Sunday, April 27, 2008

The Heidelberg Catechism, This Lord's Day week 17

Q45: What benefit do we receive from the "resurrection" of Christ?

A45: First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, that He might make us partakers of the righteousness which He has obtained for us by His death.[1] Second, by His power we are also now raised up to a new life.[2] Third, the resurrection of Christ is to us a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.[3]
1. I Cor. 15:15, 17, 54-55; Rom. 4:25; I Peter 1:3-4, 212. Rom. 6:4; Col. 3:1-4; Eph. 2:53. I Cor. 15:12, 20-21; Rom. 8:11

Q46: What do you understand by the words "He ascended into heaven"?

A46: That Christ, in the sight of His disciples, was taken up from the earth into heaven,[1] and continues there in our behalf [2] until He shall come again to judge the living and the dead.[3]
1. Acts 1:9; Matt. 26:64; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:51
2. Heb. 4:14; 7:24-25; 9:11; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 4:103. Acts 1:11; 3:20-21; Matt. 24:30

Q47: But is not Christ with us even unto the end of the world,[1] as He has promised?

A47: Christ is true man and true God. According to His human nature He is now not on earth,[2] but according to His Godhead, majesty, grace, and Spirit, He is at no time absent from us.[3]
1. Matt. 28:202. Matt. 26:11; John 16:28; 17:113. John 14:17-18; 16:13; Eph. 4:8; Matt. 18:20; Heb. 8:4

Q48: But are not, in this way, the two natures in Christ separated from one another, if the manhood is not wherever the Godhead is?

A48: Not at all, for since the Godhead is incomprehensible and everywhere present,[1] it must follow that it is indeed beyond the bounds of the manhood which it has assumed, but is yet nonetheless in the same also, and remains personally united to it.[2]
1. Acts 7:49; Jer. 23:242. Col. 2:9; John 1:48; 3:13; 11:15; Matt. 28:6

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