The Heidelberg Catechism

A. In Christ I am right with God and heir to life everlasting.1

A. I believe that God, because of Christ”s atonement, will never hold against me any of my sins1 nor my sinful nature which I need to struggle against all my life.2 Rather, in his grace God grants me the righteousness of Christ to free me forever from judgment.3

A. First, that believers one and all, as members of this community, share in Christ and in all his treasures and gifts.1 Second, that each member should consider it his duty to use his gifts readily and cheerfully for the service and enrichment of the other members.2

A. Even as I already now experience in my heart the beginning of eternal joy,1 so after this life I will have perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no man has ever imagined: a blessedness in which to praise God eternally.2

A. Not only my soul will be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head,1 but even my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul and made like Christ”s glorious* body.2

A. I believe that the Son of God, through his Spirit and Word,1 out of the entire human race,2 from the beginning of the world to its end,3 gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life4 and united in true faith.5 And of this community I am6 and always will be7 a living member.

A. Christ ascended to heaven, there to show that he is head of his church,1 and that the Father rules all things through him.2

A. First, he pleads our cause in heaven in the presence of his Father.1 Second, we have our own flesh in heaven- a guarantee that Christ our head will take us, his members, to himself in heaven.2 Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a further guarantee.3 By the Spirit”s power we make the goal of our lives, not earthly things, but the things above where Christ is, sitting at God”s right hand.4

A. That Christ, while his disciples watched, was lifted up from the earth to heaven1 and will be there for our good2 until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.3

A. First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, so that he might make us share in the righteousness he won for us by his death.1 Second, by his power we too are already now resurrected to a new life.2 Third, Christ”s resurrection is a guarantee of our glorious resurrection.3