The Heidelberg Catechism
Q & A 12-18

Q. 12 According to God’s righteous judgement
we deserve punishment
both in this world and forever after;
how then can we escape this punishment
and return to God’s favor?

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

Q. 13 Can we pay this debt ourselves?

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


Q. 14 Can another creature—any at all—
pay this debt for us?

A. No.
To begin with,
God will not punish another creature
for man’s guilt.

Besides,
no mere creature can bear the weight
of God’s eternal anger against sin
and release others from it.

Q. 15 What kind of mediator and deliverer
should we look for then?

A. He must be truly human and truly righteous
yet more powerful than all creatures,
that is, he must also be true God.

Q. 16 Why must he be truly human
and truly righteous?

A. God’s justice demands it;
man has sinned,
man must pay for his sin,
but a sinner can not pay for others.


Q. 17 Why must he also be true God?

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


Q. 18 And who is this mediator—
true God and at the same time
truly human and truly righteous?

A. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
who was given us
to set us completely free
and to make us right with God.