Heidelberg Catechism, Question 37
Question 37
What dost thou understand by the words, He suffered?
That he, all the time he lived on earth (Isa. 53;3); but especially at the end of his life, sustained in body and soul, the wrath of God against the sins of mankind (Matt. 26;38); that so by his passion, as the only propitiatory sacrifice (Heb. 9;12) he might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damnation (1 John 4;9) and obtain for us the favor of God, righteousness, and eternal life (Rom. 5;2).
Scripture references for paragraph 1
Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.
Isaiah 53:33He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Luke 12:5050But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!
Matthew 26:3838Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”
Matthew 27:4646About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Isaiah 53:4-74Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
5But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.
1 Peter 2:2424He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
Matthew 20:1919and will deliver Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. And on the third day He will be raised to life.”
Hebrews 9:1212He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.
1 John 2:22He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Hebrews 9:2626Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
Hebrews 7:2727Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.
1 John 4:99This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.
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 3:3636Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
Romans 5:1515But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many!
Romans 5:22through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
John 1:1717For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:2121God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness 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.
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