Where Do We Find Comfort?

Hedelberg Catechism: Comfort in Life and Death

The Heidelberg Catechism, written in 1563, was originally created as a teaching tool for students and young believers as well as to promote religious unity. It soon became a guide for preaching as well. It is a simple, direct, easy to read and a very personalized confession of faith.

Question & Answer 1

QUESTION:

What is your only comfort in life and death?

ANSWER:
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; Jn 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, 2 Cor 1:21, 22; 5:5; Eph 1:13, 14
10. Rom 8:14