacrifice of thankfulness3.
1. Romans 6:6.
2. Romans 6:8-12.
3. Romans 12:1.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 44: Why is there added: He endured the suffering of hell – literally: He descended into hell?
Answer: In my greatest sorrows and temptations I may be assured and comforted that my Lord Jesus Christ, by His unspeakable anguish, pain, terror, and agony, which He endured throughout all His sufferings1 but especially on the cross, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell2.
1. Isaiah 53:5.
2. Psalms 18:5-6; Psalms 116:3; Matthew 26:38; Matthew 27:46; Hebrews 5:7.

Lord’s Day 17
Question 45: How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?
Answer: First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He could make us share in the righteousness which He had obtained for us by His death1. Second, by His power we too are raised up to a new life2. Third, Christ’s resurrection is to us a sure pledge of our glorious resurrection3.
1. Romans 4:25; 1 Corinthians 15:16-18; 1 Peter 1:3.
2. Romans 6:4; Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 3:1-3.
3. Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:20-21.

Lord’s Day 18
Question 46: What do you confess when you say, He ascended into heaven? 1
Answer: That Christ, before the eyes of His disciples, was taken up from the earth into heaven2, and that He is there for our benefit3 until He comes again to judge the living and the dead.
1. Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9.
2. Romans 8:34; Ephesians 4:10; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 9:24.
3. Matthew 24:30; Acts 1:11.

Lord’s Day 18
Question 47: Is Christ, then, not with us until the end of the world, as He has promised us?1
Answer: Christ is true man and true God. With respect to His human nature He is no longer on earth2, but with respect to His divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit He is never absent from us3.
1. Matthew 28:20.
2. Matthew 26:11; John 16:28; John 17:11; Acts 3:21; Hebrews 8:4.
3. Matthew 28:20; John 14:16-18.

Lord’s Day 18
Question 48: But are the two natures in Christ not separated from each other if His human nature is not present wherever His divinity is?
Answer: Not at all, for His divinity has no limits and is present everywhere1. So it must follow that His divinity is indeed beyond the human nature which He has taken on and nevertheless is within this human nature and remains personally united with it2.
1. Jeremiah 23:24; Acts 7:49.
2. Matthew 28:6; John 3:13; John 11:15; Colossians 2:9.

Lord’s Day 18
Question 49: How does Christ’s ascension into heaven benefit us?
Answer: First, He is our Advocate in heaven before His Father1. Second, we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that He, our Head, will also take us, His members, up to Himself2. Third, He sends us His Spirit as a counter-pledge3, by whose power we seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, and not the things that are on earth4.
1. Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1.
2. John 14:2; John 17:24; Ephesians 2:6.
3. John 14:16; John 16:7; Acts 2:33; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5.
4. Colossians 3:1; Philippians 3:20.

Lord’s Day 19
Question 50: Why is it added, And sits at the right hand of God?
Answer: Christ ascended into heaven to manifest Himself there as Head of His Church1, through whom the Father governs all things2.
1. Ephesians 1:20-23; Colossians 1:18.
2. Matthew 28:18; John 5:22.

Lord’s Day 19
Question 51: How does the glory of Christ, our Head, benefit us?
Answer: First, by His Holy Spirit He pours out heavenly gifts upon us, His members1. Second, by His power He defends and preserves us against all enemies2.
1. Acts 2:33; Ephesians 4:8.
2. Psalms 2:9; Psalms 110:1-2; John 10:28; Ephesians 4:8.

Lord’s Day 19
Question 52: What comfort is it to you that Christ will come to judge the living and the dead?
Answer: In all my sorrow and persecution I lift up my head and eagerly await as judge from heaven the very same person1 who before has submitted Himself to the judgment of God for my sake, and has removed all the curse from me. He will cast all His and my enemies into everlasting condemnation2, but He will take me and all His chosen ones to Himself into heavenly joy and glory3.
1. Luke 21:28; Romans 8:23; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Titus 2:13.
2. Matthew 25:41; 2 Thessalonians 1:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9.
3. Matthew 25:34; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:10.

Lord’s Day 20
Question 53: What do you believe concerning the Holy Spirit?
Answer: First, He is, together with the Father and the Son, true and eternal God1. Second, He is also given to me2, to make me by true faith share in Christ and all His benefits3, to comfort me4, and to remain with me forever5.
1. Genesis 1:2; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 6:19.
2. Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Galatians 3:14; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13.
3. John 16:13-14; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 6:17; Galatians 3:14; 1 Peter 1:2.
4. John 15:26; Acts 9:31.
5. John 14:16-17; 1 Peter 4:14.

Lord’s Day 21
Question 54: What do you believe concerning the holy catholic Christian church?
Answer: I believe that the Son of God1, out of the whole human race2, from the beginning of the world to its end3, gathers, defends, and preserves for Himself4, by His Spirit and Word5, in the unity of the true faith6, a church chosen to everlasting life7. And I believe that I am8 and forever shall remain a living member of it9.
1. John 10:11; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11-13; Ephesians 5:26.
2. Genesis 26:4; Isaiah 49:6; Romans 10:10-11; Revelation 5:9.
3. Psalms 71:17-18; Isaiah 59:21; 1 Corinthians 11:26.
4. Psalms 129:1-5; Matthew 16:18; John 10:28-30.
5. Isaiah 59:21; Romans 1:16; Romans 10:14-17; Ephesians 5:26.
6. John 17:20-21; Acts 2:42; Ephesians 4:3-5.
7. Psalms 111:1; Acts 20:28; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:10-13; Hebrews 12:22-23; 1 Peter 2:9.
8. Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 13:5; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 3:19-21.
9. Psalms 23:6; John 10:28; Romans 8:35-39; 1 Corinthians 1:8-9; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 John 2:19.

Lord’s Day 21
Question 55: What do you understand by the communion of saints?
Answer: First, that believers, all and everyone, as members of Christ have communion with Him and share in all His treasures and gifts1. Second, that everyone is duty-bound to use his gifts readily and cheerfully for the benefit and well-being of the other members2.
1. Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 6:17; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 1 John 1:3.
2. 1 Corinthians 12:21; 1 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Corinthians 13:5; Philippians 2:1-8.

Lord’s Day 21
Question 56: What do you believe concerning the forgiveness of sins?
Answer: I believe that God, because of Christ’s satisfaction, will no more remember my sins1, nor my sinful nature, against which I have to struggle all my life2, but He will graciously grant me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never come into condemnation3.
1. Psalms 103:3; Psalms 103:10; Psalms 103:12; Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 7:19; Romans 7:23-25.
2. 2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:2.
3. John 3:18; John 5:24.

Lord’s Day 22
Question 57: What comfort does the resurrection of the body offer you?
Answer:Not only shall my soul after this life immediately be taken up to Christ, my Head1, but also this my flesh, raised by the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul and made like Christ’s glorious body2.
1. Luke 16:22; Luke 20:37-38; Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:21; Philippians 1:23.
2. Job 19:25-26; 1 Corinthians 15:53-54; Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2.

Lord’s Day 22
Question 58: What comfort do you receive from the article about the life everlasting?
Answer: Since I now already feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy1, I shall after this life possess perfect blessedness, such as no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived– a blessedness in which to praise God forever2.
1. 2 Corinthians 5:2-3.
2. John 17:24; 1 Corinthians 2:9.

Lord’s Day 23
Question 59: But what does it help you now that you believe all this?
Answer: In Christ I am righteous before God and heir to life everlasting1.
1. Habakkuk 2:4; John 3:36; Romans 1:17.

Lord’s Day 23
Question 60: How are you righteous before God?
Answer: Only by true faith in Jesus Christ1. Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God’s commandments, have never kept any of them2, and am still inclined to all evil3, yet God, without any merit of my own4, out of mere grace5, imputes to me the perfect satisfaction6, righteousness, and holiness of Christ7. He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me8, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart9.
1. Romans 3:21-22; Romans 3:24; Romans 5:1-2; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 3:9.
2. Romans 3:9.
3. Romans 7:23.
4. Deuteronomy 9:6; Ezekiel 36:22; Romans 4:4; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Titus 3:5.
5.Romans 3:24; Ephesians 2:8.
6. 1 John 2:2.
7. 1 John 2:1.
8. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
9. John 3:18; Romans 3:22.

Lord’s Day 23
Question 61: Why do you say that you are righteous only by faith?
Answer: Not that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith, for only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God1. I can receive this righteousness and make it mine my own by faith only2.
1. 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 2:2.
2. 1 John 5:10.

Lord’s Day 24
Question 62: But why can our good works not be our righteousness before God, or at least a part of it?
Answer: Because the righteousness which can stand before God’s judgment must be absolutely perfect and in complete agreement with the law of God1, whereas even our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin2.
1. Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10.
2. Isaiah 64:6.

Lord’s Day 24
Question 63: But do our good works earn nothing, even though God promises to reward them in this life and the next?
Answer: This reward is not earned; it is a gift of grace1.
1. Luke 17:10.

Lord’s Day 24
Question 64: Does this teaching not make people careless and wicked?
Answer: No. It is impossible that those grafted into Christ by true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness1.
1. Matthew 7:18; John 15:5.

Lord’s Day 25
Question 65: Since then faith alone makes us share in Christ and all His benefits, where does this faith come from?
Answer: From the Holy Spirit, who works it in our hearts1 by the preaching of the gospel, and strengthens it by the use of the sacraments2.
1. John 3:5; Ephesians 2:8; Ephesians 6:23; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Philippians 1:29.
2. Matthew 28:19; Romans 10:17; Ephesians 1:17-18; 1 Peter 1:22-23.

Lord’s Day 25
Question 66: What are the sacraments?
Answer: The sacraments are holy, visible signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that by their use He might the more fully declare and seal to us the promise of the gospel. And this is the promise: that God graciously grants us forgiveness of sins and everlasting life because of the one sacrifice of Christ accomplished on the cross1.
1. Genesis 17:11; Leviticus 6:25; Deuteronomy 30:6; Isaiah 6:6-7; Isaiah 54:9; Ezekiel 20:12; Romans 4:11; Hebrews 9:7-9; Hebrews 9:24.

Lord’s Day 25
Question 67: Are both the Word and the sacraments then intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation?
Answer: Yes, indeed. The Holy Spirit teaches us in the gospel and assures us by the sacraments that our entire salvation rests on Christ’s one sacrifice for us on the cross1.
1. Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27.

Lord’s Day 25
Question 68: How many sacraments has Christ instituted in the new covenant?
Answer: Two: holy baptism and the holy supper.

Lord’s Day 26
Question 69: How does holy baptism signify and seal to you that the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross benefits you?
Answer: In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing1 and with it gave the promise2 that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body3, so certainly His blood and Spirit wash away the impurity of my soul, that is, all my sins.
1. Matthew 28:19.
2. Matthew 3:11; Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16; John 1:33; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-4.
3. Luke 3:3; Mark 1:4; 1 Peter 3:21.

Lord’s Day 26
Question 70: What does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood and Spirit?
Answer: To be washed with Christ’s blood means to receive forgiveness of sins from God, through grace, because of Christ’s blood, poured out for us in His sacrifice on the cross1. To be washed with His Spirit means to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and sanctified to be members of Christ, so that more and more we become dead to sin and lead a holy and blameless life2.
1. Ezekiel 36:25; Zechariah 13:1; Hebrews 12:24; 1 Peter 1:2; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 7:14.
2. Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 1:33; John 3:5; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 2:11-12.

Lord’s Day 26
Question 71: Where has Christ promised that He will wash us with His blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?
Answer: In the institution of baptism, where He says: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit1. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned2. This promise is repeated where Scripture calls baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins3.
1. Matthew 28:19.
2. Mark 16:16.
3. Acts 22:16; Titus 3:5.

Lord’s Day 27
Question 72: Does this outward washing with water itself wash away sins?
Answer: No1, only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sins2.
1. Matthew 3:11; Ephesians 5:26; 1 Peter 3:21.
2. 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 John 1:7.

Lord’s Day 27
Question 73: Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins?
Answer: God speaks in this way for a good reason. He wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ remove our sins just as water takes away dirt from the body1. But, even more important, He wants to assure us by this divine pledge and sign that we are as truly cleansed from our sins spiritually as we are bodily washed with water2.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:11; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 7:14.
2. Mark 16:16; Galatians 3:27.

Lord’s Day 27
Question 74: Should infants, too, be baptized?
Answer: Yes. Infants as well as adults belong to God’s covenant and congregation1. Through Christ’s blood the redemption from sin and the Holy Spirit, who works faith, are promised to them no less than to adults2. Therefore, by baptism, as sign of the covenant, they must be grafted into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers3. This was done in the old covenant by circumcision4, in place of which baptism was instituted in the new covenant5.
1. Genesis 17:7.
2. Psalms 22:11; Isaiah 44:1-3; Matthew 19:14; Luke 1:15; Acts 2:39.
3. Acts 10:47.
4. Genesis 17:14.
5. Colossians 2:11-13.

Lord’s Day 28
Question 75: How does the Lord’s Supper signify and seal to you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all His gifts?
Answer:  In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat of this broken bread and drink of this cup in remembrance of Him. With this command He gave these promises1: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely was His body offered for me and His blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the minister and taste with my mouth the bread and the cup of the Lord as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely does He Himself nourish and refresh my soul to everlasting life with His crucified body and shed blood.
1. Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25; 1 Corinthians 12:13.

Lord’s Day 28
Question 76: What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink His shed blood?
Answer: First, to accept with a believing heart all the suffering and the death of Christ, and so receive forgiveness of sins and life eternal1. Second, to be united more and more to His sacred body through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us2. Therefore, although Christ is in heaven3 and we are on earth, yet we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones4, and we forever live and are governed by one Spirit, as the members of our body are by one soul5.
1. John 6:35; John 6:40; John 6:47-54.
2. John 6:55-56.
3. Acts 1:9-11; Acts 3:21; 1 Corinthians 11:26; Colossians 3:1.
4. 1 Corinthians 6:15; Ephesians 3:16; Ephesians 5:29-30; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:13.
5. John 6:57; John 15:1-6; Ephesians 4:15-16.

Lord’s Day 28
Question 77: Where has Christ promised that He will nourish and refresh believers with His body and blood as surely as they eat of this broken bread and drink of this cup?
Answer: In the institution of the Lord’s supper1: The Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes2. This promise is repeated by Paul where he says: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread3.
1. Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20.
2. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:16, 17.

Lord’s Day 29
Question 78: Are then the bread and wine changed into the real body and blood of Christ?
Answer: No1. Just as the water of baptism is not changed into the blood of Christ and is not the washing away of sins itself but is simply God’s sign and pledge2, so also the bread in the Lord’s supper does not become the body of Christ itself, although it is called Christ’s body3 in keeping with the nature and usage of sacraments4.
1. Matthew 26:29.
2. Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:26.
4. Genesis 17:10-11; Exodus 12:11; Exodus 12:13; Exodus 13:9; 1 Corinthians 10:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21.

Lord’s Day 29
Question 79: Why then does Christ call the bread His body and the cup His blood, or the new covenant in His blood, and why does Paul speak of a participation in the body and blood of Christ?
Answer: Christ speaks in this way for a good reason: He wants to teach us by His supper that as bread and wine sustain us in this temporal life, so His crucified body and shed blood are true food and drink for our souls to eternal life1. But, even more important, He wants to assure us by this visible sign and pledge, first, that through the working of the Holy Spirit we share in His true body and blood as surely as we receive with our mouth these holy signs in remembrance of Him, and, second, that all His suffering and obedience are as certainly ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins2.
1. John 6:51; John 6:53-55.
2. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17.

Lord’s Day 30
Question 80: What difference is there between the Lord’s supper and the papal mass?
Answer: The Lord’s supper testifies to us, first, that we have complete forgiveness of all our sins through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself accomplished on the cross once for all;1 and, second, that through the Holy Spirit we are grafted into Christ2, who with His true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father3, and this is where He wants to be worshipped4. But the mass teaches, first, that the living and the dead do not have forgiveness of sins through the suffering of Christ unless He is still offered for them daily by the priests; and, second, that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine, and there is to be worshipped. Therefore the mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry5.
1. Matthew 26:28; Luke 22:19-20; John 19:30; Hebrews 7:26-27; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:24-28; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 10:14.
2. 1 Corinthians 6:17; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17.
3. John 20:17; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1
4. Acts 7:55; Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:10.
5. Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 10:14.

Lord’s Day 30
Question 81: Who are to come to the table of the Lord?
Answer: Those who are truly displeased with themselves because of their sins and yet trust that these are forgiven them and that their remaining weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and amend their life. But hypocrites and those who do not repent eat and drink judgment upon themselves1.
1. 1 Corinthians 10:19-22; 1 Corinthians 11:28.

Lord’s Day 30
Question 82: Are those also to be admitted to the Lord’s supper who by their confession and life show that they are unbelieving and ungodly?
Answer: No, for then the covenant of God would be profaned and His wrath kindled against the whole congregation1.
1. Psalms 50:16; Isaiah 1:11; Isaiah 66:3; Jeremiah 7:21; 1 Corinthians 11:20; 1 Corinthians 11:34.

Lord’s Day 31
Question 83: What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?
Answer: The preaching of the holy gospel and church discipline. By these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and closed to unbelievers1.
1. Matthew 16:18-19; Matthew 18:15-18.

Lord’s Day 31
Question 84: How is the kingdom of heaven opened and closed by the preaching of the gospel?
Answer: According to the command of Christ, the kingdom of heaven is opened when it is proclaimed and publicly testified to each and every believer that God has really forgiven all their sins for the sake of Christ’s merits, as often as they by true faith accept the promise of the gospel. The kingdom of heaven is closed when it is proclaimed and testified to all unbelievers and hypocrites that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation rest on them as long as they do not repent. According to this testimony of the gospel, God will judge both in this life and in the life to come1.
1. Matthew 16:19; John 20:21-23.

Lord’s Day 31
Question 85: How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by church discipline?
Answer: According to the command of Christ, people who call themselves Christians but show themselves to be unchristian in doctrine or life are first repeatedly admonished in a brotherly manner. If they do not give up their errors or wickedness, they are reported to the church, that is, to the elders. If they do not heed also their admonitions, they are forbidden the use of the sacraments, and they are excluded by the elders from the Christian congregation, and by God Himself from the kingdom of Christ. They are again received as members of Christ and of the church when they promise and show real amendment1.
1. Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Corinthians 5:4-5; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 2:6-8; 2 Thessalonians 3:1415; 2 John 10-11. –

Lord’s Day 32
Question 86: Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace alone through Christ, without any merit of our own, why must we yet do good works?
Answer: Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit to be His image1, so that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for His benefits, and He may be praised by us2. Further, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by its fruits3, and that by our godly walk of life we may win our neighbours for Christ4.
1. Romans 6:13; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9.
Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12.
Matthew 7:17; Galatians 5:6; Galatians 5:22; 2 Peter 1:10.
Romans 14:19; 1 Peter 3:1-2.

Lord’s Day 32
Question 87: Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and impenitent walk of life?
Answer: By no means. Scripture says that no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, greedy person, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like shall inherit the kingdom of God1.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 5:5-6; 1 John 3:14

Lord’s Day 33
Question 88: What is the true repentance or conversion of man?
Answer: It is the dying of the old nature and the coming to life of the new1.
1. Romans 6:1-2; Romans 6:4-6; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 2 Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-6; Colossians 3:8-10.

Lord’s Day 33
Question 89: What is the dying of the old nature?
Answer: It is to grieve with heartfelt sorrow that we have offended God by our sin, and more and more to hate it and flee from it1.
1. Hosea 6:1 ; Joel 2:13; Romans 8:13.

Lord’s Day 33
Question 90: What is the coming to life of the new nature?
Answer: It is a heartfelt joy in God through Christ1, and a love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works2.
1. Isaiah 57:15; Romans 5:1-2; Romans 14:17.
2. Romans 6:10-11; Galatians 2:20.

Lord’s Day 33
Question 91: But what are good works?
Answer: Only those which are done out of true faith1, in accordance with the law of God2, and to His glory3, and not those based on our own opinion or on precepts of men4.
1. Romans 14:23.
2. Leviticus 18:4; 1 Samuel 15:22; Ephesians 2:10.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:31.
4. Isaiah 29:13-14; Ezekiel 20:18-19; Matthew 15:7-9.

Lord’s Day 34
Question 92: What is the law of the LORD?
Answer: God spoke all these words, saying:
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3. You shall not take the Name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
5. Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbour’s.

Lord’s Day 34
Question 93: How are these commandments divided?
Answer: Into two parts. The first teaches us how to live in relation to God; the second, what duties we owe our neighbour1.
1. Exodus 31:18; Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:3-4.
2. Matthew 22:37-40.

Lord’s Day 34
Question 94: What does the LORD require in the first commandment?
Answer: That for the sake of my very salvation I avoid and flee all idolatry1, witchcraft, superstition2, and prayer to saints or to other creatures3. Further, that I rightly come to know the only true God4, trust in Him alone5, submit to Him with all humility6 and patience7, expect all good from Him only8, and love9, fear,10 and honour Him11 with all my heart. In short, that I forsake all creatures rather than do the least thing against His will12.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:10; 1 Corinthians 10:7; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 1 John 5:21.
2. Leviticus 19:31; Deuteronomy 18:9-12.
3. Matthew 4:10; Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:8-9.
4. John 17:3.
5. Jeremiah 17:5; Jeremiah 17:7.
6. 1 Peter 5:5.
7. Romans 5:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:10; Philippians 2:14; Colossians 1:11; Hebrews 10:36.
8. Psalms 104:27-28; Isaiah 45:7; James 1:17.
9. Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37.
10. Deuteronomy 6:2; Psalms 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10; Matthew 10:28.
11. Deuteronomy 10:20; Matthew 4:10.
12. Matthew 5:29-30; Matthew 10:37-39; Acts 5:29.

Lord’s Day 34
Question 95: What is idolatry?
Answer: Idolatry is having or inventing something in which to put our trust instead of, or in addition to, the only true God who has revealed Himself in His Word1.
1. 1 Chronicles 16:26; Isaiah 44:15-17; John 5:22; Galatians 4:8; Ephesians 2:12; Ephesians 5:5; Philippians 3:19; 1 John 2:23; 2 John: 9.

Lord’s Day 35
Question 96: What does God require in the second commandment?
Answer: We are not to make an image of God in any way1, nor to worship Him in any other manner than He has commanded in His Word2.
1. Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Isaiah 40:18-19; Isaiah 40:25; Acts 17:29; Romans 1:22-25.
2. Deuteronomy 12:29-32; 1 Samuel 15:23; Matthew 15:9.

Lord’s Day 35
Question 97: May we then not make any image at all?
Answer: God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way1. Creatures may be portrayed, but God forbids us to make or have any images of them in order to worship them or to serve God through them2.
1. Isaiah 40:25.
2. Exodus 23:24; Exodus 34:13-17; Numbers 33:52; Deuteronomy 12:3-4.

Lord’s Day 35
Question 98: But may images not be tolerated in the churches as “books for the laity”?
Answer: No, for we should not be wiser than God. He wants His people to be taught not by means of dumb images1 but by the living preaching of His Word2.
1. Jeremiah 10:8; Habakkuk 2:18-19.
2. Romans 10:14-17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19.

Lord’s Day 36
Question 99: What is required in the third commandment?
Answer: We are not to blaspheme or to abuse the Name of God by cursing1, perjury2, or unnecessary oaths3, nor to share in such horrible sins by being silent bystanders4. In short, we must use the holy Name of God only with fear and reverence5, so that we may rightly confess Him6, call upon Him7, and praise Him in all our words and works8.
1. Leviticus 24:15-16.
2. Leviticus 19:12.
3. Matthew 5:37; James 5:12.
4. Leviticus 5:1; Proverbs 29:24.
5. Isaiah 45:23; Jeremiah 4:2.
6. Matthew 10:32; Romans 10:9-10.
7. Psalms 50:15; 1 Timothy 2:8.
8. Romans 2:24; Colossians 3:17; 1 Timothy 6:1.

Lord’s Day 36
Question 100: Is the blaspheming of God’s Name by swearing and cursing such a grievous sin that God is angry also with those who do not prevent and forbid it as much as they can?
Answer: Certainly1, for no sin is greater or provokes God’s wrath more than the blaspheming of His Name. That is why He commanded it to be punished with death2.
1. Leviticus 5:1; Proverbs 29:24.
2. Leviticus 24:16.

Lord’s Day 37
Question 101: But may we swear an oath by the Name of God in a godly manner?
Answer: Yes, when the government demands it of its subjects, or when necessity requires it, in order to maintain and promote fidelity and truth, to God’s glory and for our neighbour’s good. Such oath-taking is based on God’s Word1 and was therefore rightly used by saints in the Old and the New Testament2.
1. Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20; Hebrews 6:16.
2. Genesis 21:24; Genesis 31:53; Joshua 9:15; 1 Samuel 24:22-23; 2 Samuel 3:35; 1 Kings 1:29-30; Romans 1:9; Romans 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:23.

Lord’s Day 37
Question 102: May we also swear by saints or other creatures?
Answer: No. A lawful oath is a calling upon God, who alone knows the heart, to bear witness to the truth, and to punish me if I swear falsely1. No creature is worthy of such honour2.
1. Romans 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:23.
2. Matthew 5:34-36; James 5:12.

Lord’s Day 38
Question 103: What does God require in the fourth commandment?
Answer: First, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained1 and that, especially on the day of rest, I diligently attend the church of God2 to hear God’s Word3, to use the sacraments4, to call publicly upon the LORD5, and to give Christian offerings for the poor6. Second, that all the days of my life I rest from my evil works, let the LORD work in me through His Holy Spirit, and so begin in this life the eternal sabbath7.
1. 1 Corinthians 9:13-14; 2 Timothy 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:14-15; Titus 1:5.
2. Leviticus 23:2-3; Psalms 40:10-11; Psalms 68:27; Psalms 122:1; Acts 2:42.
3. 1 Corinthians 14:1; 1 Corinthians 14:3; 1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 Timothy 4:13; Revelation 1:3.
4. Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:33.
5. 1 Corinthians 14:16; 1 Timothy 2:1-4.
6. Deuteronomy 15:11; 1 Corinthians 16:2.
7. Isaiah 66:23; Hebrews 4:9-10.

Lord’s Day 39
Question 104: What does God require in the fifth commandment?
Answer: That I show all honour, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother and to all those in authority over me, submit myself with due obedience to their good instruction and discipline1, and also have patience with their weaknesses and shortcomings2, since it is God’s will to govern us by their hand3.
1. Exodus 21:17; Proverbs 1:8; Proverbs 4:1; Proverbs 15:20; Proverbs 20:20; Romans 13:1; Ephesians 5:22; Ephesians 6:1-2; Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:18; Colossians 3:20; Colossians 3:22.
2. Proverbs 23:22; 1 Peter 2:18.
3. Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:2-3; Ephesians 6:4; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:20.

Lord’s Day 40
Question 105: What does God require in the sixth commandment?
Answer: I am not to dishonour, hate, injure, or kill my neighbour by thoughts, words, or gestures, and much less by deeds, whether personally or through another;1 rather, I am to put away all desire of revenge2. Moreover, I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself3. Therefore, also, the government bears the sword to prevent murder4.
1. Genesis 9:6; Matthew 5:21-22; Matthew 26:52.
2. Matthew 5:25; Matthew 18:35; Romans 12:19; Ephesians 4:26.
3. Matthew 4:7; Romans 13:14; Colossians 2:23.
4. Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:14; Romans 13:4.

Lord’s Day 40
Question 106: But does this commandment speak only of killing?
Answer: By forbidding murder God teaches us that He hates the root of murder1, such as envy, hatred2, anger3, and desire of revenge, and that He regards all these as murder4.
1. Psalms 37:8; Proverbs 14:30; Romans 1:29.
2. 1 John 2:11.
3. Galatians 5:19-21; James 1:20.
4. 1 John 3:15.

Lord’s Day 40
Question 107: Is it enough, then, that we do not kill our neighbour in any such way?
Answer: No. When God condemns envy, hatred, and anger, He commands us to love our neighbour as ourselves1, to show patience, peace, gentleness, mercy, and friendliness toward him2, to protect him from harm as much as we can3, and to do good even to our enemies4.
1. Matthew 7:12; Matthew 22:39; Romans 12:10.
2. Matthew 5:5; Matthew 5:7; Luke 6:36; Romans 12:18; Galatians 6:1-2; Ephesians 4:1-3; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 3:8.
3. Exodus 23:5.
4. Matthew 5:44-45; Romans 12:20.

Lord’s Day 41
Question 108: What does the seventh commandment teach us?
Answer: That all unchastity is cursed by God1. We must therefore detest it from the heart2 and live chaste and disciplined lives3, both within and outside of holy marriage4.
1. Leviticus 18:28.
2. Malachi 2:16.
3. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5.
4. 1 Corinthians 7:7; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11; Hebrews 13:4; Judas: 23.

Lord’s Day 41
Question 109: Does God in this commandment forbid nothing more than adultery and similar shameful sins?
Answer: Since we, body and soul, are temples of the Holy Spirit, it is God’s will that we keep ourselves pure and holy. Therefore He forbids all unchaste acts, gestures, words1, thoughts, desires2, and whatever may entice us to unchastity3.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:18-19; Ephesians 5:3-4.
2. Deuteronomy 22:20-29; Matthew 5:27-28.
3. 1 Corinthians 15:33; Ephesians 5:18.

Lord’s Day 42
Question 110: What does God forbid in the eighth commandment?
Answer: God forbids not only outright theft1 and robbery2 but also such wicked schemes3 and devices as false weights and measures, deceptive merchandising, counterfeit money, and usury4; we must not defraud our neighbour in any way, whether by force or by show of right5. In addition God forbids all greed6 and all abuse or squandering of His gifts7.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:10.
2. Leviticus 19:13; 1 Corinthians 5:10.
3. Luke 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:6.
4. Deuteronomy 25:13-15; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Ezekiel 45:9-10.
5. Psalms 15:5; Luke 6:35.
6. 1 Corinthians 6:10.
7. Proverbs 21:20; Proverbs 23:20-21.

Lord’s Day 42
Question 111: What does God require of you in this commandment?
Answer: I must promote my neighbour’s good wherever I can and may, deal with him as I would like others to deal with me1, and work faithfully so that I may be able to give to those in need2.
1. Matthew 7:12.
2. Ephesians 4:28.

Lord’s Day 43
Question 112: What is required in the ninth commandment?
Answer: I must not give false testimony against anyone1, twist no one’s words2, not gossip or slander3, nor condemn or join in condemning anyone rashly and unheard4. Rather, I must avoid all lying and deceit as the devil’s own works5, under penalty of God’s heavy wrath6. In court and everywhere else, I must love the truth, speak and confess it honestly7, and do what I can to defend and promote my neighbour’s honour and reputation8.
1. Proverbs 19:5; Proverbs 19:9; Proverbs 21:28.
2. Psalms 15:3.
3. Psalms 50:19-20; Romans 1:30.
4. Matthew 7:1-2; Luke 6:37.
5. John 8:44.
6. Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 13:5.
7. 1 Corinthians 13:6; Ephesians 4:25.
8. 1 Peter 4:8.

Lord’s Day 44
Question 113: What does the tenth commandment require of us?
Answer: That not even the slightest thought or desire contrary to any of God’s commandments should ever arise in our heart. Rather, we should always hate all sin with all our heart, and delight in all righteousness1.
1. Romans 7:7

Lord’s Day 44
Question 114: But can those converted to God keep these commandments perfectly? 
Answer: No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience1. Nevertheless, with earnest purpose they do begin to live not only according to some but to all the commandments of God2.
1. Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 7:14-15; 1 Corinthians 13:9; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10.
2. Psalms 1:2; Romans 7:22; 1 John 2:3.

Lord’s Day 44
Question 115: If in this life no one can keep the ten commandments perfectly, why does God have them preached so strictly?
Answer: First, that throughout our life we may more and more become aware of our sinful nature1, and therefore seek more eagerly the forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ2. Second, that we may be zealous for good deeds and constantly pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that He may more and more renew us after God’s image, until after this life we reach the goal of perfection3.
1. Psalms 32:5; Romans 3:20; 1 John 1:9.
2. Matthew 5:6; Romans 7:24-25.
3. 1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:12-14.

Lord’s Day 45
Question 116: Why is prayer necessary for Christians?
Answer: Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness which God requires of us1. Moreover, God will give His grace and the Holy Spirit only to those who constantly and with heartfelt longing ask Him for these gifts and thank Him for them2.
1. Psalms 50:14-15.
2. Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-10; Luke 11:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18.

Lord’s Day 45
Question 117: What belongs to a prayer which pleases God and is heard by Him?
Answer: First, we must from the heart call upon1 the one true God only2, who has revealed Himself in His Word, for all that He has commanded us to pray3. Second, we must thoroughly know our need and misery4, so that we may humble ourselves before God5. Third, we must rest on this firm foundation6 that, although we do not deserve it, God will certainly hear our prayer for the sake of Christ our Lord7, as He has promised us in His Word8.
1. Psalms 145:18; John 4:24.
2. John 4:22-24; Revelation 19:10.
3. Romans 8:26; James 1:5; 1 John 5:14.
4. 2 Chronicles 20:12; Psalms 143:2.
5. Psalms 2:11; Psalms 34:19; Isaiah 66:2.
6. Romans 8:15-17; Romans 10:14; James 1:6.
7. Daniel 9:17-19; John 14:13-14; John 15:16; John 16:23.
8. Psalms 27:8; Psalms 143:1; Matthew 7:8.

Lord’s Day 45
Question 118: What has God commanded us to ask of Him?
Answer: All the things we need for body and soul, as included in the prayer which Christ our Lord Himself taught us1.
1. Matthew 6:33; James 1:17.

Lord’s Day 45
Question 119: What is the Lord’s prayer?
Answer: Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen.

Lord’s Day 46
Question 120: Why has Christ commanded us to address God as Our Father?
Answer: To awaken in us at the very beginning of our prayer that childlike reverence and trust toward God which should be basic to our prayer: God has become our Father through Christ and will much less deny us what we ask of Him in faith than our fathers would refuse us earthly things1.
1. Matthew 7:9-11; Luke 11:11-13.

Lord’s Day 46
Question 121: Why is there added, Who art in heaven?
Answer: These words teach us not to think of God’s heavenly majesty in an earthly manner1, and to expect from His almighty power all things we need for body and soul2.
1. Jeremiah 23:23-24; Acts 17:24-25; Acts 17:27.
2. Romans 10:12.

Lord’s Day 47
Question 122: What is the first petition?
Answer: Hallowed be Thy Name. That is: Grant us first of all that we may rightly know Thee1, and sanctify, glorify, and praise Thee in all Thy works, in which shine forth Thy almighty power, wisdom, goodness, righteousness, mercy, and truth2. Grant us also that we may so direct our whole life– our thoughts, words, and actions– that Thy Name is not blasphemed because of us but always honoured and praised3.
1. Psalms 119:105; Jeremiah 9:24; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Matthew 16:17; John 17:3; James 1:5.
2. Exodus 34:6-7; Psalms 119:137-138; Psalms 145:8, 9; Jeremiah 31:3; Luke 1:46-47; Luke 1:68-69; Romans 11:33.
3. Psalms 71:8; Psalms 115:1; Matthew 5:16.

Lord’s Day 48
Question 123: What is the second petition?
Answer: hy kingdom come. That is: So rule us by Thy Word and Spirit that more and more we submit to Thee1. Preserve and increase Thy church2. Destroy the works of the devil, every power that raises itself against Thee, and every conspiracy against Thy holy Word3. Do all this until the fulness of Thy kingdom comes4, wherein Thou shalt be all in all5.
1. Psalms 119:5; Psalms 143:10; Matthew 6:33.
2. Psalms 51:20; Psalms 122:6-7.
3. Romans 16:20; 1 John 3:8.
4. Romans 8:22-23; Revelation 22:20.
5. 1 Corinthians 15:28.

Lord’s Day 49
Question 124: What is the third petition?
Answer: Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. That is: Grant that we and all men may deny our own will1, and without any murmuring obey Thy will, for it alone is good2. Grant also that everyone may carry out the duties of his office and calling as willingly and faithfully3 as the angels in heaven4.
1. Matthew 16:24; Titus 2:11-12.
2. Luke 22:42; Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:10.
3. 1 Corinthians 7:24.
4. Psalms 103:20-21.

Lord’s Day 50
Question 125: What is the fourth petition?
Answer: Give us this day our daily bread. That is: Provide us with all our bodily needs1 so that we may acknowledge that Thou art the only fountain of all good2, and that our care and labour, and also Thy gifts, cannot do us any good without Thy blessing3. Grant therefore that we may withdraw our trust from all creatures, and place it only in Thee4.
1. Psalms 104:27-28; Psalms 145:15-16; Matthew 6:25-26.
2. Acts 14:17; Acts 17:27; James 1:17.
3. Deuteronomy 8:3; Psalms 37:3-6; Psalms 37:16; Psalms 127:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:58.
4. Psalms 55:23; Psalms 62:11; Psalms 146:3; Jeremiah 17:5; Jeremiah 17:7.

Lord’s Day 51
Question 126: What is the fifth petition?
Answer: And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. That is: For the sake of Christ’s blood, do not impute to us, wretched sinners; any of our transgressions, nor the evil which still clings to us1, as we also find this evidence of Thy grace in us that we are fully determined wholeheartedly to forgive our neighbor2.
1. Psalms 51:3; Psalms 143:2; Romans 8:1; 1 John 2:1.
2. Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 18:35.

Lord’s Day 52
Question 127: What is the sixth petition?
Answer: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. That is: In ourselves we are so weak that we cannot stand even for a moment1. Moreover, our sworn enemies– the devil2, the world3, and our own flesh4— do not cease to attack us. Wilt Thou, therefore, uphold and strengthen us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, so that in this spiritual war we may not go down to defeat, but always firmly resist our enemies5, until we finally obtain the complete victory6.
1. Psalms 103:14-16; John 15:5.
2. Ephesians 6:12; 1 Peter 5:8.
3. John 15:19.
4. Romans 7:23; Galatians 5:17.
5. Matthew 26:41; Mark 13:33; 1 Corinthians 10:12-13.
6. 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Lord’s Day 52
Question 128: How do you conclude your prayer?
Answer: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. That is: All this we ask of Thee because, as our King, having power over all things, Thou art both willing and able to give us all that is good1, and because not we but Thy holy Name should so receive all glory for ever2.
1. 1 Chronicles 29:10-12; Romans 10:11-13; 2 Peter 2:9.
2. Psalms 115:1; Jeremiah 33:8-9; John 14:13.

Lord’s Day 52
Question 129: What does the word Amen mean?
Answer: Amen means: It is true and certain. For God has much more certainly heard my prayer than I feel in my heart that I desire this of Him1.
1. 2 Corinthians 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:13.

Article 1: There is only one God
We all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth1 that there is only one God, who is a simple and spiritual being2; He is eternal3, incomprehensible4, invisible5, immutable6, infinite7, almighty8, perfectly wise9, just10, good11, and the overflowing fountain of all good12.
1. Romans 10:10
2. Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:6; John 4:24; Romans 1:20-21; Ephesians 4:6;1 Corinthians 8:4, 6; 2 Corinthians 3:17; 1 Timothy 2:5.
3. Psalms 90:2; Isaiah 40:28
4. Romans 11:33
5. Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 Timothy 6:16
6. Malachi 3:6; James 1:17
7. 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:24
8. Genesis 17:1; Matthew 19:26; Revelation 1:8
9. Romans 16:27
10. Jeremiah 12:1; Romans 3:25-26; Romans 9:14; Revelation 16:5; Revelation 16:7
11. Matthew 19:17
12. 1 Chronicles 29:10-12; Isaiah 40:14; James 1:17

Article 2: How God makes Himself known to us
We know Him by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most beautiful book1, wherein all creatures, great and small, are as so many letters leading us to perceive clearly God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. All these things are sufficient to convict men and leave them without excuse2.

Second, He makes Himself more clearly and fully known to us3 by His holy and divine Word as far as is necessary for us in this life, to His glory and our salvation4.
1. Psalms 19:2-5
2. Romans 1:20; Ephesians 4:6
3. Psalms 19:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18-21
4. Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 12:6; 1 Timothy 2:5

Article 3: The Word of God
We confess that this Word of God did not come by the impulse of man, but that men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, as the apostle Peter says (2 Pet 1:21)1.

Thereafter, in His special care for us and our salvation, God commanded His servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit His revealed Word to writing2 and He Himself wrote with His own finger the two tables of the law.3

Therefore we call such writings holy and divine Scriptures4.
1. 2 Peter 1:21
2. Exodus 24:4; Exodus 34:27; Psalms 102:19; Habakkuk 2:2; Revelation 1:11; Revelation 1:19
3. Exodus 31:18
4. 2 Timothy 3:16

Article 4: The Canonical Books
We believe that the Holy Scriptures consist of two parts, namely, the Old and the New Testament, which are canonical, against which nothing can be alleged. These books are listed in the church of God as follows.

The books of the Old Testament: the five books of Moses, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

The books of the New Testament: the four gospels, namely, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles; the thirteen letters of the apostle Paul, namely, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon; the letter to the Hebrews; the seven other letters, namely, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, Jude; and the Revelation to the apostle John.

Article 5: The authority of Holy Scripture
We receive1 all these books, and these only, as holy and canonical, for the regulation, foundation, and confirmation of our faith2.

We believe without any doubt all things contained in them, not so much because the church receives and approves them as such, but especially because the Holy Spirit witnesses in our hearts that they are from God3, and also because they contain the evidence of this in themselves; for even the blind are able to perceive that the things foretold in them are being fulfilled4.
1. 1 Thessalonians 2:13
2. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
3. 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 John 4:6; 1 John 5:6-7
4. Deuteronomy 18:21-22; 1 Kings 22:28; Jeremiah 28:9; Ezekiel 33:33

Article 6: The difference between the canonical and apocryphal books
We distinguish these holy books from the apocryphal, namely, 3 and 4 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, additions to Esther, the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men in the Furnace, Susannah, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. The church may read and take instruction from these so far as they agree with the canonical books. They are, however, far from having such power and authority that we may confirm from their testimony any point of faith or of the Christian religion; much less may they be used to detract from the authority of the holy books.

Article 7: The sufficiency of Holy Scripture
We believe that this Holy Scripture fully contains the will of God and that all that man must believe in order to be saved is sufficiently taught therein.1

The whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in it at length. It is therefore unlawful for any one, even for an apostle, to teach otherwise than we are now taught in Holy Scripture2: yes, even if it be an angel from heaven, as the apostle Paul says (Gal 1:8). Since it is forbidden to add to or take away anything from the Word of God (Deut 12:32) 3, it is evident that the doctrine thereof is most perfect and complete in all respects4.

We may not consider any writings of men, however holy these men may have been, of equal value with the divine Scriptures; nor ought we to consider custom, or the great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times and persons, or councils, decrees or statutes, as of equal value with the truth of God, since the truth is above all5; for all men are of themselves liars, and only a breath (Ps 62:9) 6.

We therefore reject with all our heart whatever does not agree with this infallible rule, as the apostles have taught us: Test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 Jn 4:1). Likewise: If any one comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him (2 Jn 1:10) 7.
1. Proverbs 30:6; John 4:25; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:10-12
2. Romans 15:4; 1 Timothy 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:2-3; 2 Timothy 3:14-15; 1 Peter 4:11
3. Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; Acts 26:22; 1 Corinthians 4:6; Galatians 1:8; Revelation 22:18-19
4. Psalms 19:8-9; Matthew 17:5; John 15:15; Acts 18:28; Acts 20:27; Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 2:4
5. Isaiah 1:12; Matthew 15:3; Markus 7:7-9; Acts 4:19; Romans 3:4; Colossians 2:8; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; 1John 2:19
6. Deuteronomy 4:5-6; Psalms 62:10; Isaiah 8:20; 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 4:4-6; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:14-15
7. 1 John 4:1; 2 John 10

Article 8: God is our Essence, yet distinguished in three Persons
According to this truth and this Word of God, we believe in one only God1, who is one single essence, in which are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties; namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit2.

The Father is the cause, origin, and beginning of all things visible and invisible3.

The Son is the Word, the wisdom, and the image of the Father4.

The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might who proceeds from the Father and the Son5.

Nevertheless, God is not by this distinction divided into three, since the Holy Scriptures teach us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each has His personal existence, distinguished by Their properties; but in such a way that these three persons are but one only God.

It is therefore evident that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, and likewise the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Nevertheless, these persons thus distinguished are not divided, nor intermixed; for the Father has not assumed our flesh and blood, neither has the Holy Spirit, but the Son only. The Father has never been without His Son6, or without His Holy Spirit. For these three, in one and the same essence, are equal in eternity. There is neither first nor last; for They are all three one, in truth, in power, in goodness, and in mercy.
1. Isaiah 43:10; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6
2. Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19; Galatians 4:6; 1 John 5:6-7
3. Ephesians 3:14-16
4. Proverbs 8:22-31; John 1:14; John 1:18; John 5:17-26; 1 Corinthians 1:24; Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 19:13
5. John 15:26
6. Micah 5:2 ; John 1:1-2

Article 9: Scripture proof of this Doctrine
All this we know both from the testimonies of Holy Scripture1 and from the respective works of the three Persons, and especially those we perceive in ourselves. The testimonies of Scripture which lead us to believe this Holy Trinity are written in many places of the Old Testament. It is not necessary to mention them all; it is sufficient to select some with discretion.

In the book of Genesis God says: Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness … So God created man in His own image…; male and female He created them (Gen 1:26, 27). Also: The man has now become like one of Us (Gen 3:22). From God’s saying, Let Us make man in Our image, it appears that there are more divine persons than one; and when He says, God created, He indicates that there is one God. It is true, He does not say how many persons there are, but what seems to be somewhat obscure in the Old Testament is very plain in the New Testament. For when our Lord was baptized in the river Jordan, the voice of the Father was heard, who said, This is My Son, whom I love (Mt 3:17); the Son was seen in the water, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form as a dove2. For the baptism of all believers Christ commanded: Baptize all nations into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). In the gospel according to Luke the angel Gabriel thus addressed Mary, the mother of our Lord: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Likewise: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Cor 13:14). In all these places we are fully taught that there are three persons in one only divine essence3.

Although this doctrine far surpasses all human understanding, nevertheless in this life we believe it on the ground of the Word of God, and we expect to enjoy its perfect knowledge and fruit hereafter in heaven.

Moreover, we must observe the distinct offices and works of these three Persons towards us. The Father is called our Creator by His power; the Son is our Saviour and Redeemer by His blood; the Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier by His dwelling in our hearts. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity has always been maintained and preserved in the true church since the time of the apostles to this very day, over against Jews, Muslims, and against false Christians and heretics such as Marcion, Mani, Praxeas, Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, Arius, and such like, who have been justly condemned by the orthodox fathers. In this doctrine, therefore, we willingly receive the three creeds, of the Apostles, of Nicea, and of Athanasius; likewise that which in accordance with them is agreed upon by the early fathers.
1. John 14:16; John 15:26; Acts 2:32-33; Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6; Titus 3:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 4:13-14; 1 John 5:5-12; Judas:20-21; Revelation 1:4-5
2. Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 3:22; Psalms 45:8; Isaiah 61:1; Matthew 3:16-17
3. Matthew 28:19; Luke 1:35; 1 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Corinthians 13:13; 1 John 5:7-8

Article 10: Jesus Christ true and eternal God
We believe that Jesus Christ according to His divine nature is the only-begotten Son of God1, begotten from eternity, not made, nor created – for then He would be a creature – but of the same essence with the Father, equally-eternal, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (Heb 1:3), and is equal to Him in all things2.

He is the Son of God, not only from the time that He assumed our nature but from all eternity3, as the following testimonies, when compared with each other, teach us: Moses says that God created the world;4 the apostle John says that all things were made by the Word which he calls God.5 The letter to the Hebrews says that God made the world through His Son6; likewise the apostle Paul says that God created all things through Jesus Christ. Therefore it must necessarily follow that He who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ, did exist at that time when all things were created by Him. Therefore He could say, I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am (Jn 8:58), and He prayed, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began (Jn 17:5). And so He is true, eternal God, the Almighty, whom we invoke, worship, and serve7.
1. Matthew 17:5; John 1:14; John 1:18; John 3:16; John 20:17; John 20:31; Romans 1:4; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 1:1; 1 John 5:5-12
2. John 5:18; John 5:23; John 10:30; John 14:9; John 20:28; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:15; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 5:13
3. John 8:58; John 17:5; Hebrews 13:8
4. John 1:1-3
5. Genesis 1:1; John 1:3
6. Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2
7. Micah 5:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 7:3

Article 11: The Holy Spirit true and eternal God
He is neither made, created, nor begotten, but He can only be said to proceed from both1. In order He is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, of one and the same essence, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, true and eternal God, as the Holy Scriptures teach us2.
1. Psalms 33:6; Isaiah 48:16; Isaiah 61:1; John 14:16-17; John 14:25-26; John 15:26; Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6
2. Genesis 1:2; Psalms 139:7; Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 John 5:6

Article 12: The creation of all things, especially the Angels
We believe that the Father through the Word, that is, through His Son, has created out of nothing heaven and earth and all creatures, when it seemed good to Him1, and that He has given to every creature its being, shape, and form, and to each its specific task and function to serve its Creator. We believe that He also continues to sustain and govern them according to His eternal providence and by His infinite power in order to serve man, to the end that man may serve his God2.

He also created the angels good, to be His messengers and to serve His elect. Some of these have fallen from the exalted position in which God created them into everlasting perdition3, but the others have by the grace of God remained steadfast and continued in their first state. The devils and evil spirits are so depraved that they are enemies of God and of all that is good4.

With all their might, they lie in wait like murderers to ruin the church and all its members and to destroy everything by their wicked devices5.

They are therefore by their own wickedness sentenced to eternal damnation and daily expect their horrible torments6.

Therefore we detest and reject the error of the Sadducees, who deny that there are any spirits and angels7; and also the error of the Manichees, who say that the devils were not created, but have their origin of themselves, and that without having become corrupted, they are wicked by their own nature.
1. Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:3; Isaiah 40:26; Jeremiah 32:17; John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:1516; 1 Timothy 4:3; Hebrews 11:3; Revelation 4:11-
2. Genesis 1:29-30; Psalms 34:8; Psalms 103:20-21; Matthew 4:11; Acts 17:25; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Hebrews 1:14
3. John 8:44; 2 Peter 2:4; Judas 6
4. Genesis 3:1-5; Luke 8:30-31; 1 Peter 5:8
5. 2 Corinthians 2:10-11; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 2 Corinthians 11:14; Ephesians 6:12; Revelation 12:4; Revelation 12:13-17; Revelation 20:7-9
6. Matthew 8:29; Matthew 25:41; Luke 8:31; Revelation 20:10
7. Acts 23:8

Article 13: The providence of God
We believe that this good God, after He had created all things, did not abandon them or give them up to fortune or chance1, but that according to His holy will He so rules and governs them that in this world nothing happens without His direction2.

Yet God is not the Author of the sins which are committed nor can He be charged with them3.

For His power and goodness are so great and beyond understanding that He ordains and executes His work in the most excellent and just manner, even when devils and wicked men act unjustly4.

And as to His actions surpassing human understanding, we will not curiously inquire farther than our capacity allows us. But with the greatest humility and reverence we adore the just judgments of God, which are hidden from us5, and we content ourselves that we are pupils of Christ, who have only to learn those things which He teaches us in His Word, without transgressing these limits6.

This doctrine gives us inexpressible consolation, for we learn thereby that nothing can happen to us by chance, but only by the direction of our gracious heavenly Father. He watches over us with fatherly care, keeping all creatures so under His power that not one hair of our head – for they are all numbered – nor one sparrow can fall to the ground without the will of our Father (Mt 10:29, 30).

In this we trust, because we know that He holds in check the devil and all our enemies so that they cannot hurt us without His permission and will7.

We therefore reject the damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God does not concern Himself with anything but leaves all things to chance.
1. John 5:17; Hebrews 1:3
2. Psalms 115:3; Proverbs 16:1; Proverbs 16:9; Proverbs 16:33; Proverbs 21:1; Lamentations 3:37-38; Ephesians 1:11-12; James 4:13-15
3. James 1:13; 1 John 2:16
4. Job 1:21; Isaiah 10:5-7; Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6; Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27-28
5. Genesis 45:8; 2 Samuel 16:10; 1 Kings 22:19 – 23; Psalms 75:7-8; Proverbs 16:4; Ezekiel 14:9; Romans 1:28; Romans 11:33-34; 2 Thessalonians 2:11
6. Deuteronomy 29:29; 1 Corinthians 4:6
7. Genesis 45:8; Genesis 50:20; 2 Samuel 16:10; Job 1:12; Job 2:6; Matthew 10:29-30; Romans 8:28; Romans 8:38-39

Article 14: The creation and fall of man and his incapacity of doing what is truly good
We believe that God created man of dust from the ground1 and He made and formed him after His own image and likeness, good, righteous, and holy2. His will could conform to the will of God in every respect. But, when man was in this high position, he did not appreciate it nor did he value his excellency. He gave ear to the words of the devil and willfully subjected himself to sin and consequently to death and the curse3.

For he transgressed the commandment of life which he had received; by his sin he broke away from God, who was his true life; he corrupted his whole nature. By all this he made himself liable to physical and spiritual death4.

Since man became wicked and perverse, corrupt in all his ways, he has lost all his excellent gifts which he had once received from God5. He has nothing left but some small traces, which are sufficient to make man inexcusable6. For whatever light is in us has changed into darkness7, as Scripture teaches us, The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (Jn 1:5); where the apostle John calls mankind darkness8.

Therefore we reject all teaching contrary to this concerning the free will of man, since man is a slave to sin and a man can receive only what is given him from heaven9. For who dares to boast that he of himself can do any good, when Christ says: No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him? 10

Who will glory in his own will, when he understands that the sinful mind is hostile to God? 11

Who can speak of his knowledge, since the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God? 12

In short, who dares to claim anything, when he realizes that we are not competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God? 13

Therefore what the apostle says must justly remain sure and firm: It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose14.

For there is no understanding nor will conformable to the understanding and will of God unless Christ has brought it about; as He teaches us: Apart from Me you can do nothing15.
1. Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 12:7
2. Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 1:31; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10
3. Genesis 3:16-19; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Romans 5:12
4. Genesis 2:17; Isaiah 59:2; Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 4:18
5. Psalms 49:21; Psalms 94:11; Romans 3:10; Romans 8:6
6. Romans 1:20-21
7. Ephesians 5:8
8. John 1:5
9. Isaiah 26:12; John 3:27
10. John 6:44
11. Romans 7:5; Romans 8:7
12. 1 Corinthians 3:5
13. 2 Corinthians 3:5
14. Philippians 2:13
15. John 15:5

Article 15: The original sin
We believe that by the disobedience of Adam original sin has spread throughout the whole human race1. It is a corruption of the entire nature of man2 and a hereditary evil which infects even infants in their mother’s womb3. As a root it produces in man all sorts of sin. It is, therefore, so vile and abominable in the sight of God that it is sufficient to condemn the human race4.

It is not abolished nor eradicated even by baptism, for sin continually streams forth like water welling up from this woeful source5.

Yet, in spite of all this, original sin is not imputed to the children of God to their condemnation but by His grace and mercy is forgiven them6.

This does not mean that the believers may sleep peacefully in their sin, but that the awareness of this corruption may make them often groan as they eagerly wait to be delivered from this body of death7.

In this regard we reject the error of the Pelagians, who say that this sin is only a matter of imitation.
1. Romans 5:12-14; Romans 5:19
2. Romans 3:10
3. Job 14:4; Psalms 51:7; John 3:6
4. Ephesians 2:3
5. Romans 7:8 – 13; Romans 7:17-18; Romans 7:20-24
6. Ephesians 2:3-5
7. Romans 7:24

Article 16: Divine election
We believe that, when the entire offspring of Adam plunged into perdition and ruin by the transgression of the first man1, God manifested Himself to be as He is: merciful and just. Merciful, in rescuing and saving from this perdition those whom in His eternal and unchangeable counsel2 He has elected3 in Jesus Christ our Lord4 by His pure goodness, without any consideration of their works5. Just, in leaving the others in the fall and perdition into which they have plunged themselves6.
1. Romans 3:12
2. 1 Samuel 12:22; Psalms 65:5; Acts 2:47; Acts 13:48; Romans 9:15-16; Romans 11:5-6; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 4:10
3. Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:11-13; Ephesians 2:8-10; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:4-5
4. John 6:37; John 6:44; John 10:29; John 17:2; John 17:9; John 17:12
5. John 6:27; John 15:16; John 15:19; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:4-5
6. Romans 9:17-22.; 1 Peter 2:7-8

Article 17: The rescue of fallen man
We believe that, when He saw that man had thus plunged himself into physical and spiritual death and made himself completely miserable, our gracious God in His marvelous wisdom and goodness set out to seek man when he trembling fled from Him.1

He comforted him with the promise that He would give him His Son, born of woman, to crush the head of the serpent and to make man blessed2.
1. Genesis 3:8-9; Genesis 3:19
2. Genesis 3:15; Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 7:14; John 1:14; John 5:46; John 7:42; Acts 13:32-33; Romans 1:2-3; Galatians 3:16; Galatians 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:8; Hebrews 7:14

Article 18: The incarnation of the Son of God
We confess, therefore, that God has fulfilled the promise He made to the fathers by the mouth of His holy prophets1 when, at the time appointed by Him2, He sent into the world His own only-begotten and eternal Son, who took the form of a servant and was born in the likeness of men. He truly assumed a real human nature with all its infirmities3, without sin4, for He was conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit and not by the act of a man5.

He not only assumed human nature as to the body, but also a true human soul, in order that He might be a real man. For since the soul was lost as well as the body, it was necessary that He should assume both to save both6.

Contrary to the heresy of the Anabaptists, who deny that Christ assumed human flesh of His mother, we therefore confess that Christ partook of the flesh and blood of the children7. He is a descendant of David; born of David according to His human nature8; of the womb of the virgin Mary9; born of woman10; a branch of David11; a shoot from the stump of Jesse12; descended from Judah13; descended from the Jews according to the flesh14; of the seed of Abraham, since the Son was concerned with the descendants of Abraham. Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, yet without sin15.

In this way He is in truth our Immanuel, that is, God with us16.
1. Genesis 26:4; 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalms 132:11; Luke 1:55; Acts 13:23
2. Galatians 4:4
3. Matthew 26:38; John 12:27; Philippians 2:7; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:14
4. 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22
5. Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35
6. Luke 1:34-35
7. Hebrews 2:14
8. Psalms 132:11; Acts 2:30; Romans 1:3
9. Luke 1:42
10. Luke 1:31; Galatians 4:4
11. Jeremiah 33:15
12. Isaiah 1:11
13. Hebrews 7:14
14. Romans 9:5
15. Hebrews 2:16-17; Hebrews 4:15
16. Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23

Article 19: The two natures in the one Person of Christ
We believe that by this conception the person of the Son of God is inseparably united and joined with the human nature1, so that there are not two sons of God, nor two persons, but two natures united in one single person. Each nature retains its own distinct properties: His divine nature has always remained uncreated, without beginning of days or end of life (Heb 7:3), filling heaven and earth2. His human nature has not lost its properties; it has beginning of days and remains created. It is finite and retains all the properties of a true body3.

Even though, by His resurrection, He has given immortality to His human nature, He has not changed its reality4, since our salvation and resurrection also depend on the reality of His body5.

However, these two natures are so closely united in one person that they were not even separated by His death.

Therefore, what He, when dying, committed into the hands of His Father was a real human spirit that departed from His body6.

Meanwhile His divinity always remained united with His human nature, even when He was lying in the grave7.

And the divine nature always remained in Him just as it was in Him when He was a little child, even though it did not manifest itself as such for a little while.

For this reason we profess Him to be true God and true man: true God in order to conquer death by His power; and true man that He might die for us according to the infirmity of His flesh.
1. John 1:14; John 10:30; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:6-8
2. Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 7:3
3. 1 Timothy 2:5
4. Matthew 26:11; Luke 24:39; John 20:25; Acts 1:3; Acts 1:11; Hebrews 2:9
5. 1 Corinthians 15:13; 1 Corinthians 15:21; Philippians 3:21
6. Matthew 27:50; Luke 23:46
7. Romans 1:4

Article 20: The justice and mercy of God in Christ
We believe that God, who is perfectly merciful and just, sent His Son to assume that nature in which disobedience had been committed1, to make satisfaction in that same nature; and to bear the punishment of sin by His most bitter passion and death2. God therefore manifested His justice against His Son when He laid our iniquity on Him, and poured out His goodness and mercy on us, who were guilty and worthy of damnation. Out of a most perfect love He gave His Son to die for us and He raised Him for our justification3 that through Him we might obtain immortality and life eternal4.
1. Romans 8:3
2. Isaiah 53:6; John 1:29; Hebrews 2:14
3. Romans 3:25-26; Romans 8:32; 1 John 4:9
4. Romans 4:25

Article 21: The satisfaction of Christ our High Priest
We believe that Jesus Christ was confirmed by an oath to be a High Priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek1. He presented Himself in our place before His Father, appeasing God’s wrath by His full satisfaction2, offering Himself on the tree of the cross, where He poured out His precious blood to purge away our sins3, as the prophets had foretold4.

For it is written, The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed5. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was numbered with the transgressors6, and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though he had first declared Him innocent7.

He was forced to restore what He did not steal8. He died as the righteous for the unrighteous9. He suffered in body and soul10, feeling the horrible punishment caused by our sins, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground11. Finally, He exclaimed, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me12? All this He endured for the forgiveness of our sins.

Therefore we justly say, with Paul, that we know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified13. We consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord14. We find comfort in His wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means of reconciliation with God than this only sacrifice, once offered, by which the believers are perfected for all times15.

This is also the reason why the angel of God called Him Jesus, that is, Saviour, because He [would] save His people from their sins16.
1. Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 5:10; Hebrews 7:15-17
2. Romans 3:24-25; Romans 5:8-9; Romans 8:32; Galatians 3:13; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 9:11-15
3. Acts 2:23; Philippians 2:8; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 7:14
4. Luke 24:25-27; Romans 3:21-22; 1 Corinthians 15:3
5. 1 Peter 2:24
6. Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 53:7; Isaiah 53:9; Markus 15:28
7. John 18:38; Acts 13:28
8. Psalms 69:5
9. Psalms 22:16
10. Romans 5:6; 1 Peter 3:18
11. Luke 22:44;
12. Psalms 22:2; Matthew 27:46;
13. 1 Corinthians 2:2;
14. Philippians 3:8;
15. Hebrews 7:26-28; Hebrews 9:24-28; Hebrews 10:14
16. Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31; Acts 4:12

Article 22: Our justification through faith in Christ
We believe that, in order that we may obtain the true knowledge of this great mystery1, the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith2.

This faith embraces Jesus Christ with all His merits, makes Him our own, and does not seek anything besides Him. For it must necessarily follow, either that all we need for our salvation is not in Jesus Christ or, if it is all in Him, that one who has Jesus Christ through faith, has complete salvation3.

It is, therefore, a terrible blasphemy to assert that Christ is not sufficient, but that something else is needed besides Him; for the conclusion would then be that Christ is only half a Saviour. Therefore we rightly say with Paul that we are justified by faith apart from observing the law.4

Meanwhile, strictly speaking, we do not mean that faith as such justifies us5, for faith is only the instrument by which we embrace Christ our righteousness; He imputes to us all His merits and as many holy works as He has done for us and in our place6. Therefore Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and faith is the instrument that keeps us with Him in the communion of all His benefits. When those benefits have become ours, they are more than sufficient to acquit us of our sins.
1. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Galatians 2:21
2. John 16:13-14; 1 Corinthians 2:12; Ephesians 1:17-18; Ephesians 3:16-17
3. Psalms 32:1; Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:77; Acts 13:38-39; Romans 8:1
4. Romans 8:28; Romans 10:4-11; Galatians 2:16; Philippians 3:9; Romans 8:1; Romans 8:33
5. 1 Corinthians 4:7
6. Jeremiah 27:5; Matthew 20:28; Romans 8:33; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 4:10; 1 Peter 1:4-5

Article 23: Our righteousness before God
We believe that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins for Jesus Christ’s sake and that therein our righteousness before God1 consists, as David and Paul teach us. They speak of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. The apostle also says that we are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus2.

Therefore we always hold to this firm foundation. We give all the glory to God3, humble ourselves before Him, and acknowledge ourselves to be what we are. We do not claim anything for ourselves or our merits4, but rely and rest on the only obedience of Jesus Christ crucified5; His obedience is ours when we believe in Him6.

This is sufficient to cover all our iniquities and to give us confidence in drawing near to God, freeing our conscience of fear, terror, and dread, so that we do not follow the example of our first father, Adam, who trembling tried to hide and covered himself with fig leaves7.

For indeed, if we had to appear before God, relying – be it ever so little – on ourselves or some other creature, (woe be to us!) we would be consumed8.

Therefore everyone must say with David, O Lord, do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before You9.
1. Psalms 32:1; Luke 1:77; Romans 4:6-7; Colossians 1:13-14; 1 John 2:1
2. Psalms 32:1; Romans 3:24; Romans 4:2; Romans 4:6; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Ephesians 2:8; 1 Timothy 2:6
3. Psalms 115:1; Revelation 7:10-12
4. 1 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 4:7; Hebrews 11:6-7; James 2:10
5. Acts 4:12; Romans 5:19; Hebrews 10:20
6. Romans 4:23-25; Romans 5:1
7. Genesis 3:7; Isaiah 33:14; Zephania 3:11; Hebrews 4:16; James 2:10; 1 John 4:17-19
8. Deuteronomy 27:26; Psalms 130:3; Luke 16:15; Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 3:4-9
9. Psalms 143:2

Article 24 Our sanctification and good works
We believe that this true faith, worked in man by the hearing of God’s Word and by the operation of the Holy Spirit1, regenerates him and makes him a new man.2 It makes him live a new life and frees him from the slavery of sin.3

Therefore it is not true that this justifying faith makes man indifferent to living a good and holy life4. On the contrary, without it no one would ever do anything out of love for God5, but only out of self-love or fear of being condemned. It is therefore impossible for this holy faith to be inactive in man, for we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls faith expressing itself through love. This faith induces man to apply himself to those works which God has commanded in His Word. These works, proceeding from the good root of faith, are good and acceptable in the sight of God, since they are all sanctified by His grace. Nevertheless, they do not count toward our justification. For through faith in Christ we are justified, even before we do any good works6. Otherwise they could not be good any more than the fruit of a tree can be good unless the tree itself is good7.

Therefore we do good works, but not for merit. For what could we merit? We are indebted to God, rather than He to us, for the good works we do8, since it is He who works in us, to will and to act according to His good purpose (Phil 2:13). Let us keep in mind what is written: So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty (Luke 17:10).” Meanwhile we do not deny that God rewards good works9, but it is by His grace that He crowns His gifts.

Furthermore, although we do good works, we do not base our salvation on them. We cannot do a single work that is not defiled by our flesh and does not deserve punishment10. Even if we could show one good work, the remembrance of one sin is enough to make God reject it11. We would then always be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be constantly tormented, if they did not rely on the merit of the death and passion of our Saviour12.
1. Acts 16:14; Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
2. Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 1:12-13; John 3:5; John 6:29; Acts 15:9; Ephesians 2:4-6; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:23
3. John 5:24; John 8:36; Romans 6:4-6; 1 John 3:9
4. Galatians 5:22; Titus 2:12
5. John 15:5; Romans 14:23; 1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:8; Hebrews 11:4; Hebrews 11:6
6. Romans 4:5; Galatians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:13
7. Matthew 7:17
8. Romans 11:6; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; 1 Corinthians 4:7; Ephesians 2:10
9. Luke 17:10; Romans 2:5-7; 1 Corinthians 3:14; Philippians 2:13 ; 2 John:8; Revelation 2:23
10. Romans 7:20-24
11. James 2:10
12. Habakkuk 2:4; Matthew 11:28; Romans 10:11

Article 25: Christ, the fulfillment of the law
We believe that the ceremonies and symbols of the law have ceased with the coming of Christ, and that all shadows have been fulfilled1, so that the use of them ought to be abolished among Christians. Yet their truth and substance remain for us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have been fulfilled2.

In the meantime we still use the testimonies taken from the law and the prophets, both to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel and to order our life in all honesty, according to God’s will and to His glory3.
1. Matthew 27:51; Romans 10:4; Hebrews 9:9-10
2. Matthew 5:17; Galatians 3:24; Galatians 5:2-4; Colossians 2:17
3. Romans 13:8-10; Romans 15:4; 2 Peter 1:19; 2 Peter 3:2

Article 26: Christ’s intercession
We believe that we have no access to God except through the only Mediator1 and Advocate Jesus Christ the righteous2. For this purpose He became man, uniting together the divine and human nature, that we might not be barred from but have access to the divine majesty3. This Mediator, however, whom the Father has ordained between Himself and us, should not frighten us by His greatness, so that we look for another according to our fancy. There is no creature in heaven or on earth who loves us more than Jesus Christ4. Though He was in the form of God, He emptied Himself, taking the form of man and of a servant for us, and was made like His brothers in every way5.

If, therefore, we had to look for another intercessor, could we find one who loves us more than He who laid down His life for us, even while we were His enemies? 6

If we had to look for one who has authority and power, who has more than He who is seated at the right hand of the Father7 and who has all authority in heaven and on earth8? Moreover, who will be heard more readily than God’s own well-beloved Son?9

Therefore it was pure lack of trust which introduced the custom of dishonouring the saints rather than honouring them, doing what they themselves never did nor required. On the contrary, they constantly rejected such honour according to their duty, as appears from their writings10.

Here one ought not to bring in our unworthiness, for it is not a question of offering our prayers on the basis of our own worthiness, but only on the basis of the excellence and worthiness of Jesus Christ11, whose righteousness is ours by faith12.

Therefore, to take away from us this foolish fear or rather distrust, the author of Hebrews, with good reason, says to us that Jesus Christ was made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted13.

Further, to encourage us more to go to Him, he says: Therefore, since then we have a great High Priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest, who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need14.

The same letter says: Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus . . . let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, etc. 15.

Also, because Christ lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them16.

What more is needed? Christ Himself says: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me17.

Why should we look for another advocate? It has pleased God to give us His Son as our Advocate. Let us then not leave Him for another, or even look for another, without ever finding one. For when God gave Him to us, He knew very well that we were sinners.

In conclusion, according to the command of Christ, we call upon the heavenly Father through Christ our only Mediator18, as we are taught in the Lord’s prayer9. We rest assured that we shall obtain all we ask of the Father in His Name20.
1. 1 Timothy 2:5
2. 1 John 2:1
3. Ephesians 3:12
4. Matthew 11:28; John 15:13; Ephesians 3:19; 1 John 4:10
5. Philippians 2:6-8; Hebrews 2:17
6. Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 2:33; Hosea 13:9; John 10:11; Romans 5:6-10
7. Markus 16:19; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1
8. Matthew 28:18
9. Matthew 3:17; John 11:42; Ephesians 1:6
10. Acts 10:26; Acts 14:15
11. Jeremiah 17:5; Jeremiah 17:7; Daniël 9:18; Acts 4:12
12. 1 Corinthians 1:30-31
13. Hebrews 2:17-18
14. Hebrews 4:14-16
15. John 10:9; Ephesians 2:18; Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 10:19; Hebrews 10:22
16. Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:24-25
17. John 14:6
18. Hebrews 13:15
19. Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4
20. John 14:13; John 16:23

Article 27: The catholic Christian church
We believe and profess one catholic or universal church,1 which is a holy congregation and assembly2 of the true Christian believers, who expect their entire salvation in Jesus Christ3, are washed by His blood, and are sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit4.

This church has existed from the beginning of the world and will be to the end, for Christ is an eternal King who cannot be without subjects.5

This holy church is preserved by God against the fury of the whole world6, although for a while it may look very small and as extinct in the eyes of man7. Thus during the perilous reign of Ahab, the Lord kept for Himself seven thousand persons who had not bowed their knees to Baal8.

Moreover, this holy church is not confined or limited to one particular place or to certain persons, but is spread and dispersed throughout the entire world9. Yet, it is joined and united with heart and will, in one and the same Spirit, by the power of faith10.
1. Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 49:6; Ephesians 2:17-19
2. Psalms 111:1; John 10:14-16; Ephesians 4:3-6; Hebrews 12:22-23
3. Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21
4. Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30
5. 2 Samuel 7:16; Psalms 89:37; Psalms 110:1-4; Matthew 28:18; Matthew 28:20; Luke 1:32-33; John 16:33
6. Psalms 46:6; Matthew 16:18
7. Isaiah 1:9; Luke 12:32; 1 Peter 3:20; Revelation 11:7
8. 1 Kings 19:18; Romans 9:29; Romans 11:4 Matthew 23:8; Luke 17:21; John 4:21-24; Romans 10:12-13
9. Psalms 119:63; Acts 4:32; Ephesians 4:4

Article 28: Everyone’s duty to join the church
We believe, since this holy assembly and congregation is the assembly of the redeemed and there is no salvation outside of it1, that no one ought to withdraw from it, content to be by himself, no matter what his status or standing may be. But all and everyone are obliged to join it and unite with it2, maintaining the unity of the church. They must submit themselves to its instruction and discipline3, bend their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ4, and serve the edification of the brothers5, according to the talents which God has given them as members of the same body6.

To observe this more effectively, it is the duty of all believers, according to the Word of God, to separate from those who do not belong to the church7 and to join this assembly8 wherever God has established it. They should do so even though the rulers and edicts of princes were against it, and death or physical punishment might follow9.

All therefore who draw away from the church or fail to join it act contrary to the ordinance of God.
1. Matthew 16:18-19; Acts 2:47; Galatians 4:26; Ephesians 5:25-27; Hebrews 2:11-12; Hebrews 12:22-23
2. 2 Chronicles 30:8; John 17:21; Colossians 3:15
3. Hebrews 13:17
4. Matthew 11:28-30
5. Ephesians 4:12
6. 1 Corinthians 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:21; Ephesians 4:3; Ephesians 4:15-16
7. Numbers 16:23-26; Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 52:11-12; Matthew 12:30; Acts 2:40; Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:17; Revelation 18:4
8. Psalms 122:1; Isaiah 2:3; Hebrews 10:25
9. Acts 4:17-20

Article 29: The marks of the true and false church
We believe that we ought to discern diligently and very carefully from the Word of God what is the true church, for all sects which are in the world today claim for themselves the name of church1.

We are not speaking here of the hypocrites, who are mixed in the church along with the good and yet are not part of the church, although they are outwardly in it2. We are speaking of the body and the communion of the true church which must be distinguished from all sects that call themselves the church.

The true church is to be recognized by the following marks:

It practices the pure preaching of the gospel3. It maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them4. It exercises church discipline for correcting and punishing sins5. In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God6, rejecting all things contrary to it7 and regarding Jesus Christ as the only Head8. Hereby the true church can certainly be known and no one has the right to separate from it.

Those who are of the church may be recognized by the marks of Christians. They believe in Jesus Christ the only Saviour9, flee from sin and pursue righteousness10, love the true God and their neighbour11 without turning to the right or left, and crucify their flesh and its works.12

Although great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their life.13 They appeal constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of Jesus Christ, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins through faith in Him.14

The false church assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God. It does not want to submit itself to the yoke of Christ15. It does not administer the sacraments as Christ commanded in His Word, but adds to them and subtracts from them as it pleases. It bases itself more on men than on Jesus Christ. It persecutes those who live holy lives according to the Word of God and who rebuke the false church for its sins, greed, and idolatries.16

These two churches are easily recognized and distinguished from each other.
1. 2 Timothy 2:16-20; Revelation 2:9
2. Romans 9:6
3. Galatians 1:6-8; 1 Timothy 3:15
4. Acts 19:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:20-29
5. Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Corinthians 5:4-5; 1 Corinthians 5:12-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15; Titus 3:10-11
6. John 8:47; John 17:20; Acts 17:11-12; Ephesians 2:20; Colossians 1:23; 1 Timothy 6:3-5
7. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 Timothy 6:20-21; Revelation 2:6
8. John 10:14; Ephesians 1:20-23; Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18
9. John 1:12-13; Ephesians 1:13; 1 John 4:2
10. Romans 6:2; Philippians 3:12; Colossians 1:13-14
11. John 4:19-21
12. Galatians 5:24
13. Romans 7:15; Galatians 5:17
14. Romans 7:24-25; 1 John 1:7-9
15. Acts 4:17-19; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; 2 John:9
16. John 16:2

Article 30: The government of the church
We believe that this true church must be governed according to the spiritual order which our Lord has taught us in His Word1. There should be ministers or pastors to preach the Word of God and to administer the sacraments2; there should also be elders3 and deacons4 who, together with the pastors, form the council of the church5.

By these means they preserve the true religion; they see to it that the true doctrine takes its course, that evil men are disciplined in a spiritual way and are restrained, and also that the poor and all the afflicted are helped and comforted according to their need6.

By these means everything will be done well and in good order when faithful men are chosen7 in agreement with the rule that the apostle Paul gave to 1. Timothy.8
2. Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 13:20-21
3. Luke 1:2; Luke 10:16; John 20:23; Romans 10:14; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20; 2 Timothy 4:2
4. Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5
5. 1 Timothy 3:8-10
6. Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 4:14
7. Acts 6:1-4; Titus 1:7-9
8. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2
9. 1 Timothy 3:1-7; 1 Timothy 3:8-10; 1 Timothy 3:12; 1 Timothy 3:13

Article 31: The officers of the Church
We believe that ministers of God’s Word, elders, and deacons ought to be chosen to their offices by lawful election of the church, with prayer and in good order, as stipulated by the Word of God1.

Therefore everyone shall take care not to intrude by improper means. He shall wait for the time that he is called by God so that he may have sure testimony and thus be certain that his call comes from the Lord2. Ministers of the Word, in whatever place they are, have equal power and authority, for they are all servants of Jesus Christ3, the only universal Bishop and the only Head of the church4.

In order that this holy ordinance of God may not be violated or rejected, we declare that everyone must hold the ministers of the Word and the elders of the church in special esteem because of their work5, and as much as possible be at peace with them without grumbling or arguing.
1. Acts 1:23-24; Acts 6:3-4
2. Acts 13:2; 1 Corinthians 12:28; 1 Timothy 4:14; 1 Timothy 5:22; Hebrews 5:4
3. 1 Corinthians 3:9; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Peter 5:1-4
4. Matthew 23:8; Matthew 23:10; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 5:23
5. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; 1 Timothy 5:17; Hebrews 13:17

Article 32: The order and discipline of the church
We believe that, although it is useful and good for those who govern the church to establish a certain order to maintain the body of the church, they must at all times watch that they do not deviate from what Christ, our only Master, has commanded1.

Therefore we reject all human inventions and laws introduced into the worship of God which bind and compel the consciences in any way2.

We accept only what is proper to preserve and promote harmony and unity and to keep all in obedience to God3.

To that end, discipline and excommunication ought to be exercised in agreement with the Word of God4.
1. Colossians 2:6-7; 1 Timothy 3:15
2. Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:9; Galatians 5:1
3. 1 Corinthians 14:32-33
4. Matthew 16:19; Matthew 18:15-18; Romans 16:17-18; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 1 Timothy 1:20

Article 33: The sacraments
We believe that our gracious God, mindful of our insensitivity and weakness, has ordained sacraments to seal His promises to us and to be pledges of His good will and grace towards us. He did so to nourish and sustain our faith1.

He has added these to the Word of the gospel2 to represent better to our external senses both what He declares to us in His Word and what He does inwardly in our hearts. Thus He confirms to us the salvation which He imparts to us. Sacraments are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit3.

Therefore the signs are not void and meaningless so that they deceive us. For Jesus Christ is their truth; apart from Him they would be nothing. Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments which Christ our Master has instituted for us, namely, two: the sacrament of baptism4 and the holy supper of Jesus Christ5.
1. Genesis 17:9-14; Exodus 12:21-27; Romans 4:11
2. Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 5:26
3. Romans 2:28-29; Colossians 2:11-13
4. Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 5:7
5. Matthew 26:26-28; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Article 34: The sacrament of baptism
We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law1, has by His shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood that one could or would make as an expiation or satisfaction for sins. He has abolished circumcision, which involved blood, and has instituted in its place the sacrament of baptism2.

By baptism we are received into the church of God and set apart from all other peoples and false religions, to be entirely committed to Him3 whose mark and emblem we bear. This serves as a testimony to us that He will be our God and gracious Father for ever.

For that reason He has commanded all those who are His to be baptized with plain water into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit4. By this He signifies to us that as water washes away the dirt of the body when poured on us, and as water is seen on the body of the baptized when sprinkled on him, so the blood of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, does the same thing internally to the soul5. It washes and cleanses our soul from sin6 and regenerates us from children of wrath into children of God7. This is not brought about by the water as such8 but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God9, which is our Red Sea10, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, that is, the devil, and enter into the spiritual land of Canaan.

Thus the ministers on their part give us the sacrament and what is visible, but our Lord gives us what is signified by the sacrament, namely, the invisible gifts and grace. He washes, purges, and cleanses our souls of all filth and unrighteousness11, renews our hearts and fills them with all comfort, gives us true assurance of His fatherly goodness, clothes us with the new nature, and takes away the old nature with all its works12.

We believe, therefore, that anyone who aspires to eternal life ought to be baptized only once13. Baptism should never be repeated, for we cannot be born twice. Moreover, baptism benefits us not only when the water is on us and when we receive it, but throughout our whole life.

For that reason we reject the error of the Anabaptists, who are not content with a single baptism received only once, and who also condemn the baptism of the little children of believers.

We believe that these children ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as infants were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises which are now made to our children14.

Indeed, Christ shed His blood to wash the children of believers just as much as He shed it for adults15.

Therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of what Christ has done for them, as the Lord commanded in the law that a lamb was to be offered shortly after children were born16. This was a sacrament of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Because baptism has the same significance for our children as circumcision had for the people of Israel, Paul calls baptism the circumcision done by Christ17.
1. Romans 10:4
2. Colossians 2:11
3. Exodus 12:48; 1 Peter 2:9
4. Matthew 28:19
5. Matthew 3:11; 1 Corinthians 12:13
6. Acts 22:16; Hebrews 9:14; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5
7. Titus 3:5
8. 1 Peter 3:21
9. Romans 6:3; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Peter 2:24
10. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
11. 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:26
12. Romans 6:4; Galatians 3:27
13. Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 4:5
14. Genesis 17:10-12; Matthew 19:14; Acts 2:38-39
15. 1 Corinthians 7:14
16. Leviticus 12:6; John 1:29
17. Colossians 2:11

Article 35: The sacrament of the Lord’s supper
We believe and confess that our Saviour Jesus Christ has instituted the sacrament of the holy supper1 to nourish and sustain those whom He has already regenerated and incorporated into His family, which is His church.

Those who are born anew have a twofold life.2 One is physical and temporal, which they received in their first birth and is common to all men. The other is spiritual and heavenly, which is given them in their second birth and is effected by the word of the gospel3 in the communion of the body of Christ. This life is not common to all but only to the elect of God.

For the support of the physical and earthly life God has ordained earthly and material bread. This bread is common to all just as life is common to all. For the support of the spiritual and heavenly life, which believers have, He has sent them a living bread which came down from heaven, namely, Jesus Christ4, who nourishes and sustains the spiritual life of the believers5 when He is eaten by them, that is, spiritually appropriated and received by faith6.

To represent to us the spiritual and heavenly bread, Christ has instituted earthly and visible bread as a sacrament of His body and wine as a sacrament of His blood7.

He testifies to us that as certainly as we take and hold the sacrament in our hands and eat and drink it with our mouths, by which our physical life is then sustained, so certainly do we receive by faith8, as the hand and mouth of our soul, the true body and true blood of Christ, our only Saviour, in our souls for our spiritual life.

It is beyond any doubt that Jesus Christ did not commend His sacraments to us in vain. Therefore He works in us all that He represents to us by these holy signs. We do not understand the manner in which this is done, just as we do not comprehend the hidden activity of the Spirit of God9.

Yet we do not go wrong when we say that what we eat and drink is the true, natural body and the true blood of Christ. However, the manner in which we eat it is not by mouth but in the spirit by faith. In that way Jesus Christ always remains seated at the right hand of God His Father in heaven10; yet He does not cease to communicate Himself to us by faith. This banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ makes us partakers of Himself with all His benefits and gives us the grace to enjoy both Himself and the merit of His suffering and death11.

He nourishes, strengthens, and comforts our poor, desolate souls by the eating of His flesh, and refreshes and renews them by the drinking of His blood.

Although the sacrament is joined together with that which is signified, the latter is not always received by all12.

The wicked certainly takes the sacrament to his condemnation, but he does not receive the truth of the sacrament. Thus Judas and Simon the sorcerer both received the sacrament, but they did not receive Christ, who is signified by it13. He is communicated exclusively to the believers14.

Finally, we receive this holy sacrament in the congregation of the people of God15 with humility and reverence as we together commemorate the death of Christ our Saviour with thanksgiving and we confess our faith and Christian religion16.

Therefore no one should come to this table without careful self-examination, lest by eating this bread and drinking from this cup, he eat and drink judgment upon himself17.

In short, we are moved by the use of this holy sacrament to a fervent love of God and our neighbours. Therefore we reject as desecrations all additions and condemnable inventions which men have mixed with the sacraments. We declare that we should be content with the ordinance taught by Christ and His apostles and should speak about it as they have spoken.
1. Matthew 26:26-28; Markus 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
2. John 3:5-6
3. John 5:25
4. John 6:48-51
5. John 6:63; John 10:10
6. John 6:40; John 6:47
7. John 6:55; 1 Corinthians 10:16
8. Ephesians 3:17
9. John 3:8
10. Markus 16:19; Acts 3:21
11. Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 10:2-4
12. 1 Corinthians 2:14
13. Luke 22:19-22; Acts 8:13; Acts 8:21
14. John 3:36
15. Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7
16. Acts 2:46; 1 Corinthians 11:26-28
17. 1 Corinthians 11:29

Article 36: The civil government
We believe that, because of the depravity of mankind, our gracious God has ordained kings, princes, and civil officers1.

He wants the world to be governed by laws and statutes2, in order that the lawlessness of men be restrained and that everything be conducted among them in good order3.

For that purpose He has placed the sword in the hand of the government to punish wrongdoers4 and to protect those who do what is good. Their task of restraining and sustaining is not limited to the public order but includes the protection of the church and its ministry, the Word of the gospel may be preached everywhere5, and God may be honoured and served by everyone, as He requires in His Word.

Moreover, everyone – no matter of what quality, condition, or rank – ought to be subject to the civil officers, pay taxes, hold them in honour and respect6, and obey them in all things which do not disagree with the Word of God7. We ought to pray for them, that God may direct them in all their ways and that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness8.

For that reason we condemn the Anabaptists and other rebellious people, and in general all those who reject the authorities and civil officers, subvert justice9, introduce a communion of goods, and overturn the decency that God has established among men.
1. Proverbs 8:15; Daniel 2:21; Daniel 5:18; John 19:11; Romans 13:1
2. Ezekiel 18:20
3. Deuteronomy 1:15-16; Deuteronomy 16:18-19; Judges 21:25; Psalms 82; Jeremiah 21:12; Jeremiah 22:2-3; 1 Peter 2:13-14
4. Romans 13:4
5. Psalms 2; Romans 13:4; 1 Timothy 2:1-4
6. Matthew 17:27; Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:7; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:17
7. Acts 4:17-19; Acts 5:29
8. 1 Timothy 2:2
9. 2 Peter 2:10; Judas 8

Article 37: The last judgment
Finally, we believe, according to the Word of God, that when the time, ordained by the Lord but unknown to all creatures1, has come and the number of the elect is complete2, our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, bodily and visibly, as He ascended3 (Acts 1:11), with great glory and majesty4. He will declare Himself judge of the living and the dead5 and set this old world afire in order to purge it6.

Then all people, men, women, and children, who ever lived, from the beginning of the world to the end, will appear in person before this great Judge7. They will be summoned with the voice of the archangel and with trumpet call of God8.

Those who will have died before that time will arise out of the earth9, as their spirits are once again united with their own bodies in which they lived. Those who will then be still alive will not die as the others but will be changed in the twinkling of an eye from perishable to imperishable10.

Then the books will be opened and the dead will be judged11 according to what they have done in this world, whether good or evil12. Indeed, all people will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken13, which the world regards as mere jest and amusement. The secrets and hypocrisy of men will then be publicly uncovered in the sight of all. Thus for good reason the thought of this judgment is horrible and dreadful to the wicked and evildoers14 but it is a great joy and comfort to the righteous and elect. For then their full redemption will be completed and they will receive the fruits of their labour and of the trouble they have suffered15.

Their innocence will be known to all and they will see the terrible vengeance God will bring upon the wicked who persecuted, oppressed, and tormented them in this world16.

The wicked will be convicted by the testimony of their own consciences and will become immortal, but only to be tormented in the eternal fire17 prepared for the devil and his angels18.

On the other hand, the faithful and elect will be crowned with glory and honour. The Son of God will acknowledge their names before God His Father19 and His elect angels20. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes21, and their cause – at present condemned as heretical and evil by many judges and civil authorities – will be recognized as the cause of the Son of God. As a gracious reward, the Lord will grant them to possess glory such as the heart of man could never conceive22. Therefore we look forward to that great day with a great longing to enjoy to the full the promises of God in Jesus Christ our Lord23.
1. Matthew 24:36; Matthew 25:13; Acts 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2; 2 Peter 3:10;
2. Hebrews 11:39-40; Revelation 6:11;
3. Revelation 1:7;
4. Matthew 24:30; Matthew 25:31; Acts 1:11;
5. Matthew 25:31-46; Acts 17:30-31; Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5; 2 Peter 3:7;
6. 2 Peter 3:10-13;
7. 1 Thessalonians 4:16;
8. Deuteronomy 7:9-11; Revelation 20:12-13;
9. Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29;
10. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Philippians 3:20-21
11. Revelation 20:12
12. 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 22:12
13. Matthew 12:36
14. Matthew 11:22; Matthew 23:33; John 5:24; Romans 2:5-6; 1 Corinthians 4:5; Hebrews 10:27; 2 Peter 2:9; Judas 15; Revelation 14:7
15. Luke 14:14
16. Revelation 15:4; Revelation 18:20
17. Matthew 13:41-42; Matthew 25:41; Luke 16:22-28; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10; Revelation 21:8
18. Revelation 20:10
19. Matthew 10:23
20. Revelation 3:5
21. Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4
22. Daniel 12:3; Matthew 5:12; Matthew 13:43; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Revelation 21:9-22:5
23. Revelation 22:20

The Cannons of Dort

We also acknowledge the Westminster Standards, common among Presbyterian churches, being:
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)
Westminster Shorter Catechism (1649)
Westminster Larger Catechism (1649)

We believe the following 5 pillars and 5 points of Reformed Theology gets to the core of these confessions:

The Five Pillars

Scripture Alone
Christ Alone
Grace Alone
Faith Alone
Glory to God Alone

The Five Points

Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints

We are rooted firmly in the reformed tradition and are therefore committed to the following historical confessions:

General Confessions

1. I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
2. I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;
3. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary;
4. suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He endured the suffering of hell*.
5. On the third day He arose from the dead;
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
7. from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit;
9. I believe a holy catholic** Christian church, the communion of saints;
10. the forgiveness of sins;
11. the resurrection of the body;
12. and the life everlasting.
* Literally: He descended into hell
** The word “catholic” refers not to a denomination, but to the universal church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered died and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.

1. Whoever wills to be in a state of salvation, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic [apostolic/universal] faith,
2. which except everyone shall have kept whole and undefiled without doubt he will perish eternally.
3. Now the catholic faith is that we worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity,
4. neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance.
5. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Spirit.
6. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is One, the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal.
7. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit;
8. the Father uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated;
9. the father infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite;
10. the Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal.
11. And yet not three eternals but one eternal,
12. as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one infinite.
13. So, likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty;
14. and yet not three almighties but one almighty.
15. So the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God;
16. and yet not three Gods but one God.
17. So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord;
18. and yet not three Lords but one Lord.
19. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord;
20. so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three Gods or three Lords.
21. The Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten.
22. The Son is of the Father alone, nor made nor created but begotten.
23. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not made nor created nor begotten but proceeding.
24. So there is one Father not three Fathers, one Son not three Sons, and Holy Spirit not three Holy Spirits.
25. And in this Trinity there is nothing before or after, nothing greater or less,
26. but the whole three Persons are coeternal together and coequal.
27. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshipped.
28. He therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think thus of the Trinity.
29. But it is necessary to eternal salvation that he also believe faithfully the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
30. The right faith therefore is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man.
31. He is God of the substance of the Father begotten before the worlds, and He is man of the substance of His mother born in the world;
32. perfect God, perfect man subsisting of a reasoning soul and human flesh;
33. equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood.
34. Who although He be God and Man yet He is not two but one Christ;
35. one however not by conversion of the GodHead in the flesh, but by taking of the Manhood in God;
36. one altogether not by confusion of substance but by unity of Person.
37. For as the reasoning soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ.
38. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell,
39. rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father,
40. from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
41. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies
42. and shall give account for their own works.
43. And they that have done good shall go into life eternal, and they who indeed have done evil into eternal fire.
44. This is the catholic faith, which except a man shall have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of salvation.

Specific Confessions

Lord’s Day 1
Question 1: What is your only comfort in life and death?
Answer: That I am not my own1, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death2, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ3. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood4, and has set me free from all the power of the devil5. He also preserves me6 in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head7; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation8. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life9 and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him10.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:19.
2. Romans 14:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10.
3. 1 Corinthians 3:23; Titus 2:14.
4. 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 2:12.
5. John 8:34-36; 1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14.
6. John 6:39; John 10:27-30; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Peter 1:5.
7. Matthew 10:30; Luke 21:18.
8. Romans 8:28.
9. Romans 8:16; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14.
10. Romans 8:14; 1 John 3:3.

Lord’s Day 1
Question 2: What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
Answer: Three realities1: First, how great my sins and misery are2; second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery3; third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance4.
1. Matthew 11:28-30; Ephesians 5:8.
2. Matthew 9:12; John 9:41; Romans 3:10; 1 John 1:9-10.
3. Luke 24:46-47; John 17:3; Acts 4:12; Acts 10:43; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:3-7.
4. Psalms 50:14-15; Psalms 116:12-13; Matthew 5:16; Romans 6:12-13; Ephesians 5:10; 2 Timothy 2:15; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:12.

Lord’s Day 2
Question 3: From where do you know your sins and misery?
Answer: From the law of God1.
1. Romans 3:20

Lord’s Day 2
Question 4: What does God’s law require of us?
Answer: Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22: ” Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments1.”
1. Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37-40; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27.

Lord’s Day 2
Question 5: Can you keep all this perfectly?
Answer: No1, I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbour2.
1. Romans 3:10; Romans 3:20; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10.
2. Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 7:23; Romans 8:7; Ephesians 2:3; Titus 3:3.

Lord’s Day 3
Question 6: Did God, then, create man so wicked and perverse?
Answer: No, on the contrary, God created man good1 and in His image2, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness to praise and glorify Him3.
1. Genesis 1:31.
2. Genesis 1:26-27.
3. 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10.

Lord’s Day 3
Question 7: From where, then, did man’s depraved nature come?
Answer: From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise1, for there our nature became so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin2.
1. Genesis 3; Romans 5:12; Romans 5:18-19.
2. Genesis 5:3; Psalms 51:7.

Lord’s Day 3
Question 8: But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined to all evil?
Answer: Yes1, unless we are regenerated by the Spirit of God2.
1. Genesis 6:5; Genesis 8:21; Job 14:4; Job 15:14; Job 15:16; Job 15:35; Isaiah 53:6; John 3:6; Titus 3:3.
2. John 3:3; John 3:5; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 2 Corinthians 3:5.

Lord’s Day 4
Question 9: But does not God do man an injustice by requiring in His law what man cannot do?
Answer: No1, for God so created man that he was able to do it2. But man, at the instigation of the devil, in deliberate disobedience3 robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.
1. Genesis 1:26-27; Ephesians 4:24.
2. Genesis 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:13-14.
3. Genesis 3:4-6; Romans 5:12.

Lord’s Day 4
Question 10: Will God allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?
Answer: Certainly not. He is terribly displeased1 with our original sin as well as our actual sins. Therefore He will punish them by a just judgment both now and eternally2, as He has declared: ” Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 3
1. Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12.
2. Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:7; Psalms 5:6; Psalms 50:21; Nahum 1:2; Romans 1:18; Ephesians 5:6; Hebrews 9:27.
3. Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10.

Lord’s Day 4
Question 11: But is God not also merciful?
Answer: God is indeed merciful1, but He is also just2. His justice requires that sin committed against the most high majesty of God also be punished with the most severe, that is, with everlasting, punishment of body and soul.
1. Exodus 34:6-7; Exodus 20:6.
2. Exodus 20:5; Exodus 23:7; Exodus 34:7; Psalms 5:5-6; Psalms 7:10; Nahum 1:2-3.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 12: Since, according to God’s righteous judgment we deserve temporal and eternal punishment, how can we escape this punishment and be again received into favour?
Answer: God demands that His justice be satisfied1. Therefore we must make full payment, either by ourselves or through another2.
1. Genesis 2:7; Exodus 20:5; Exodus 23:7; Ezekiel 18:4; Luke 16:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:6.
2. Matthew 5:26; Romans 8:3-4.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 13: Can we by ourselves make this payment?
Answer: Certainly not. On the contrary, we daily increase our debt1.
1. Job 4:18-19; Job 9:2; Job 15:15-16; Psalms 130:3; Matthew 6:12; Matthew 16:26; Matthew 18:25.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 14: Can any mere creature pay for us?
Answer: No. In the first place, God will not punish another creature for the sin which man has committed1. Furthermore, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it2.
1. Genesis 3:17; Ezekiel 18:4.
2. Psalms 130:3; Nahum 1:6.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 15: What kind of mediator and deliverer must we seek?
Answer: One who is a true1 and righteous2 man, and yet more powerful than all creatures; that is, one who is at the same time true God3.
1. 1 Corinthians 15:21.
2. Hebrews 7:26.
3. Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:5; Jeremiah 23:6; Luke 11:22; Romans 8:3-4.

Lord’s Day 5
Question 16: Why must He be a true and righteous man?
Answer: He must be a true man because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should pay for sin1. He must be a righteous man because one who himself is a sinner cannot pay for others2.
1. Isaiah 53:4-5; Jeremiah 33:15; Ezekiel 18:4; Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 5:18; 1 Corinthians 15:21; Hebrews 2:14-16.
2. Psalms 49:8; Hebrews 7:26-27; 1 Peter 3:18.

Lord’s Day 6
Question 17: Why must He at the same time be true God?
Answer: He must be true God so that by the power of His divine nature1 He might bear in His human nature2 the burden of God’s wrath3, and might obtain for us and restore to us righteousness and life4.
1. Isaiah 9:5; Isaiah 63:3; Romans 1:4; Hebrews 1:3.
2. Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:11.
3. Deuteronomy 4:24; Psalms 130:3; Nahum 1:6.
4. Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 53:11; Isaiah 54:8; John 3:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 3:18.

Lord’s Day 6
Question 18: But who is that Mediator who at the same time is true God1 and a true2 and righteous man3?
Answer: Our Lord Jesus Christ4, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption5.
1. Isaiah 9:6; Jeremiah 23:6; Malachi 3:1; Romans 8:3; Romans 9:5; Galatians 4:4; 1 John 5:20.
2. Luke 1:42; Luke 2:6-7; Romans 1:3; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 2:16-17; Hebrews 4:15.
3. Isaiah 53:9; Isaiah 53:11; Jeremiah 23:5; Luke 1:35; John 8:46; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 1:19; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 Peter 3:18.
4. Matthew 1:23; Luke 2:11; John 1:1; John 1:14; John 1:18; John 14:6; Romans 9:5; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:9.
5. 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Lord’s Day 6
Question 19: From where do you know this?
Answer: From the holy gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Paradise1. Later, He had it proclaimed by the patriarchs2 and prophets3, and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law4. Finally, He had it fulfilled through His only Son5.
1. Genesis 3:15.
2. Genesis 12:3; Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 49:10.
3. Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 49:5-6; Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 53; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Jeremiah 31:3233; Jeremiah 32:39-41; Micah 7:18-20; John 5:46; Acts 3:22-24; Acts 10:43; Romans 1:2; Hebrews 1:1. –
4. Colossians 2:7; Hebrews 10:1; Hebrews 10:7.
5. Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:24; Galatians 4:4-5; Colossians 2:17.

Lord’s Day 7
Question 20: Are all men, then, saved by Christ just as they perished through Adam?
Answer: No1. Only those are saved who by a true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all His benefits2.
1. Matthew 7:14; Matthew 22:14.
2. Psalms 2:12; Isaiah 53:11; Mark 16:16; John 1:12-13; John 3:16; John 3:18; John 3:36; Romans 3:22; Romans 11:20; Hebrews 4:2-3; Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 10:39; Hebrews 11:6.

Lord’s Day 7
Question 21: What is true faith?
Answer: True faith is a sure knowledge whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in His Word1. At the same time it is a firm confidence2 that not only to others, but also to me3, God has granted forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation4, out of mere grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits5. This faith the Holy Spirit works in my heart by the gospel6.
1. 1 Samuel 2:3; Job 36:3-4; Psalms 119:66; Proverbs 2:1-9; Proverbs 8:10; 2 Corinthians 2:14;.
2. Psalms 9:11; Romans 4:18-21; Romans 10:10; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 11:7; James 1:6.
3. Acts 10:44; Acts 16:14; Romans 1:16; Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 1:21.
4. Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:38.
5. Luke 1:77-78; Acts 10:43; Romans 3:24; Romans 5:19; Ephesians 2:8.
6. Matthew 16:17; John 3:5; John 6:29; Acts 16:14; 2 Corinthians 4:13; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 1:19.

Lord’s Day 7
Question 22: What, then, must a Christian believe?
Answer: All that is promised us in the gospel1, which the articles of our catholic and undoubted Christian faith teach us in a summary.
1. Matthew 28:19; Mark 1:15; John 20:31.

Lord’s Day 7
Question 23: What are these articles?
Answer: (1) I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. (2) I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord; (3) He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; (4) suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He endured the suffering of hell*. (5) On the third day He arose from the dead; (6) He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty; (7)
from there He will come to judge the living and the dead. (8) I believe in the Holy Spirit; (9) I believe a holy catholic Christian church, the communion of saints; (10) the forgiveness of sins; (11) the resurrection of the body; (12) and the life everlasting. *Literally: He descended into hell

Lord’s Day 8
Question 24: How are these articles divided?
Answer: Into three parts: the first is about God the Father and our creation; the second about God the Son and our redemption; the third about God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

Lord’s Day 8
Question 25: Since there is only one God, why do you speak of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? 1
Answer: Because God has so revealed Himself in His Word2 that these three distinct persons are the one, true, eternal God.
1. Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:6; Isaiah 45:5; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; Ephesians 4:4-6.
2. Genesis 1:2-3; Psalms 33:6; Isaiah 6:1; Isaiah 6:3; Isaiah 48:16; Isaiah 6:1; Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19; Luke 4:18; John 14:26; John 15:26; 2 Corinthians 13:13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 2:18; Titus 3:5-6; 1 John 5:7-8.

Lord’s Day 9
Question 26: What do you believe when you say: I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth?
Answer: That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and all that is in them1, and who still upholds and governs them by His eternal counsel and providence2, is, for the sake of Christ His Son, my God and my Father3. In Him I trust so completely as to have no doubt that He will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul4, and will also turn to my good whatever adversity He sends me in this life of sorrow5. He is able to do so as almighty God6, and willing also as a faithful Father7.
1. Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:3; Exodus 20:11; Job 33:4; Job 38, 39; Psalms 33:6; Isaiah 40:26; Isaiah 45:7; Acts 4:24; Acts 14:15.
2. Psalms 104:27-30; Psalms 115:3; Matthew 10:29-30; Romans 11:36; Ephesians 1:11; Hebrews 1:3.
3. John 1:12; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5-7; Ephesians 1:5.
4. Psalms 55:23; Matthew 6:25-26; Luke 12:22-24.
5. Romans 8:28.
6. Isaiah 46:4; Romans 8:37-39; Romans 10:12.
7. Matthew 6:32-33; Matthew 7:9-11.

Lord’s Day 10
Question 27: What do you understand by the providence of God?
Answer: God’s providence is His almighty and ever present power1, whereby, as with His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures2, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years3, food and drink, health and sickness4, riches and poverty5, indeed, all things, come not by chance but by His fatherly hand6.
1. Isaiah 29:15-16; Jeremiah 23:23-24; Ezekiel 8:12; Acts 17:25-28.
2. Hebrews 1:3.
3. Jeremiah 5:24; Acts 14:17.
4. John 9:3.
5. Proverbs 22:2.
6. Proverbs 16:33; Matthew 10:29.

Lord’s Day 10
Question 28: What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His providence?
Answer: We can be patient in adversity1, thankful in prosperity2, and with a view to the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father3 that no creature shall separate us from His love4; for all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move5.
1. Job 1:21-22; Psalms 39:10; Romans 5:3; James 1:3.
2. Deuteronomy 8:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:18.
3. Psalms 55:23; Romans 5:4.
4. Romans 8:38-39.
5. Job 1:12; Job 2:6; Proverbs 21:1; Acts 17:25-28.

Lord’s Day 11
Question 29: Why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is, Saviour?
Answer: Because He saves us from all our sins1, and because salvation is not to be sought or found in anyone else2.
1. Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 7:25.
2. Isaiah 43:11; John 15:4-5; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 5:11-12.

Lord’s Day 11
Question 30: Do those believe in the only Saviour Jesus who seek their salvation and well-being from saints, in themselves, or anywhere else?
Answer: No. Though they boast of Him in words, they in fact deny the only Saviour Jesus1. For one of two things must be true: either Jesus is not a complete Saviour, or those who by true faith accept this Saviour must find in Him all that is necessary for their salvation2.
1. 1 Corinthians 1:13; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; Galatians 5:4.
2. Isaiah 9:6; Colossians 1:19-20; Colossians 2:10; Hebrews 12:2; 1 John 1:7.

Lord’s Day 12
Question 31: Why is He called Christ, that is, Anointed?
Answer: Because He has been ordained by God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Spirit1, to be our chief Prophet and Teacher2, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption3; our only High Priest4, who by the one sacrifice of His body has redeemed us5, and who continually intercedes for us before the Father6; and our eternal King, who governs us by His Word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us in the redemption obtained for us7.
1. Psalms 45:8; Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38; Hebrews 1:9.
2. Deuteronomy 18:15; Isaiah 55:4; Acts 26:22; Acts 7:37.
3. John 1:18; John 15:15; Acts 3:22.
4. Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 7:21.
5. Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 10:14.
6. Romans 5:9-10; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 9:24; 1 John 2:1.
7. Psalms 2:6; Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:5; Matthew 28:18; Luke 1:33; John 10:28; Revelation 12:10-11.

Lord’s Day 12
Question 32: Why are you called a Christian?1
Answer: Because I am a member of Christ by faith2 and thus share in His anointing3, so that I may as prophet confess His Name4, as priest present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him5, and as king fight with a free and good conscience against sin and the devil in this life6, and hereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures7.
1. Acts 11:26.
2. 1 Corinthians 6:15.
3. Acts 2:17; 1 John 2:27.
4. Matthew 10:32; Romans 10:10.
5. Romans 12:1; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:8; Revelation 5:10.
6. Romans 6:12-13; Galatians 5:16-17; Ephesians 6:11; 1 Timothy 1:18-19; 1 Peter 2:11.
7. Matthew 25:34; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 22:5.

Lord’s Day 13
Question 33: Why is He called God’s only begotten Son, since we also are children of God?
Answer: Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God1. We, however, are children of God by adoption, through grace, for Christ’s sake2.
1. John 1:14; John 1:18; John 3:16; Romans 8:32; Hebrews 1:1-2; 1 John 4:9.
2. John 1:12-13; Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:5-6.

Lord’s Day 13
Question 34: Why do you call Him our Lord?
Answer: Because He has ransomed us, body and soul, from all our sins, not with silver or gold but with His precious blood, and has freed us from all the power of the devil to make us His own possession1.
1. John 20:28; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 Peter 2:9.

Lord’s Day 14
Question 35: What do you confess when you say: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary?
Answer: The eternal Son of God, who is1 and remains true and eternal God2, took upon Himself true human nature from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary3, through the working of the Holy Spirit4. Thus He is also the true seed of David5, and like His brothers in every respect6, yet without sin7.
1. John 1:1; John 17:3; Romans 1:3; Colossians 1:15; 1 John 5:20.
2. Romans 9:5.
3. Luke 1:31; Luke 1:42-43; Galatians 4:4.
4. Matthew 1:18; Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35.
5. 2 Samuel 7:12; Psalms 132:11; Matthew 1:1; Luke 1:32; Acts 2:30; Romans 1:3.
6. Philippians 2:7; Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 2:17.
7. Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26-27.

Lord’s Day 14
Question 36: What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ?
Answer: He is our Mediator1, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin, in which I was conceived and born2.
1. Hebrews 2:16-18; Hebrews 7:26-27.
2. Psalms 32:1; Isaiah 53:11; Romans 8:3-4; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; Galatians 4:4-5; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 Peter 3:18.

Lord’s Day 15
Question 37: What do you confess when you say that He suffered?
Answer: During all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end, Christ bore in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race1. Thus, by His suffering, as the only atoning sacrifice2, He has redeemed our body and soul from everlasting damnation3, and obtained for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life4.
1. Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:12; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18.
2. Isaiah 53:10; Romans 3:25; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:14; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10.
3. Galatians 3:13; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 9:12; 1 Peter 1:18-19.
4 John 3:16; John 6:51; Romans 3:25; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:15; Hebrews 10:19.

Lord’s Day 15
Question 38: Why did He suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge?
Answer: Though innocent, Christ was condemned by an earthly judge1, and so He freed us from the severe judgment of God that was to fall on us2.
1. Matthew 27:24; Luke 23:14-15; John 18:38; John 19:4; John 19:11.
2. Psalms 69:5; Isaiah 53:4-5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13.

Lord’s Day 15
Question 39: Does it have a special meaning that Christ was crucified and did not die in a different way?
Answer: Yes. Thereby I am assured that He took upon Himself the curse1 which lay on me, for a crucified one was cursed by God2.
1. Galatians 3:13.
2. Deuteronomy 21:23.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 40: Why was it necessary for Christ to humble Himself even unto death?
Answer: Because of the justice and truth of God1 satisfaction for our sins could be made in no other way than by the death of the Son of God2.
1. Genesis 2:17.
2. Romans 8:3-4; Philippians 2:6-8; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 2:14-15.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 41: Why was he buried?
Answer: His burial testified that He had really died1.
1. Matthew 27:59-60; Luke 23:53; John 19:38; Acts 13:29; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 42: Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die?
Answer: Our death is not a payment for our sins1, but it puts an end to sin and is an entrance into eternal life2.
1. Psalms 49:8; Mark 8:37.
2. John 5:24; Romans 7:24; Philippians 1:23.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 43: What further benefit do we receive from Christ’s sacrifice and death on the cross?
Answer: Through Christ’s death our old nature is crucified, put to death, and buried with Him1, so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer reign in us2, but that we may offer ourselves to Him as a sacrifice of thankfulness3.
1. Romans 6:6.
2. Romans 6:8-12.
3. Romans 12:1.

Lord’s Day 16
Question 44: Why is there added: He endured the suffering of hell – literally: He descended into hell?
Answer: In my greatest sorrows and temptations I may be assured and comforted that my Lord Jesus Christ, by His unspeakable anguish, pain, terror, and agony, which He endured throughout all His sufferings1 but especially on the cross, has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell2.
1. Isaiah 53:5.
2. Psalms 18:5-6; Psalms 116:3; Matthew 26:38; Matthew 27:46; Hebrews 5:7.

Lord’s Day 17
Question 45: How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?
Answer: First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He could make us share in the righteousness which He had obtained for us by His death1. Second, by His power we too are raised up to a new life2. Third, Christ’s resurrection is to us a sure pledge of our glorious resurrection3.
1. Romans 4:25; 1 Corinthians 15:16-18; 1 Peter 1:3.
2. Romans 6:4; Ephesians 2:4-6; Colossians 3:1-3.
3. Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:20-21.

Lord’s Day 18
Question 46: What do you confess when you say, He ascended into heaven? 1
Answer: That Christ, before the eyes of His disciples, was taken up from the earth into heaven2, and that He is there for our benefit3 until He comes again to judge the living and the dead.
1. Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9.
2. Romans 8:34; Ephesians 4:10; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 4:14; Hebrews 9:24.
3. Matthew 24:30; Acts 1:11.

Lord’s Day 18
Question 47: Is Christ, then, not with us until the end of the world, as He has promised us?1
Answer: Christ is true man and true God. With respect to His human nature He is no longer on earth2, but with respect to His divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit He is never absent from us3.
1. Matthew 28:20.
2. Matthew 26:11; John 16:28; John 17:11; Acts 3:21; Hebrews 8:4.
3. Matthew 28:20; John 14:16-18.

Lord’s Day 18
Question 48: But are the two natures in Christ not separated from each other if His human nature is not present wherever His divinity is?
Answer: Not at all, for His divinity has no limits and is present everywhere1. So it must follow that His divinity is indeed beyond the human nature which He has taken on and nevertheless is within this human nature and remains personally united with it2.
1. Jeremiah 23:24; Acts 7:49.
2. Matthew 28:6; John 3:13; John 11:15; Colossians 2:9.

Lord’s Day 18
Question 49: How does Christ’s ascension into heaven benefit us?
Answer: First, He is our Advocate in heaven before His Father1. Second, we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that He, our Head, will also take us, His members, up to Himself2. Third, He sends us His Spirit as a counter-pledge3, by whose power we seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, and not the things that are on earth4.
1. Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1.
2. John 14:2; John 17:24; Ephesians 2:6.
3. John 14:16; John 16:7; Acts 2:33; 2 Corinthians 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:5.
4. Colossians 3:1; Philippians 3:20.

Lord’s Day 19
Question 50: Why is it added, And sits at the right hand of God?
Answer: Christ ascended into heaven to manifest Himself there as Head of His Church1, through whom the Father governs all things2.
1. Ephesians 1:20-23; Colossians 1:18.
2. Matthew 28:18; John 5:22.

Lord’s Day 19
Question 51: How does the glory of Christ, our Head, benefit us?
Answer: First, by His Holy Spirit He pours out heavenly gifts upon us, His members1. Second, by His power He defends and preserves us against all enemies2.
1. Acts 2:33; Ephesians 4:8.
2. Psalms 2:9; Psalms 110:1-2; John 10:28; Ephesians 4:8.

Lord’s Day 19
Question 52: What comfort is it to you that Christ will come to judge the living and the dead?
Answer: In all my sorrow and persecution I lift up my head and eagerly await as judge from heaven the very same person1 who before has submitted Himself to the judgment of God for my sake, and has removed all the curse from me. He will cast all His and my enemies into everlasting condemnation2, but He will take me and all His chosen ones to Himself into heavenly joy and glory3.
1. Luke 21:28; Romans 8:23; Philippians 3:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Titus 2:13.
2. Matthew 25:41; 2 Thessalonians 1:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9.
3. Matthew 25:34; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:10.

Lord’s Day 20
Question 53: What do you believe concerning the Holy Spirit?
Answer: First, He is, together with the Father and the Son, true and eternal God1. Second, He is also given to me2, to make me by true faith share in Christ and all His benefits3, to comfort me4, and to remain with me forever5.
1. Genesis 1:2; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:10; 1 Corinthians 6:19.
2. Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Galatians 3:14; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13.
3. John 16:13-14; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 6:17; Galatians 3:14; 1 Peter 1:2.
4. John 15:26; Acts 9:31.
5. John 14:16-17; 1 Peter 4:14.

Lord’s Day 21
Question 54: What do you believe concerning the holy catholic Christian church?
Answer: I believe that the Son of God1, out of the whole human race2, from the beginning of the world to its end3, gathers, defends, and preserves for Himself4, by His Spirit and Word5, in the unity of the true faith6, a church chosen to everlasting life7. And I believe that I am8 and forever shall remain a living member of it9.
1. John 10:11; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11-13; Ephesians 5:26.
2. Genesis 26:4; Isaiah 49:6; Romans 10:10-11; Revelation 5:9.
3. Psalms 71:17-18; Isaiah 59:21; 1 Corinthians 11:26.
4. Psalms 129:1-5; Matthew 16:18; John 10:28-30.
5. Isaiah 59:21; Romans 1:16; Romans 10:14-17; Ephesians 5:26.
6. John 17:20-21; Acts 2:42; Ephesians 4:3-5.
7. Psalms 111:1; Acts 20:28; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:10-13; Hebrews 12:22-23; 1 Peter 2:9.
8. Romans 8:10; 2 Corinthians 13:5; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 3:19-21.
9. Psalms 23:6; John 10:28; Romans 8:35-39; 1 Corinthians 1:8-9; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 John 2:19.

Lord’s Day 21
Question 55: What do you understand by the communion of saints?
Answer: First, that believers, all and everyone, as members of Christ have communion with Him and share in all His treasures and gifts1. Second, that everyone is duty-bound to use his gifts readily and cheerfully for the benefit and well-being of the other members2.
1. Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 6:17; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 1 John 1:3.
2. 1 Corinthians 12:21; 1 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Corinthians 13:5; Philippians 2:1-8.

Lord’s Day 21
Question 56: What do you believe concerning the forgiveness of sins?
Answer: I believe that God, because of Christ’s satisfaction, will no more remember my sins1, nor my sinful nature, against which I have to struggle all my life2, but He will graciously grant me the righteousness of Christ, that I may never come into condemnation3.
1. Psalms 103:3; Psalms 103:10; Psalms 103:12; Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 7:19; Romans 7:23-25.
2. 2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 2:2.
3. John 3:18; John 5:24.

Lord’s Day 22
Question 57: What comfort does the resurrection of the body offer you?
Answer:Not only shall my soul after this life immediately be taken up to Christ, my Head1, but also this my flesh, raised by the power of Christ, shall be reunited with my soul and made like Christ’s glorious body2.
1. Luke 16:22; Luke 20:37-38; Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:21; Philippians 1:23.
2. Job 19:25-26; 1 Corinthians 15:53-54; Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2.

Lord’s Day 22
Question 58: What comfort do you receive from the article about the life everlasting?
Answer: Since I now already feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy1, I shall after this life possess perfect blessedness, such as no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived– a blessedness in which to praise God forever2.
1. 2 Corinthians 5:2-3.
2. John 17:24; 1 Corinthians 2:9.

Lord’s Day 23
Question 59: But what does it help you now that you believe all this?
Answer: In Christ I am righteous before God and heir to life everlasting1.
1. Habakkuk 2:4; John 3:36; Romans 1:17.

Lord’s Day 23
Question 60: How are you righteous before God?
Answer: Only by true faith in Jesus Christ1. Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God’s commandments, have never kept any of them2, and am still inclined to all evil3, yet God, without any merit of my own4, out of mere grace5, imputes to me the perfect satisfaction6, righteousness, and holiness of Christ7. He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me8, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart9.
1. Romans 3:21-22; Romans 3:24; Romans 5:1-2; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Philippians 3:9.
2. Romans 3:9.
3. Romans 7:23.
4. Deuteronomy 9:6; Ezekiel 36:22; Romans 4:4; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Titus 3:5.
5.Romans 3:24; Ephesians 2:8.
6. 1 John 2:2.
7. 1 John 2:1.
8. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
9. John 3:18; Romans 3:22.

Lord’s Day 23
Question 61: Why do you say that you are righteous only by faith?
Answer: Not that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith, for only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God1. I can receive this righteousness and make it mine my own by faith only2.
1. 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 2:2.
2. 1 John 5:10.

Lord’s Day 24
Question 62: But why can our good works not be our righteousness before God, or at least a part of it?
Answer: Because the righteousness which can stand before God’s judgment must be absolutely perfect and in complete agreement with the law of God1, whereas even our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin2.
1. Deuteronomy 27:26; Galatians 3:10.
2. Isaiah 64:6.

Lord’s Day 24
Question 63: But do our good works earn nothing, even though God promises to reward them in this life and the next?
Answer: This reward is not earned; it is a gift of grace1.
1. Luke 17:10.

Lord’s Day 24
Question 64: Does this teaching not make people careless and wicked?
Answer: No. It is impossible that those grafted into Christ by true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness1.
1. Matthew 7:18; John 15:5.

Lord’s Day 25
Question 65: Since then faith alone makes us share in Christ and all His benefits, where does this faith come from?
Answer: From the Holy Spirit, who works it in our hearts1 by the preaching of the gospel, and strengthens it by the use of the sacraments2.
1. John 3:5; Ephesians 2:8; Ephesians 6:23; 1 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Philippians 1:29.
2. Matthew 28:19; Romans 10:17; Ephesians 1:17-18; 1 Peter 1:22-23.

Lord’s Day 25
Question 66: What are the sacraments?
Answer: The sacraments are holy, visible signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that by their use He might the more fully declare and seal to us the promise of the gospel. And this is the promise: that God graciously grants us forgiveness of sins and everlasting life because of the one sacrifice of Christ accomplished on the cross1.
1. Genesis 17:11; Leviticus 6:25; Deuteronomy 30:6; Isaiah 6:6-7; Isaiah 54:9; Ezekiel 20:12; Romans 4:11; Hebrews 9:7-9; Hebrews 9:24.

Lord’s Day 25
Question 67: Are both the Word and the sacraments then intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation?
Answer: Yes, indeed. The Holy Spirit teaches us in the gospel and assures us by the sacraments that our entire salvation rests on Christ’s one sacrifice for us on the cross1.
1. Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27.

Lord’s Day 25
Question 68: How many sacraments has Christ instituted in the new covenant?
Answer: Two: holy baptism and the holy supper.

Lord’s Day 26
Question 69: How does holy baptism signify and seal to you that the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross benefits you?
Answer: In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing1 and with it gave the promise2 that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body3, so certainly His blood and Spirit wash away the impurity of my soul, that is, all my sins.
1. Matthew 28:19.
2. Matthew 3:11; Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:16; John 1:33; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-4.
3. Luke 3:3; Mark 1:4; 1 Peter 3:21.

Lord’s Day 26
Question 70: What does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood and Spirit?
Answer: To be washed with Christ’s blood means to receive forgiveness of sins from God, through grace, because of Christ’s blood, poured out for us in His sacrifice on the cross1. To be washed with His Spirit means to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and sanctified to be members of Christ, so that more and more we become dead to sin and lead a holy and blameless life2.
1. Ezekiel 36:25; Zechariah 13:1; Hebrews 12:24; 1 Peter 1:2; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 7:14.
2. Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 1:33; John 3:5; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 2:11-12.

Lord’s Day 26
Question 71: Where has Christ promised that He will wash us with His blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?
Answer: In the institution of baptism, where He says: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit1. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned2. This promise is repeated where Scripture calls baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins3.
1. Matthew 28:19.
2. Mark 16:16.
3. Acts 22:16; Titus 3:5.

Lord’s Day 27
Question 72: Does this outward washing with water itself wash away sins?
Answer: No1, only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sins2.
1. Matthew 3:11; Ephesians 5:26; 1 Peter 3:21.
2. 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 John 1:7.

Lord’s Day 27
Question 73: Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the washing of regeneration and the washing away of sins?
Answer: God speaks in this way for a good reason. He wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ remove our sins just as water takes away dirt from the body1. But, even more important, He wants to assure us by this divine pledge and sign that we are as truly cleansed from our sins spiritually as we are bodily washed with water2.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:11; Revelation 1:5; Revelation 7:14.
2. Mark 16:16; Galatians 3:27.

Lord’s Day 27
Question 74: Should infants, too, be baptized?
Answer: Yes. Infants as well as adults belong to God’s covenant and congregation1. Through Christ’s blood the redemption from sin and the Holy Spirit, who works faith, are promised to them no less than to adults2. Therefore, by baptism, as sign of the covenant, they must be grafted into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers3. This was done in the old covenant by circumcision4, in place of which baptism was instituted in the new covenant5.
1. Genesis 17:7.
2. Psalms 22:11; Isaiah 44:1-3; Matthew 19:14; Luke 1:15; Acts 2:39.
3. Acts 10:47.
4. Genesis 17:14.
5. Colossians 2:11-13.

Lord’s Day 28
Question 75: How does the Lord’s Supper signify and seal to you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all His gifts?
Answer:  In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat of this broken bread and drink of this cup in remembrance of Him. With this command He gave these promises1: First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me, so surely was His body offered for me and His blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of the minister and taste with my mouth the bread and the cup of the Lord as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely does He Himself nourish and refresh my soul to everlasting life with His crucified body and shed blood.
1. Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25; 1 Corinthians 12:13.

Lord’s Day 28
Question 76: What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink His shed blood?
Answer: First, to accept with a believing heart all the suffering and the death of Christ, and so receive forgiveness of sins and life eternal1. Second, to be united more and more to His sacred body through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us2. Therefore, although Christ is in heaven3 and we are on earth, yet we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones4, and we forever live and are governed by one Spirit, as the members of our body are by one soul5.
1. John 6:35; John 6:40; John 6:47-54.
2. John 6:55-56.
3. Acts 1:9-11; Acts 3:21; 1 Corinthians 11:26; Colossians 3:1.
4. 1 Corinthians 6:15; Ephesians 3:16; Ephesians 5:29-30; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:13.
5. John 6:57; John 15:1-6; Ephesians 4:15-16.

Lord’s Day 28
Question 77: Where has Christ promised that He will nourish and refresh believers with His body and blood as surely as they eat of this broken bread and drink of this cup?
Answer: In the institution of the Lord’s supper1: The Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes2. This promise is repeated by Paul where he says: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread3.
1. Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20.
2. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:16, 17.

Lord’s Day 29
Question 78: Are then the bread and wine changed into the real body and blood of Christ?
Answer: No1. Just as the water of baptism is not changed into the blood of Christ and is not the washing away of sins itself but is simply God’s sign and pledge2, so also the bread in the Lord’s supper does not become the body of Christ itself, although it is called Christ’s body3 in keeping with the nature and usage of sacraments4.
1. Matthew 26:29.
2. Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 11:26.
4. Genesis 17:10-11; Exodus 12:11; Exodus 12:13; Exodus 13:9; 1 Corinthians 10:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21.

Lord’s Day 29
Question 79: Why then does Christ call the bread His body and the cup His blood, or the new covenant in His blood, and why does Paul speak of a participation in the body and blood of Christ?
Answer: Christ speaks in this way for a good reason: He wants to teach us by His supper that as bread and wine sustain us in this temporal life, so His crucified body and shed blood are true food and drink for our souls to eternal life1. But, even more important, He wants to assure us by this visible sign and pledge, first, that through the working of the Holy Spirit we share in His true body and blood as surely as we receive with our mouth these holy signs in remembrance of Him, and, second, that all His suffering and obedience are as certainly ours as if we personally had suffered and paid for our sins2.
1. John 6:51; John 6:53-55.
2. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17.

Lord’s Day 30
Question 80: What difference is there between the Lord’s supper and the papal mass?
Answer: The Lord’s supper testifies to us, first, that we have complete forgiveness of all our sins through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which He Himself accomplished on the cross once for all;1 and, second, that through the Holy Spirit we are grafted into Christ2, who with His true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father3, and this is where He wants to be worshipped4. But the mass teaches, first, that the living and the dead do not have forgiveness of sins through the suffering of Christ unless He is still offered for them daily by the priests; and, second, that Christ is bodily present in the form of bread and wine, and there is to be worshipped. Therefore the mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry5.
1. Matthew 26:28; Luke 22:19-20; John 19:30; Hebrews 7:26-27; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:24-28; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 10:14.
2. 1 Corinthians 6:17; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17.
3. John 20:17; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1
4. Acts 7:55; Philippians 3:20; Colossians 3:1; 1 Thessalonians 1:10.
5. Hebrews 9:26; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 10:14.

Lord’s Day 30
Question 81: Who are to come to the table of the Lord?
Answer: Those who are truly displeased with themselves because of their sins and yet trust that these are forgiven them and that their remaining weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and amend their life. But hypocrites and those who do not repent eat and drink judgment upon themselves1.
1. 1 Corinthians 10:19-22; 1 Corinthians 11:28.

Lord’s Day 30
Question 82: Are those also to be admitted to the Lord’s supper who by their confession and life show that they are unbelieving and ungodly?
Answer: No, for then the covenant of God would be profaned and His wrath kindled against the whole congregation1.
1. Psalms 50:16; Isaiah 1:11; Isaiah 66:3; Jeremiah 7:21; 1 Corinthians 11:20; 1 Corinthians 11:34.

Lord’s Day 31
Question 83: What are the keys of the kingdom of heaven?
Answer: The preaching of the holy gospel and church discipline. By these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and closed to unbelievers1.
1. Matthew 16:18-19; Matthew 18:15-18.

Lord’s Day 31
Question 84: How is the kingdom of heaven opened and closed by the preaching of the gospel?
Answer: According to the command of Christ, the kingdom of heaven is opened when it is proclaimed and publicly testified to each and every believer that God has really forgiven all their sins for the sake of Christ’s merits, as often as they by true faith accept the promise of the gospel. The kingdom of heaven is closed when it is proclaimed and testified to all unbelievers and hypocrites that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation rest on them as long as they do not repent. According to this testimony of the gospel, God will judge both in this life and in the life to come1.
1. Matthew 16:19; John 20:21-23.

Lord’s Day 31
Question 85: How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by church discipline?
Answer: According to the command of Christ, people who call themselves Christians but show themselves to be unchristian in doctrine or life are first repeatedly admonished in a brotherly manner. If they do not give up their errors or wickedness, they are reported to the church, that is, to the elders. If they do not heed also their admonitions, they are forbidden the use of the sacraments, and they are excluded by the elders from the Christian congregation, and by God Himself from the kingdom of Christ. They are again received as members of Christ and of the church when they promise and show real amendment1.
1. Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Corinthians 5:4-5; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Corinthians 2:6-8; 2 Thessalonians 3:1415; 2 John 10-11. –

Lord’s Day 32
Question 86: Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace alone through Christ, without any merit of our own, why must we yet do good works?
Answer: Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit to be His image1, so that with our whole life we may show ourselves thankful to God for His benefits, and He may be praised by us2. Further, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by its fruits3, and that by our godly walk of life we may win our neighbours for Christ4.
1. Romans 6:13; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 2:5; 1 Peter 2:9.
Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12.
Matthew 7:17; Galatians 5:6; Galatians 5:22; 2 Peter 1:10.
Romans 14:19; 1 Peter 3:1-2.

Lord’s Day 32
Question 87: Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and impenitent walk of life?
Answer: By no means. Scripture says that no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, greedy person, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like shall inherit the kingdom of God1.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Ephesians 5:5-6; 1 John 3:14

Lord’s Day 33
Question 88: What is the true repentance or conversion of man?
Answer: It is the dying of the old nature and the coming to life of the new1.
1. Romans 6:1-2; Romans 6:4-6; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 2 Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:5-6; Colossians 3:8-10.

Lord’s Day 33
Question 89: What is the dying of the old nature?
Answer: It is to grieve with heartfelt sorrow that we have offended God by our sin, and more and more to hate it and flee from it1.
1. Hosea 6:1 ; Joel 2:13; Romans 8:13.

Lord’s Day 33
Question 90: What is the coming to life of the new nature?
Answer: It is a heartfelt joy in God through Christ1, and a love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works2.
1. Isaiah 57:15; Romans 5:1-2; Romans 14:17.
2. Romans 6:10-11; Galatians 2:20.

Lord’s Day 33
Question 91: But what are good works?
Answer: Only those which are done out of true faith1, in accordance with the law of God2, and to His glory3, and not those based on our own opinion or on precepts of men4.
1. Romans 14:23.
2. Leviticus 18:4; 1 Samuel 15:22; Ephesians 2:10.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:31.
4. Isaiah 29:13-14; Ezekiel 20:18-19; Matthew 15:7-9.

Lord’s Day 34
Question 92: What is the law of the LORD?
Answer: God spoke all these words, saying:
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3. You shall not take the Name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
5. Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
6. You shall not kill.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbour’s.

Lord’s Day 34
Question 93: How are these commandments divided?
Answer: Into two parts. The first teaches us how to live in relation to God; the second, what duties we owe our neighbour1.
1. Exodus 31:18; Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:3-4.
2. Matthew 22:37-40.

Lord’s Day 34
Question 94: What does the LORD require in the first commandment?
Answer: That for the sake of my very salvation I avoid and flee all idolatry1, witchcraft, superstition2, and prayer to saints or to other creatures3. Further, that I rightly come to know the only true God4, trust in Him alone5, submit to Him with all humility6 and patience7, expect all good from Him only8, and love9, fear,10 and honour Him11 with all my heart. In short, that I forsake all creatures rather than do the least thing against His will12.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:10; 1 Corinthians 10:7; 1 Corinthians 10:14; 1 John 5:21.
2. Leviticus 19:31; Deuteronomy 18:9-12.
3. Matthew 4:10; Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:8-9.
4. John 17:3.
5. Jeremiah 17:5; Jeremiah 17:7.
6. 1 Peter 5:5.
7. Romans 5:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:10; Philippians 2:14; Colossians 1:11; Hebrews 10:36.
8. Psalms 104:27-28; Isaiah 45:7; James 1:17.
9. Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37.
10. Deuteronomy 6:2; Psalms 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10; Matthew 10:28.
11. Deuteronomy 10:20; Matthew 4:10.
12. Matthew 5:29-30; Matthew 10:37-39; Acts 5:29.

Lord’s Day 34
Question 95: What is idolatry?
Answer: Idolatry is having or inventing something in which to put our trust instead of, or in addition to, the only true God who has revealed Himself in His Word1.
1. 1 Chronicles 16:26; Isaiah 44:15-17; John 5:22; Galatians 4:8; Ephesians 2:12; Ephesians 5:5; Philippians 3:19; 1 John 2:23; 2 John: 9.

Lord’s Day 35
Question 96: What does God require in the second commandment?
Answer: We are not to make an image of God in any way1, nor to worship Him in any other manner than He has commanded in His Word2.
1. Deuteronomy 4:15-16; Isaiah 40:18-19; Isaiah 40:25; Acts 17:29; Romans 1:22-25.
2. Deuteronomy 12:29-32; 1 Samuel 15:23; Matthew 15:9.

Lord’s Day 35
Question 97: May we then not make any image at all?
Answer: God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way1. Creatures may be portrayed, but God forbids us to make or have any images of them in order to worship them or to serve God through them2.
1. Isaiah 40:25.
2. Exodus 23:24; Exodus 34:13-17; Numbers 33:52; Deuteronomy 12:3-4.

Lord’s Day 35
Question 98: But may images not be tolerated in the churches as “books for the laity”?
Answer: No, for we should not be wiser than God. He wants His people to be taught not by means of dumb images1 but by the living preaching of His Word2.
1. Jeremiah 10:8; Habakkuk 2:18-19.
2. Romans 10:14-17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19.

Lord’s Day 36
Question 99: What is required in the third commandment?
Answer: We are not to blaspheme or to abuse the Name of God by cursing1, perjury2, or unnecessary oaths3, nor to share in such horrible sins by being silent bystanders4. In short, we must use the holy Name of God only with fear and reverence5, so that we may rightly confess Him6, call upon Him7, and praise Him in all our words and works8.
1. Leviticus 24:15-16.
2. Leviticus 19:12.
3. Matthew 5:37; James 5:12.
4. Leviticus 5:1; Proverbs 29:24.
5. Isaiah 45:23; Jeremiah 4:2.
6. Matthew 10:32; Romans 10:9-10.
7. Psalms 50:15; 1 Timothy 2:8.
8. Romans 2:24; Colossians 3:17; 1 Timothy 6:1.

Lord’s Day 36
Question 100: Is the blaspheming of God’s Name by swearing and cursing such a grievous sin that God is angry also with those who do not prevent and forbid it as much as they can?
Answer: Certainly1, for no sin is greater or provokes God’s wrath more than the blaspheming of His Name. That is why He commanded it to be punished with death2.
1. Leviticus 5:1; Proverbs 29:24.
2. Leviticus 24:16.

Lord’s Day 37
Question 101: But may we swear an oath by the Name of God in a godly manner?
Answer: Yes, when the government demands it of its subjects, or when necessity requires it, in order to maintain and promote fidelity and truth, to God’s glory and for our neighbour’s good. Such oath-taking is based on God’s Word1 and was therefore rightly used by saints in the Old and the New Testament2.
1. Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20; Hebrews 6:16.
2. Genesis 21:24; Genesis 31:53; Joshua 9:15; 1 Samuel 24:22-23; 2 Samuel 3:35; 1 Kings 1:29-30; Romans 1:9; Romans 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:23.

Lord’s Day 37
Question 102: May we also swear by saints or other creatures?
Answer: No. A lawful oath is a calling upon God, who alone knows the heart, to bear witness to the truth, and to punish me if I swear falsely1. No creature is worthy of such honour2.
1. Romans 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:23.
2. Matthew 5:34-36; James 5:12.

Lord’s Day 38
Question 103: What does God require in the fourth commandment?
Answer: First, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained1 and that, especially on the day of rest, I diligently attend the church of God2 to hear God’s Word3, to use the sacraments4, to call publicly upon the LORD5, and to give Christian offerings for the poor6. Second, that all the days of my life I rest from my evil works, let the LORD work in me through His Holy Spirit, and so begin in this life the eternal sabbath7.
1. 1 Corinthians 9:13-14; 2 Timothy 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:14-15; Titus 1:5.
2. Leviticus 23:2-3; Psalms 40:10-11; Psalms 68:27; Psalms 122:1; Acts 2:42.
3. 1 Corinthians 14:1; 1 Corinthians 14:3; 1 Corinthians 14:29; 1 Timothy 4:13; Revelation 1:3.
4. Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:33.
5. 1 Corinthians 14:16; 1 Timothy 2:1-4.
6. Deuteronomy 15:11; 1 Corinthians 16:2.
7. Isaiah 66:23; Hebrews 4:9-10.

Lord’s Day 39
Question 104: What does God require in the fifth commandment?
Answer: That I show all honour, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother and to all those in authority over me, submit myself with due obedience to their good instruction and discipline1, and also have patience with their weaknesses and shortcomings2, since it is God’s will to govern us by their hand3.
1. Exodus 21:17; Proverbs 1:8; Proverbs 4:1; Proverbs 15:20; Proverbs 20:20; Romans 13:1; Ephesians 5:22; Ephesians 6:1-2; Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:18; Colossians 3:20; Colossians 3:22.
2. Proverbs 23:22; 1 Peter 2:18.
3. Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:2-3; Ephesians 6:4; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:20.

Lord’s Day 40
Question 105: What does God require in the sixth commandment?
Answer: I am not to dishonour, hate, injure, or kill my neighbour by thoughts, words, or gestures, and much less by deeds, whether personally or through another;1 rather, I am to put away all desire of revenge2. Moreover, I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself3. Therefore, also, the government bears the sword to prevent murder4.
1. Genesis 9:6; Matthew 5:21-22; Matthew 26:52.
2. Matthew 5:25; Matthew 18:35; Romans 12:19; Ephesians 4:26.
3. Matthew 4:7; Romans 13:14; Colossians 2:23.
4. Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:14; Romans 13:4.

Lord’s Day 40
Question 106: But does this commandment speak only of killing?
Answer: By forbidding murder God teaches us that He hates the root of murder1, such as envy, hatred2, anger3, and desire of revenge, and that He regards all these as murder4.
1. Psalms 37:8; Proverbs 14:30; Romans 1:29.
2. 1 John 2:11.
3. Galatians 5:19-21; James 1:20.
4. 1 John 3:15.

Lord’s Day 40
Question 107: Is it enough, then, that we do not kill our neighbour in any such way?
Answer: No. When God condemns envy, hatred, and anger, He commands us to love our neighbour as ourselves1, to show patience, peace, gentleness, mercy, and friendliness toward him2, to protect him from harm as much as we can3, and to do good even to our enemies4.
1. Matthew 7:12; Matthew 22:39; Romans 12:10.
2. Matthew 5:5; Matthew 5:7; Luke 6:36; Romans 12:18; Galatians 6:1-2; Ephesians 4:1-3; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 3:8.
3. Exodus 23:5.
4. Matthew 5:44-45; Romans 12:20.

Lord’s Day 41
Question 108: What does the seventh commandment teach us?
Answer: That all unchastity is cursed by God1. We must therefore detest it from the heart2 and live chaste and disciplined lives3, both within and outside of holy marriage4.
1. Leviticus 18:28.
2. Malachi 2:16.
3. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5.
4. 1 Corinthians 7:7; 1 Corinthians 7:10-11; Hebrews 13:4; Judas: 23.

Lord’s Day 41
Question 109: Does God in this commandment forbid nothing more than adultery and similar shameful sins?
Answer: Since we, body and soul, are temples of the Holy Spirit, it is God’s will that we keep ourselves pure and holy. Therefore He forbids all unchaste acts, gestures, words1, thoughts, desires2, and whatever may entice us to unchastity3.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:18-19; Ephesians 5:3-4.
2. Deuteronomy 22:20-29; Matthew 5:27-28.
3. 1 Corinthians 15:33; Ephesians 5:18.

Lord’s Day 42
Question 110: What does God forbid in the eighth commandment?
Answer: God forbids not only outright theft1 and robbery2 but also such wicked schemes3 and devices as false weights and measures, deceptive merchandising, counterfeit money, and usury4; we must not defraud our neighbour in any way, whether by force or by show of right5. In addition God forbids all greed6 and all abuse or squandering of His gifts7.
1. 1 Corinthians 6:10.
2. Leviticus 19:13; 1 Corinthians 5:10.
3. Luke 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 4:6.
4. Deuteronomy 25:13-15; Proverbs 11:1; Proverbs 16:11; Ezekiel 45:9-10.
5. Psalms 15:5; Luke 6:35.
6. 1 Corinthians 6:10.
7. Proverbs 21:20; Proverbs 23:20-21.

Lord’s Day 42
Question 111: What does God require of you in this commandment?
Answer: I must promote my neighbour’s good wherever I can and may, deal with him as I would like others to deal with me1, and work faithfully so that I may be able to give to those in need2.
1. Matthew 7:12.
2. Ephesians 4:28.

Lord’s Day 43
Question 112: What is required in the ninth commandment?
Answer: I must not give false testimony against anyone1, twist no one’s words2, not gossip or slander3, nor condemn or join in condemning anyone rashly and unheard4. Rather, I must avoid all lying and deceit as the devil’s own works5, under penalty of God’s heavy wrath6. In court and everywhere else, I must love the truth, speak and confess it honestly7, and do what I can to defend and promote my neighbour’s honour and reputation8.
1. Proverbs 19:5; Proverbs 19:9; Proverbs 21:28.
2. Psalms 15:3.
3. Psalms 50:19-20; Romans 1:30.
4. Matthew 7:1-2; Luke 6:37.
5. John 8:44.
6. Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 13:5.
7. 1 Corinthians 13:6; Ephesians 4:25.
8. 1 Peter 4:8.

Lord’s Day 44
Question 113: What does the tenth commandment require of us?
Answer: That not even the slightest thought or desire contrary to any of God’s commandments should ever arise in our heart. Rather, we should always hate all sin with all our heart, and delight in all righteousness1.
1. Romans 7:7

Lord’s Day 44
Question 114: But can those converted to God keep these commandments perfectly? 
Answer: No. In this life even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience1. Nevertheless, with earnest purpose they do begin to live not only according to some but to all the commandments of God2.
1. Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 7:14-15; 1 Corinthians 13:9; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10.
2. Psalms 1:2; Romans 7:22; 1 John 2:3.

Lord’s Day 44
Question 115: If in this life no one can keep the ten commandments perfectly, why does God have them preached so strictly?
Answer: First, that throughout our life we may more and more become aware of our sinful nature1, and therefore seek more eagerly the forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ2. Second, that we may be zealous for good deeds and constantly pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that He may more and more renew us after God’s image, until after this life we reach the goal of perfection3.
1. Psalms 32:5; Romans 3:20; 1 John 1:9.
2. Matthew 5:6; Romans 7:24-25.
3. 1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:12-14.

Lord’s Day 45
Question 116: Why is prayer necessary for Christians?
Answer: Because prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness which God requires of us1. Moreover, God will give His grace and the Holy Spirit only to those who constantly and with heartfelt longing ask Him for these gifts and thank Him for them2.
1. Psalms 50:14-15.
2. Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 11:9-10; Luke 11:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18.

Lord’s Day 45
Question 117: What belongs to a prayer which pleases God and is heard by Him?
Answer: First, we must from the heart call upon1 the one true God only2, who has revealed Himself in His Word, for all that He has commanded us to pray3. Second, we must thoroughly know our need and misery4, so that we may humble ourselves before God5. Third, we must rest on this firm foundation6 that, although we do not deserve it, God will certainly hear our prayer for the sake of Christ our Lord7, as He has promised us in His Word8.
1. Psalms 145:18; John 4:24.
2. John 4:22-24; Revelation 19:10.
3. Romans 8:26; James 1:5; 1 John 5:14.
4. 2 Chronicles 20:12; Psalms 143:2.
5. Psalms 2:11; Psalms 34:19; Isaiah 66:2.
6. Romans 8:15-17; Romans 10:14; James 1:6.
7. Daniel 9:17-19; John 14:13-14; John 15:16; John 16:23.
8. Psalms 27:8; Psalms 143:1; Matthew 7:8.

Lord’s Day 45
Question 118: What has God commanded us to ask of Him?
Answer: All the things we need for body and soul, as included in the prayer which Christ our Lord Himself taught us1.
1. Matthew 6:33; James 1:17.

Lord’s Day 45
Question 119: What is the Lord’s prayer?
Answer: Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen.

Lord’s Day 46
Question 120: Why has Christ commanded us to address God as Our Father?
Answer: To awaken in us at the very beginning of our prayer that childlike reverence and trust toward God which should be basic to our prayer: God has become our Father through Christ and will much less deny us what we ask of Him in faith than our fathers would refuse us earthly things1.
1. Matthew 7:9-11; Luke 11:11-13.

Lord’s Day 46
Question 121: Why is there added, Who art in heaven?
Answer: These words teach us not to think of God’s heavenly majesty in an earthly manner1, and to expect from His almighty power all things we need for body and soul2.
1. Jeremiah 23:23-24; Acts 17:24-25; Acts 17:27.
2. Romans 10:12.

Lord’s Day 47
Question 122: What is the first petition?
Answer: Hallowed be Thy Name. That is: Grant us first of all that we may rightly know Thee1, and sanctify, glorify, and praise Thee in all Thy works, in which shine forth Thy almighty power, wisdom, goodness, righteousness, mercy, and truth2. Grant us also that we may so direct our whole life– our thoughts, words, and actions– that Thy Name is not blasphemed because of us but always honoured and praised3.
1. Psalms 119:105; Jeremiah 9:24; Jeremiah 31:33-34; Matthew 16:17; John 17:3; James 1:5.
2. Exodus 34:6-7; Psalms 119:137-138; Psalms 145:8, 9; Jeremiah 31:3; Luke 1:46-47; Luke 1:68-69; Romans 11:33.
3. Psalms 71:8; Psalms 115:1; Matthew 5:16.

Lord’s Day 48
Question 123: What is the second petition?
Answer: hy kingdom come. That is: So rule us by Thy Word and Spirit that more and more we submit to Thee1. Preserve and increase Thy church2. Destroy the works of the devil, every power that raises itself against Thee, and every conspiracy against Thy holy Word3. Do all this until the fulness of Thy kingdom comes4, wherein Thou shalt be all in all5.
1. Psalms 119:5; Psalms 143:10; Matthew 6:33.
2. Psalms 51:20; Psalms 122:6-7.
3. Romans 16:20; 1 John 3:8.
4. Romans 8:22-23; Revelation 22:20.
5. 1 Corinthians 15:28.

Lord’s Day 49
Question 124: What is the third petition?
Answer: Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. That is: Grant that we and all men may deny our own will1, and without any murmuring obey Thy will, for it alone is good2. Grant also that everyone may carry out the duties of his office and calling as willingly and faithfully3 as the angels in heaven4.
1. Matthew 16:24; Titus 2:11-12.
2. Luke 22:42; Romans 12:2; Ephesians 5:10.
3. 1 Corinthians 7:24.
4. Psalms 103:20-21.

Lord’s Day 50
Question 125: What is the fourth petition?
Answer: Give us this day our daily bread. That is: Provide us with all our bodily needs1 so that we may acknowledge that Thou art the only fountain of all good2, and that our care and labour, and also Thy gifts, cannot do us any good without Thy blessing3. Grant therefore that we may withdraw our trust from all creatures, and place it only in Thee4.
1. Psalms 104:27-28; Psalms 145:15-16; Matthew 6:25-26.
2. Acts 14:17; Acts 17:27; James 1:17.
3. Deuteronomy 8:3; Psalms 37:3-6; Psalms 37:16; Psalms 127:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:58.
4. Psalms 55:23; Psalms 62:11; Psalms 146:3; Jeremiah 17:5; Jeremiah 17:7.

Lord’s Day 51
Question 126: What is the fifth petition?
Answer: And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. That is: For the sake of Christ’s blood, do not impute to us, wretched sinners; any of our transgressions, nor the evil which still clings to us1, as we also find this evidence of Thy grace in us that we are fully determined wholeheartedly to forgive our neighbor2.
1. Psalms 51:3; Psalms 143:2; Romans 8:1; 1 John 2:1.
2. Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 18:35.

Lord’s Day 52
Question 127: What is the sixth petition?
Answer: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. That is: In ourselves we are so weak that we cannot stand even for a moment1. Moreover, our sworn enemies– the devil2, the world3, and our own flesh4— do not cease to attack us. Wilt Thou, therefore, uphold and strengthen us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, so that in this spiritual war we may not go down to defeat, but always firmly resist our enemies5, until we finally obtain the complete victory6.
1. Psalms 103:14-16; John 15:5.
2. Ephesians 6:12; 1 Peter 5:8.
3. John 15:19.
4. Romans 7:23; Galatians 5:17.
5. Matthew 26:41; Mark 13:33; 1 Corinthians 10:12-13.
6. 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

Lord’s Day 52
Question 128: How do you conclude your prayer?
Answer: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. That is: All this we ask of Thee because, as our King, having power over all things, Thou art both willing and able to give us all that is good1, and because not we but Thy holy Name should so receive all glory for ever2.
1. 1 Chronicles 29:10-12; Romans 10:11-13; 2 Peter 2:9.
2. Psalms 115:1; Jeremiah 33:8-9; John 14:13.

Lord’s Day 52
Question 129: What does the word Amen mean?
Answer: Amen means: It is true and certain. For God has much more certainly heard my prayer than I feel in my heart that I desire this of Him1.
1. 2 Corinthians 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:13.

Article 1: There is only one God
We all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth1 that there is only one God, who is a simple and spiritual being2; He is eternal3, incomprehensible4, invisible5, immutable6, infinite7, almighty8, perfectly wise9, just10, good11, and the overflowing fountain of all good12.
1. Romans 10:10
2. Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 44:6; John 4:24; Romans 1:20-21; Ephesians 4:6;1 Corinthians 8:4, 6; 2 Corinthians 3:17; 1 Timothy 2:5.
3. Psalms 90:2; Isaiah 40:28
4. Romans 11:33
5. Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 Timothy 6:16
6. Malachi 3:6; James 1:17
7. 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:24
8. Genesis 17:1; Matthew 19:26; Revelation 1:8
9. Romans 16:27
10. Jeremiah 12:1; Romans 3:25-26; Romans 9:14; Revelation 16:5; Revelation 16:7
11. Matthew 19:17
12. 1 Chronicles 29:10-12; Isaiah 40:14; James 1:17

Article 2: How God makes Himself known to us
We know Him by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most beautiful book1, wherein all creatures, great and small, are as so many letters leading us to perceive clearly God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. All these things are sufficient to convict men and leave them without excuse2.

Second, He makes Himself more clearly and fully known to us3 by His holy and divine Word as far as is necessary for us in this life, to His glory and our salvation4.
1. Psalms 19:2-5
2. Romans 1:20; Ephesians 4:6
3. Psalms 19:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18-21
4. Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 12:6; 1 Timothy 2:5

Article 3: The Word of God
We confess that this Word of God did not come by the impulse of man, but that men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, as the apostle Peter says (2 Pet 1:21)1.

Thereafter, in His special care for us and our salvation, God commanded His servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit His revealed Word to writing2 and He Himself wrote with His own finger the two tables of the law.3

Therefore we call such writings holy and divine Scriptures4.
1. 2 Peter 1:21
2. Exodus 24:4; Exodus 34:27; Psalms 102:19; Habakkuk 2:2; Revelation 1:11; Revelation 1:19
3. Exodus 31:18
4. 2 Timothy 3:16

Article 4: The Canonical Books
We believe that the Holy Scriptures consist of two parts, namely, the Old and the New Testament, which are canonical, against which nothing can be alleged. These books are listed in the church of God as follows.

The books of the Old Testament: the five books of Moses, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

The books of the New Testament: the four gospels, namely, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; the Acts of the Apostles; the thirteen letters of the apostle Paul, namely, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon; the letter to the Hebrews; the seven other letters, namely, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, Jude; and the Revelation to the apostle John.

Article 5: The authority of Holy Scripture
We receive1 all these books, and these only, as holy and canonical, for the regulation, foundation, and confirmation of our faith2.

We believe without any doubt all things contained in them, not so much because the church receives and approves them as such, but especially because the Holy Spirit witnesses in our hearts that they are from God3, and also because they contain the evidence of this in themselves; for even the blind are able to perceive that the things foretold in them are being fulfilled4.
1. 1 Thessalonians 2:13
2. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
3. 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 John 4:6; 1 John 5:6-7
4. Deuteronomy 18:21-22; 1 Kings 22:28; Jeremiah 28:9; Ezekiel 33:33

Article 6: The difference between the canonical and apocryphal books
We distinguish these holy books from the apocryphal, namely, 3 and 4 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, additions to Esther, the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men in the Furnace, Susannah, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasseh, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. The church may read and take instruction from these so far as they agree with the canonical books. They are, however, far from having such power and authority that we may confirm from their testimony any point of faith or of the Christian religion; much less may they be used to detract from the authority of the holy books.

Article 7: The sufficiency of Holy Scripture
We believe that this Holy Scripture fully contains the will of God and that all that man must believe in order to be saved is sufficiently taught therein.1

The whole manner of worship which God requires of us is written in it at length. It is therefore unlawful for any one, even for an apostle, to teach otherwise than we are now taught in Holy Scripture2: yes, even if it be an angel from heaven, as the apostle Paul says (Gal 1:8). Since it is forbidden to add to or take away anything from the Word of God (Deut 12:32) 3, it is evident that the doctrine thereof is most perfect and complete in all respects4.

We may not consider any writings of men, however holy these men may have been, of equal value with the divine Scriptures; nor ought we to consider custom, or the great multitude, or antiquity, or succession of times and persons, or councils, decrees or statutes, as of equal value with the truth of God, since the truth is above all5; for all men are of themselves liars, and only a breath (Ps 62:9) 6.

We therefore reject with all our heart whatever does not agree with this infallible rule, as the apostles have taught us: Test the spirits to see whether they are from God (1 Jn 4:1). Likewise: If any one comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him (2 Jn 1:10) 7.
1. Proverbs 30:6; John 4:25; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:10-12
2. Romans 15:4; 1 Timothy 1:3; 1 Corinthians 15:2-3; 2 Timothy 3:14-15; 1 Peter 4:11
3. Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:32; Proverbs 30:6; Acts 26:22; 1 Corinthians 4:6; Galatians 1:8; Revelation 22:18-19
4. Psalms 19:8-9; Matthew 17:5; John 15:15; Acts 18:28; Acts 20:27; Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 2:4
5. Isaiah 1:12; Matthew 15:3; Markus 7:7-9; Acts 4:19; Romans 3:4; Colossians 2:8; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; 1John 2:19
6. Deuteronomy 4:5-6; Psalms 62:10; Isaiah 8:20; 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 4:4-6; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Timothy 3:14-15
7. 1 John 4:1; 2 John 10

Article 8: God is our Essence, yet distinguished in three Persons
According to this truth and this Word of God, we believe in one only God1, who is one single essence, in which are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties; namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit2.

The Father is the cause, origin, and beginning of all things visible and invisible3.

The Son is the Word, the wisdom, and the image of the Father4.

The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might who proceeds from the Father and the Son5.

Nevertheless, God is not by this distinction divided into three, since the Holy Scriptures teach us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each has His personal existence, distinguished by Their properties; but in such a way that these three persons are but one only God.

It is therefore evident that the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, and likewise the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. Nevertheless, these persons thus distinguished are not divided, nor intermixed; for the Father has not assumed our flesh and blood, neither has the Holy Spirit, but the Son only. The Father has never been without His Son6, or without His Holy Spirit. For these three, in one and the same essence, are equal in eternity. There is neither first nor last; for They are all three one, in truth, in power, in goodness, and in mercy.
1. Isaiah 43:10; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6
2. Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19; Galatians 4:6; 1 John 5:6-7
3. Ephesians 3:14-16
4. Proverbs 8:22-31; John 1:14; John 1:18; John 5:17-26; 1 Corinthians 1:24; Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 19:13
5. John 15:26
6. Micah 5:2 ; John 1:1-2

Article 9: Scripture proof of this Doctrine
All this we know both from the testimonies of Holy Scripture1 and from the respective works of the three Persons, and especially those we perceive in ourselves. The testimonies of Scripture which lead us to believe this Holy Trinity are written in many places of the Old Testament. It is not necessary to mention them all; it is sufficient to select some with discretion.

In the book of Genesis God says: Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness … So God created man in His own image…; male and female He created them (Gen 1:26, 27). Also: The man has now become like one of Us (Gen 3:22). From God’s saying, Let Us make man in Our image, it appears that there are more divine persons than one; and when He says, God created, He indicates that there is one God. It is true, He does not say how many persons there are, but what seems to be somewhat obscure in the Old Testament is very plain in the New Testament. For when our Lord was baptized in the river Jordan, the voice of the Father was heard, who said, This is My Son, whom I love (Mt 3:17); the Son was seen in the water, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form as a dove2. For the baptism of all believers Christ commanded: Baptize all nations into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19). In the gospel according to Luke the angel Gabriel thus addressed Mary, the mother of our Lord: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Likewise: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Cor 13:14). In all these places we are fully taught that there are three persons in one only divine essence3.

Although this doctrine far surpasses all human understanding, nevertheless in this life we believe it on the ground of the Word of God, and we expect to enjoy its perfect knowledge and fruit hereafter in heaven.

Moreover, we must observe the distinct offices and works of these three Persons towards us. The Father is called our Creator by His power; the Son is our Saviour and Redeemer by His blood; the Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier by His dwelling in our hearts. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity has always been maintained and preserved in the true church since the time of the apostles to this very day, over against Jews, Muslims, and against false Christians and heretics such as Marcion, Mani, Praxeas, Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, Arius, and such like, who have been justly condemned by the orthodox fathers. In this doctrine, therefore, we willingly receive the three creeds, of the Apostles, of Nicea, and of Athanasius; likewise that which in accordance with them is agreed upon by the early fathers.
1. John 14:16; John 15:26; Acts 2:32-33; Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6; Titus 3:4-6; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 4:13-14; 1 John 5:5-12; Judas:20-21; Revelation 1:4-5
2. Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 3:22; Psalms 45:8; Isaiah 61:1; Matthew 3:16-17
3. Matthew 28:19; Luke 1:35; 1 Corinthians 6:17; 2 Corinthians 13:13; 1 John 5:7-8

Article 10: Jesus Christ true and eternal God
We believe that Jesus Christ according to His divine nature is the only-begotten Son of God1, begotten from eternity, not made, nor created – for then He would be a creature – but of the same essence with the Father, equally-eternal, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (Heb 1:3), and is equal to Him in all things2.

He is the Son of God, not only from the time that He assumed our nature but from all eternity3, as the following testimonies, when compared with each other, teach us: Moses says that God created the world;4 the apostle John says that all things were made by the Word which he calls God.5 The letter to the Hebrews says that God made the world through His Son6; likewise the apostle Paul says that God created all things through Jesus Christ. Therefore it must necessarily follow that He who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ, did exist at that time when all things were created by Him. Therefore He could say, I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am (Jn 8:58), and He prayed, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began (Jn 17:5). And so He is true, eternal God, the Almighty, whom we invoke, worship, and serve7.
1. Matthew 17:5; John 1:14; John 1:18; John 3:16; John 20:17; John 20:31; Romans 1:4; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 1:1; 1 John 5:5-12
2. John 5:18; John 5:23; John 10:30; John 14:9; John 20:28; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:6-8; Colossians 1:15; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 5:13
3. John 8:58; John 17:5; Hebrews 13:8
4. John 1:1-3
5. Genesis 1:1; John 1:3
6. Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2
7. Micah 5:1; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Hebrews 7:3

Article 11: The Holy Spirit true and eternal God
He is neither made, created, nor begotten, but He can only be said to proceed from both1. In order He is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, of one and the same essence, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, true and eternal God, as the Holy Scriptures teach us2.
1. Psalms 33:6; Isaiah 48:16; Isaiah 61:1; John 14:16-17; John 14:25-26; John 15:26; Romans 8:9; Galatians 4:6
2. Genesis 1:2; Psalms 139:7; Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 John 5:6

Article 12: The creation of all things, especially the Angels
We believe that the Father through the Word, that is, through His Son, has created out of nothing heaven and earth and all creatures, when it seemed good to Him1, and that He has given to every creature its being, shape, and form, and to each its specific task and function to serve its Creator. We believe that He also continues to sustain and govern them according to His eternal providence and by His infinite power in order to serve man, to the end that man may serve his God2.

He also created the angels good, to be His messengers and to serve His elect. Some of these have fallen from the exalted position in which God created them into everlasting perdition3, but the others have by the grace of God remained steadfast and continued in their first state. The devils and evil spirits are so depraved that they are enemies of God and of all that is good4.

With all their might, they lie in wait like murderers to ruin the church and all its members and to destroy everything by their wicked devices5.

They are therefore by their own wickedness sentenced to eternal damnation and daily expect their horrible torments6.

Therefore we detest and reject the error of the Sadducees, who deny that there are any spirits and angels7; and also the error of the Manichees, who say that the devils were not created, but have their origin of themselves, and that without having become corrupted, they are wicked by their own nature.
1. Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:3; Isaiah 40:26; Jeremiah 32:17; John 1:3; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:1516; 1 Timothy 4:3; Hebrews 11:3; Revelation 4:11-
2. Genesis 1:29-30; Psalms 34:8; Psalms 103:20-21; Matthew 4:11; Acts 17:25; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Hebrews 1:14
3. John 8:44; 2 Peter 2:4; Judas 6
4. Genesis 3:1-5; Luke 8:30-31; 1 Peter 5:8
5. 2 Corinthians 2:10-11; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 2 Corinthians 11:14; Ephesians 6:12; Revelation 12:4; Revelation 12:13-17; Revelation 20:7-9
6. Matthew 8:29; Matthew 25:41; Luke 8:31; Revelation 20:10
7. Acts 23:8

Article 13: The providence of God
We believe that this good God, after He had created all things, did not abandon them or give them up to fortune or chance1, but that according to His holy will He so rules and governs them that in this world nothing happens without His direction2.

Yet God is not the Author of the sins which are committed nor can He be charged with them3.

For His power and goodness are so great and beyond understanding that He ordains and executes His work in the most excellent and just manner, even when devils and wicked men act unjustly4.

And as to His actions surpassing human understanding, we will not curiously inquire farther than our capacity allows us. But with the greatest humility and reverence we adore the just judgments of God, which are hidden from us5, and we content ourselves that we are pupils of Christ, who have only to learn those things which He teaches us in His Word, without transgressing these limits6.

This doctrine gives us inexpressible consolation, for we learn thereby that nothing can happen to us by chance, but only by the direction of our gracious heavenly Father. He watches over us with fatherly care, keeping all creatures so under His power that not one hair of our head – for they are all numbered – nor one sparrow can fall to the ground without the will of our Father (Mt 10:29, 30).

In this we trust, because we know that He holds in check the devil and all our enemies so that they cannot hurt us without His permission and will7.

We therefore reject the damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God does not concern Himself with anything but leaves all things to chance.
1. John 5:17; Hebrews 1:3
2. Psalms 115:3; Proverbs 16:1; Proverbs 16:9; Proverbs 16:33; Proverbs 21:1; Lamentations 3:37-38; Ephesians 1:11-12; James 4:13-15
3. James 1:13; 1 John 2:16
4. Job 1:21; Isaiah 10:5-7; Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6; Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27-28
5. Genesis 45:8; 2 Samuel 16:10; 1 Kings 22:19 – 23; Psalms 75:7-8; Proverbs 16:4; Ezekiel 14:9; Romans 1:28; Romans 11:33-34; 2 Thessalonians 2:11
6. Deuteronomy 29:29; 1 Corinthians 4:6
7. Genesis 45:8; Genesis 50:20; 2 Samuel 16:10; Job 1:12; Job 2:6; Matthew 10:29-30; Romans 8:28; Romans 8:38-39

Article 14: The creation and fall of man and his incapacity of doing what is truly good
We believe that God created man of dust from the ground1 and He made and formed him after His own image and likeness, good, righteous, and holy2. His will could conform to the will of God in every respect. But, when man was in this high position, he did not appreciate it nor did he value his excellency. He gave ear to the words of the devil and willfully subjected himself to sin and consequently to death and the curse3.

For he transgressed the commandment of life which he had received; by his sin he broke away from God, who was his true life; he corrupted his whole nature. By all this he made himself liable to physical and spiritual death4.

Since man became wicked and perverse, corrupt in all his ways, he has lost all his excellent gifts which he had once received from God5. He has nothing left but some small traces, which are sufficient to make man inexcusable6. For whatever light is in us has changed into darkness7, as Scripture teaches us, The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it (Jn 1:5); where the apostle John calls mankind darkness8.

Therefore we reject all teaching contrary to this concerning the free will of man, since man is a slave to sin and a man can receive only what is given him from heaven9. For who dares to boast that he of himself can do any good, when Christ says: No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him? 10

Who will glory in his own will, when he understands that the sinful mind is hostile to God? 11

Who can speak of his knowledge, since the man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God? 12

In short, who dares to claim anything, when he realizes that we are not competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God? 13

Therefore what the apostle says must justly remain sure and firm: It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose14.

For there is no understanding nor will conformable to the understanding and will of God unless Christ has brought it about; as He teaches us: Apart from Me you can do nothing15.
1. Genesis 2:7; Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 12:7
2. Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 1:31; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10
3. Genesis 3:16-19; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Romans 5:12
4. Genesis 2:17; Isaiah 59:2; Ephesians 2:1; Ephesians 4:18
5. Psalms 49:21; Psalms 94:11; Romans 3:10; Romans 8:6
6. Romans 1:20-21
7. Ephesians 5:8
8. John 1:5
9. Isaiah 26:12; John 3:27
10. John 6:44
11. Romans 7:5; Romans 8:7
12. 1 Corinthians 3:5
13. 2 Corinthians 3:5
14. Philippians 2:13
15. John 15:5

Article 15: The original sin
We believe that by the disobedience of Adam original sin has spread throughout the whole human race1. It is a corruption of the entire nature of man2 and a hereditary evil which infects even infants in their mother’s womb3. As a root it produces in man all sorts of sin. It is, therefore, so vile and abominable in the sight of God that it is sufficient to condemn the human race4.

It is not abolished nor eradicated even by baptism, for sin continually streams forth like water welling up from this woeful source5.

Yet, in spite of all this, original sin is not imputed to the children of God to their condemnation but by His grace and mercy is forgiven them6.

This does not mean that the believers may sleep peacefully in their sin, but that the awareness of this corruption may make them often groan as they eagerly wait to be delivered from this body of death7.

In this regard we reject the error of the Pelagians, who say that this sin is only a matter of imitation.
1. Romans 5:12-14; Romans 5:19
2. Romans 3:10
3. Job 14:4; Psalms 51:7; John 3:6
4. Ephesians 2:3
5. Romans 7:8 – 13; Romans 7:17-18; Romans 7:20-24
6. Ephesians 2:3-5
7. Romans 7:24

Article 16: Divine election
We believe that, when the entire offspring of Adam plunged into perdition and ruin by the transgression of the first man1, God manifested Himself to be as He is: merciful and just. Merciful, in rescuing and saving from this perdition those whom in His eternal and unchangeable counsel2 He has elected3 in Jesus Christ our Lord4 by His pure goodness, without any consideration of their works5. Just, in leaving the others in the fall and perdition into which they have plunged themselves6.
1. Romans 3:12
2. 1 Samuel 12:22; Psalms 65:5; Acts 2:47; Acts 13:48; Romans 9:15-16; Romans 11:5-6; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 4:10
3. Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:11-13; Ephesians 2:8-10; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:4-5
4. John 6:37; John 6:44; John 10:29; John 17:2; John 17:9; John 17:12
5. John 6:27; John 15:16; John 15:19; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:4-5
6. Romans 9:17-22.; 1 Peter 2:7-8

Article 17: The rescue of fallen man
We believe that, when He saw that man had thus plunged himself into physical and spiritual death and made himself completely miserable, our gracious God in His marvelous wisdom and goodness set out to seek man when he trembling fled from Him.1

He comforted him with the promise that He would give him His Son, born of woman, to crush the head of the serpent and to make man blessed2.
1. Genesis 3:8-9; Genesis 3:19
2. Genesis 3:15; Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 7:14; John 1:14; John 5:46; John 7:42; Acts 13:32-33; Romans 1:2-3; Galatians 3:16; Galatians 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:8; Hebrews 7:14

Article 18: The incarnation of the Son of God
We confess, therefore, that God has fulfilled the promise He made to the fathers by the mouth of His holy prophets1 when, at the time appointed by Him2, He sent into the world His own only-begotten and eternal Son, who took the form of a servant and was born in the likeness of men. He truly assumed a real human nature with all its infirmities3, without sin4, for He was conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit and not by the act of a man5.

He not only assumed human nature as to the body, but also a true human soul, in order that He might be a real man. For since the soul was lost as well as the body, it was necessary that He should assume both to save both6.

Contrary to the heresy of the Anabaptists, who deny that Christ assumed human flesh of His mother, we therefore confess that Christ partook of the flesh and blood of the children7. He is a descendant of David; born of David according to His human nature8; of the womb of the virgin Mary9; born of woman10; a branch of David11; a shoot from the stump of Jesse12; descended from Judah13; descended from the Jews according to the flesh14; of the seed of Abraham, since the Son was concerned with the descendants of Abraham. Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, yet without sin15.

In this way He is in truth our Immanuel, that is, God with us16.
1. Genesis 26:4; 2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalms 132:11; Luke 1:55; Acts 13:23
2. Galatians 4:4
3. Matthew 26:38; John 12:27; Philippians 2:7; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:14
4. 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22
5. Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35
6. Luke 1:34-35
7. Hebrews 2:14
8. Psalms 132:11; Acts 2:30; Romans 1:3
9. Luke 1:42
10. Luke 1:31; Galatians 4:4
11. Jeremiah 33:15
12. Isaiah 1:11
13. Hebrews 7:14
14. Romans 9:5
15. Hebrews 2:16-17; Hebrews 4:15
16. Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23

Article 19: The two natures in the one Person of Christ
We believe that by this conception the person of the Son of God is inseparably united and joined with the human nature1, so that there are not two sons of God, nor two persons, but two natures united in one single person. Each nature retains its own distinct properties: His divine nature has always remained uncreated, without beginning of days or end of life (Heb 7:3), filling heaven and earth2. His human nature has not lost its properties; it has beginning of days and remains created. It is finite and retains all the properties of a true body3.

Even though, by His resurrection, He has given immortality to His human nature, He has not changed its reality4, since our salvation and resurrection also depend on the reality of His body5.

However, these two natures are so closely united in one person that they were not even separated by His death.

Therefore, what He, when dying, committed into the hands of His Father was a real human spirit that departed from His body6.

Meanwhile His divinity always remained united with His human nature, even when He was lying in the grave7.

And the divine nature always remained in Him just as it was in Him when He was a little child, even though it did not manifest itself as such for a little while.

For this reason we profess Him to be true God and true man: true God in order to conquer death by His power; and true man that He might die for us according to the infirmity of His flesh.
1. John 1:14; John 10:30; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:6-8
2. Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 7:3
3. 1 Timothy 2:5
4. Matthew 26:11; Luke 24:39; John 20:25; Acts 1:3; Acts 1:11; Hebrews 2:9
5. 1 Corinthians 15:13; 1 Corinthians 15:21; Philippians 3:21
6. Matthew 27:50; Luke 23:46
7. Romans 1:4

Article 20: The justice and mercy of God in Christ
We believe that God, who is perfectly merciful and just, sent His Son to assume that nature in which disobedience had been committed1, to make satisfaction in that same nature; and to bear the punishment of sin by His most bitter passion and death2. God therefore manifested His justice against His Son when He laid our iniquity on Him, and poured out His goodness and mercy on us, who were guilty and worthy of damnation. Out of a most perfect love He gave His Son to die for us and He raised Him for our justification3 that through Him we might obtain immortality and life eternal4.
1. Romans 8:3
2. Isaiah 53:6; John 1:29; Hebrews 2:14
3. Romans 3:25-26; Romans 8:32; 1 John 4:9
4. Romans 4:25

Article 21: The satisfaction of Christ our High Priest
We believe that Jesus Christ was confirmed by an oath to be a High Priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek1. He presented Himself in our place before His Father, appeasing God’s wrath by His full satisfaction2, offering Himself on the tree of the cross, where He poured out His precious blood to purge away our sins3, as the prophets had foretold4.

For it is written, The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed5. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He was numbered with the transgressors6, and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though he had first declared Him innocent7.

He was forced to restore what He did not steal8. He died as the righteous for the unrighteous9. He suffered in body and soul10, feeling the horrible punishment caused by our sins, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground11. Finally, He exclaimed, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me12? All this He endured for the forgiveness of our sins.

Therefore we justly say, with Paul, that we know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified13. We consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord14. We find comfort in His wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means of reconciliation with God than this only sacrifice, once offered, by which the believers are perfected for all times15.

This is also the reason why the angel of God called Him Jesus, that is, Saviour, because He [would] save His people from their sins16.
1. Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 5:10; Hebrews 7:15-17
2. Romans 3:24-25; Romans 5:8-9; Romans 8:32; Galatians 3:13; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 9:11-15
3. Acts 2:23; Philippians 2:8; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 7:14
4. Luke 24:25-27; Romans 3:21-22; 1 Corinthians 15:3
5. 1 Peter 2:24
6. Isaiah 53:5; Isaiah 53:7; Isaiah 53:9; Markus 15:28
7. John 18:38; Acts 13:28
8. Psalms 69:5
9. Psalms 22:16
10. Romans 5:6; 1 Peter 3:18
11. Luke 22:44;
12. Psalms 22:2; Matthew 27:46;
13. 1 Corinthians 2:2;
14. Philippians 3:8;
15. Hebrews 7:26-28; Hebrews 9:24-28; Hebrews 10:14
16. Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31; Acts 4:12

Article 22: Our justification through faith in Christ
We believe that, in order that we may obtain the true knowledge of this great mystery1, the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith2.

This faith embraces Jesus Christ with all His merits, makes Him our own, and does not seek anything besides Him. For it must necessarily follow, either that all we need for our salvation is not in Jesus Christ or, if it is all in Him, that one who has Jesus Christ through faith, has complete salvation3.

It is, therefore, a terrible blasphemy to assert that Christ is not sufficient, but that something else is needed besides Him; for the conclusion would then be that Christ is only half a Saviour. Therefore we rightly say with Paul that we are justified by faith apart from observing the law.4

Meanwhile, strictly speaking, we do not mean that faith as such justifies us5, for faith is only the instrument by which we embrace Christ our righteousness; He imputes to us all His merits and as many holy works as He has done for us and in our place6. Therefore Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and faith is the instrument that keeps us with Him in the communion of all His benefits. When those benefits have become ours, they are more than sufficient to acquit us of our sins.
1. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Galatians 2:21
2. John 16:13-14; 1 Corinthians 2:12; Ephesians 1:17-18; Ephesians 3:16-17
3. Psalms 32:1; Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:77; Acts 13:38-39; Romans 8:1
4. Romans 8:28; Romans 10:4-11; Galatians 2:16; Philippians 3:9; Romans 8:1; Romans 8:33
5. 1 Corinthians 4:7
6. Jeremiah 27:5; Matthew 20:28; Romans 8:33; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 4:10; 1 Peter 1:4-5

Article 23: Our righteousness before God
We believe that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins for Jesus Christ’s sake and that therein our righteousness before God1 consists, as David and Paul teach us. They speak of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. The apostle also says that we are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus2.

Therefore we always hold to this firm foundation. We give all the glory to God3, humble ourselves before Him, and acknowledge ourselves to be what we are. We do not claim anything for ourselves or our merits4, but rely and rest on the only obedience of Jesus Christ crucified5; His obedience is ours when we believe in Him6.

This is sufficient to cover all our iniquities and to give us confidence in drawing near to God, freeing our conscience of fear, terror, and dread, so that we do not follow the example of our first father, Adam, who trembling tried to hide and covered himself with fig leaves7.

For indeed, if we had to appear before God, relying – be it ever so little – on ourselves or some other creature, (woe be to us!) we would be consumed8.

Therefore everyone must say with David, O Lord, do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before You9.
1. Psalms 32:1; Luke 1:77; Romans 4:6-7; Colossians 1:13-14; 1 John 2:1
2. Psalms 32:1; Romans 3:24; Romans 4:2; Romans 4:6; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Ephesians 2:8; 1 Timothy 2:6
3. Psalms 115:1; Revelation 7:10-12
4. 1 Corinthians 4:4; 1 Corinthians 4:7; Hebrews 11:6-7; James 2:10
5. Acts 4:12; Romans 5:19; Hebrews 10:20
6. Romans 4:23-25; Romans 5:1
7. Genesis 3:7; Isaiah 33:14; Zephania 3:11; Hebrews 4:16; James 2:10; 1 John 4:17-19
8. Deuteronomy 27:26; Psalms 130:3; Luke 16:15; Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 3:4-9
9. Psalms 143:2

Article 24 Our sanctification and good works
We believe that this true faith, worked in man by the hearing of God’s Word and by the operation of the Holy Spirit1, regenerates him and makes him a new man.2 It makes him live a new life and frees him from the slavery of sin.3

Therefore it is not true that this justifying faith makes man indifferent to living a good and holy life4. On the contrary, without it no one would ever do anything out of love for God5, but only out of self-love or fear of being condemned. It is therefore impossible for this holy faith to be inactive in man, for we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls faith expressing itself through love. This faith induces man to apply himself to those works which God has commanded in His Word. These works, proceeding from the good root of faith, are good and acceptable in the sight of God, since they are all sanctified by His grace. Nevertheless, they do not count toward our justification. For through faith in Christ we are justified, even before we do any good works6. Otherwise they could not be good any more than the fruit of a tree can be good unless the tree itself is good7.

Therefore we do good works, but not for merit. For what could we merit? We are indebted to God, rather than He to us, for the good works we do8, since it is He who works in us, to will and to act according to His good purpose (Phil 2:13). Let us keep in mind what is written: So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty (Luke 17:10).” Meanwhile we do not deny that God rewards good works9, but it is by His grace that He crowns His gifts.

Furthermore, although we do good works, we do not base our salvation on them. We cannot do a single work that is not defiled by our flesh and does not deserve punishment10. Even if we could show one good work, the remembrance of one sin is enough to make God reject it11. We would then always be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be constantly tormented, if they did not rely on the merit of the death and passion of our Saviour12.
1. Acts 16:14; Romans 10:17; 1 Corinthians 12:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:4-5
2. Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 1:12-13; John 3:5; John 6:29; Acts 15:9; Ephesians 2:4-6; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:23
3. John 5:24; John 8:36; Romans 6:4-6; 1 John 3:9
4. Galatians 5:22; Titus 2:12
5. John 15:5; Romans 14:23; 1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 3:8; Hebrews 11:4; Hebrews 11:6
6. Romans 4:5; Galatians 5:6; 1 Thessalonians 2:13
7. Matthew 7:17
8. Romans 11:6; 1 Corinthians 1:30-31; 1 Corinthians 4:7; Ephesians 2:10
9. Luke 17:10; Romans 2:5-7; 1 Corinthians 3:14; Philippians 2:13 ; 2 John:8; Revelation 2:23
10. Romans 7:20-24
11. James 2:10
12. Habakkuk 2:4; Matthew 11:28; Romans 10:11

Article 25: Christ, the fulfillment of the law
We believe that the ceremonies and symbols of the law have ceased with the coming of Christ, and that all shadows have been fulfilled1, so that the use of them ought to be abolished among Christians. Yet their truth and substance remain for us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have been fulfilled2.

In the meantime we still use the testimonies taken from the law and the prophets, both to confirm us in the doctrine of the gospel and to order our life in all honesty, according to God’s will and to His glory3.
1. Matthew 27:51; Romans 10:4; Hebrews 9:9-10
2. Matthew 5:17; Galatians 3:24; Galatians 5:2-4; Colossians 2:17
3. Romans 13:8-10; Romans 15:4; 2 Peter 1:19; 2 Peter 3:2

Article 26: Christ’s intercession
We believe that we have no access to God except through the only Mediator1 and Advocate Jesus Christ the righteous2. For this purpose He became man, uniting together the divine and human nature, that we might not be barred from but have access to the divine majesty3. This Mediator, however, whom the Father has ordained between Himself and us, should not frighten us by His greatness, so that we look for another according to our fancy. There is no creature in heaven or on earth who loves us more than Jesus Christ4. Though He was in the form of God, He emptied Himself, taking the form of man and of a servant for us, and was made like His brothers in every way5.

If, therefore, we had to look for another intercessor, could we find one who loves us more than He who laid down His life for us, even while we were His enemies? 6

If we had to look for one who has authority and power, who has more than He who is seated at the right hand of the Father7 and who has all authority in heaven and on earth8? Moreover, who will be heard more readily than God’s own well-beloved Son?9

Therefore it was pure lack of trust which introduced the custom of dishonouring the saints rather than honouring them, doing what they themselves never did nor required. On the contrary, they constantly rejected such honour according to their duty, as appears from their writings10.

Here one ought not to bring in our unworthiness, for it is not a question of offering our prayers on the basis of our own worthiness, but only on the basis of the excellence and worthiness of Jesus Christ11, whose righteousness is ours by faith12.

Therefore, to take away from us this foolish fear or rather distrust, the author of Hebrews, with good reason, says to us that Jesus Christ was made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted13.

Further, to encourage us more to go to Him, he says: Therefore, since then we have a great High Priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest, who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need14.

The same letter says: Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus . . . let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, etc. 15.

Also, because Christ lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them16.

What more is needed? Christ Himself says: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me17.

Why should we look for another advocate? It has pleased God to give us His Son as our Advocate. Let us then not leave Him for another, or even look for another, without ever finding one. For when God gave Him to us, He knew very well that we were sinners.

In conclusion, according to the command of Christ, we call upon the heavenly Father through Christ our only Mediator18, as we are taught in the Lord’s prayer9. We rest assured that we shall obtain all we ask of the Father in His Name20.
1. 1 Timothy 2:5
2. 1 John 2:1
3. Ephesians 3:12
4. Matthew 11:28; John 15:13; Ephesians 3:19; 1 John 4:10
5. Philippians 2:6-8; Hebrews 2:17
6. Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 2:33; Hosea 13:9; John 10:11; Romans 5:6-10
7. Markus 16:19; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 8:1
8. Matthew 28:18
9. Matthew 3:17; John 11:42; Ephesians 1:6
10. Acts 10:26; Acts 14:15
11. Jeremiah 17:5; Jeremiah 17:7; Daniël 9:18; Acts 4:12
12. 1 Corinthians 1:30-31
13. Hebrews 2:17-18
14. Hebrews 4:14-16
15. John 10:9; Ephesians 2:18; Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 10:19; Hebrews 10:22
16. Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:24-25
17. John 14:6
18. Hebrews 13:15
19. Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4
20. John 14:13; John 16:23

Article 27: The catholic Christian church
We believe and profess one catholic or universal church,1 which is a holy congregation and assembly2 of the true Christian believers, who expect their entire salvation in Jesus Christ3, are washed by His blood, and are sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit4.

This church has existed from the beginning of the world and will be to the end, for Christ is an eternal King who cannot be without subjects.5

This holy church is preserved by God against the fury of the whole world6, although for a while it may look very small and as extinct in the eyes of man7. Thus during the perilous reign of Ahab, the Lord kept for Himself seven thousand persons who had not bowed their knees to Baal8.

Moreover, this holy church is not confined or limited to one particular place or to certain persons, but is spread and dispersed throughout the entire world9. Yet, it is joined and united with heart and will, in one and the same Spirit, by the power of faith10.
1. Genesis 22:18; Isaiah 49:6; Ephesians 2:17-19
2. Psalms 111:1; John 10:14-16; Ephesians 4:3-6; Hebrews 12:22-23
3. Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21
4. Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30
5. 2 Samuel 7:16; Psalms 89:37; Psalms 110:1-4; Matthew 28:18; Matthew 28:20; Luke 1:32-33; John 16:33
6. Psalms 46:6; Matthew 16:18
7. Isaiah 1:9; Luke 12:32; 1 Peter 3:20; Revelation 11:7
8. 1 Kings 19:18; Romans 9:29; Romans 11:4 Matthew 23:8; Luke 17:21; John 4:21-24; Romans 10:12-13
9. Psalms 119:63; Acts 4:32; Ephesians 4:4

Article 28: Everyone’s duty to join the church
We believe, since this holy assembly and congregation is the assembly of the redeemed and there is no salvation outside of it1, that no one ought to withdraw from it, content to be by himself, no matter what his status or standing may be. But all and everyone are obliged to join it and unite with it2, maintaining the unity of the church. They must submit themselves to its instruction and discipline3, bend their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ4, and serve the edification of the brothers5, according to the talents which God has given them as members of the same body6.

To observe this more effectively, it is the duty of all believers, according to the Word of God, to separate from those who do not belong to the church7 and to join this assembly8 wherever God has established it. They should do so even though the rulers and edicts of princes were against it, and death or physical punishment might follow9.

All therefore who draw away from the church or fail to join it act contrary to the ordinance of God.
1. Matthew 16:18-19; Acts 2:47; Galatians 4:26; Ephesians 5:25-27; Hebrews 2:11-12; Hebrews 12:22-23
2. 2 Chronicles 30:8; John 17:21; Colossians 3:15
3. Hebrews 13:17
4. Matthew 11:28-30
5. Ephesians 4:12
6. 1 Corinthians 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:21; Ephesians 4:3; Ephesians 4:15-16
7. Numbers 16:23-26; Isaiah 49:22; Isaiah 52:11-12; Matthew 12:30; Acts 2:40; Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:17; Revelation 18:4
8. Psalms 122:1; Isaiah 2:3; Hebrews 10:25
9. Acts 4:17-20

Article 29: The marks of the true and false church
We believe that we ought to discern diligently and very carefully from the Word of God what is the true church, for all sects which are in the world today claim for themselves the name of church1.

We are not speaking here of the hypocrites, who are mixed in the church along with the good and yet are not part of the church, although they are outwardly in it2. We are speaking of the body and the communion of the true church which must be distinguished from all sects that call themselves the church.

The true church is to be recognized by the following marks:

It practices the pure preaching of the gospel3. It maintains the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them4. It exercises church discipline for correcting and punishing sins5. In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God6, rejecting all things contrary to it7 and regarding Jesus Christ as the only Head8. Hereby the true church can certainly be known and no one has the right to separate from it.

Those who are of the church may be recognized by the marks of Christians. They believe in Jesus Christ the only Saviour9, flee from sin and pursue righteousness10, love the true God and their neighbour11 without turning to the right or left, and crucify their flesh and its works.12

Although great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their life.13 They appeal constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of Jesus Christ, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins through faith in Him.14

The false church assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God. It does not want to submit itself to the yoke of Christ15. It does not administer the sacraments as Christ commanded in His Word, but adds to them and subtracts from them as it pleases. It bases itself more on men than on Jesus Christ. It persecutes those who live holy lives according to the Word of God and who rebuke the false church for its sins, greed, and idolatries.16

These two churches are easily recognized and distinguished from each other.
1. 2 Timothy 2:16-20; Revelation 2:9
2. Romans 9:6
3. Galatians 1:6-8; 1 Timothy 3:15
4. Acts 19:3-5; 1 Corinthians 11:20-29
5. Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Corinthians 5:4-5; 1 Corinthians 5:12-13; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15; Titus 3:10-11
6. John 8:47; John 17:20; Acts 17:11-12; Ephesians 2:20; Colossians 1:23; 1 Timothy 6:3-5
7. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22; 1 Timothy 6:20-21; Revelation 2:6
8. John 10:14; Ephesians 1:20-23; Ephesians 5:23; Colossians 1:18
9. John 1:12-13; Ephesians 1:13; 1 John 4:2
10. Romans 6:2; Philippians 3:12; Colossians 1:13-14
11. John 4:19-21
12. Galatians 5:24
13. Romans 7:15; Galatians 5:17
14. Romans 7:24-25; 1 John 1:7-9
15. Acts 4:17-19; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; 2 John:9
16. John 16:2

Article 30: The government of the church
We believe that this true church must be governed according to the spiritual order which our Lord has taught us in His Word1. There should be ministers or pastors to preach the Word of God and to administer the sacraments2; there should also be elders3 and deacons4 who, together with the pastors, form the council of the church5.

By these means they preserve the true religion; they see to it that the true doctrine takes its course, that evil men are disciplined in a spiritual way and are restrained, and also that the poor and all the afflicted are helped and comforted according to their need6.

By these means everything will be done well and in good order when faithful men are chosen7 in agreement with the rule that the apostle Paul gave to 1. Timothy.8
2. Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Timothy 3:15; Hebrews 13:20-21
3. Luke 1:2; Luke 10:16; John 20:23; Romans 10:14; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:19-20; 2 Timothy 4:2
4. Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5
5. 1 Timothy 3:8-10
6. Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 4:14
7. Acts 6:1-4; Titus 1:7-9
8. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2
9. 1 Timothy 3:1-7; 1 Timothy 3:8-10; 1 Timothy 3:12; 1 Timothy 3:13

Article 31: The officers of the Church
We believe that ministers of God’s Word, elders, and deacons ought to be chosen to their offices by lawful election of the church, with prayer and in good order, as stipulated by the Word of God1.

Therefore everyone shall take care not to intrude by improper means. He shall wait for the time that he is called by God so that he may have sure testimony and thus be certain that his call comes from the Lord2. Ministers of the Word, in whatever place they are, have equal power and authority, for they are all servants of Jesus Christ3, the only universal Bishop and the only Head of the church4.

In order that this holy ordinance of God may not be violated or rejected, we declare that everyone must hold the ministers of the Word and the elders of the church in special esteem because of their work5, and as much as possible be at peace with them without grumbling or arguing.
1. Acts 1:23-24; Acts 6:3-4
2. Acts 13:2; 1 Corinthians 12:28; 1 Timothy 4:14; 1 Timothy 5:22; Hebrews 5:4
3. 1 Corinthians 3:9; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:20; 1 Peter 5:1-4
4. Matthew 23:8; Matthew 23:10; Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 5:23
5. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; 1 Timothy 5:17; Hebrews 13:17

Article 32: The order and discipline of the church
We believe that, although it is useful and good for those who govern the church to establish a certain order to maintain the body of the church, they must at all times watch that they do not deviate from what Christ, our only Master, has commanded1.

Therefore we reject all human inventions and laws introduced into the worship of God which bind and compel the consciences in any way2.

We accept only what is proper to preserve and promote harmony and unity and to keep all in obedience to God3.

To that end, discipline and excommunication ought to be exercised in agreement with the Word of God4.
1. Colossians 2:6-7; 1 Timothy 3:15
2. Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:9; Galatians 5:1
3. 1 Corinthians 14:32-33
4. Matthew 16:19; Matthew 18:15-18; Romans 16:17-18; 1 Corinthians 5:1-5; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; 1 Timothy 1:20

Article 33: The sacraments
We believe that our gracious God, mindful of our insensitivity and weakness, has ordained sacraments to seal His promises to us and to be pledges of His good will and grace towards us. He did so to nourish and sustain our faith1.

He has added these to the Word of the gospel2 to represent better to our external senses both what He declares to us in His Word and what He does inwardly in our hearts. Thus He confirms to us the salvation which He imparts to us. Sacraments are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit3.

Therefore the signs are not void and meaningless so that they deceive us. For Jesus Christ is their truth; apart from Him they would be nothing. Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments which Christ our Master has instituted for us, namely, two: the sacrament of baptism4 and the holy supper of Jesus Christ5.
1. Genesis 17:9-14; Exodus 12:21-27; Romans 4:11
2. Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 5:26
3. Romans 2:28-29; Colossians 2:11-13
4. Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 5:7
5. Matthew 26:26-28; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Article 34: The sacrament of baptism
We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, who is the end of the law1, has by His shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood that one could or would make as an expiation or satisfaction for sins. He has abolished circumcision, which involved blood, and has instituted in its place the sacrament of baptism2.

By baptism we are received into the church of God and set apart from all other peoples and false religions, to be entirely committed to Him3 whose mark and emblem we bear. This serves as a testimony to us that He will be our God and gracious Father for ever.

For that reason He has commanded all those who are His to be baptized with plain water into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit4. By this He signifies to us that as water washes away the dirt of the body when poured on us, and as water is seen on the body of the baptized when sprinkled on him, so the blood of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, does the same thing internally to the soul5. It washes and cleanses our soul from sin6 and regenerates us from children of wrath into children of God7. This is not brought about by the water as such8 but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God9, which is our Red Sea10, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, that is, the devil, and enter into the spiritual land of Canaan.

Thus the ministers on their part give us the sacrament and what is visible, but our Lord gives us what is signified by the sacrament, namely, the invisible gifts and grace. He washes, purges, and cleanses our souls of all filth and unrighteousness11, renews our hearts and fills them with all comfort, gives us true assurance of His fatherly goodness, clothes us with the new nature, and takes away the old nature with all its works12.

We believe, therefore, that anyone who aspires to eternal life ought to be baptized only once13. Baptism should never be repeated, for we cannot be born twice. Moreover, baptism benefits us not only when the water is on us and when we receive it, but throughout our whole life.

For that reason we reject the error of the Anabaptists, who are not content with a single baptism received only once, and who also condemn the baptism of the little children of believers.

We believe that these children ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as infants were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises which are now made to our children14.

Indeed, Christ shed His blood to wash the children of believers just as much as He shed it for adults15.

Therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of what Christ has done for them, as the Lord commanded in the law that a lamb was to be offered shortly after children were born16. This was a sacrament of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Because baptism has the same significance for our children as circumcision had for the people of Israel, Paul calls baptism the circumcision done by Christ17.
1. Romans 10:4
2. Colossians 2:11
3. Exodus 12:48; 1 Peter 2:9
4. Matthew 28:19
5. Matthew 3:11; 1 Corinthians 12:13
6. Acts 22:16; Hebrews 9:14; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5
7. Titus 3:5
8. 1 Peter 3:21
9. Romans 6:3; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Peter 2:24
10. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4
11. 1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 5:26
12. Romans 6:4; Galatians 3:27
13. Matthew 28:19; Ephesians 4:5
14. Genesis 17:10-12; Matthew 19:14; Acts 2:38-39
15. 1 Corinthians 7:14
16. Leviticus 12:6; John 1:29
17. Colossians 2:11

Article 35: The sacrament of the Lord’s supper
We believe and confess that our Saviour Jesus Christ has instituted the sacrament of the holy supper1 to nourish and sustain those whom He has already regenerated and incorporated into His family, which is His church.

Those who are born anew have a twofold life.2 One is physical and temporal, which they received in their first birth and is common to all men. The other is spiritual and heavenly, which is given them in their second birth and is effected by the word of the gospel3 in the communion of the body of Christ. This life is not common to all but only to the elect of God.

For the support of the physical and earthly life God has ordained earthly and material bread. This bread is common to all just as life is common to all. For the support of the spiritual and heavenly life, which believers have, He has sent them a living bread which came down from heaven, namely, Jesus Christ4, who nourishes and sustains the spiritual life of the believers5 when He is eaten by them, that is, spiritually appropriated and received by faith6.

To represent to us the spiritual and heavenly bread, Christ has instituted earthly and visible bread as a sacrament of His body and wine as a sacrament of His blood7.

He testifies to us that as certainly as we take and hold the sacrament in our hands and eat and drink it with our mouths, by which our physical life is then sustained, so certainly do we receive by faith8, as the hand and mouth of our soul, the true body and true blood of Christ, our only Saviour, in our souls for our spiritual life.

It is beyond any doubt that Jesus Christ did not commend His sacraments to us in vain. Therefore He works in us all that He represents to us by these holy signs. We do not understand the manner in which this is done, just as we do not comprehend the hidden activity of the Spirit of God9.

Yet we do not go wrong when we say that what we eat and drink is the true, natural body and the true blood of Christ. However, the manner in which we eat it is not by mouth but in the spirit by faith. In that way Jesus Christ always remains seated at the right hand of God His Father in heaven10; yet He does not cease to communicate Himself to us by faith. This banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ makes us partakers of Himself with all His benefits and gives us the grace to enjoy both Himself and the merit of His suffering and death11.

He nourishes, strengthens, and comforts our poor, desolate souls by the eating of His flesh, and refreshes and renews them by the drinking of His blood.

Although the sacrament is joined together with that which is signified, the latter is not always received by all12.

The wicked certainly takes the sacrament to his condemnation, but he does not receive the truth of the sacrament. Thus Judas and Simon the sorcerer both received the sacrament, but they did not receive Christ, who is signified by it13. He is communicated exclusively to the believers14.

Finally, we receive this holy sacrament in the congregation of the people of God15 with humility and reverence as we together commemorate the death of Christ our Saviour with thanksgiving and we confess our faith and Christian religion16.

Therefore no one should come to this table without careful self-examination, lest by eating this bread and drinking from this cup, he eat and drink judgment upon himself17.

In short, we are moved by the use of this holy sacrament to a fervent love of God and our neighbours. Therefore we reject as desecrations all additions and condemnable inventions which men have mixed with the sacraments. We declare that we should be content with the ordinance taught by Christ and His apostles and should speak about it as they have spoken.
1. Matthew 26:26-28; Markus 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
2. John 3:5-6
3. John 5:25
4. John 6:48-51
5. John 6:63; John 10:10
6. John 6:40; John 6:47
7. John 6:55; 1 Corinthians 10:16
8. Ephesians 3:17
9. John 3:8
10. Markus 16:19; Acts 3:21
11. Romans 8:32; 1 Corinthians 10:2-4
12. 1 Corinthians 2:14
13. Luke 22:19-22; Acts 8:13; Acts 8:21
14. John 3:36
15. Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7
16. Acts 2:46; 1 Corinthians 11:26-28
17. 1 Corinthians 11:29

Article 36: The civil government
We believe that, because of the depravity of mankind, our gracious God has ordained kings, princes, and civil officers1.

He wants the world to be governed by laws and statutes2, in order that the lawlessness of men be restrained and that everything be conducted among them in good order3.

For that purpose He has placed the sword in the hand of the government to punish wrongdoers4 and to protect those who do what is good. Their task of restraining and sustaining is not limited to the public order but includes the protection of the church and its ministry, the Word of the gospel may be preached everywhere5, and God may be honoured and served by everyone, as He requires in His Word.

Moreover, everyone – no matter of what quality, condition, or rank – ought to be subject to the civil officers, pay taxes, hold them in honour and respect6, and obey them in all things which do not disagree with the Word of God7. We ought to pray for them, that God may direct them in all their ways and that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness8.

For that reason we condemn the Anabaptists and other rebellious people, and in general all those who reject the authorities and civil officers, subvert justice9, introduce a communion of goods, and overturn the decency that God has established among men.
1. Proverbs 8:15; Daniel 2:21; Daniel 5:18; John 19:11; Romans 13:1
2. Ezekiel 18:20
3. Deuteronomy 1:15-16; Deuteronomy 16:18-19; Judges 21:25; Psalms 82; Jeremiah 21:12; Jeremiah 22:2-3; 1 Peter 2:13-14
4. Romans 13:4
5. Psalms 2; Romans 13:4; 1 Timothy 2:1-4
6. Matthew 17:27; Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:7; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:17
7. Acts 4:17-19; Acts 5:29
8. 1 Timothy 2:2
9. 2 Peter 2:10; Judas 8

Article 37: The last judgment
Finally, we believe, according to the Word of God, that when the time, ordained by the Lord but unknown to all creatures1, has come and the number of the elect is complete2, our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, bodily and visibly, as He ascended3 (Acts 1:11), with great glory and majesty4. He will declare Himself judge of the living and the dead5 and set this old world afire in order to purge it6.

Then all people, men, women, and children, who ever lived, from the beginning of the world to the end, will appear in person before this great Judge7. They will be summoned with the voice of the archangel and with trumpet call of God8.

Those who will have died before that time will arise out of the earth9, as their spirits are once again united with their own bodies in which they lived. Those who will then be still alive will not die as the others but will be changed in the twinkling of an eye from perishable to imperishable10.

Then the books will be opened and the dead will be judged11 according to what they have done in this world, whether good or evil12. Indeed, all people will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken13, which the world regards as mere jest and amusement. The secrets and hypocrisy of men will then be publicly uncovered in the sight of all. Thus for good reason the thought of this judgment is horrible and dreadful to the wicked and evildoers14 but it is a great joy and comfort to the righteous and elect. For then their full redemption will be completed and they will receive the fruits of their labour and of the trouble they have suffered15.

Their innocence will be known to all and they will see the terrible vengeance God will bring upon the wicked who persecuted, oppressed, and tormented them in this world16.

The wicked will be convicted by the testimony of their own consciences and will become immortal, but only to be tormented in the eternal fire17 prepared for the devil and his angels18.

On the other hand, the faithful and elect will be crowned with glory and honour. The Son of God will acknowledge their names before God His Father19 and His elect angels20. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes21, and their cause – at present condemned as heretical and evil by many judges and civil authorities – will be recognized as the cause of the Son of God. As a gracious reward, the Lord will grant them to possess glory such as the heart of man could never conceive22. Therefore we look forward to that great day with a great longing to enjoy to the full the promises of God in Jesus Christ our Lord23.
1. Matthew 24:36; Matthew 25:13; Acts 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2; 2 Peter 3:10;
2. Hebrews 11:39-40; Revelation 6:11;
3. Revelation 1:7;
4. Matthew 24:30; Matthew 25:31; Acts 1:11;
5. Matthew 25:31-46; Acts 17:30-31; Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 4:5; 2 Peter 3:7;
6. 2 Peter 3:10-13;
7. 1 Thessalonians 4:16;
8. Deuteronomy 7:9-11; Revelation 20:12-13;
9. Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29;
10. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52; Philippians 3:20-21
11. Revelation 20:12
12. 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 22:12
13. Matthew 12:36
14. Matthew 11:22; Matthew 23:33; John 5:24; Romans 2:5-6; 1 Corinthians 4:5; Hebrews 10:27; 2 Peter 2:9; Judas 15; Revelation 14:7
15. Luke 14:14
16. Revelation 15:4; Revelation 18:20
17. Matthew 13:41-42; Matthew 25:41; Luke 16:22-28; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10; Revelation 21:8
18. Revelation 20:10
19. Matthew 10:23
20. Revelation 3:5
21. Isaiah 25:8; Revelation 7:17; Revelation 21:4
22. Daniel 12:3; Matthew 5:12; Matthew 13:43; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Revelation 21:9-22:5
23. Revelation 22:20

The Cannons of Dort

We also acknowledge the Westminster Standards, common among Presbyterian churches, being:
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)
Westminster Shorter Catechism (1649)
Westminster Larger Catechism (1649)

We believe the following 5 pillars and 5 points of Reformed Theology gets to the core of these confessions:

The Five Pillars

Scripture Alone
Christ Alone
Grace Alone
Faith Alone
Glory to God Alone

The Five Points

Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints


Cross Culture Church

LEADERSHIP

The Dreyer Family

Thomas is the teaching elder and is married to Erna and they have been living in Johannesburg since 2007, co-pastoring at the Gereformeerde Kerk Randburg (Reformed Church Randburg), a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking church. They have been blessed with a daughter, Jawé, and a boy, Martin-Johan. They met in 1995, during their B.Com studies at the University of Pretoria.

Upon completion of his B.Com degree, however, Thomas felt called to full-time ministry and went to the North-West University (Potchefstroom campus) to study Theology. They married in 2001, while Thomas was still studying and Erna was teaching to keep food on the table. They were presented with the opportunity to go to London, after Thomas finished his M.Th. in pastoral studies, where they stayed for a year and a half. Here they became involved in a ministry for South Africans in London, which would later grow into Canada Water Church, and sparked their interest in church planting, and multi-cultural ministry. Upon returning from London, they ministered in the small town of Vryheid in Kwazulu-Natal, South-Africa for two years.

In 2007 the hearts God gave them for the city, made them accept a call to the Gereformeerde Kerk Randburg (GKR) with the responsibility for pastoring young single and newlyweds as well as the “evangelism and outreach-ministries” of the GKR. This last responsibility led to the planting of Cross Culture Church (CCC). At the moment they are full-time ministering in CCC with the vision of leading the church to become a congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa.

Erna is a deacon and also involved in the kids’ ministry, plays the piano in the worship team and does the admin for CCC.

The McLean Family

Brian and Tanya McLean have served the Lord together since meeting at university. In 2010 the desire to move towards a more full-time ministry led Brian to begin theological studies. Here he was convinced that the Reformed faith is a genuine reflection of God’s truth revealed in the Scriptures. This journey has taken the whole family deeper into the work that they believe the Lord is laying before them.

Brian and Tanya are eager to see Christians grow in maturity and churches grow in depth of real knowledge of their God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Head of His Body, the Church. They hope that they will be increasingly useful in the Lord’s Kingdom.

Their sincerest desire for CCC is that this body grows together as a true family of servants together on mission with the Lord Jesus to carry His gospel into the community. Brian is a teaching elder at CCC and part of the music worship team and Tanya is part of the children’s and music ministry.

They have three beautiful daughters: Kristin, Jenna, Rebekah.

The Masuku Family

The Masuku’s have been married for 3 years after meeting in 2015 through a mutual friend, with 3 children – all boys: Kgalalelo (Lelo), Khayalezizwe (Khaya) and Milani. Both Njabulo and Luyanda have been serving in the body of Christ from early in their respective journeys with the Lord. Njabulo is an affiliate and preacher at Prison Fellowship Eswatini, and an ordained pastor. Luyanda has served for more than 5 years in children and youth ministry in the previous church she belonged to. They have a passion for God’s people and preaching/teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Njabulo is an IT Professional who has had the privilege of running a youth empowerment program in Eswatini called Young Climber where he hosted a weekly motivational radio programme for over two years. Njabulo also established Helping Hand Foundation which collects food and second-hand clothes for distribution to the underprivileged. Luyanda is a corporate governance professional who has been working in the mining industry and has been significantly involved in community development within the mining communities. In her personal capacity, she periodically runs initiatives that reach out to underprivileged children that need school shoes.

The Masuku family’s purpose is to serve God and the greater society with their gifts and talents, with diligence and enthusiasm. The Masuku’s spiritual statement of what God means to the family is that God is Love, Salvation and Providence. He sets the foundation for everything they believe, plan and do. If what they do is not in love, forgiveness, commitment, compassion, and sacrifice, then it is not aligned with what they believe in as a Christian family.

The family’s Bible verse is Colossians 3:12: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

The De Kock Family

Kruger and his family recently returned to SA after 20 years of ministry in London, UK. The Lord called them to serve there after a formative gap-year back in 2004. There, together with Thomas and Erna they experienced the beauty of a multicultural, confessionally reformed city church called London City Presbyterian Church. In 2005 they returned to strengthen the ministry of this church that eventually led to the planting of a new church in Canada Water, London.

They raised their four children in the heart of London until returning to Johannesburg at the end of 2023 when they started worshiping with CCC. Here, under the faithful Gospel ministry of the elders and members of CCC their family began to hear the Lord’s call to see more churches like CCC planted in the great and diverse city of Johannesburg and all across Southern Africa.

To this end Kruger was installed as a self-supporting Missions Pastor at CCC on 4 August 2024. They live in Parkview Johannesburg where they enjoy being close to the many city parks where they can mountain bike and enjoy nature. Stephanie is the main educator of their children as they continue to homeschool since returning to SA. Kruger also lectures at the nearby Mukhanyo Theological College in Braamfontein.

The Mogoe Family

Godfrey and Tumi Mogoe were both born in Soweto in 1977. Both their families had homes in Bapong 2 village on the outskirts of Rustenburg and eventually, they went to school there. They have been friends since school. They both studied Business Management and got married in 2004. They are blessed with 4 kids, living with 2, Bogolo and Tlholo. Their older sibling Orapeleng is in Limpopo and Boipelo lives in the Cape.

Godfrey and Tumi have been serving the Lord since they were kids but started closely understanding their calling for Christ’s cross-culture ministry during their 5-year stint in Cape Town. They moved back to Johannesburg in 2019 and joined Cross Culture Church early in 2020. They love this church family God has given to them and are committed to serving here. They are both deacons with a focus on mercy ministry and our church family’s diaconal needs.

Whilst Godfrey works for Engen in Sub-Saharan Africa, Tumi enjoys running their small home and is currently studying hard to complete her business qualification. They are blessed with big families on both sides that they are grateful to keep guiding as the Lord guides.

The Dreyer Family

Thomas is the teaching elder and is married to Erna and they have been living in Johannesburg since 2007, co-pastoring at the Gereformeerde Kerk Randburg (Reformed Church Randburg), a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking church. They have been blessed with a daughter, Jawé, and a boy, Martin-Johan. They met in 1995, during their B.Com studies at the University of Pretoria.

Upon completion of his B.Com degree, however, Thomas felt called to full-time ministry and went to the North-West University (Potchefstroom campus) to study Theology. They married in 2001, while Thomas was still studying and Erna was teaching to keep food on the table.

They were presented with the opportunity to go to London, after Thomas finished his M.Th. in pastoral studies, where they stayed for a year and a half. Here they became involved in a ministry for South Africans in London, which would later grow into Canada Water Church, and sparked their interest in church planting, and multi-cultural ministry. Upon returning from London, they ministered in the small town of Vryheid in Kwazulu-Natal, South-Africa for two years.

In 2007 the hearts God gave them for the city, made them accept a call to the Gereformeerde Kerk Randburg (GKR) with the responsibility for pastoring young single and newlyweds as well as the “evangelism and outreach-ministries” of the GKR. This last responsibility led to the planting of Cross Culture Church (CCC). At the moment they are full-time ministering in CCC with the vision of leading the church to become a congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa.

Erna is a deacon and also involved in the kids’ ministry, plays the piano in the worship team and does the admin for CCC.

The McLean Family

Brian and Tanya McLean have served the Lord together since meeting at university. In 2010 the desire to move towards a more full-time ministry led Brian to begin theological studies. Here he was convinced that the Reformed faith is a genuine reflection of God’s truth revealed in the Scriptures. This journey has taken the whole family deeper into the work that they believe the Lord is laying before them.

Brian and Tanya are eager to see Christians grow in maturity and churches grow in depth of real knowledge of their God and Saviour,

Jesus Christ, the Head of His Body, the Church. They hope that they will be increasingly useful in the Lord’s Kingdom.

Their sincerest desire for CCC is that this body grows together as a true family of servants together on mission with the Lord Jesus to carry His gospel into the community. Brian is a teaching elder at CCC and part of the music worship team and Tanya is part of the children’s and music ministry. They have three beautiful daughters: Kristin, Jenna, Rebekah.

The Masuku Family

The Masuku’s have been married for 3 years after meeting in 2015 through a mutual friend, with 3 children – all boys: Kgalalelo (Lelo), Khayalezizwe (Khaya) and Milani. Both Njabulo and Luyanda have been serving in the body of Christ from early in their respective journeys with the Lord. Njabulo is an affiliate and preacher at Prison Fellowship Eswatini, and an ordained pastor. Luyanda has served for more than 5 years in children and youth ministry in the previous church she belonged to. They have a passion for God’s people and preaching/teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Njabulo is an IT Professional who has had the privilege of

running a youth empowerment program in Eswatini called Young Climber where he hosted a weekly motivational radio programme for over two years. Njabulo also established Helping Hand Foundation which collects food and second-hand clothes for distribution to the underprivileged. Luyanda is a corporate governance professional who has been working in the mining industry and has been significantly involved in community development within the mining communities. In her personal capacity, she periodically runs initiatives that reach out to underprivileged children that need school shoes.

The Masuku family’s purpose is to serve God and the greater society with their gifts and talents, with diligence and enthusiasm. The Masuku’s spiritual statement of what God means to the family is that God is Love, Salvation and Providence. He sets the foundation for everything they believe, plan and do. If what they do is not in love, forgiveness, commitment, compassion, and sacrifice, then it is not aligned with what they believe in as a Christian family.

The family’s Bible verse is Colossians 3:12: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

The De Kock Family

Kruger and his family recently returned to SA after 20 years of ministry in London, UK. The Lord called them to serve there after a formative gap-year back in 2004. There, together with Thomas and Erna they experienced the beauty of a multicultural, confessionally reformed city church called London City Presbyterian Church. In 2005 they returned to strengthen the ministry of this church that eventually led to the planting of a new church in Canada Water, London.

They raised their four children in the heart of London until returning to Johannesburg at the end of 2023 when they started worshiping with CCC. Here, under the faithful Gospel ministry of the elders and members of CCC their family began to hear the Lord’s call to see more churches like CCC planted in the great and diverse city of Johannesburg and all across Southern Africa.

To this end Kruger was installed as a self-supporting Missions Pastor at CCC on 4 August 2024. They live in Parkview Johannesburg where they enjoy being close to the many city parks where they can mountain bike and enjoy nature. Stephanie is the main educator of their children as they continue to homeschool since returning to SA. Kruger also lectures at the nearby Mukhanyo Theological College in Braamfontein.

The Mogoe Family

Godfrey and Tumi Mogoe were both born in Soweto in 1977. Both their families had homes in Bapong 2 village on the outskirts of Rustenburg and eventually, they went to school there. They have been friends since school. They both studied Business Management and got married in 2004. They are blessed with 4 kids, living with 2, Bogolo and Tlholo. Their older sibling Orapeleng is in Limpopo and Boipelo lives in the Cape.

Godfrey and Tumi have been serving the Lord since they were kids but started closely understanding their calling

for Christ’s cross-culture ministry during their 5-year stint in Cape Town. They moved back to Johannesburg in 2019 and joined Cross Culture Church early in 2020. They love this church family God has given to them and are committed to serving here. They are both deacons with a focus on mercy ministry and our church family’s diaconal needs.

Whilst Godfrey works for Engen in Sub-Saharan Africa, Tumi enjoys running their small home and is currently studying hard to complete her business qualification. They are blessed with big families on both sides that they are grateful to keep guiding as the Lord guides.

The Dreyer Family

Thomas is the teaching elder and is married to Erna and they have been living in Johannesburg since 2007, co-pastoring at the Gereformeerde Kerk Randburg (Reformed Church Randburg), a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking church. They have been blessed with a daughter, Jawé, and a boy, Martin-Johan. They met in 1995, during their B.Com studies at the University of Pretoria.

Upon completion of his B.Com degree, however, Thomas felt called to full-time ministry and went to the North-West University (Potchefstroom campus) to study Theology. They married in 2001, while Thomas was still studying and Erna was teaching to keep food on the table. They were presented with the opportunity to go to London, after Thomas finished his M.Th. in pastoral studies, where they stayed for a year and a half. Here they became involved in a ministry for South Africans in London, which would later grow into Canada Water Church, and sparked their interest in church planting, and multi-cultural ministry. Upon returning from London, they ministered in the small town of Vryheid in Kwazulu-Natal, South-Africa for two years.

In 2007 the hearts God gave them for the city, made them accept a call to the Gereformeerde Kerk Randburg (GKR) with the responsibility for pastoring young single and newlyweds as well as the “evangelism and outreach-ministries” of the GKR. This last responsibility led to the planting of Cross Culture Church (CCC). At the moment they are full-time ministering in CCC with the vision of leading the church to become a congregation of the Reformed Churches in South Africa.

Erna is a deacon and also involved in the kids’ ministry, plays the piano in the worship team and does the admin for CCC.

The McLean Family

Brian and Tanya McLean have served the Lord together since meeting at university. In 2010 the desire to move towards a more full-time ministry led Brian to begin theological studies. Here he was convinced that the Reformed faith is a genuine reflection of God’s truth revealed in the Scriptures. This journey has taken the whole family deeper into the work that they believe the Lord is laying before them.

Brian and Tanya are eager to see Christians grow in maturity and churches grow in depth of real knowledge of their God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Head of His Body, the Church. They hope that they will be increasingly useful in the Lord’s Kingdom.

Their sincerest desire for CCC is that this body grows together as a true family of servants together on mission with the Lord Jesus to carry His gospel into the community. Brian is a teaching elder at CCC and part of the music worship team and Tanya is part of the children’s and music ministry.

They have three beautiful daughters: Kristin, Jenna, Rebekah.

The Masuku Family

The Masuku’s have been married for 3 years after meeting in 2015 through a mutual friend, with 3 children – all boys: Kgalalelo (Lelo), Khayalezizwe (Khaya) and Milani. Both Njabulo and Luyanda have been serving in the body of Christ from early in their respective journeys with the Lord. Njabulo is an affiliate and preacher at Prison Fellowship Eswatini, and an ordained pastor. Luyanda has served for more than 5 years in children and youth ministry in the previous church she belonged to. They have a passion for God’s people and preaching/teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Njabulo is an IT Professional who has had the privilege of running a youth empowerment program in Eswatini called Young Climber where he hosted a weekly motivational radio programme for over two years. Njabulo also established Helping Hand Foundation which collects food and second-hand clothes for distribution to the underprivileged. Luyanda is a corporate governance professional who has been working in the mining industry and has been significantly involved in community development within the mining communities. In her personal capacity, she periodically runs initiatives that reach out to underprivileged children that need school shoes.

The Masuku family’s purpose is to serve God and the greater society with their gifts and talents, with diligence and enthusiasm. The Masuku’s spiritual statement of what God means to the family is that God is Love, Salvation and Providence. He sets the foundation for everything they believe, plan and do. If what they do is not in love, forgiveness, commitment, compassion, and sacrifice, then it is not aligned with what they believe in as a Christian family.

The family’s Bible verse is Colossians 3:12: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

The De Kock Family

Kruger and his family recently returned to SA after 20 years of ministry in London, UK. The Lord called them to serve there after a formative gap-year back in 2004. There, together with Thomas and Erna they experienced the beauty of a multicultural, confessionally reformed city church called London City Presbyterian Church. In 2005 they returned to strengthen the ministry of this church that eventually led to the planting of a new church in Canada Water, London.

They raised their four children in the heart of London until returning to Johannesburg at the end of 2023 when they started worshiping with CCC. Here, under the faithful Gospel ministry of the elders and members of CCC their family began to hear the Lord’s call to see more churches like CCC planted in the great and diverse city of Johannesburg and all across Southern Africa.

To this end Kruger was installed as a self-supporting Missions Pastor at CCC on 4 August 2024. They live in Parkview Johannesburg where they enjoy being close to the many city parks where they can mountain bike and enjoy nature. Stephanie is the main educator of their children as they continue to homeschool since returning to SA. Kruger also lectures at the nearby Mukhanyo Theological College in Braamfontein.

The Mogoe Family

Godfrey and Tumi Mogoe were both born in Soweto in 1977. Both their families had homes in Bapong 2 village on the outskirts of Rustenburg and eventually, they went to school there. They have been friends since school. They both studied Business Management and got married in 2004. They are blessed with 4 kids, living with 2, Bogolo and Tlholo. Their older sibling Orapeleng is in Limpopo and Boipelo lives in the Cape.

Godfrey and Tumi have been serving the Lord since they were kids but started closely understanding their calling for Christ’s cross-culture ministry during their 5-year stint in Cape Town. They moved back to Johannesburg in 2019 and joined Cross Culture Church early in 2020. They love this church family God has given to them and are committed to serving here. They are both deacons with a focus on mercy ministry and our church family’s diaconal needs.

Whilst Godfrey works for Engen in Sub-Saharan Africa, Tumi enjoys running their small home and is currently studying hard to complete her business qualification. They are blessed with big families on both sides that they are grateful to keep guiding as the Lord guides.


Cross Culture Church

ELDER'S STATEMENTS

As redeemed people in Christ, gathered as a family in our corner of Johannesburg, we the members of Cross Culture Church recognise that living the Gospel of Jesus requires us to be alert to the very real needs of the poor and oppressed in our world. We desire to hear the cry of the widow, the orphan, the outcast, and the victim of wickedness and to respond to the call of God where He has placed us.

In the light of mounting tensions around social justice, race, and equality, both abroad and at home, we seek to affirm our common faith in Christ our Redeemer, the Gospel that unites us as one Family under God the Father, and our Spirit-led mission to the world. The goal of these statements is to equip Christians to discern the issues that face us in the world and respond from a biblical worldview.

Image of God

We affirm that all people in all places and all ages are made in the image of God, and have equal value because God is the giver of life. All men, women, and children are united under one Creator, one humanity with no inherent divisions, but with a creative diversity that reflects the multifaceted glory of God.

Very good

We affirm that after God had created humanity and declared everything as “very good”, we all, in Adam, rebelled against the knowledge of God and sinned together with Adam, losing fellowship with God and with one another. From that moment on humanity has suffered the miseries of sin; selfishness, hate, murders, exploitation of the most vulnerable and divisions now characterise every human society.

Just & Good

We affirm that God is just and good and will not allow the guilty to go free; yet He has set his love on us and decreed salvation for His people. God set redemptive history in motion, with the Cross of Christ as its climactic event. He was there reconciling to Himself all things in Christ. No human reconciliation is possible without reconciliation to God. The Gospel is the only means of true reconciliation in the world.

Reconciliation

We affirm that, having been reconciled to God, we are given the ministry of reconciliation, being both concerned and equipped for the reconciliation of people to God and people to people. We teach fallen men and women to repent of their sin, be reconciled to God and submit to the authority of Christ. We further affirm that this ministry of reconciliation demands that we speak out against wicked systems of oppression that enforce an ungodly worldview and feed on and entrench sinful division in human society.

Concern

We affirm that God makes clear his particular concern for people who find themselves at the mercy of the powerful in a fallen, wicked social structure. Widows, orphans, young women, and the foreigner, are among the people that our Lord makes specific mention of that must be granted justice in a society that honours God.

Truth of God

We affirm that in pursuing this justice we are guided only by the Truth of God, revealed in the inerrant and sufficient Scriptures. We will be vigilant against the agendas of worldly systems of thought that seek to bind our conscience to that which the Lord has not required or commanded. We will condemn only that which God condemns and affirm only that which He affirms.

God's Law

We condemn all thoughts, words and actions that are in breach of God’s holy Law, both overt and subtle, public and private, including those that might be categorised today under these headings:

Prejudice, where opportunities to exercise one’s God-given humanity is wrongly suppressed by any person or group on the basis of any God-given quality such as skin-colour or sex, or any providential circumstance such as economic status, or education level;
Racism, where one people group claims superiority over another based on ethnicity or cultural heritage, whether this be done institutionally, or privately;
Sexism, where one sex seeks to dominate another in an ungodly inversion or perversion of the God-given roles of men and women, which is an outworking of the curse of the Fall;
Violence and abuse, in which especially women and children are victimised by men in, or the strong seek to overpower the weak.

Gospel

We commit ourselves to teaching, leading, and acting in terms of the Gospel ministry of reconciliation so as to proclaim the Name of Christ and draw all humanity to Him. The Gospel is our primary message to a fallen world, even as we reach out to the broken and suffering in the midst of injustice.

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As redeemed people in Christ, gathered as a family in our corner of Johannesburg, we the members of Cross Culture Church recognise that living the Gospel of Jesus requires us to be alert to the very real needs of the poor and oppressed in our world. We desire to hear the cry of the widow, the orphan, the outcast, and the victim of wickedness and to respond to the call of God where He has placed us.

In the light of mounting tensions around social justice, race, and equality, both abroad and at home, we seek to affirm our common faith in Christ our Redeemer, the Gospel that unites us as one Family under God the Father, and our Spirit-led mission to the world. The goal of these statements is to equip Christians to discern the issues that face us in the world and respond from a biblical worldview.

Image of God

We affirm that all people in all places and all ages are made in the image of God, and have equal value because God is the giver of life. All men, women, and children are united under one Creator, one humanity with no inherent divisions, but with a creative diversity that reflects the multifaceted glory of God.

Very good

We affirm that after God had created humanity and declared everything as “very good”, we all, in Adam, rebelled against the knowledge of God and sinned together with Adam, losing fellowship with God and with one another. From that moment on humanity has suffered the miseries of sin; selfishness, hate, murders, exploitation of the most vulnerable and divisions now characterise every human society.

Just & Good

We affirm that God is just and good and will not allow the guilty to go free; yet He has set his love on us and decreed salvation for His people. God set redemptive history in motion, with the Cross of Christ as its climactic event. He was there reconciling to Himself all things in Christ. No human reconciliation is possible without reconciliation to God. The Gospel is the only means of true reconciliation in the world.

Reconciliation

We affirm that, having been reconciled to God, we are given the ministry of reconciliation, being both concerned and equipped for the reconciliation of people to God and people to people. We teach fallen men and women to repent of their sin, be reconciled to God and submit to the authority of Christ. We further affirm that this ministry of reconciliation demands that we speak out against wicked systems of oppression that enforce an ungodly worldview and feed on and entrench sinful division in human society.

Concern

We affirm that God makes clear his particular concern for people who find themselves at the mercy of the powerful in a fallen, wicked social structure. Widows, orphans, young women, and the foreigner, are among the people that our Lord makes specific mention of that must be granted justice in a society that honours God.

Truth of God

We affirm that in pursuing this justice we are guided only by the Truth of God, revealed in the inerrant and sufficient Scriptures. We will be vigilant against the agendas of worldly systems of thought that seek to bind our conscience to that which the Lord has not required or commanded. We will condemn only that which God condemns and affirm only that which He affirms.

God's Law

We condemn all thoughts, words and actions that are in breach of God’s holy Law, both overt and subtle, public and private, including those that might be categorised today under these headings:

Prejudice, where opportunities to exercise one’s God-given humanity is wrongly suppressed by any person or group on the basis of any God-given quality such as skin-colour or sex, or any providential circumstance such as economic status, or education level;
Racism, where one people group claims superiority over another based on ethnicity or cultural heritage, whether this be done institutionally, or privately;
Sexism, where one sex seeks to dominate another in an ungodly inversion or perversion of the God-given roles of men and women, which is an outworking of the curse of the Fall;
Violence and abuse, in which especially women and children are victimised by men in, or the strong seek to overpower the weak.

Gospel

We commit ourselves to teaching, leading, and acting in terms of the Gospel ministry of reconciliation so as to proclaim the Name of Christ and draw all humanity to Him. The Gospel is our primary message to a fallen world, even as we reach out to the broken and suffering in the midst of injustice.

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Cross Culture Church

HISTORY

We can summarize our history in five phases:

  • Our eyes were opened to the great need for new Gospel proclaiming churches that engage across cultural divides in the great cities of the world by two things: Our involvement in the planting of Canada Water Church in the cosmopolitan and multi-cultural city of London and our exposure to City to City, an organization that recruits, trains, coaches and funds leaders who start gospel movements in cities through church planting. This made us see our own city in a new light. God showed us the peace and healing that our country and city is so desperate for and that He wants to give through communities that cross cultural boundaries and are yet united in their faith in Jesus and their eagerness to work out the implications of the Gospel together.

    Considering Phase | 2011-2012

  • We started sharing the vision and dream of planting such a church community with the support of the Reformed Church Randburg and as more people got excited about the possibility we organized ourselves into a core group of about 15 and a launch team of 5 people. Thomas and Erna (the teaching pastor and his wife) also got the opportunity to attend the 5 week International Intensive Church planter training of City to City in New York.

    Preparing Phase | 2013

  • In this year we focused on honing our vision, thinking through and planning for our core ministries, growing the core group and starting life groups that met regularly.

    Gathering Phase | 2014

  • We launched Cross Culture Church in February 2015, meeting every second Sunday for corporate worship and every other Sunday in smaller life groups. By September 2015 we started meeting every Sunday for corporate worship with an average attendance of 25-30 people. We organised into 3 life groups where in smaller groups our members share their daily experiences and we consider the practical application of the Gospel in our city lives.

    Launching Phase | 2015

  • Our focus since 2016 were on growth: Growth in love for God and one another and also growth in numbers. Our hearts yearn to invite more and more sceptic, unconvinced, doubting and de-churched people into our diverse community through loving serving friendship relationships. Our hope remains that people, who connect with us, will see our Lord and Saviour, Jesus in us and have a personal encounter with Him.

    Growth Phase | 2016-onwards

  • Our eyes were opened to the great need for new Gospel proclaiming churches that engage across cultural divides in the great cities of the world by two things: Our involvement in the planting of Canada Water Church in the cosmopolitan and multi-cultural city of London and our exposure to City to City, an organization that recruits, trains, coaches and funds leaders who start gospel movements in cities through church planting. This made us see our own city in a new light. God showed us the peace and healing that our country and city is so desperate for and that He wants to give through communities that cross cultural boundaries and are yet united in their faith in Jesus and their eagerness to work out the implications of the Gospel together.

    Considering Phase | 2011-2012

  • We started sharing the vision and dream of planting such a church community with the support of the Reformed Church Randburg and as more people got excited about the possibility we organized ourselves into a core group of about 15 and a launch team of 5 people. Thomas and Erna (the teaching pastor and his wife) also got the opportunity to attend the 5 week International Intensive Church planter training of City to City in New York.

    Preparing Phase | 2013

  • In this year we focused on honing our vision, thinking through and planning for our core ministries, growing the core group and starting life groups that met regularly.

    Gathering Phase | 2014

  • We launched Cross Culture Church in February 2015, meeting every second Sunday for corporate worship and every other Sunday in smaller life groups. By September 2015 we started meeting every Sunday for corporate worship with an average attendance of 25-30 people. We organised into 3 life groups where in smaller groups our members share their daily experiences and we consider the practical application of the Gospel in our city lives.

    Launching Phase | 2015

  • Our focus since 2016 were on growth: Growth in love for God and one another and also growth in numbers. Our hearts yearn to invite more and more sceptic, unconvinced, doubting and de-churched people into our diverse community through loving serving friendship relationships. Our hope remains that people, who connect with us, will see our Lord and Saviour, Jesus in us and have a personal encounter with Him.

    Growth Phase | 2016-on

 CONSIDERING PHASE | 2011-2012

Our eyes were opened to the great need for new Gospel proclaiming churches that engage across cultural divides in the great cities of the world by two things: Our involvement in the planting of Canada Water Church in the cosmopolitan and multi-cultural city of London and our exposure to City to City, an organization that recruits, trains, coaches and funds leaders who start gospel movements in cities through church planting. This made us see our own city in a new light. God showed us the peace and healing that our country and city is so desperate for and that He wants to give through communities that cross cultural boundaries and are yet united in their faith in Jesus and their eagerness to work out the implications of the Gospel together.

 PREPARING PHASE | 2013

We started sharing the vision and dream of planting such a church community with the support of the Reformed Church Randburg and as more people got excited about the possibility we organized ourselves into a core group of about 15 and a launch team of 5 people. Thomas and Erna (the teaching pastor and his wife) also got the opportunity to attend the 5 week International Intensive Church planter training of City to City in New York.

 GATHERING PHASE | 2014

In this year we focused on honing our vision, thinking through and planning for our core ministries, growing the core group and starting life groups that met regularly.

 LAUNCHING PHASE | 2015

We launched Cross Culture Church in February 2015, meeting every second Sunday for corporate worship and every other Sunday in smaller life groups. By September 2015 we started meeting every Sunday for corporate worship with an average attendance of 25-30 people. We organised into 3 life groups where in smaller groups our members share their daily experiences and we consider the practical application of the Gospel in our city lives.

 GROWTH PHASE | 2016-ON

Our focus since 2016 were on growth: Growth in love for God and one another and also growth in numbers. Our hearts yearn to invite more and more sceptic, unconvinced, doubting and de-churched people into our diverse community through loving serving friendship relationships. Our hope remains that people, who connect with us, will see our Lord and Saviour, Jesus in us and have a personal encounter with Him.