Question 14

Can there then be found anywhere one, who is a mere creature, able to satisfy for us?

None: for first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man hath committed (Gen. 2:17); and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver others from it (Ps. 49;7).

Scripture references for paragraph 1

Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.

Genesis 2:17
17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

Hebrews 10:4
4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Hebrews 2:16
16For surely it is not the angels He helps, but the descendants of Abraham.

Psalms 49:7
7No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.

Psalms 130:3
3If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?

Jeremiah 4:4
4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of your evil deeds.”

Source and edition

Heidelberg Catechism. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879. RCA English, E. R. Good & Bro., Tiffin, 1879

Public Domain (historic text); CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikisource transcription). Source transcription.

Transcription licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0.

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