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Heidelberg Catechism, Question 40

Question 40

Why was it necessary for Christ to humble himself even unto death?

Because with respect to the justice (Rom. 1;32), and truth of God, satisfaction for our sins could be made no otherwise, than by the death of the Son of God (Gen. 2;17).

Scripture references for paragraph 1

Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.

Romans 1:32

32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 8:3

3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,

Hebrews 9:28

28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

Luke 24:26

26Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?”

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.”

Genesis 3:15

15And 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.”

Hebrews 2:9

9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

1 Peter 3:18

18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,

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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