Berean BlueApp preview

Heidelberg Catechism, Question 55

Question 55

What do you understand by, “The Communion of Saints?

First, that all and every one who believes, being members of Christ, are in common partakers of him (1 John 1;3); and of all his riches and gifts (Rom. 8;32): secondly, that every one must know it to be his duty, readily and cheerfully to employ his gifts for the advantage and salvation of other members (1 Pet. 4;10).

Scripture references for paragraph 1

Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.

1 John 1:3

3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:17

17But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit.

Colossians 2:19

19He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.

1 Corinthians 12:12

12The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:13

13For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

Romans 8:32

32He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

John 1:16

16From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

Romans 5:6-10

6For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.

8But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!

10For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!

1 Peter 4:10

10As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.

Ephesians 4:15

15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ Himself, who is the head.

Ephesians 4:16

16From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.

Philippians 2:3

3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves.

Philippians 2:4

4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Ephesians 4:25

25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

Romans 12:5

5so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.

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.