Heidelberg Catechism Questions 12-15

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Sun, 12/07/2020 - 09:31

According to God’s righteous judgement
we deserve punishment
both now and in eternity:
how then can we escape this punishment
and return to God’s favour?

A.God requires that his justice be satisfied.
Therefore the claims of this justice
must be paid in full,
either by ourselves or by another.

Q.Can we make this payment ourselves?

A.Certainly not.
Actually, we increase our debt every day.

Q.Can another creature—any at all—
pay this debt for us?

A.No.
To begin with,
God will not punish any other creature
for what a human is guilty of.
Furthermore,
no mere creature can bear the weight
of God’s eternal wrath against sin
and deliver others from it.

Q.What kind of mediator and deliverer
should we look for then?

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