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Heidelberg Catechism, Question 61

Question 61

What sayest thou that thou art righteous by faith only?

Not that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith (Eph. 2;8, 9); but because only the satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God (Rom. 10;4); and that I cannot receive or apply the same to myself in any other way than by faith only (Rom. 3;22).

Scripture references for paragraph 1

Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.

Ephesians 2:8

8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Ephesians 2:9

9not by works, so that no one can boast.

Philippians 3:9

9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.

Isaiah 61:10

10I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Romans 10:4

4For Christ is the end of the law, to bring righteousness to everyone who believes.

Romans 3:24

24and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:25

25God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.

1 Corinthians 1:30

30It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

Romans 5:18

18So then, just as one trespass brought condemnation for all men, so also one act of righteousness brought justification and life for all men.

Romans 5:19

19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Romans 3:22

22And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction,

Hebrews 11:7

7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in godly fear built an ark to save his family. By faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

Romans 4:3

3For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

1 John 5:10

10Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.

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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