The Heidelberg Catechism for the Lord’s Day, January 26
4. Lord’s Day
Question 9. Does not God then do injustice to man, by requiring from him in his law, that which he cannot perform?
Answer: Not at all; for God made man capable of performing it; but man, by the instigation of the devil, and his own willful disobedience,deprived himself and all his posterity of those divine gifts.
Question 10. Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?
Answer: By no means; but is terribly displeased with our original as well as actual sins; and will punish them in his just judgment temporally and eternally, (as he has declared, “Cursed is every one that continues not in all things, which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
Question 11. Is not God then also merciful?
Answer: God is indeed merciful, but also just; therefore his justice requires, that sin which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment of body and soul.
