Major & Minor Confessions, Liturgical Forms
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Other Online Literature
Q. 45. What doth the resurrection of Christ profit us?
A. First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, that He might make us partakers of that righteousness which He had purchased for us by His death;1 secondly, we are also by His power raised up to a new life;2 and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.3
1 Cor. 15:16.
Rom. 6:4. Col. 3:1ff.
1 Cor. 15. Rom. 8:11.
Q. 40. Why was it necessary for Christ to humble Himself even unto death?
A. Because, with respect to the justice and truth of God,1 satisfaction for our sins could be made no otherwise than by the death of the Son of God.2
Q. 41. Why was He also “buried”?
A. Thereby to prove that He was really dead.3
Q. 42. Since then Christ died for us, why must we also die?
A. Our death is not a satisfaction for our sins, but only an abolishing of sin, and a passage into eternal life.4
Q. 43. What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross?
A. That by virtue thereof our old man is crucified, dead, and buried with Him;5 that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more reign in us;6 but that we may offer ourselves unto Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving.7
Q. 44. Why is there added, “He descended into hell”?
A. That in my greatest temptations, I may be assured, and wholly comfort myself in this, that my Lord Jesus Christ, by His inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish agonies, in which He was plunged during all His sufferings, but especially on the cross, hath delivered me from the anguish and torments of hell.8
Gen. 2:17.
Heb. 2:9, 10. Phil. 2:8.
Acts 13:29. Mark 15:43,46.
John 5:24. Phil. 1:23.
Rom. 6:6, 7ff.
Rom. 6:12.
Rom. 12:1.
Isa. 53:10. Mat. 27:46.
Q. 37. What dost thou understand by the words, “He suffered”?
A. That He, all the time that He lived on earth, but especially at the end of His life, sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind;1 that so by His passion, as the only propitiatory sacrifice,2 He might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtain for us the favor of God, righteousness and eternal life.
Q. 38. Why did He suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge?
A. That He, being innocent, and yet condemned by a temporal judge,3 might thereby free us from the severe judgment of God to which we were exposed.4
Q. 39. Is there anything more in His being crucified than if He had died some other death?
A. Yes [there is]; for thereby I am assured that He took on Him the curse which lay upon me; for the death of the cross was accursed of God.5
1 Pet. 2:24. Isa. 53:12.
1 John 2:2. Rom. 3:25.
Luke 23:14. John 19:4. Psa. 69:4.
Gal. 3:13, 14.
Deut. 21:23. Gal. 3:13.
Q. 35. What is the meaning of these words — “He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary”?
A. That God’s eternal Son, who is and continueth true and eternal God,1 took upon Him the very nature of man, of the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary,2 by the operation of the Holy Ghost;3 that He might also be the true seed of David,4 like unto His brethren in all things, sin excepted.5
Q. 36. What profit dost thou receive by Christ’s holy conception and nativity?
A. That He is our Mediator,6 and, with His innocence and perfect holiness, covers in the sight of God my sins,7 wherein I was conceived and brought forth.
John 1:1. Col. 1:15. Psa. 2:7. Rom. 9:5. 1 John 5:20.
John 1:14. Gal. 4:4.
Mat. 1:18. Luke 1:35.
Psa. 132:11. Acts 2:30. Rom. 1:3.
Phil. 2:7. Heb. 4:15.
Heb. 2:16, 17.
Psa. 32:1. 1 Cor. 1:30. Rom. 8:34.
Q. 33. Why is Christ called the only begotten Son of God, since we are also the children of God?
A. Because Christ alone is the eternal and natural Son of God;1 but we are children adopted of God, by grace, for His sake.2
Q. 34. Wherefore callest thou Him our Lord?
A. Because He hath redeemed us, both soul and body, from all our sins, not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood,3 and hath delivered us from all the power of the devil; and thus hath made us His own property.
John 1:1. Heb. 1:2.
Rom. 8:15-17. Eph. 1:5, 6.
1 Pet. 1:18, 19. 1 Cor. 6:20.
Q. 31. Why is He called Christ, that is, anointed?
A. Because He is ordained of God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Ghost,1 to be our chief Prophet and Teacher,2 who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption; and to be our only High Priest,3 who by the one sacrifice of His body has redeemed us, and makes continual intercession with the Father for us;4 and also to be our eternal King,5 who governs us by His Word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us6 in (the enjoyment of) that salvation He has purchased for us.
Q. 32. But why art thou called a Christian?
A. Because I am a member of Christ by faith,7 and thus am partaker of His anointing;8 that so I may confess His name,9 and present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him;10 and also that with a free and good conscience I may fight against sin and Satan in this life,11 and afterwards reign with Him eternally over all creatures.12
Heb. 1:9.
Deut. 18:18. Acts 3:22. John 1:18. John 15:15. Mat. 11:27.
Psa. 110:4. Heb. 7:21. Heb. 10:14.
Rom. 8:34.
Psa. 2:6. Luke 1:33.
Mat. 28:18. John 10:28.
1 Cor. 6:15.
1 John 2:27. Joel 2:28.
Mat. 10:32.
Rom. 12:1.
Eph. 6:11, 12. 1 Tim. 1:18, 19.
2 Tim. 2:12.
Q. 29. Why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is, a Savior?
A. Because He saveth us, and delivereth us from our sins;1 and likewise, because we ought not to seek, neither can find salvation in any other.2
Q. 30. Do such then believe in Jesus the only Savior, who seek their salvation and welfare of saints, of themselves, or anywhere else?
A. They do not; for though they boast of Him in words, yet in deeds they deny Jesus the only deliverer and Savior;3 for one of these two things must be true, either that Jesus is not a complete Savior, or that they who by a true faith receive this Savior must find all things in Him necessary to their salvation.4
Mat. 1:21.
Acts 4:12.
1 Cor. 1:13, 31. Gal. 5:4.
Col. 2:10. Isa. 9:6, 7. Col. 1:19, 20.
Q. 27. What dost thou mean by the providence of God?
A. The almighty and everywhere present power of God,1 whereby, as it were by His hand, He upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures;2 so that herbs and grass, rain and drought,3 fruitful and barren years, meat and drink,4 health and sickness,5 riches and poverty,6 yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.7
Q. 28. What advantage is it to us to know that God has created, and by His providence doth still uphold all things?
A. That we may be patient in adversity;8 thankful in prosperity;9 and that in all things which may hereafter befall us, we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father,10 that nothing shall separate us from His love;11 since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.12
Acts 17:25-28.
Heb. 1:3.
Jer. 5:24.
Acts 14:17.
John 9:3.
Prov. 22:2. Job 1:21.
Mat. 10:29, 30. Eph. 1:11.
Rom. 5:3. Psa. 39:9.
Deut. 8:10. 1 Thes. 5:18.
Rom. 5:3-6.
Rom. 8:38, 39.
Job 1:12. Job 2:6. Mat. 8:31. Isa. 10:15.
Q. 26. What believest thou when thou sayest, “I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth”?
A. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (who of nothing made heaven and earth, with all that is in them;1 who likewise upholds and governs the same by His eternal counsel and providence2) is, for the sake of Christ His Son, my God and my Father;3 on whom I rely so entirely, that I have no doubt but He will provide me with all things necessary for soul and body;4 and further, that He will make whatever evils He sends upon me, in this valley of tears, turn out to my advantage;5 for He is able to do it, being Almighty God,6 and willing, being a faithful Father.7
Gen. 1, 2. Psa. 33:6.
Psa. 115:3. Mat. 10:29. Heb. 1:3. John 5:17.
John 1:12. Rom. 8:15, 16. Gal. 4:5, 6. Eph. 1:5. 1 John 3:1.
Psa. 55:22. Mat. 6:26. John 1:16.
Rom. 8:28.
Rom. 4:21.
Rom. 10:12. Mat. 6:26. Mat. 7:9-11.
Q. 24. How are these articles divided?
A. Into three parts: the first is of God the Father and our creation;1 the second, of God the Son and our redemption;2 the third, of God the Holy Ghost and our sanctification.3
Q. 25. Since there is but one only divine essence,4 why speakest thou of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?
A. Because God hath so revealed Himself in His Word,5 that these three distinct persons are the one only true and eternal God.
Gen. 1.
1 Pet. 1:18, 19.
1 Pet. 1:21, 22.
Deut. 6:4.
Gen. 1:26. Isa. 61:1. John 14:16, 17. 1 John 5:7. John 1:14. Mat. 28:19. 2 Cor. 13:14.
Classis East
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Classis West
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