Heidelberg Catechism · Question 28
Explaining Part II: Man's deliverance
What does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His providence?
We can be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from His love; for all creatures are so completely in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move.
Scripture proofs King James Version
- Job. 1:21, 22 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
- Ps. 39:10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
- James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
- Deut. 8:10 When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
- I Thess. 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
- Ps. 55:22 Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
- Rom. 5:3-5 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
- Rom 8:38, 39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
- Job 2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
- Prov. 21:1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.
- Acts 17:24-28 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Edition & Source Public domain
- Source
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- Translation
- English translation as published by apuritansmind.com; Scripture proofs: King James Version
- Published
- First published 1563
- Copyright
- Public domain.
- License
- Public domain
- Attribution
- Public domain. Text transcribed from apuritansmind.com, which reformed.org's historic-documents index links to. Compared automatically with the PDF at heidelberg-catechism.com, which is the same translation family: 217 of 258 questions and answers matched. Of the 41 that did not, I checked 18 by hand: Q12, Q18, Q27, Q56 and Q61 differ in wording, and the others were page-layout noise in the PDF; the remaining 23 were not checked by hand. Not yet proofread against a printed edition. Part divisions are the standard ones (Q1–2 introduction; Q3–11 misery; Q12–85 deliverance; Q86–129 thankfulness). The question 23 creed text had verse-number markers removed. Scripture proof texts are the King James Version, from the public-domain Project Gutenberg edition, added with tools/add_kjv.py. A few references could not be matched to verses (whole-chapter references such as ‘Genesis 1 throughout’, and typing slips in the source) and are shown without text.
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Cite as The Heidelberg Catechism. First published 1563. https://www.apuritansmind.com/creeds-and-confessions/the-heidelberg-catechism-by-zacharias-ursinus/