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Sharing Reformed Christian Resources Around The World |
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Heidelberg Catechism Sermons: Lord's Day 6
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Presented Oct 05/08 Vineyard Canadian Reformed Church |
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Sermon: Lord's Day 6 |
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| King James Audio Visual Bible |
| 16. Q. | Why must He be a true and righteous man? |
| A. | He must be a true man because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which has sinned should pay for sin.1 He must be a righteous man because one who himself is a sinner cannot 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. |
| 17. Q. | Why must He at the same time be true God? |
| A. | He must be true God so that by the power of His divine nature1 He might bear in His human nature the burden of God's wrath,2 and might obtain for us and restore to us righteousness and life.3
1 Is 9:6. 2 Deut 4:24; Nahum 1:6; Ps 130:3. 3 Is 53:5, 11; Jn 3:16; 2 Cor 5:21. |
| 18. Q. | But who is that Mediator who at the same time is true God and a true and righteous man? |
| A. | Our Lord Jesus Christ,1 whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).
1 Mt 1:21-23; Lk 2:11; 1 Tim 2:5; 3:16. |
| 19. Q. | From where do you know this? |
| A. | From the holy gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Paradise.1 Later, He had it proclaimed by the patriarchs2 and prophets,3 and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law.4 Finally, He had it fulfilled through His only Son.5
1 Gen 3:15. 2 Gen 12:3; 22:18; 49:10. 3 Is 53; Jer 23:5, 6; Mic 7:18-20; Acts 10:43; Heb 1:1. 4 Lev 1-7; Jn 5:46; Heb 10:1-10. 5 Rom 10:4; Gal 4:4, 5; Col 2:17. |
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.
