I am copying and linking to Lord’s Day 4 of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563).
This text comes from the Heidelblog.net publication of the Catechism (accessed 5 March 2023).
Q9. Does not God then do injustice to man by requiring of him in His Law that which he cannot perform?
A. No, for God so made man that he could perform it,1 but man, through the instigation of the devil, by willful disobedience deprived himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts.2
Q10. Will God suffer such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?
A. By no means,1 but He is terribly displeased with our inborn as well as our actual sins, and will punish them in just judgment in time and eternity, as He has declared: \”Cursed is every one who continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them.\”2
1Heb 9:27. 2Deut 27:26. Gal 3:10. * Rom 1:18. * Matt 25:41.
Q11. Is then God not also merciful?
A. God is indeed merciful,1 but He is likewise just;2 His justice therefore requires that sin which is committed against the most high Majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment both of body and soul.
1Exod 34:6,7. 2 Exod 20:5. Ps 5:5,6. 2 Cor 6:14-16. * Revelation 14:11.
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Thank you
PHANTOM LANDSCAPES 