The Heidelberg Catechism in Questions and Answers (23)

Lord's Day 33 (continued)

91. But what are good works?

Only those which proceed from a true faith, are performed according to the law of God, and to His glory; and not such as are founded on our imaginations or the institutions of men.

1. What are the fruits of the true conversion?

Good works.

2. Are good works perfect works?

No, for our best works are imperfect and defiled with sin.

3. What are the characteristics of good works?

They are from the root of faith, are according to God's law, and to God's glory.

4. What is the source of good works?

It is saving faith, for without faith it is impossible to please God.

5. Can unbelievers perform good works?

Not the works which are spoken of here, for “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8).

6. What is the rule of good works?

It is God's law, meaning the moral law or the Ten Commandments.

7. What is the purpose of good works?

The glory of God. God's people show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvelous light.

8. How only are good works acceptable to God?

They are acceptable only in the face of Jesus Christ; He makes them acceptable before His Father.

Lord's Day 34

92. What is the law of God?

God spake all these words, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

I. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shall not bow down thy self to them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.

III. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

IV. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

V. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

VI. Thou shalt not kill.

VII Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII. Thou shalt not steal.

IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

1. What is dealt with in Lord's Day 34?

The law of God.

2. In what way does the law of God appear here?

As a rule of thankfulness; in Lord's Day 2 it was the source for the knowledge of misery.

3. Where and how was this law given?

It was given on Sinai by God Himself, under signs of thunder and lightning. It was given in the covenant of grace and was sprinkled with the blood of the covenant.

4. Is this law always valid?

Yes, it was engraved in tables of stone, and this points to its eternal character.

5. Can we keep this law perfectly?

No, “for in many things we offend all” (James 3:2). The law must be prayerfully observed.

93. How are these commandments divided?

Into two tables; the first of which teaches us how we must behave towards God; the second, what duties we owe to our neighbor.

1. How are the ten commandments divided?

Into two tables; on the first there are four commandments, and on the second there are six.

2. What is dealt with by these commandments?

The love to God and the love which flows from it to our neighbor.

3. Who divides them differently?

The Roman Catholics do so in order to maintain their worship of images. They divide the tenth commandment into two and omit the second commandment.

94. What doth God enjoin in the first commandment?

That I, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul, avoid and flee from all idolatry, sorcery, soothsaying, superstition, invocation of saints, or any other creatures; and learn rightly to know the only true God; trust in Him alone; with humility and patience submit to Him; expect all good things from Him only; love, fear, and glorify Him with my whole heart; so that I renounce and forsake all creatures, rather than commit even the least thing contrary to His will.

95. What is idolatry?

Idolatry is, instead of, or besides that one true God who has manifested Himself in His Word, to contrive, or have any other object, in which men place their trust.

1. What is the subject of these questions?

The first commandment of the law.

2. What does God forbid in this commandment?

All idolatry, sorcery, soothsaying, superstition, and invocation of saints or of any other creatures.

3. What does this commandment urge us to do?

To avoid and flee from all idolatry.

4. What does God command in this commandment?

That we rightly learn to know the only true God and to love, fear, and glorify Him with our whole heart.

5. What more is commanded?

That we trust in Him alone, with all humility and patience submit to Him, and expect all good things from Him only.

6. What is idolatry?

It is to contrive or have any other object in which we place our trust instead of or besides the one true God, who has manifested Himself in His Word.

7. How does God desire that we observe this commandment?

That we renounce and forsake all creatures rather than commit even the least thing contrary to His will.

— to be continued —

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