Heidelberg 16-19

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, (1 Peter 3:18)

For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, (1 Tim. 2:5)

I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. (Job 16:21 NLT)

Thoughts: We need someone who can be a mediator between us and God- in order to bring us peace with God.  But it would be even better if that mediator who does this work of lawyer like mediation- would be willing to pay the penalty he exacts from us.  Imagine if someone sues you for a wrong that you know you have done.  Imagine then that you go to mediation (in order to bypass a prolonged court).  There the mediator says you owe a tremendous debt that you cannot possibly begin to pay- but the mediator pulls out his checkbook and pays it for you.  This is not a made up story. We know of it from the scriptures themselves- the story from God's people to God's people inspired by God Himself.  This is good news- God cares for us- and wants to make us friends with Him.  

Prayer: Thank you Lord, for interceding, mediating, sacrificing for me.  Help me to trust your mediation and love.  

Q & A 16

Q. Why must the mediator be a true and righteous human?

A. God’s justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for sin;1  but a sinful human could never pay for others.2

1 Rom. 5:12, 15; 1 Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:14-16
2 Heb. 7:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:18

Q & A 17

Q. Why must the mediator also be true God?

A. So that the mediator, by the power of his divinity, might bear the weight of God’s wrath in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.1

1 Isa. 53; John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:21

Q & A 18

Q. Then who is this mediator— true God and at the same time a true and righteous human?

A. Our Lord Jesus Christ,1 who was given to us to completely deliver us and make us right with God.2

1 Matt. 1:21-23; Luke 2:11; 1 Tim. 2:5
2 1 Cor. 1:30

Q & A 19

Q. How do you come to know this?
A. The holy gospel tells me. God began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise;1 later God proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs2 and prophets3 and foreshadowed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law;4 and finally God fulfilled it through his own beloved Son.5

1 Gen. 3:15
2 Gen. 22:18; 49:10
3 Isa. 53; Jer. 23:5-6; Mic. 7:18-20; Acts 10:43; Heb. 1:1-2
4 Lev. 1-7; John 5:46; Heb. 10:1-10
5 Rom. 10:4; Gal. 4:4-5; Col. 2:17

6-5-15 Heidelberg 12-15

4Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 5But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, (Romans 2:4-5)

Thoughts: We owe God a debt of gratitude for life.  But instead of gratitude, we give God pride, selfishness, thoughtlessness, sexual immorality, greed, and other sins.  So instead of worship, we think we are doing God a favor just by not being as evil as we could be.  We are in debt and, instead of paying it back we pile up more and more as if we have never ending credit.  Christ is the only one with infinite resources from His divine worth to pay off our debt to God.  Today Greece cannot pay its debt to the European Union.  The longer it faces debt, the worse the debt gets.  Ironically the EU is owed and the EU is prolonging and enhancing the debt.  Greece needs someone with enough resources to step in- or those with the resources to forgive enough debt for them to make it.  We cannot pay our debt to God and no mere creature can pay it for us.  Yet God cares and sent Christ to bring hope and reconciliation.  

Q & A 12

Q. According to God’s righteous judgment we deserve punishment both now and in eternity:
how then can we escape this punishment and return to God’s favor?

A. God requires that his justice be satisfied.1 Therefore the claims of this justice
must be paid in full, either by ourselves or by another.2

1 Ex. 23:7; Rom. 2:1-11
2 Isa. 53:11; Rom. 8:3-4

Q & A 13

Q. Can we make this payment ourselves?

A. Certainly not. Actually, we increase our debt every day.1

1 Matt. 6:12; Rom. 2:4-5

Q & A 14

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.1Furthermore, no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal wrath against sin

and deliver others from it.2

1 Ezek. 18:4, 20; Heb. 2:14-18
2 Ps. 49:7-9; 130:3

Q & A 15

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

A. One who is a true1 and righteous2 human, yet more powerful than all creatures,

that is, one who is also true God.3

1 Rom. 1:3; 1 Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:17
2 Isa. 53:9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26
3 Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Jer. 23:6; John 1:1

Prayer: Thank you God that you, whom we owe, pay off our debt out of your great and infinite worth and love.  

Heidelberg 9-11

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient. (Ephesians 5:6)

⁶The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Ex. 34:6-7)

Thoughts: We may think it is archaic, passee, and even unjust for us to think of God as judge who cares to punish us when we sin.  One of the great incentives to sin is to think there are no consequences to sin.  Many in our day have chosen to not believe in a God who cares about our behavior because they simply do not want to believe that God can get angry or punish sin.  Yet, we want to believe that evil will be held accountable and will not win in the end.  But we want God to punish others' sins but not our own.  These verses and this catechism section reminds us that we reap what we sow. There is mercy to avoid wrath, but God does not approve of evil nor is He indifferent to it. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to seek your mercy and grace.   

Q & A 9

Q. But doesn’t God do us an injustice by requiring in his law what we are unable to do?

A. No, God created human beings with the ability to keep the law.1
They, however, provoked by the devil,2 in willful disobedience,3robbed themselves and all their descendants of these gifts.4

1 Gen. 1:31; Eph. 4:24
2 Gen. 3:13; John 8:44
3 Gen. 3:6
4 Rom. 5:12, 18, 19

Q & A 10

Q. Does God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

A. Certainly not.  God is terribly angry with the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit.  As a just judge, God will punish them both now and in eternity,1

having declared: “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey

all the things written in the book of the law.”2

1 Ex. 34:7; Ps. 5:4-6; Nah. 1:2; Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:6; Heb. 9:27
2 Gal. 3:10; Deut. 27:26

Q & A 11

Q. But isn’t God also merciful?

A. God is certainly merciful,1 but also just. God’s justice demands

that sin, committed against his supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty—
eternal punishment of body and soul.3

1 Ex. 34:6-7; Ps. 103:8-9
2 Ex. 34:7; Deut. 7:9-11; Ps. 5:4-6; Heb. 10:30-31
3 Matt. 25:35-46

Heidelberbg 6-8 Sin's Entrance

12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— 18Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:12,18-19)

Thoughts: The misery of this life was not always there nor will it be there in the end.  Therefore there is hope to be set free from the misery, guilt, and shame in life.  Sin came into the world as poison comes to good drink- it corrupted everything- making it unfit and unsafe to drink without getting sick.  Originally we were made to relate to God. We were made to be approved and accepted by God- like Him in holiness and righteousness. That relationship was broken and is broken and blocked by the poison of sin.  The good news is that we can start again- be born again by God Himself.  We can escape the poison of sin by the grace of God. 

Prayer: Lord, the powerful poison of the world cannot stand against you.  Help me to rely on your grace.  

Q & A 6

Q. Did God create people
so wicked and perverse?

A. No.
God created them good1 and in his own image,2

that is, in true righteousness and holiness,3

so that they might

truly know God their creator,4
love him with all their heart,
and live with God in eternal happiness,

to praise and glorify him.5

1 Gen. 1:31
2 Gen. 1:26-27
3 Eph. 4:24
4 Col. 3:10
5 Ps. 8

Q & A 7

Q. Then where does this corrupt human nature come from?

A. The fall and disobedience of our first parents,

Adam and Eve, in Paradise.1

This fall has so poisoned our nature2

that we are all conceived and born
in a sinful condition.3

1 Gen. 3
2 Rom. 5:12, 18-19
3 Ps. 51:5

Q & A 8

Q. But are we so corrupt
that we are totally unable to do any good
and inclined toward all evil?

A. Yes,1 unless we are born again
by the Spirit of God.2

1 Gen. 6:5; 8:21; Job 14:4; Isa. 53:6
2 John 3:3-5

Heidelberg 3 & 4

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. (Romans 3:20)

Thoughts: The Law of God shows us how to live.  But it also reveals to us our sin and how this life is not what it is made up to be.  It is ironic that some secularists say "heaven is a place on earth."  But some others (or the same people in difference time and circumstance) say "I believe there is no worst hell than right here."  Such thoughts really show the limits of our ability to think beyond our circumstances.  But often the things we thought were perfect turn out to be miserable.  So the "marriage made in heaven" can seem like a trap formed in hell.  The job we thought was just right is uninteresting, tedious and difficult.  The Law of God is like the outside  reminder that things are meant to be better.  We were meant to be honest and not lie.  We were meant to be faithful people not wishy washy adulterers who abuse those we said we loved.  The Law shows us our weakness- our problem- and thus we are called to account to be better people. Yet we have a tendency to not want to listen to rebuke or anyone telling us how we should live- or that we might be wrong.  Yet we know from school and from business that not listening to others to correct, rebuke, and help us leads us naively down the wrong path.  We are called to love- but even there we know we mess up and are apathetic and indifferent to God and neighbor.  The Law shows us how we fall short.  It is like a mirror that shows us where our cuts, bruises, pimples, and flaws are.  Mirrors do not solve our problem - but they are helpful to teach us where our flaws are. 

Prayer: Thank you Lord, that your Law shows me where my weakness is.  

Q & A 3

Q. How do you come to know your misery?

A. The law of God tells me.1

1 Rom. 3:20; 7:7-25

Q & A 4

Q. What does God’s law require of us?

A. Christ teaches us this in summary in Matthew 22:37-40:

“‘You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind.’1
This is the greatest and first commandment.

“And a second is like it:
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’2

“On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets.”

1 Deut. 6:5
2 Lev. 19:18

Q & A 5

Q. Can you live up to all this perfectly?

A. No.1
I have a natural tendency
to hate God and my neighbor.2

1 Rom. 3:9-20, 23; 1 John 1:8, 10
2 Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 7:23-24; 8:7; Eph. 2:1-3; Titus 3:3

Man in the mirror song- Michael Jackson youtube