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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.

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• 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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