REFORMATION 500 WEEK 18: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTIONS 46-49

Reformation 500 WEEK 18: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTIONS 46-49

[No Reformation History this week due to the length of the Catechism explanation]

Question 46: WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND BY THE WORDS, “HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN”? That Christ, in the sight of His disciples, was taken up from earth into heaven, and continues there in our behalf until He shall come again to judge the living and the dead.

Question 46 begins to explain the biblical basis of article 6 of the Apostles’ Creed: “He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” “After Christ had given many infallible proofs to His apostles of His resurrection from the dead, and of His true humanity, He ascended into heaven, in the sight of His disciples, on the 40^th day after His resurrection [Acts 1:3-9]” (Ursinus, 242). “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:10-11; cf. Phil. 3:20).

Heaven is said to be God’s “dwelling place” (1 Kings 8:30); not that He is contained or confined there (He is everywhere), but because it is there that He especially manifests His glory and presence to the angels and to “the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb. 12:23). Heaven is a real place (“I go to prepare a place for you”) – high above and outside the visible universe. God created things “visible and invisible” (Col. 1:16). Christ “ascended far above all the heavens” (Eph. 4:10). He has entered “into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Heb. 9:24).

Question 47: But is not Christ with us even unto the end of the world, as He has promised? Christ is true man and true God. According to His human nature He is now not on earth, but according to His Godhead [i.e. divine nature], majesty, grace, and Spirit, He is at no time absent from us.

Christ ascended into heaven according to His resurrected and glorified human nature, not according to His divine nature, “for this was already in heaven before His ascension…. Cyprian says, ‘The Lord ascended into heaven, not where the Word of God had not been before…but where the Word made flesh did not sit before’.” (Ursinus, 243-44). Therefore, when Christ said, “I go away,” or “I leave the world,” He was speaking according to His human nature; and when He said, “I am with you always,” He was speaking according to His divine nature.

Question 48: But if His human nature is not present wherever His divine nature is, are not, then, the two natures of Christ separated from one another? Not at all, for since the divine nature is incomprehensible and everywhere present, it must follow that it is indeed beyond the limits of the human nature which it has assumed, but it is yet nonetheless in the human nature also, and remains personally united to it.

Christ’s everywhere present divine nature remains personally united to His finite human nature in heaven: “these two natures are so closely united in one Person that they were not separated even by His death (Belgic Confession, article 19). The writers of the Catechism were careful to maintain the historic position of the Christian church, stated in the creed of Chalcedon: “the two natures subsist in the single person of Christ, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.”

Question 49: WHAT BENEFIT DO WE RECEIVE FROM CHRIST’S ASCENSION INTO HEAVEN?  First, that He is our Advocate in heaven [1 John 2:1]. Second, that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge, that He as the Head, will also take us, His members, up to Himself [Eph. 2:6]. Third, that He sends us His Spirit as an earnest [guarantee], by whose power we seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, and not things on earth [Col. 3:1-2].

The first benefit of Christ’s ascension is He is our Advocate in heaven. “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). An advocate is an intercessor, one who pleads in behalf of another. When we sin as believers, Christ does not plead our innocence or temporary insanity or extenuating circumstances. Rather, as part of His priestly office He makes intercession for us by pleading His perfect sacrifice for our sins: “the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “Christ presents before the Father the very body and soul in which our sins were completely punished and paid for, in order that the Father, by virtue of the one sacrifice accomplished in Christ’s body and soul, might turn away His anger from our sin” (Casper Olevianus, A Firm Foundation, page 79).

                The second benefit of Christ’s ascension is that it is a guarantee that when we die, Christ will take our souls up to Himself in heaven (Luke 16:22; 2 Cor. 5:8). As our only High Priest, Jesus ascended into heaven to bring us free from all sin into God’s Most Holy Presence (Heb. 9:12; 10:19)! Jesus said to His disciples, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). The fact that we are inseparably united to Christ in heaven (Eph.1:23; 5:30) means that we already possess heaven in Christ our Head and Brother (Eph. 2:6); “for if He who is our Head has ascended, we also, who are His members, shall certainly ascend” (Ursinus, 252).

The third benefit of Christ’s ascension is that He has “sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Cor. 1:22) – a “guarantee of our inheritance” (Eph. 1:14; cf. 1 Pet. 1:4). The Spirit’s presence in our hearts is like a down payment that one day we believers will receive our full inheritance – which is to see Jesus face to face. Jesus had to convince His discouraged disciples that it was to their advantage that He go away to the Father, so that He could send them the Holy Spirit (John 16:7) – not only to give them a fuller revelation of Jesus as the crucified, risen, and ascended Lord-Messiah (John 14:17-24), but also to pour out His Holy Spirit upon all His elect in all nations and bring them all into heavenly joy and glory (Acts 2:17). By the Spirit’s power we seek “those things which are above” (Col. 3:1) – we seek to keep our eyes on Jesus in heaven (Heb. 12:2), to obey His Word out of thankfulness for salvation, until the day He takes us up to Himself. Jesus desires us and all His elect to be with Him where He is (John 17:24); and by the Spirit’s grace we do too (Acts 7:59)! 

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 HC QAs 46-49

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 18

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 17 JOHN CALVIN AND FAREL

Reformation 500 WEEK 17    John calvin and Farel

After the publication of the first edition of his Institutes in early 1536, Calvin decided to go to the German-Swiss city of Strasbourg, to pursue the quiet life of a scholar, and to partner with Martin Bucer. “However, because of hostilities between Francis I and Charles V and troop movements resulting in blocked roads” (DeMar, Reformation, 201), he took a detour; and “on a warm day in August, 1536, arrived through the gates of Geneva [population then about 10,000]” (Kuiper, 192).

“A postcard-picture spot, Geneva nestles against a lake surrounded by mountains. The city could boast inhabitants as far back as the days of Julius Caesar.  (Nichols, Reformation, 75). “Near-by, through a pass in the Alps, runs an important trade route connecting Italy, German, and France” (Kuiper, 192).

“When Calvin entered Geneva, he did not think anyone in that city knew of him.  He himself was a total stranger there, and of the situation in Geneva he knew little or nothing” (Kuiper, 193). He did not know that William Farel (1489-1565), an old acquaintance from Paris, had come as an exile to Geneva in 1532 and after much effort had convinced the citizens of Geneva to forsake Catholicism in favor of the Reformation. “On May 21, 1536, the General Assembly of the citizens voted in favor of the Reformation and made Protestantism the official religion of Geneva” (Kuiper, 192).

“All through this time, Geneva was in revolt against its bishop, and against its lord, the Duke of Savoy. Farel was of a fiery temper, and gifted with eloquence and a powerful voice. But he did not feel himself equal to the task of bringing peace and order to the distracted city. Then he heard that Calvin had come to Geneva [unknown to Calvin, his Institutes had already made him famous all over Europe]. It came to Farel as a revelation that this young Frenchman of twenty-seven was just the man for the place. Farel hurried to the inn where Calvin was stopping for the night [hoping to convince him to remain and help with reform efforts]” (Kuiper, 193). “Calvin protested, pleading his youth, his inexperience, his need of further study, his natural timidity and bashfulness, which made him unfit for public action” (Schaff, 8:348).

When Calvin gave his final answer of “No!” Farel “rose from his chair, and, straightening himself out to his full height as his long beard swept his chest, he directed his piercing look full at the young man before him and thundered: ‘May God curse your studies if now in her time of need you refuse to lend your aid to His Church’.” (Kuiper 193-94).

In the Preface to his commentary on Psalms, Calvin describes his encounter with Farel: “I had resolved to pass quickly by Geneva, without staying longer than a single night in that city.” But Farel “strained every nerve to detain me. And after having learned that my heart was set upon devoting myself to private studies, for which I wished to keep myself free from other pursuits, and finding that he gained nothing by entreaties, he proceeded to utter an imprecation that God would curse my retirement, and the tranquility of my studies, if I should refuse to give assistance, when the necessity was so urgent. By this imprecation [which I felt to be as if God had from heaven laid His mighty hand upon me to stop me] I was so stricken with terror, that I ceased from my journey [to Strasbourg and agreed to stay in Geneva].”

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 John Calvin and William Farel

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 17

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 17: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 45

Reformation 500 WEEK 17: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 45

Question 45: WHAT BENEFIT DO WE RECEIVE FROM THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST? First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He might make us partakers of the righteousness which He has obtained for us by His death. Second, by His power we are also now raised up to a new life. Third, the resurrection of Christ is to us a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.

     Question 45 explains the biblical basis of article 5 of the Apostles’ Creed: “The third day He arose from the dead.” The core of the gospel is that “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). The soul of Christ, which (for three days) had been in the hands of His Father in heaven, truly did return to His body in the tomb and come forth from the grave. His resurrected body was adorned with immortality, no longer subject to the frailties of a human body, but it was still flesh and bones (Luke 24:36-43; John 20:24-29). Christ’s resurrection “is proven by the testimony of angels, women, evangelists, apostles, and other saints, who saw Him, felt Him, and talked with Him after His resurrection [Matt. 28:1-9; 1 Cor.5-8; Acts 1:2-3]” (Ursinus, 233). Even Christ’s enemies could not deny but tried to cover up the fact of the empty tomb (Matt. 28:11-15).

     Christ’s resurrection was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy (Psalm 16:8-11; Luke 24:46-47). Christ Himself foretold His own resurrection (Matt. 12:40; 16:21; 26:32). His resurrection proved He truly was the Messiah, the Son of God, who came to give eternal life to all who believe in Him (John 20:30-31; Rom. 1:1-4).  

     Christ rose from the dead to give us believers the benefits which He obtained for us by His death. The first benefit is justification (which will be explained more fully in Question 60). Christ “was raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Justification is God’s verdict that we are forgiven the eternal penalty of sin and accepted as righteous on the basis of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us (Rom. 4:1-8; 22-24). We are justified the moment God works true faith in our hearts (Rom. 3:28). 

     The second benefit of Christ’s resurrection is that by the power of His Holy Spirit we are regenerated (born again), that is, raised spiritually from the dead, which is exactly why we believe in Jesus (Eph. 2:8), and confess our sins to God (1 John 1:9), and desire to please God out of thankfulness for our salvation (Rom. 6:4). “And you God made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1; cf. John 3:3).

     The third benefit of Christ’s resurrection is that it guarantees our physical bodies will also be raised from the dead (Rom. 6:5; 1 Cor. 15:20-23). Our salvation includes both soul and body. Both soul and body belong to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 6:19-20). “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies” (Rom. 8:11). Since we still have to suffer death in our body, we “who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for … the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23). Our resurrected body will be like Christ’s resurrected body (this will be explained more fully in Question 57). “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Phil. 3:20-21).

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 HC QAs 45

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 17

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 16: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 40-44

Reformation 500 WEEK 16: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 40-44

[No Reformation History this week due to the length of the Catechism explanation]

Question 40: Why was it necessary for Christ to suffer death? Because the justice and truth of God required that satisfaction for our sins could be made in no other way than by the death of the Son of God.

God is truthful and just. He said to our first parents Adam and Eve that they would die if they disobeyed His commandment (Gen. 2:16-17). The fact that they did not die instantly after they sinned shows that God in His mercy had planned to send His Son to suffer the death that all sinners deserve, and thereby to satisfy the justice of God. The eternal Son of God “died according to His human nature only…for the divine nature…cannot die” (Ursinus, 215). The Son of God in His humanity suffered the agonizing and painful separation of His human soul and body by God’s severe wrath.

Question 41: Why was He buried? To show thereby that He was really dead.

Jesus was buried, not only to fulfill the prophecy “He made His grave with the wicked” (Isaiah 53:9), but also so that we would not be able to doubt His death, on which our salvation depended. Pilate even posted a guard to make sure that Jesus’ tomb was sealed so His disciples could not steal His body (Matt. 27:64-66).

Question 42: Since, then, Christ died for us, why must we also die? Our death is not a satisfaction for our sin, but only a dying to sin and an entering into eternal life.

Since Christ died in our place, and has fully satisfied for all our sins, why do we still have to die? It is because when we are united to Christ by true faith, we do not receive all the benefits of His death all at once. We are justified but not perfectly sanctified in this life; and we do not receive our resurrected bodies until Christ returns (Rom. 8:23; 1 Cor. 15:23). We have to wait until He returns to receive the perfect enjoyment of all the benefits of His death, including the elimination of death itself (1 Cor. 15:26, 54). But since Christ died for us, our physical death is not a satisfaction or punishment for our sin. Rather, our physical death puts an end to our sinning and ushers our soul into the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven (2 Cor. 5:8; Heb. 12:22-24).

Question 43: What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross? That by His power our old man [our old sinful nature] is with Him crucified, slain, and buried; so that the evil lusts of the flesh may no more reign in us, but that we may offer ourselves unto Him a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

When we are united to Christ by true faith, the first benefit we receive from Christ’s death is justification, which means we are forgiven the eternal punishment of sin (Rom. 8:1, 33). “The justice of God demands that the sinner should not be punished twice. And as God has punished our sins in Christ, He will not, therefore, punish the same in us” (Ursinus, 227). We also receive the further benefit of sanctification, which means that by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit we are set free from the enslaving power of our old sinful nature by receiving a brand new holy nature – “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). This does not mean we no longer have our old sinful nature, but it does mean we are no longer slaves to our old sinful nature. We have a new nature that desires to please God out of thankfulness for salvation. Thus, “our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Rom. 6:6). “He, therefore, who boasts of having applied to himself by faith the death of Christ, and yet has no desire to live a holy and godly life… gives conclusive evidence that the truth is not in him; for all those who are justified are willing and ready to do those things which are pleasing to God” (Ursinus, 227).

Question 44: Why is it added: He descended into hell? That in my greatest temptations I may be assured that Christ my Lord, by His inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors, which He suffered in His soul on the cross and before, has redeemed me from the anguish and torment of hell.

In the Apostles’ Creed, the phrase “He descended into hell,” follows the words “crucified, dead and buried.” “The Roman Catholic Church takes it to mean that Christ literally went to hell to suffer for three days and then took the Old Testament believers, who had died, to heaven. The Lutherans say that Jesus’ soul went to hell not to suffer but to proclaim His victory over His enemies” (Norman Jones, Study Helps, 96).

The biblical view is that the term hell is used not only to refer to the place of the damned, but also to signify the most extreme distress and anguish. “The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of hell laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow” (Psalm 116:3). Therefore, the phrase, “He descended to hell,” refers to the torments that Christ suffered in His soul before He died. After He died, His soul did not go to hell, but His soul went to Paradise (which is heaven – see 2 Cor.12:2-4). Christ told the believing thief on the cross: “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43); and right before He breathed His last breath, He said to his Father, “into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). “The soul of Christ, after His death, was, therefore, in the hands of His Father in Paradise, and not in hell” (Ursinus, 229). There was no need for Christ to suffer in hell, because His suffering to redeem His elect was finished when He died on the cross. Before His last breath He proclaimed, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Plus, OT believers “were not in hell; therefore, they could not be liberated from that place” (Ursinus, 228). There was no need for Christ to go to hell to proclaim victory over His enemies, because the Bible says He did that by His resurrection and ascension (Eph. 4:8; 1 Pet. 3:21-22).

The reason why “He descended into hell” follows “crucified, dead, and buried,” is to explain that He not only suffered bodily, but “He also suffered in soul the most extreme torments, and hellish agonies such as all the ungodly shall forever endure. The chief, and heaviest part of the sufferings of Christ is, therefore, correctly placed last, according to the order in the Creed; for it proceeds from the pains of the body to those of the soul” (Ursinus, 232). When Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” He was suffering the inexpressible anguish, pains, and terrors of hell. Therefore, He has redeemed all believers from the anguish and torment of hell!

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 HC QAs 40-44

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 15

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 15 JOHN CALVIN’S INSTITUTES

Reformation 500 WEEK 15    John calvin’s Institutes

     After a long and difficult journey, fleeing France because of persecution, Calvin finally found rest in Basel Switzerland in January 1535. “There, he heard that many followers of the Reformation where still being burned alive in France” (S. Carr, John Calvin, 19). 

     To try to do something about it, Calvin published the first edition (only 6 chapters) of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, in August 1535, when he was only 26 years old. After several revisions, the final edition published in 1559 had 80 chapters; and had become, as Calvin intended, a manual to “instruct candidates in sacred theology for the reading of the divine Word” (Preface, 1559). 

     Calvin addressed the Institutes to the Roman Catholic king of France, Francis I, pleading with him to put an end to the unjust persecution of his French countrymen, who were being falsely accused of wanting (like the Anabaptists in Munster) to abolish all laws and overthrow civil government. Calvin wanted to prove that these allegations were not true, and to show all people what the Reformed Church really stood for.

     In the Preface, Calvin answers all the main Roman Catholic objections to the Reformation. The Catholics call our doctrine ‘new.’ They ask what miracles have confirmed it. They ask whether it is right to disagree with the church fathers and tradition. They want us to admit that our doctrine is divisive since it has given birth to so many different churches and factions, and so many violent disturbances.

     First, the only reason why our doctrine seems to be new is because the true gospel has been buried for a long time on account of man’s ungodliness. But God by His goodness has restored the true gospel to us. In demanding miracles of us, they act dishonestly. We are not inventing some new gospel, but are holding on to that very gospel which has already been confirmed by all the miracles that Jesus Christ and His apostles did.

     Scripture, not the church fathers or tradition, is the ultimate authority. Indeed, it is possible for the majority of people to be wrong, as was the case in the days of Noah. If the contest were to be determined by the church fathers, “the tide of victory…would turn to our side.” For example, the church fathers condemned images of Christ, and argued that priests should be allowed to marry. The Catholics are wrong to claim they are the true church. It is clear from Scripture that “the church can exist without any visible appearance [like the 7000 who did not bow to Baal];” and that when it is visible its mark is not outward magnificence but rather “the pure preaching of God's Word and the lawful administration of the sacraments.” Did not the visible church (scribes and Pharisees) err when they decided to crucify Christ? Lastly, Elijah, who was accused of being a “troubler of Israel” (1 Kings 18:17), “taught us what we ought to reply to such charges: it is not we who either spread errors abroad or incite tumults; but it is they who contend against God's power [I Kings 18:18].” Should the apostles “have deserted the gospel because they saw that it was the seedbed of so many quarrels, the source of so many dangers, the occasion of so many scandals?”

Calvin scholar John T. McNeill called the Institutes a masterpiece, which “holds a place in the short list of books that have notably affected the course of history, molding the beliefs and behavior of generations of mankind.”

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 John Calvin's Institutes

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 15

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 15: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 37-39

Reformation 500 WEEK 15: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 37-39

Question 37: What do you understand by the word suffered? That all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end of His life, He bore, in body and soul, the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race; in order that by His suffering, as the only atoning sacrifice, He might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtain for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life.

Questions 37-44 explain the biblical basis of article 4 of the Apostles Creed: “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell.” We begin with the word “suffered.” From the moment of His birth to the hour of His death, Jesus Christ suffered all the miseries and weaknesses of our humanity, except for sin (Heb. 4:15). He hungered, thirsted, was fatigued, and afflicted with sadness and grief. “He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). His most bitter anguish of soul was on the cross, where He suffered the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race. It was this that caused Him to cry out, “My God, My God, why have Your forsaken Me” (Matt. 27:46). “Christ suffered… according to the human nature only, both in body and soul; for the divine nature is immutable, impassible [incapable of suffering or feeling pain], immortal, and life itself, and so cannot die” (Ursinus, 215). Christ suffered and was forsaken in His humanity in the place of humanity, so all who believe in Him will never be forsaken.

Question 38: Why did He suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge? That He, being innocent, might be condemned by the temporal judge, and thereby deliver us from the severe judgment of God, to which we were exposed.

Jesus Christ suffered the grossest injustice under Pontius Pilate, because Pilate officially declared Him innocent (“I find no fault with this man”), but then condemned Him to die by crucifixion! This was God’s plan (John 19:11), so that it might be perfectly clear that Jesus Christ was condemned to die – not for his own sins, but for the sins of all who would believe in Him. The innocent was declared guilty so that the guilty might be declared innocent, as it says in 1 Peter 3:18: “Christ has suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”

Question 39: Is there anything more in His having been crucified than if He had suffered some other death? Yes, for thereby I am assured that He took upon Himself the curse which lay upon me, because the death of the cross was accursed of God.

It was necessary for Jesus Christ to die by crucifixion (being nailed to a cross made of two pieces of wood), because it was an Old Testament curse for a criminal’s dead body to be hung on a tree; as a warning to others that “he who is hanged is accursed of God” (Deut. 21:23). If Jesus had died in some other way, then “His death would not have been counted as accursed of God, a punishment for sin on behalf of you and me” (Jones, Study Helps, 87). “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree)” (Gal. 3:13). Christ's accursed death on the cross saved us from God's eternal curse upon sin!

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 HC QAs 35-36

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 15

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 14 JOHN CALVIN

Reformation 500 WEEK 14    John calvin

     “John Calvin was born, July 10, 1509 in Noyon, a little town in northern France, near Paris…. Because of the early death of his mother, Calvin was brought up in the household of a nobleman in the neighborhood of his own home.”

     “In 1512, when Luther was still unknown, Professor Jacques Lefevre of the Sorbonne in Paris published a Latin translation of, and commentary on, the epistles of Paul. It is God who saves ‘by grace alone,’ said the professor. One of his students, Guillaume Farel, saw with the eyes of faith what his teacher was telling him.

     “Many others in France rediscovered the truths of God’s Word. Churches were changed. Margaret, the king’s sister, was converted. The new faith spread throughout the country. As in all lands, this raised fierce opposition. Lefevre’s writings were condemned in 1525, as were the writings of Luther and a little book by Margaret. Anyone found possessing such writings could expect to pay dearly. Into such a Paris came John Calvin in 1523 [to study at the university].

     “Calvin drove himself to master all his studies: the classical languages, logic, the writings of the Church Father’s, law. At his father’s wish, Calvin changed from the study of theology to that of law. On his father’s death, Calvin decided to practice neither, but to live the life of scholar in Paris.

     “Late in 1533 Nicholas Cop, now rector of the University of Paris, made his annual All Saints’ Day address. The speech sounded like the ideas of Erasmus and Luther. It was rumored that Cop had written it with the advice of Calvin. Both had to flee for their lives. John Calvin escaped through a back window while some friends talked to the bailiffs in the front” (above quotes taken from Kuiper, 189-190).

     In the preface to his commentary on Psalms, Calvin writes of his conversion. “At first, since I was too obstinately devoted to the superstitions of the papacy, that it was extremely difficult to drag me from the depths of the mire, God by a sudden conversion subdued and brought my mind to a teachable frame… Having thus received some taste and knowledge of true godliness, I was immediately inflamed with so intense a desire to make progress therein, that although I did not altogether leave off other studies, I yet pursued them with less zeal.”

     In his Letter to Sadoleto, Calvin says that prior to his conversion he was “overwhelmed by the consciousness of sin, just as Luther was… He tells us that his conversion was not, as has sometimes been maintained, a cold intellectual decision, but an act in the depths of a heart which trusts. He shows us his struggles, his hesitation in leaving the Church of his childhood, and his repentance with tears…. But especially do we feel in these pages this grip of God on his life, this impossibility of resisting the heavenly vision, this ‘I can do no other’ which is indeed the hallmark of Reformation piety” (John Cadier, The Man God Mastered, 41-42).

      “Calvin was hunted from city to city. He often used assumed names such as Charles d’Esperville or Martianus Lucanius. Everywhere he went he taught small groups in secret places. A new torture was devised about this time, a device to lift the victim in and out of the fire, roasting him slowly instead of burning him all at once. Nowhere in France was a Protestant safe” (Kuiper, 190-191).

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation500 John Calvin

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 14

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.

REFORMATION 500 WEEK 14: HEIDELBERG CATECHISM, QUESTION 35-36

Reformation 500 WEEK 14: Heidelberg Catechism, QUESTION 35-36

Question 35: What is the meaning of [article 3 of the Apostles Creed] conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary? That the eternal Son of God, who is and continues true and eternal God, took upon Himself the very nature of man, of the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Spirit; so that He might also be the true seed of David, like unto His brethren in all things, except for sin.

     The eternal Son of God took upon Himself the very nature of man (soul and body) – He “became flesh” (John 1:14) – without ceasing to be the eternal Son of God. The Son of God cannot change. “I am the LORD, I do not change” (Mal. 3:6).

     To understand this better, we need to know the difference between person and nature. God is three divine persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) in one divine nature. A human being is one person in one nature. The person of the Son of God united Himself to a human nature (soul and body), not a human person. “Hence it is correct to say: the person took the nature, …but we cannot correctly say, the person took a person, (Ursinus, 210). As we confess in the Belgic Confession, “the Person of the Son of God is inseparably united and connected with the human nature; so that there are not two Sons of God, nor two Persons, but two natures [divine and human] united in one single Person… 

wherefore we confess that He is very God and very man” (article 19). Thus, “the two natures subsist in the single person of Christ, without confusion, without change, indivisible, and inseparable, as it is expressed in the Chalcedonian creed” (Ursinus, 211). In His eternal divine nature, the Son of God could say, “Before Abraham was I AM” (John 8:58); and in His finite human nature, the Son of God could say, “I thirst” (John 19:28). One Person spoke according to His two natures.

    The Son of God became a man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, just as the angel said: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20). Mary was a pregnant virgin, just as the prophet had foretold (Matt. 1:23). Jesus’ human nature was taken from the very substance of Mary – of her flesh and blood – in much the same way that our flesh and blood is received from our mother (Heb. 2:14). Just as Joseph and Mary descended from David, so did Christ (Rom. 1:3). But in Christ’s case the Holy Spirit miraculously caused His human nature to be conceived without the seed and substance of a man, so His human nature was formed from His mother alone. Thus, “in all things He had to be made like His brethren” (Heb. 2:17). Thus, He had a real human nature, with all its weaknesses, “except for sin” (Heb. 4:15).

Question 36: What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ? That He is our Mediator, and with His innocence and perfect holiness covers, in the sight of God, my sin, wherein I was conceived.

The eternal Son of God became a sinless Man to be a true Mediator (God-Man) to reconcile God and sinful man. It will be explained later in Question 60, how our sin in which we were conceived can be covered, that is forgiven, on the basis of Christ’s perfect holiness. For now, we declare what David declared in Psalm 32:1: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

NOTE: These Posts were written and  designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .  

Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert:  Reformation 500 HC QAs 35-36

For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 14

Official Seal of  the RCUS

This is the seal of the Reformed Church of the United States (RCUS).  As you can see its history goes back to 1748, when the RCUS began.  We celebrate with the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation we praise God for what is probably the most amazing spiritual revival in the history of the world.

Page on Omaha Reformed Church's Website: Links to all Bulletin Inserts.