The Heidelberg Catechism Introduction and Background In the urgent need to form a united Protestant front against the Roman Catholic military threat Landgrave Philip Hesse persuaded a number of Lutheran and Reformed theologians to meet in a castle at Marburg in 1529. Unfortunately the two leaders, Martin Luther (1483-1546) and Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), quarrelled so unyieldingly over the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper that the plan failed. Later John Calvin (1509-64) and Heinrich Bullinger (1504-75) worked together for consensus between the different parties in the Reformed camp and also in the hope of finding agreement with the Lutherans. They produced the Consensus Tigurinus, or Zurich Agreement, which different Reformed parties signed in 1549. It stated that though Christ’s body is in heaven, at the Lord’s Supper we nevertheless truly partake of that body, through the power of the Holy Spirit. But the hyper-Lutherans Joachim Westphal (1510-74) and later Tileman Heshusius (1527-88) attacked the Consensus and Calvin, insisting on a literal eating of Christ’s flesh (Westphal insisted on a literal chewing). When Frederick III became Elector of the Rhine Palatinate in 1559, it was rent with division over the issue. After a public quarrel took place at the altar of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Heidelberg, Frederick commissioned two young theologians, Zacharias Ursinus (1534-83) and Caspar Olevianus (1536-87), to write a catechism that would end the dispute in the principality. Ursinus was a professor of theology at Heidelberg; he had studied at Wittenberg and was a friend of Melanchthon, but had moved to a Reformed position. Olevianus, a gifted biblical preacher, had studied at Geneva and was for a time professor in the University of Heidelberg. They made use of existing catechisms, especially those of Calvin and John Lasco, and on the basis of Paul’s Letter to the Romans divided their catechism into three main sections, on: 1. the wretchedness of humankind, 2. the redemption of humankind, and 3. the gratitude and obedience humankind owes in response to redemption. Others, including the Elector, assisted in the work. Olevianus saw to the final wording. When the catechism was completed, Frederick laid it before a synod in December 1562. After careful examination the synod approved it, and the first edition was published the next year. After the Council of Trent ended in 1563, question 80 was inserted, against transubstantion. In 1573 the questions were numbered and divided into lessons for fifty-two Sundays. The catechism came to be used wherever the Reformed Church was established in Europe and was translated into many languages. The Synod of Dort in Holland formally adopted it in 1618. It remains an authoritative confession for all German and Dutch Reformed churches and is esteemed more widely than any other Reformed confessional document. Perhaps no document except the Bible has gone through more editions. The catechism takes the Calvinistic position on the Lord’s Supper and the uses of the Law. It is noted for its biblical and christocentric character, its irenic approach (except in question 80), its personal and experiential manner, its dramatic development of thought and its down-to-earth pastoral concern for daily living. The first question and answer are the most famous; they are a gem of personal, existential confession that sets a tone of comfort and joy for the whole catechism. THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM: MODERN ENGLISH VERSION This version contains a revision of the 1950 translation of the Heidelberg Catechism by a special committee of the Eureka Classis of the Reformed Church in the United States in 1978. lt was printed by order of the 1986 Synod by the Publications Committee of this denomination. CONTENT OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM - 1978 ENGLISH VERSION OF THE RCUS INTRODUCTION LORD'S DAY 1 1. What is your only comfort in life and in death? That l, with body and soul, both in life and in death,[1] am not my own,[2] but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ,[3] who with His precious blood[4] has fully satisfied for all my sins,[5] and redeemed me from all the power of the devil;[6] and so preserves me[7] that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head;[8] indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation.[9] Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life,[10] and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live unto Him.[11] A1B0om. 14:7-8. A2BI Cor. 6:19. A3BI Cor. 3:23. A4BI Pet. 1:18-19. A5BI 7n. 1:7; 2:2. A6BI 7n. 3:8. A7B7n. 6:39. A8BMt. 10:29-30; Lk. 21:18. A9B0om. 8:28. A10BII Cor. 1:21-22; Eph. 1:13-14; 0om. 8:16. A11B0om. 8:1. 2. H ow many things are necessary for you to know , that in this comfort you may live and die happily? 1hree things:A1B First, the greatness of my sin and misery.A2B Second, how I am redeemed from all my sins and misery.A3B 1hird, how I am to be thankful to 8 od for such redemption.A4B A1BLk. 24:46-47; I Cor. 6:11; 1it. 3:3-7. A2B7n. 9:41; 15:22. A3B7n. 17:3. A4BEph. 5:8-11; I Pet. 2:9-12; 0om. 6:11-14; E0om. 7:24-25; E8al. 3:13; ECol. 3:17. FI ST PA T O F M AN0S M ISE 1 LORD*S DA, 2 3. From w here do you know your misery? From the Law of 8 od.A1B A1B0om. 3:20; E0om. 7:7. 4. 3 hat does the Law of 8 od re:uire of us? Christ teaches us in sum, Mt. 22: .Tho shalt love the Lord thy / od 0 ith all thy heart1 and 0 ith all thy so l1 and 0 ith all thy mind1 and 0 ith all thy strength. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like nto it1 Tho shalt love thy neighbo r as thyself. O n these t0 o commandments hang all the la0 and the prophets.2A1B A1BLk. 10:27. E4eut. 6:5. E8al. 5:14. 5. Can you keep all this perfectly? N o,A1B for I am prone by nature to hate 8 od and my neighbour.A2B A1B0om. 3:10-12, 23; I 7n. 1:8, 10. A2B0om. 8:7; Eph. 2:3. LO RD3S DA, 3 6. 4id 8 od create man thus, w icked and perverse N o,A1B but 8 od created man good and after His ow n image,A2B that is, in righteousness and true holiness, that he might rightly know 8 od his Creator, heartily love H im, and live w ith H im in eternal blessedness, to praise and glorify H im.A3B A1B8 en. 1:31. A2B8 en. 1:26-27. A3BII Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24. 7. From w here, then, does this depraved nature of man come? From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise,A1B w hereby our nature became so corrupt that w e are all conceived and born in sin.A2B A1B8 en. 3 (1he w hole chapter). 0om. 5:12, 18-19. A2BPs. 51:5; EPs. 14:2-3. 8. But are w e so depraved that w e are completely incapable of any good and prone to all evil? Fes,A1B unless w e are born again by the Spirit of 8 od.A2B A1B7n. 3:6; 8 en. 6:5; 7ob 14:4; Isa. 53:6. A2B7n. 3:5; E8en. 8:21; EII Cor. 3:5; E0om. 7:18; E7er. 17:9. LO RD3S DA, 5 9. 4oes not 8 od, then, do inGustice to man by re:uiring of him in H is Law that w hich he cannot perform? No, for 8 od so made man that he could perform it;A1B but man, through the instigation of the devil, by w illful disobedience deprived himself and all his descendants of this pow er.A2B A1BEph. 4:24. A2B0om. 5:12. 10. 3 ill 8 od allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished? Certainly not,A1B but H e is terribly displeased w ith our inborn as w ell as our actual sins, and w ill punish them in Gust Gudgment in time and eternity, as H e has declared: .C rsed is everyone that contin eth not in all things 0 hich are 0 ritten in the book of the la0 to do them.262B A1BH eb. 9:27. A2B4eut. 27:26; 8 al. 3:10; E0om. 1:18; EMt. 25:41. 11. But is not 8 od also merciful? 8 od is indeed merciful,A1B but H e is likew ise Gust;A2B His Gustice therefore re:uires that sin w hich is committed against the most high maGesty of 8 od, be punished w ith e2treme, that is, w ith everlasting punishment both of body and soul. A1BE2. 34:6-7. A2BE2. 20:5; Ps. 5:5-6; II Cor. 6:14-16; E0ev. 14:11. SECOND PA T OF M AN0S EDEM PTION LO RD3S DA, 5 12. Since, then, by the righteous Gudgment of 8 od w e deserve temporal and eternal punishment, how may w e escape this punishment and be again received into favour? 8 od w ills that His Gustice be satisfied;A1B therefore, w e must make full satisfaction to that Gustice, either by ourselves or by another.A2B A1BE2.