A. God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.1
1 Ex 20:1-17; Deut 5:6-21.
93. Q. How are these commandments divided?
A. Into two parts. The first teaches us how to live in relation to God; the second, what duties we owe our neighbour.1
1 Mt 22:37-40.
94. Q. What does the LORD require in the first commandment?
A. That for the sake of my very salvation I avoid and flee all idolatry,1 witchcraft, superstition,2 and prayer to saints or to other creatures.3 Further, that I rightly come to know the only true God,4 trust in Him alone,5 submit to Him with all humility6 and patience,7 expect all good from Him only,8 and love,9 fear,10 and honour Him11 with all my heart. In short, that I forsake all creatures rather than do the least thing against His will.12
1 1 Cor 6:9, 10; 10:5-14; 1 Jn 5:21. 2 Lev 19:31; Deut 18:9-12. 3 Mt 4:10; Rev 19:10; 22:8, 9. 4 Jn 17:3. 5 Jer 17:5, 7. 6 1 Pet 5:5, 6. 7 Rom 5:3, 4; 1 Cor 10:10; Phil 2:14; Col 1:11; Heb 10:36. 8 Ps 104:27, 28; Is 45:7; Jas 1:17. 9 Deut 6:5; (Mt 22:37). 10 Deut 6:2; Ps 111:10; Prov 1:7; 9:10; Mt 10:28; 1 Pet 1:17. 11 Deut 6:13; (Mt 4:10); Deut 10:20. 12 Mt 5:29, 30; 10:37-39; Acts 5:29.
95. Q. What is idolatry?
A. 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 Word.1
1 1 Chron 16:26; Gal 4:8, 9; Eph 5:5; Phil 3:19.
The Heidelberg Catechism was written in Heidelberg at the request of Elector Frederick III, ruler of the most influential German province, the Palatinate, from 1559 to 1576. This pious Christian prince commissioned Zacharius Ursinus, twenty-eight years of age and professor of theology at the Heidelberg University, and Caspar Olevianus, twenty-six years old and Frederick's court preacher, to prepare a catechism for instructing the youth and for guiding pastors and teachers.
Frederick obtained the advice and cooperation of the entire theological faculty in the preparation of the Catechism. The Heidelberg Catechism was adopted by a Synod in Heidelberg and published in German with a preface by Frederick III, dated January 19, 1563. A second and third German edition, each with some small additions, as well as a Latin translation were published in Heidelberg in the same year. The Catechism was soon divided into fifty-two sections, so that a section of the Catechism could be explained to the churches each Sunday of the year.
In the Netherlands this Heidelberg Catechism became generally and favourably known almost as soon as it came from the press, mainly through the efforts of Petrus Dathenus, who translated it into the Dutch language and added this translation to his Dutch rendering of the Genevan Psalter, which was published in 1566. In the same year Peter Gabriel set the example of explaining this catechism to his congregation at Amsterdam in his Sunday afternoon sermons.
The National Synods of the sixteenth century adopted it as one of the Three Forms of Unity, requiring office-bearers to subscribe to it and ministers to explain it to the churches. These requirements were strongly emphasized by the great Synod of Dort in 1618-19. The Heidelberg Catechism has been translated into many languages and is the most influential and the most generally accepted of the several catechisms of Reformation times.
