• Q. 16. Why must He be very man, and also perfectly righteous?
  A. Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature which hath sinned should likewise make satisfaction for sin;1 and one who is himself a sinner cannot satisfy for others.2
• Q. 17. Why must He in one person be also very God?
  A.  That He might, by the power of His Godhead, sustain in His human nature the burden of God’s wrath;3 and might obtain for, and restore to us, righteousness and life.4
• Q. 18.  Who then is that Mediator, who is in one person both very God and a real righteous man?
  A.  Our Lord Jesus Christ,5 who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.6
• Q. 19.  Whence knowest thou this?
  A.  From the holy gospel, which God Himself first revealed in Paradise;7 and afterwards published by the patriarchs and prophets,8 and represented by the sacrifices9 and other ceremonies of the law; and, lastly, has fulfilled it by His only begotten Son.10

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• Q. 12. Since then, by the righteous judgment of God, we deserve temporal and eternal punishment, is there no way by which we may escape that punishment and be again received into favor?
  A. God will have His justice satisfied;1 and therefore we must make this full satisfaction, either by ourselves or by another.2
• Q. 13. Can we ourselves then make this satisfaction?
  A. By no means;3 but on the contrary we daily increase our debt.4
• Q. 14. Can there be found anywhere one who is a mere creature, able to satisfy for us?
  A. None; for, first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man hath committed;5 and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver others from it.6
• Q. 15. What sort of a mediator and deliverer then must we seek for?
  A. For one who is very man,7 and perfectly righteous; and yet more powerful than all creatures; that is, one who is also very God.8

1. Ex. 20:5.
2. Deut. 24:16. 2 Cor. 5:14, 15.
3. Job 9:2, 3. Job 15:14- 16.
4. Mat. 6:12. Isa. 64:6.
5. Ezek. 18:20.
6. Rev. 5:3. Psa. 49:7, 8.
7. 1 Cor. 15:21. Rom. 8:3.
8. Rom. 9:5. Isa. 7:14.

• Q. 9. Doth not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him in His law that which he cannot perform?
  A. Not at all; for God made man capable of performing it;1 but man, by the instigation of the devil,2 and his own wilful disobedience, deprived himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts.3
• Q. 10. Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?
  A. By no means; but is terribly displeased4 with our original as well as actual sins; and will punish them5 in His just judgment temporally and eternally, as He hath declared, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.6
• Q. 11. Is not God then also merciful?
  A. God is indeed merciful,7 but also just;8 therefore His justice requires that sin which is committed against the most high majesty of God be also punished9 with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment10 of body and soul.

1. Eccl. 7:29.
2. John 8:44. 2 Cor. 11:3. Gen. 3:4, 13.
3. Rom. 5:12.
4. Psa. 5:5.
5. Rom. 1:18. Deut. 28:15. Heb. 9:27.
6. Deut. 27:26. Gal. 3:10.
7. Ex. 34:6.
8. Ex. 20:5. Job 34:10, 11.
9. Psa. 5:5, 6.
10. Gen. 2:17. Rom. 6:23.

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• Q. 6.  Did God then create man so wicked and perverse?
  A.  By no means; but God created man good,1 and after His own image,2 in true righteousness and holiness, that he might rightly know God his Creator, heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal happiness to glorify and praise Him.3
• Q. 7.  Whence then proceeds this depravity of human nature?
  A.  From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise;4 hence our nature is become so corrupt, that we are all conceived and born in sin.5
• Q. 8. Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all wickedness?
  A. Indeed we are,6 except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.7

1. Gen. 1:31.
2. Gen. 1:26, 27. Col. 3:10. Eph. 4:24.
3. Eph. 1:6. 1 Cor. 6:20.
4. Gen. 3:6. Rom. 5:12, 18, 19.
5. Psa. 51:5. Gen. 5:3.
6. Gen. 6:5. Job 14:4. Job 15:14, 16.
7. John 3:5. Eph. 2:5.

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• Q. 3.  Whence knowest thou thy misery?
  A.  Out of the law of God.1
• Q. 4.  What doth the law of God require of us?
  A.  Christ teaches us that briefly, Matt. 22:37-40, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first and the great commandment; and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.2
• Q. 5.  Canst thou keep all these things perfectly?
  A.  In no wise;3 for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor.4

1. Rom. 3:20.
2. Luke 10:27.
3. Rom. 3:10. 1 John 1:8.
4. Rom. 8:7.
   Tit. 3:3.

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Q.
What is your only comfort
in life and death?
A.
That I am not my own, 1
but belong with body and soul,
both in life and in death, 2
to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 3
He has fully paid for all my sins
with his precious blood, 4
and has set me free
from all the power of the devil. 5
He also preserves me in such a way 6
that without the will of my heavenly Father
not a hair can fall from my head; 7
indeed, all things must work together
for my salvation. 8
Therefore, by his Holy Spirit
he also assures me
of eternal life 9
and makes me heartily willing and ready
from now on to live for him. 10
1.1 Cor 6:19, 20.
2.Rom 14:7-9.
3.1 Cor 3:23; Tit 2:14.
4.1 Pet 1:18, 19; 1 Jn 1:7; 2:2.
5.Jn 8:34-36; Heb 2:14, 15; 1 Jn 3:8.
6.Jn 6:39, 40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess 3:3; 1 Pet 1:5.
7.Mt 10:29-31; Lk 21:16-18.
8.Rom 8:28.
9.Rom 8:15, 16; 2 Cor 1:21, 22; 5:5; Eph 1:13, 14.
10.Rom 8:14.

2.Q.
What do you need to know
in order to live and die
in the joy of this comfort?
A.
First,
how great my sins and misery are; 1
second,
how I am delivered
from all my sins and misery; 2
third,
how I am to be thankful to God
for such deliverance. 3
1.Rom 3:9, 10; 1 Jn 1:10.
2.Jn 17:3; Acts 4:12; 10:43.
3.Mt 5:16; Rom 6:13; Eph 5:8-10; 1 Pet 2:9, 10

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