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Heidelberg Catechism, Question 87

Question 87

Cannot they then be saved, who, continuing in their wicked and ungrateful lives, are not converted to God?

By no means (Matt. 18;3); for the holy scripture declares that no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, covetous man, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or any such like, shall inherit the kingdom of God (Eph. 5;5).

Scripture references for paragraph 1

Berean Standard Bible. Public domain text and source credits.

Matthew 18:3

3“Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

1 Corinthians 6:9

9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

Acts 3:19

19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,

Ephesians 5:5

5For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

1 Corinthians 6:10

10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21

19The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

20idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,

21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

1 John 3:15

15Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not reside in a murderer.

Revelation 21:27

27But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

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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