It's the Big 448!!

Happy Birthday to the Heidelberg Catechism! 
Here is a brief history taken from the Christian Reformed website:

The Heidelberg Catechism was composed in Heidelberg at the request of Elector Frederick III, who ruled the Palatinate, an influential German province, from 1559 to 1576. An old tradition credits Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus with being coauthors of the new catechism. Both were certainly involved in its composition, although one of them may have had primary responsibility. All we know for sure is reported by the Elector in his preface of January 19, 1563. It was, he writes, "with the advice and cooperation of our entire theological faculty in this place, and of all superintendents and distinguished servants of the church" that he secured the preparation of the Heidelberg Catechism. The catechism was approved by a synod in Heidelberg in January 1563. A second and third German edition, each with small additions, as well as a Latin translation were published the same year in Heidelberg. Soon the catechism was divided into fifty-two sections so that one Lord's Day could be explained in preaching each Sunday of the year.

The Synod of Dort in 1618-1619 approved the Heidelberg Catechism, and it soon became the most ecumenical of the Reformed catechisms and confessions. The catechism has been translated into many European, Asian, and African languages and is the most widely used and most warmly praised catechism of the Reformation period.


Here are two examples of the Catechism:

Lord's Day 1
Q & A 1


Q. What is your only comfort


in life and in death?


A. That I am not my own,^1


but belong—


body and soul,


in life and in death—^2


to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.^3


He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,^4


and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.^5


He also watches over me in such a way^6


that not a hair can fall from my head


without the will of my Father in heaven:^7

in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.^8

 Because I belong to him,


Christ, by his Holy Spirit,


assures me of eternal life^9


and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready


from now on to live for him.^10


^1 1 Cor. 6:19-20


^2 Rom. 14:7-9


^3 1 Cor. 3:23; Titus 2:14


^4 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:2


^5 John 8:34-36; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 John 3:1-11


^6 John 6:39-40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 Pet. 1:5


^7 Matt. 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18


^8 Rom. 8:28


^9 Rom. 8:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5; Eph. 1:13-14


^10 Rom. 8:1-17




Lord's Day 10

Q & A 27


Q. What do you understand


by the providence of God?






A. Providence is


the almighty and ever present power of God^1


by which he upholds, as with his hand,


heaven


and earth


and all creatures,^2


and so rules them that


leaf and blade,


rain and drought,


fruitful and lean years,


food and drink,


health and sickness,


prosperity and poverty—^3


all things, in fact, come to us


not by chance^4


but from his fatherly hand.^5


^1 Jer. 23:23-24; Acts 17:24-28


^2 Heb. 1:3


^3 Jer. 5:24; Acts 14:15-17; John 9:3; Prov. 22:2


^4 Prov. 16:33


^5 Matt. 10:29

© 1987, CRC Publications, Grand Rapids MI. www.crcna.org. Reprinted with permission.