Heidelberg Catechism, Question 19
Question 19
Whence knowest thou this?
From the holy Gospel which God first revealed in Paradise (Gen. 3;15); and afterwards published by the Patriarchs and Prophets (Acts 10;43); and was pleased to represent it by the shadows of sacrifices, and the other ceremonies of the law (Col. 2;17); and lastly has accomplished it by his only begotten son (John 1;29).
Scripture references for paragraph 1
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Genesis 3:1515And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Acts 10:4343All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”
Genesis 22:1818And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Genesis 26:44I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,
Genesis 28:1414Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
Galatians 3:1616The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say, “and to seeds,” meaning many, but “and to your seed,” meaning One, who is Christ.
Acts 3:2424Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have proclaimed these days.
John 5:4646If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.
Hebrews 1:11On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.
Colossians 2:1717These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.
Hebrews 10:11For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.
John 3:1414Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
John 3:1515that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
John 1:2929The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Acts 13:3232And now we proclaim to you the good news: What God promised our fathers
Acts 13:3333He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.’
1 Corinthians 5:77Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Galatians 4:44But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
2 Corinthians 1:2020For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God.
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.
Berean Blue opens December 1, 2026 for Bible reading, study, and research. View this work in the app preview.