# bible

book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. 


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more,


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.


book: 1Thessalonians
label: 1Thes
content:
  Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power,


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you,


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you,


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.


book: 2Thessalonians
label: 2Thes
content:
  I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme. 


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control. 


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. 


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. 


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  (No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.)


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Let all who are under a yoke as bondservants regard their own masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be reviled.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.


book: 1Timothy
label: 1Tim
content:
  O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God according to the promise of the life that is in Christ Jesus,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  To Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. 


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them!


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.


book: 2Timothy
label: 2Tim
content:
  Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness,


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you—


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain,


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. 


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity,


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.


book: Titus
label: Tit
content:
  All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”?


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And to which of the angels has he ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever.’”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. 


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.


book: Hebrews
label: Heb
content:
  You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. 


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind,


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.


book: James
label: Jam
content:
  let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. 


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you. 


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him. 


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. 


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly;


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.


book: 1Peter
label: 1Pet
content:
  By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,”


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” 


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.


book: 2Peter
label: 2Pet
content:
  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. 


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. 


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.


book: 1John
label: 1Jn
content:
  And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.


book: 2John
label: 2Jn
content:
  The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 


book: Jude
label: Jude
content:
  Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind:


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and called out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”)


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues;


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your delicacies and your splendors are lost to you, never to be found again!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “Alas, alas, for the great city that was clothed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, with jewels, and with pearls!


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  For in a single hour all this wealth has been laid waste.” And all shipmasters and seafaring men, sailors and all whose trade is on the sea, stood far off


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and mourned, crying out, “Alas, alas, for the great city where all who had ships at sea grew rich by her wealth! For in a single hour she has been laid waste.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more;


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.” 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed—


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. 


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book,


book: Revelation
label: Rev
content:
  and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.


# reference

type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC1
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 1: The Only God

  We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God—eternal,incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty; completely wise, just, and good, and the overflowing source of all good.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC2
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 2: The Means by Which We Know God

  We know him by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: his eternal power and his divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. All these things are enough to convict men and to leave them without excuse. Second, he makes himself known to us more openly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for his glory and for the salvation of his own.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC3
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 3: The Written Word of God

  We confess that this Word of God was not sent nor delivered by the will of men, but that holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit, as Peter says.<sup>1</sup> Afterwards our God—because of the special care he has for us and our salvation—commanded his servants, the prophets and apostles, to commit this revealed Word to writing. He himself wrote with his own finger the two tables of the law. Therefore we call such writings holy and divine Scriptures.

  <sup>1</sup> 2 Pet. 1:21


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC4
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 4: The Canonical Books

  We include in the Holy Scripture the two volumes of the Old and New Testaments. They are canonical books with which there can be no quarrel at all. In the church of God the list is as follows:

  **In the Old Testament,** the five books of Moses—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth; the two books of Samuel, the two books of Kings, the two books of Chronicles; the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther; the book of Job, the Psalms, the three books of Solomon—Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs; the five books of the four major prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel; the books of the twelve minor prophets—Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

  **In the New Testament,** the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; the Acts of the Apostles; the thirteen letters of Paul—to the Romans; the two letters to the Corinthians; to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians; the two letters to the Thessalonians; the two letters to Timothy; to Titus, Philemon; the letter to the Hebrews; the seven letters of the other apostles—one of James; two of Peter; three of John; one of Jude; and the Revelation of the apostle John.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC5
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 5: The Authority of Scripture

  We receive all these books and these only as holy and canonical, for the regulating, founding, and establishing of our faith. And we believe without a doubt all things contained in them—not so much because the church receives and approves them as such but above all because the Holy Spirit testifies in our hearts that they are from God, and also because they prove themselves to be from God. For even the blind themselves are able to see that the things predicted in them do happen.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC6
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 6: The Difference between Canonical and Apocryphal Books

  We distinguish between these holy books and the apocryphal ones, which are: the third and fourth books of Esdras; the books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Jesus Sirach, Baruch; what was added to the Story of Esther; the Song of the Three Children in the Furnace; the Story of Susannah; the Story of Bel and the Dragon; the Prayer of Manasseh; and the two books of Maccabees. The church may certainly read these books and learn from them as far as they agree with the canonical books. But they do not have such power and virtue that one could confirm from their testimony any point of faith or of the Christian religion. Much less can they detract from the authority of the other holy books.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC7
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 7: The Sufficiency of Scripture

  We believe that this Holy Scripture contains the will of God completely and that everything one must believe to be saved is sufficiently taught in it. For since the entire manner of service which God requires of us is described in it at great length, no one—even an apostle or an angel from heaven, as Paul says<sup>2</sup>—ought to teach other than what the Holy Scriptures have already taught us. For since it is forbidden to add to or subtract from the Word of God,<sup>3</sup> this plainly demonstrates that the teaching is perfect and complete in all respects. Therefore we must not consider human writings—no matter how holy their authors may have been—equal to the divine writings; nor may we put custom, nor the majority, nor age, nor the passage of time or persons, nor councils, decrees, or official decisions above the truth of God, for truth is above everything else. For all human beings are liars by nature and more vain than vanity itself. Therefore we reject with all our hearts everything that does not agree with this infallible rule, as we are taught to do by the apostles when they say, “Test the spirits to see if they are of God,”<sup>4</sup> and also, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house.”<sup>5</sup>

  <sup>2</sup> Gal. 1:8
  <sup>3</sup> Deut. 12:32; Rev. 22:18–19
  <sup>4</sup> 1 John 4:1
  <sup>5</sup> 2 John 10


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC8
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 8: The Trinity

  In keeping with this truth and Word of God we believe in one God, who is one single essence, in whom there are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties—namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is the cause, origin, and source of all things, visible as well as invisible. The Son is the Word, the Wisdom, and the image of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son. Nevertheless, this distinction does not divide God into three, since Scripture teaches us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit each has his own subsistence distinguished by characteristics—yet in such a way that these three persons are only one God. It is evident then that the Father is not the Son and that the Son is not the Father, and that likewise the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son.Nevertheless, these persons, thus distinct, are neither divided nor fused or mixed together. For the Father did not take on flesh, nor did the Spirit, but only the Son. The Father was never without his Son, nor without his Holy Spirit, since all these are equal from eternity, in one and the same essence. There is neither a first nor a last, for all three are one in truth and power, in goodness and mercy.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC9
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 9: The Scriptural Witness on the Trinity

  All these things we know from the testimonies of Holy Scripture as well as from the effects of the persons, especially from those we feel within ourselves. The testimonies of the Holy Scriptures, which teach us to believe in this Holy Trinity, are written in many places of the Old Testament, which need not be enumerated but only chosen with discretion. In the book of Genesis God says, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness.” So “God created man in his own image”—indeed, “male and female he created them.”<sup>6</sup> “Behold, man has become like one of us.”<sup>7</sup> It appears from this that there is a plurality of persons within the Deity, when he says, “Let us make man in our image”—and afterwards he indicates the unity when he says, “God created.” It is true that he does not say here how many persons there are—but what is somewhat obscure to us in the Old Testament is very clear in the New. For when our Lord was baptized in the Jordan, the voice of the Father was heard saying, “This is my dear Son”;<sup>8</sup> the Son was seen in the water; and the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. So, in the baptism of all believers this form was prescribed by Christ: “Baptize all people in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”<sup>9</sup> In the Gospel according to Luke the angel Gabriel says to Mary, the mother of our Lord: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and therefore that holy one to be born of you shall be called the Son of God.”<sup>10</sup> And in another place it says: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.”<sup>11</sup> “There are three who bear witness in heaven—the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit—and these three are one.”<sup>12</sup> In all these passages we are fully taught that there are three persons in the one and only divine essence. And although this doctrine surpasses human understanding, we nevertheless believe it now, through the Word, waiting to know and enjoy it fully in heaven. Furthermore, we must note the particular works and activities of these three persons in relation to us. The Father is called our Creator, by reason of his power. The Son is our Savior and Redeemer, by his blood. The Holy Spirit is our Sanctifier, by his living in our hearts. This doctrine of the holy Trinity has always been maintained in the true church, from the time of the apostles until the present, against Jews, Muslims, and certain false Christians and heretics, such as Marcion, Mani, Praxeas, Sabellius, Paul of Samosata, Arius, and others like them, who were rightly condemned by the holy fathers. And so, in this matter we willingly accept the three ecumenical creeds—the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian—as well as what the ancient fathers decided in agreement with them.

  <sup>6</sup>Gen. 1:26–27
  <sup>7</sup>Gen. 3:22
  <sup>8</sup>Matt. 3:17
  <sup>9</sup>Matt. 28:19
  <sup>10</sup>Luke 1:35
  <sup>11</sup>2 Cor. 13:14
  <sup>12</sup>1 John 5:7 (kjv)


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC10
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 10: The Deity of Christ

  We believe that Jesus Christ, according to his divine nature, is the only Son of God—eternally begotten, not made nor created, for then he would be a creature. He is one in essence with the Father; coeternal; the exact image of the person of the Father and the “reflection of his glory,”<sup>13</sup> being in all things like him. He is the Son of God not only from the time he assumed our nature but from all eternity, as the following testimonies teach us when they are taken together. Moses says that God “created the world”;<sup>14</sup> and John says that “all things were created by the Word,”<sup>15</sup> which he calls God. The letter to the Hebrews says that “God made the world by his Son.”<sup>16</sup> Paul says that “God created all things by Jesus Christ.”<sup>17</sup> And so it must follow that he who is called God, the Word, the Son, and Jesus Christ already existed when all things were created by him. Therefore the prophet Micah says that his origin is “from ancient times, from eternity.”<sup>18</sup> And Hebrews says that he has “neither beginning of days nor end of life.”<sup>19</sup> So then, he is the true eternal God, the Almighty, whom we invoke, worship, and serve.

  <sup>13</sup>Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3
  <sup>14</sup>Gen. 1:1
  <sup>15</sup>John 1:3
  <sup>16</sup>Heb. 1:2
  <sup>17</sup>Col. 1:16
  <sup>18</sup>Mic. 5:2
  <sup>19</sup>Heb. 7:3


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC11
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 11: The Deity of the Holy Spirit

  We believe and confess also that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son—neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but only proceeding from the two of them. In regard to order, he is the third person of the Trinity—of one and the same essence, and majesty, and glory, with the Father and the Son. He is true and eternal God, as the Holy Scriptures teach us.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC12
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 12: The Creation of All Things

  We believe that the Father created heaven and earth and all other creatures from nothing, when it seemed good to him, by his Word—that is to say, by his Son. He has given all creatures their being, form, and appearance, and their various functions for serving their Creator. Even now he also sustains and governs them all, according to his eternal providence, and by his infinite power, that they may serve man, in order that man may serve God. He has also created the angels good, that they might be his messengers and serve his elect. Some of them have fallen from the excellence in which God created them into eternal perdition; and the others have persisted and remained in their original state, by the grace of God. The devils and evil spirits are so corrupt that they are enemies of God and of everything good. They lie in wait for the church and every member of it like thieves, with all their power, to destroy and spoil everything by their deceptions. So then, by their own wickedness they are condemned to everlasting damnation, daily awaiting their torments. For that reason we detest the error of the Sadducees, who deny that there are spirits and angels, and also the error of the Manicheans, who say that the devils originated by themselves, being evil by nature, without having been corrupted.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC13
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 13: The Doctrine of God’s Providence

  We believe that this good God, after he created all things, did not abandon them to chance or fortune but leads and governs them according to his holy will, in such a way that nothing happens in this world without his orderly arrangement. Yet God is not the author of, nor can he be charged with, the sin that occurs. For his power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible that he arranges and does his work very well and justly even when the devils and wicked men act unjustly. We do not wish to inquire with undue curiosity into what he does that surpasses human understanding and is beyond our ability to comprehend. But in all humility and reverence we adore the just judgments of God, which are hidden from us, being content to be Christ’s disciples, so as to learn only what he shows us in his Word, without going beyond those limits. This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort since it teaches us that nothing can happen to us by chance but only by the arrangement of our gracious heavenly Father. He watches over us with fatherly care, keeping all creatures under his control, so that not one of the hairs on our heads (for they are all numbered) nor even a little bird can fall to the ground without the will of our Father.<sup>20</sup> In this thought we rest, knowing that he holds in check the devils and all our enemies, who cannot hurt us without his permission and will. For that reason we reject the damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God involves himself in nothing and leaves everything to chance.

  <sup>20</sup>Matt. 10:29–30


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC14
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 14: The Creation and Fall of Man

  We believe that God created man from the dust of the earth and made and formed him in his image and likeness—good, just, and holy; able by his own will to conform in all things to the will of God. But when he was in honor he did not understand it<sup>21</sup> and did not recognize his excellence. But he subjected himself willingly to sin and consequently to death and the curse, lending his ear to the word of the devil. For he transgressed the commandment of life, which he had received, and by his sin he separated himself from God, who was his true life, having corrupted his entire nature. So he made himself guilty and subject to physical and spiritual death, having become wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all his ways. He lost all his excellent gifts which he had received from God, and he retained none of them except for small traces which are enough to make him inexcusable. Moreover, all the light in us is turned to darkness, as the Scripture teaches us: “The light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not receive it.”<sup>22</sup> Here John calls men “darkness.” Therefore we reject everything taught to the contrary concerning man’s free will, since man is nothing but the slave of sin and cannot do a thing unless it is “given him from heaven.”<sup>23</sup> For who can boast of being able to do anything good by himself, since Christ says, “No one can come to me unless my Father who sent me draws him”?<sup>24</sup> Who can glory in his own will when he understands that “the mind of the flesh is enmity against God”?<sup>25</sup> Who can speak of his own knowledge in view of the fact that “the natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God”?<sup>26</sup> In short, who can produce a single thought, since he knows that we are “not able to think a thing” about ourselves, by ourselves, but that “our ability is from God”?<sup>27</sup> And therefore, what the apostle says ought rightly to stand fixed and firm: “God works within us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure.”<sup>28</sup> For there is no understanding nor will conforming to God’s understanding and will apart from Christ’s work, as he teaches us when he says, “Without me you can do nothing.”<sup>29</sup>

  <sup>21</sup>Ps. 49:20
  <sup>22</sup>John 1:5
  <sup>23</sup>John 3:27
  <sup>24</sup>John 6:44
  <sup>25</sup>Rom. 8:7
  <sup>26</sup>1 Cor. 2:14
  <sup>27</sup>2 Cor. 3:5
  <sup>28</sup>Phil. 2:13
  <sup>29</sup>John 15:5


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC15
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 15: The Doctrine of Original Sin

  We believe that by the disobedience of Adam original sin has been spread through the whole human race.<sup>30</sup> It is a corruption of all nature—an inherited depravity which even infects small infants in their mother’s womb, and the root which produces in man every sort of sin. It is therefore so vile and enormous in God’s sight that it is enough to condemn the human race, and it is not abolished or wholly uprooted even by baptism, seeing that sin constantly boils forth as though from a contaminated spring. Nevertheless, it is not imputed to God’s children for their condemnation but is forgiven by his grace and mercy—not to put them to sleep but so that the awareness of this corruption might often make believers groan as they long to be set free from the “body of this death.”<sup>31</sup> Therefore we reject the error of the Pelagians who say that this sin is nothing else than a matter of imitation.

  <sup>30</sup>Rom 5:12–13
  <sup>31</sup>Rom. 7:24


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC16
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 16: The Doctrine of Election

  We believe that—all Adam’s descendants having thus fallen into perdition and ruin by the sin of the first man—God showed himself to be as he is: merciful and just. He is merciful in withdrawing and saving from this perdition those whom he, in his eternal and unchangeable counsel, has elected and chosen in Jesus Christ our Lord by his pure goodness, without any consideration of their works. He is just in leaving the others in their ruin and fall into which they plunged themselves.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC17
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 17: The Recovery of Fallen Man

  We believe that our good God, by his marvelous wisdom and goodness, seeing that man had plunged himself in this manner into both physical and spiritual death and made himself completely miserable, set out to find him, though man, trembling all over, was fleeing from him. And he comforted him, promising to give him his Son, “born of a woman,”<sup>32</sup> to crush the head of the serpent,<sup>33</sup> and to make him blessed.

  <sup>32</sup>Gal. 4:4
  <sup>33</sup>Gen. 3:15


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC18
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 18: The Incarnation

  So then we confess that God fulfilled the promise which he had made to the early fathers by the mouth of his holy prophets when he sent his only and eternal Son into the world at the time set by him. The Son took the “form of a servant” and was made in the “likeness of man,”<sup>34</sup> truly assuming a real human nature, with all its weaknesses, except for sin; being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, without male participation. And he not only assumed human nature as far as the body is concerned but also a real human soul, in order that he might be a real human being. For since the soul had been lost as well as the body he had to assume them both to save them both together. Therefore we confess, against the heresy of the Anabaptists who deny that Christ assumed human flesh from his mother, that he “shared the very flesh and blood of children”;<sup>35</sup> that he is “fruit of the loins of David” according to the flesh;<sup>36</sup> “born of the seed of David” according to the flesh;<sup>37</sup> “fruit of the womb of the virgin Mary”;<sup>38</sup> “born of a woman”;<sup>39</sup> “the seed of David”;<sup>40</sup> “a shoot from the root of Jesse”;<sup>41</sup> “the offspring of Judah,”<sup>42</sup> having descended from the Jews according to the flesh; “from the seed of Abraham”—for he “assumed Abraham’s seed” and was “made like his brothers except for sin.”<sup>43</sup> In this way he is truly our Immanuel—that is: “God with us.”<sup>44</sup>

  <sup>34</sup>Phil. 2:7
  <sup>35</sup>Heb. 2:14
  <sup>36</sup>Acts 2:30
  <sup>37</sup>Rom. 1:3
  <sup>38</sup>Luke 1:42
  <sup>39</sup>Gal. 4:4
  <sup>40</sup>2 Tim. 2:8
  <sup>41</sup>Rom. 15:12
  <sup>42</sup>Heb. 7:14
  <sup>43</sup>Heb. 2:17; 4:15
  <sup>44</sup>Matt. 1:23


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC19
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 19: The Two Natures of Christ

  We believe that by being thus conceived the person of the Son has been inseparably united and joined together with human nature, in such a way that there are not two Sons of God, nor two persons, but two natures united in a single person, with each nature retaining its own distinct properties. Thus his divine nature has always remained uncreated, “without beginning of days or end of life,”<sup>45</sup> filling heaven and earth. His human nature has not lost its properties but continues to have those of a creature—it has a beginning of days; it is of a finite nature and retains all that belongs to a real body. And even though he, by his resurrection, gave it immortality, that nonetheless did not change the reality of his human nature; for our salvation and resurrection depend also on the reality of his body. But these two natures are so united together in one  person that they are not even separated by his death. So then, what he committed to his Father when he died was a real human spirit which left his body. But meanwhile his divine nature remained united with his human nature even when he was lying in the grave; and his deity never ceased to be in him, just as it was in him when he was a little child, though for a while it did not show itself as such. These are the reasons why we confess him to be true God and true man—true God in order to conquer death by his power, and true man that he might die for us in the weakness of his flesh.

  <sup>45</sup>Heb. 7:3


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC20
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 20: The Justice and Mercy of God in Christ

  We believe that God—who is perfectly merciful and also very just—sent his Son to assume the nature in which the disobedience had been committed, in order to bear in it the punishment of sin by his most bitter passion and death. So God made known his justice toward his Son, who was charged with our sin, and he poured out his goodness and mercy on us, who are guilty and worthy of damnation, giving to us his Son to die, by a most perfect love, and raising him to life for our justification, in order that by him we might have immortality and eternal life.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC21
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 21: The Atonement

  We believe that Jesus Christ is a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek—made such by an oath—and that he presented himself in our name before his Father, to appease his wrath with full satisfaction by offering himself on the tree of the cross and pouring out his precious blood for the cleansing of our sins, as the prophets had predicted. For it is written that “the chastisement of our peace” was placed on the Son of God and that “we are healed by his wounds.” He was “led to death as a lamb”; he was “numbered among sinners”<sup>46</sup> and condemned as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, though Pilate had declared that he was innocent. So he paid back what he had not stolen,<sup>47</sup> and he suffered—the “just for the unjust,”<sup>48</sup> in both his body and his soul—in such a way that when he sensed the horrible punishment required by our sins his sweat became like “big drops of blood falling on the ground.”<sup>49</sup> He cried, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”<sup>50</sup> And he endured all this for the forgiveness of our sins. Therefore we rightly say with Paul that we “know nothing but Jesus and him crucified”;<sup>51</sup> we consider all things as “dung for the excellence of the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”<sup>52</sup> We find all comforts in his wounds and have no need to seek or invent any other means to reconcile ourselves with God than this one and only sacrifice, once made, which renders believers perfect forever. This is also why the angel of God called him Jesus—that is, “Savior”—because he would save his people from their sins.<sup>53</sup>

  <sup>46</sup>Isa. 53:4–12
  <sup>47</sup>Ps. 69:4
  <sup>48</sup>1 Pet. 3:18
  <sup>49</sup>Luke 22:44
  <sup>50</sup>Matt. 27:46
  <sup>51</sup>1 Cor. 2:2
  <sup>52</sup>Phil. 3:8
  <sup>53</sup>Matt. 1:21


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC22
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 22: The Righteousness of Faith

  We believe that for us to acquire the true knowledge of this great mystery the Holy Spirit kindles in our hearts a true faith that embraces Jesus Christ, with all his merits, and makes him its own, and no longer looks for anything apart from him. For it must necessarily follow that either all that is required for our salvation is not in Christ or, if all is in him, then he who has Christ by faith has his salvation entirely.Therefore, to say that Christ is not enough but that something else is needed as well is a most enormous blasphemy against God—for it then would follow that Jesus Christ is only half a Savior. And therefore we justly say with Paul that we are justified “by faith alone” or by faith “apart from works.”<sup>54</sup> However, we do not mean, properly speaking, that it is faith itself that justifies us—for faith is only the instrument by which we embrace Christ, our righteousness. But Jesus Christ is our righteousness crediting to us all his merits and all the holy works he has done for us and in our place. And faith is the instrument that keeps us in communion with him and with all his benefits. When those benefits are made ours they are more than enough to absolve us of our sins.

  <sup>54</sup>Rom. 3:28


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC23
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 23: The Justification of Sinners

  We believe that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins because of Jesus Christ, and that in it our righteousness before God is contained, as David and Paul teach us when they declare that man blessed to whom God grants righteousness apart from works.<sup>55</sup> And the same apostle says that we are justified “freely” or “by grace” through redemption in Jesus Christ.<sup>56</sup> And therefore we cling to this foundation, which is firm forever, giving all glory to God, humbling ourselves, and recognizing ourselves as we are; not claiming a thing for ourselves or our merits and leaning and resting only on the obedience of Christ crucified, which is ours when we believe in him. That is enough to cover all our sins and to make us confident, freeing the conscience from the fear, dread, and terror of God’s approach, without doing what our first father, Adam, did, who trembled as he tried to cover himself with fig leaves. In fact, if we had to appear before God relying—no matter how little—on ourselves or some other creature, then, alas, we would be swallowed up. Therefore everyone must say with David: “Lord, do not enter into judgment with your servants, for before you no living person shall be justified.”<sup>57</sup>

  <sup>55</sup>Ps. 32:1; Rom. 4:6
  <sup>56</sup>Rom. 3:24
  <sup>57</sup>Ps. 143:2


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC24
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 24: The Sanctification of Sinners

  We believe that this true faith, produced in man by the hearing of God’s Word and by the work of the Holy Spirit, regenerates him and makes him a “new man,”<sup>58</sup> causing him to live the “new life”<sup>59</sup> and freeing him from the slavery of sin. Therefore, far from making people cold toward living in a pious and holy way, this justifying faith, quite to the contrary, so works within them that apart from it they will never do a thing out of love for God but only out of love for themselves and fear of being condemned. So then, it is impossible for this holy faith to be unfruitful in a human being, seeing that we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls “faith working through love,”<sup>60</sup> which leads a man to do of himself the works that God has commanded in his Word. These works, proceeding from the good root of faith, are good and acceptable to God, since they are all sanctified by his grace. Yet they do not count toward our justification—for by faith in Christ we are justified, even before we do good works. Otherwise they could not be good, any more than the fruit of a tree could be good if the tree is not good in the first place. So then, we do good works, but not for merit—for what would we merit? Rather, we are indebted to God for the good works we do, and not he to us, since it is he who “works in us both to will and do according to his good pleasure”<sup>61</sup>—thus keeping in mind what is written: “When you have done all that is commanded you, then you shall say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have done what it was our duty to do.’”<sup>62</sup> Yet we do not wish to deny that God rewards good works—but it is by his grace that he crowns his gifts. Moreover, although we do good works we do not base our salvation on them; for we cannot do any work that is not defiled by our flesh and also worthy of punishment. And even if we could point to one, memory of a single sin is enough for God to reject that work. So we would always be in doubt, tossed back and forth without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be tormented constantly if they did not rest on the merit of the suffering and death of our Savior.

  <sup>58</sup>2 Cor. 5:17
  <sup>59</sup>Rom. 6:4
  <sup>60</sup>Gal. 5:6
  <sup>61</sup>Phil. 2:13
  <sup>62</sup>Luke 17:10


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC25
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 25: The Fulfillment of the Law

  We believe that the ceremonies and symbols of the law have ended with the coming of Christ, and that all foreshadowings have come to an end, so that the use of them ought to be abolished among Christians. Yet the truth and substance of these things remain for us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have been fulfilled. Nevertheless, we continue to use the witnesses drawn from the law and prophets to confirm us in the gospel and to regulate our lives with full integrity for the glory of God, according to his will.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC26
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 26: The Intercession of Christ

  We believe that we have no access to God except through the one and only Mediator and Intercessor: Jesus Christ the Righteous.<sup>63</sup> He therefore was made man, uniting together the divine and human natures, so that we human beings might have access to the divine Majesty. Otherwise we would have no access. But this Mediator, whom the Father has appointed between himself and us, ought not terrify us by his greatness, so that we have to look for another one, according to our fancy. For neither in heaven nor among the creatures on earth is there anyone who loves us more than Jesus Christ does. Although he was “in the form of God,” he nevertheless “emptied himself,” taking the form of “a man” and “a servant” for us;<sup>64</sup> and he made himself “completely like his brothers.”<sup>65</sup> Suppose we had to find another intercessor. Who would love us more than he who gave his life for us, even though “we were his enemies”?<sup>66</sup> And suppose we had to find one who has prestige and power. Who has as much of these as he who is seated “at the right hand of the Father,”<sup>67</sup> and who has all power “in heaven and on earth”?<sup>68</sup> And who will be heard more readily than God’s own dearly beloved Son? So then, sheer unbelief has led to the practice of dishonoring the saints, instead of honoring them. That was something the saints never did nor asked for, but which in keeping with their duty, as appears from their writings, they consistently refused. We should not plead here that we are unworthy—for it is not a question of offering our prayers on the basis of our own dignity but only on the basis of the excellence and dignity of Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is ours by faith. Since the apostle for good reason wants us to get rid of this foolish fear—or rather, this unbelief—he says to us that Jesus Christ was “made like his brothers in all things,” that he might be a high priest who is merciful and faithful to purify the sins of the people.<sup>69</sup> For since he suffered, being tempted, he is also able to help those who are tempted.<sup>70</sup> And further, to encourage us more to approach him he says, “Since we have a high priest, Jesus the Son of God, who has entered into heaven, we maintain our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to have compassion for our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in all things, just as we are, except for sin. Let us go then with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace, in order to be helped.”<sup>71</sup> The same apostle says that we “have liberty to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus. Let us go, then, in the assurance of faith….”<sup>72</sup> Likewise, “Christ’s priesthood is forever. By this he is able to save completely those who draw near to God through him who always lives to intercede for them.”<sup>73</sup> What more do we need? For Christ himself declares: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to my Father but by me.”<sup>74</sup> Why should we seek another intercessor? Since it has pleased God to give us his Son as our Intercessor, let us not leave him for another—or rather seek, without ever finding. For when God gave him to us he knew well that we were sinners. Therefore, in following the command of Christ we call on the heavenly Father through Christ, our only Mediator, as we are taught by the Lord’s Prayer, being assured that we shall obtain all we ask of the Father in his name.

  <sup>63</sup>1 John 2:1
  <sup>64</sup>Phil. 2:6–8
  <sup>65</sup>Heb. 2:17
  <sup>66</sup>Rom. 5:10
  <sup>67</sup>Rom. 8:34; Heb. 1:3
  <sup>68</sup>Matt. 28:18
  <sup>69</sup>Heb. 2:17
  <sup>70</sup>Heb. 2:18
  <sup>71</sup>Heb. 4:14–16
  <sup>72</sup>Heb. 10:19, 22
  <sup>73</sup>Heb. 7:24–25
  <sup>74</sup>John 14:6


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC27
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 27: The Holy Catholic Church

  We believe and confess One single catholic or universal church—a holy congregation and gathering of true Christian believers, awaiting their entire salvation in Jesus Christ being washed by his blood, and sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit. This church has existed from the beginning of the world and will last until the end, as appears from the fact that Christ is eternal King who cannot be without subjects. And this holy church is preserved by God against the rage of the whole world, even though for a time it may appear very small in the eyes of men—as though it were snuffed out. For example, during the very dangerous time of Ahab the Lord reserved for himself seven thousand men who did not bend their knees to Baal.<sup>75</sup> And so this holy church is not confined, bound, or limited to a certain place or certain persons. But it is spread and dispersed throughout the entire world, though still joined and united in heart and will, in one and the same Spirit, by the power of faith.

  <sup>75</sup>1 Kings 19:18


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC28
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 28: The Obligations of Church Members

  We believe that since this holy assembly and congregation is the gathering of those who are saved and there is no salvation apart from it, no one ought to withdraw from it, content to be by himself, regardless of his status or condition. But all people are obliged to join and unite with it, keeping the unity of the church by submitting to its instruction and discipline, by bending their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ, and by serving to build up one another, according to the gifts God has given them as members of each other in the same body. And to preserve this unity more effectively, it is the duty of all believers, according to God’s Word, to separate themselves from those who do not belong to the church, in order to join this assembly wherever God has established it, even if civil authorities and royal decrees forbid and death and physical punishment result. And so, all who withdraw from the church or do not join it act contrary to God’s ordinance.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC29
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 29: The Marks of the True Church

  We believe that we ought to discern diligently and very carefully, by the Word of God, what is the true church—for all sects in the world today claim for themselves the name of “the church.” We are not speaking here of the company of hypocrites who are mixed among the good in the church and who nonetheless are not part of it, even though they are physically there. But we are speaking of distinguishing the body and fellowship of the true church from all sects that call themselves “the church.” The true church can be recognized if it has the following marks: The church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel; it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them; it practices church discipline for correcting faults. In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God, rejecting all things contrary to it and holding Jesus Christ as the only Head. By these marks one can be assured of recognizing the true church—and no one ought to be separated from it. As for those who are of the church, we can recognize them by the distinguishing marks of Christians: namely by faith, and by their fleeing from sin and pursuing righteousness, once they have received the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ. They love the true God and their neighbors, without turning to the right or left, and they crucify the flesh and its works. Though great weakness remains in them, they fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their lives, appealing constantly to the blood, suffering, death, and obedience of the Lord Jesus, in whom they have forgiveness of their sins, through faith in him. As for the false church, it assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances than to the Word of God; it does not want to subject itself to the yoke of Christ; it does not administer the sacraments as Christ commanded in his Word; it rather adds to them or subtracts from them as it pleases; it bases itself on men, more than on Jesus Christ; it persecutes those who live holy lives according to the Word of God and who rebuke it for its faults, greed, and idolatry. These two churches are easy to recognize and thus to distinguish from each other.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC30
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 30: The Government of the Church

  We believe that this true church ought to be governed according to the spiritual order that our Lord has taught us in his Word. There should be ministers or pastors to preach the Word of God and administer the sacraments. There should also be elders and deacons, along with the pastors, to make up the council of the church. By this means true religion is preserved; true doctrine is able to take its course; and evil men are corrected spiritually and held in check, so that also the poor and all the afflicted may be helped and comforted according to their need. By this means everything will be done well and in good order in the church, when such men are elected who are faithful and are chosen according to the rule that Paul gave to Timothy.<sup>76</sup>

  <sup>76</sup>1 Tim. 3


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC31
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 31: The Officers of the Church

  We believe that ministers of the Word of God, elders, and deacons ought to be chosen to their offices by a legitimate election of the church, with prayer in the name of the Lord, and in good order, as the Word of God teaches. So everyone must be careful not to push himself forward improperly, but he must wait for God’s call, so that he may be assured of his calling and be certain and sure that he is chosen by the Lord. As for the ministers of the Word, they all have the same power and authority, no matter where they may be, since they are all servants of Jesus Christ, the only universal bishop, and the only head of the church. Moreover, to keep God’s holy order from being violated or despised, we say that everyone ought, as much as possible, to hold the ministers of the Word and elders of the church in special esteem, because of the work they do, and be at peace with them, without grumbling, quarreling, or fighting.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC32
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 32: The Order and Discipline of the Church

  We also believe that although it is useful and good for those who govern the churches to establish and set up a certain order among themselves for maintaining the body of the church, they ought always to guard against deviating from what Christ, our only Master, has ordained for us. Therefore we reject all human innovations and all laws imposed on us, in our worship of God, which bind and force our consciences in any way. So we accept only what is proper to maintain harmony and unity and to keep all in obedience to God. To that end excommunication, with all it involves, according to the Word of God, is required.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC33
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 33: The Sacraments

  We believe that our good God, mindful of our crudeness and weakness, has ordained sacraments for us to seal his promises in us, to pledge his good will and grace toward us, and also to nourish and sustain our faith. He has added these to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what he enables us to understand by his Word and what he does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us  the salvation he imparts to us. For they are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So they are not empty and hollow signs to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom they would be nothing. Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments that Christ our Master has ordained for us. There are only two: the sacrament of baptism and the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ.


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC34
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 34: The Sacrament of Baptism

  We believe and confess that Jesus Christ, in whom the law is fulfilled, has by his shed blood put an end to every other shedding of blood, which anyone might do or wish to do in order to atone or satisfy for sins. Having abolished circumcision, which was done with blood, he established in its place the sacrament of baptism. By it we are received into God’s church and set apart from all other people and alien religions, that we may be dedicated entirely to him, bearing his mark and sign. It also witnesses to us that he will be our God forever, since he is our gracious Father. Therefore he has commanded that all those who belong to him be baptized with pure water “in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”<sup>77</sup> In this way he signifies to us that just as water washes away the dirt of the body when it is poured on us and also is seen on the body of the baptized when it is sprinkled on him, so too the blood of Christ does the same thing internally, in the soul, by the Holy Spirit. It washes and cleanses it from its sins and transforms us from being the children of wrath into the children of God. This does not happen by the physical water but by the sprinkling of the precious blood of the Son of God, who is our Red Sea, through which we must pass to escape the tyranny of Pharaoh, who is the devil, and to enter the spiritual land of Canaan. So ministers, as far as their work is concerned, give us the sacrament and what is visible, but our Lord gives what the sacrament signifies—namely the invisible gifts and graces; washing, purifying, and cleansing our souls of all filth and unrighteousness; renewing our hearts and filling them with all comfort; giving us true assurance of his fatherly goodness; clothing us with the “new man” and stripping off the “old,” with all its works. <sup>78</sup> For this reason we believe that anyone who aspires to reach eternal life ought to be baptized only once without ever repeating it—for we cannot be born twice. Yet this baptism is profitable not only when the water is on us and when we receive it but throughout our entire lives. For that reason we detest the error of the Anabaptists who are not content with a single baptism once received and also condemn the baptism of the children of believers. We believe our children ought to be baptized and sealed with the sign of the covenant, as little children were circumcised in Israel on the basis of the same promises made to our children. And truly, Christ has shed his blood no less for washing the little children of believers than he did for adults. Therefore they ought to receive the sign and sacrament of what Christ has done for them, just as the Lord commanded in the law that by offering a lamb for them the sacrament of the suffering and death of Christ would be granted them shortly after their birth. This was the sacrament of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, baptism does for our children what circumcision did for the Jewish people. That is why Paul calls baptism the “circumcision of Christ.”<sup>79</sup>

  <sup>77</sup>Matt. 28:19
  <sup>78</sup>Col. 3:9–10
  <sup>79</sup>Col. 2:11


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC35
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 35: The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

  We believe and confess that our Savior Jesus Christ has ordained and instituted the sacrament of the Holy Supper to nourish and sustain those who are already born again and ingrafted into his family: his church. Now those who are born again have two lives in them. The one is physical and temporal—they have it from the moment of their first birth, and it is common to all. The other is spiritual and heavenly, and is given them in their second birth; it comes through the Word of the gospel in the communion of the body of Christ; and this life is common to God’s elect only. Thus, to support the physical and earthly life God has prescribed for us an appropriate earthly and material bread, which is as common to all as life itself also is. But to maintain the spiritual and heavenly life that belongs to believers he has sent a living bread that came down from heaven: namely Jesus Christ, who nourishes and maintains the spiritual life of believers when eaten—that is, when appropriated and received spiritually by faith. To represent to us this spiritual and heavenly bread Christ has instituted an earthly and visible bread as the sacrament of his body and wine as the sacrament of his blood. He did this to testify to us that just as truly as we take and hold the sacraments in our hands and eat and drink it in our mouths, by which our life is then sustained, so truly we receive into our souls, for our spiritual life, the true body and true blood of Christ, our only Savior. We receive these by faith, which is the hand and mouth of our souls. Now it is certain that Jesus Christ did not prescribe his sacraments for us in vain, since he works in us all he represents by these holy signs, although the manner in which he does it goes beyond our understanding and is incomprehensible to us, just as the operation of God’s Spirit is hidden and incomprehensible. Yet we do not go wrong when we say that what is eaten is Christ’s own natural body and what is drunk is his own blood—but the manner in which we eat it is not by the mouth but by the Spirit, through faith. In that way Jesus Christ remains always seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven—but he never refrains on that account to communicate himself to us through faith. This banquet is a spiritual table at which Christ communicates himself to us with all his benefits. At that table he makes us enjoy himself as much as the merits of his suffering and death, as he nourishes, strengthens, and comforts our poor, desolate souls by the eating of his flesh, and relieves and renews them by the drinking of his blood. Moreover, though the sacraments and the thing signified are joined together, not all receive both of them. The wicked person certainly takes the sacrament, to his condemnation, but does not receive the truth of the sacrament, just as Judas and Simon the Sorcerer both indeed received the sacrament, but not Christ, who was signified by it. He is communicated only to believers. Finally, with humility and reverence we receive the holy sacrament in the gathering of God’s people, as we engage together, with thanksgiving, in a holy remembrance of the death of Christ our Savior, and as we thus confess our faith and Christian religion. Therefore no one should come to this table without examining himself carefully, lest “by eating this bread and drinking this cup he eat and drink to his own judgment.”<sup>80</sup> In short, by the use of this holy sacrament we are moved to a fervent love of God and our neighbors. Therefore we reject as desecrations of the sacraments all the muddled ideas and damnable inventions that men have added and mixed in with them. And we say that we should be content with the procedure that Christ and the apostles have taught us and speak of these things as they have spoken of them.

  <sup>80</sup>1 Cor. 11:27


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC36
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 36: The Civil Government

  We believe that because of the depravity of the human race our good God has ordained kings, princes, and civil officers. He wants the world to be governed by laws and policies so that human lawlessness may be restrained and that everything may be conducted in good order among human beings. For that purpose he has placed the sword in the hands of the government, to punish evil people and protect the good. And being called in this manner to contribute to the advancement of a society that is pleasing to God, the civil rulers have the task, subject to God’s law, of removing every obstacle to the preaching of the gospel and to every aspect of divine worship. They should do this while completely refraining from every tendency toward exercising absolute authority, and while functioning in the sphere entrusted to them, with the means belonging to them. They should do it in order that the Word of God may have free course; the kingdom of Jesus Christ may make progress; and every anti-Christian power may be resisted.

  * Moreover everyone, regardless of status, condition, or rank, must be subject to the government, and pay taxes, and hold its representatives in honor and respect, and obey them in all things that are not in conflict with God’s Word, praying for them that the Lord may be willing to lead them in all their ways and that we may live a peaceful and quiet life in all piety and decency. And on this matter we denounce the Anabaptists, other anarchists, and in general all those who want to reject the authorities and civil officers and to subvert justice by introducing common ownership of goods and corrupting the moral order that God has established among human beings.

  * The preceding three paragraphs are a substitution for the original paragraph below, which various Reformed Synods have judged to be unbiblical:

  “And the government’s task is not limited to caring for and watching over the public domain but extends also to upholding the sacred ministry, with a view to removing and destroying all idolatry and false worship of the Antichrist; to promoting the kingdom of Jesus Christ; and to furthering the preaching of the gospel everywhere; to the end that God may be honored and served by everyone, as he requires in his Word.”


type: bc
name: Belgic Confession
label: BC37
content:
  # Belgic Confession
  ## Article 37: The Last Judgment

  Finally, we believe, according to God’s Word, that when the time appointed by the Lord is come (which is unknown to all creatures) and the number of the elect is complete, our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, bodily and visibly, as he ascended, with great glory and majesty, to declare himself the judge of the living and the dead. He will burn this old world, in fire and flame, in order to cleanse it. Then all human creatures will appear in person before that great judge—men, women, and children, who have lived from the beginning until the end of the world. They will be summoned there by the voice of the archangel and by the sound of the divine trumpet.<sup>81</sup> For all those who died before that time will be raised from the earth, their spirits being joined and united with their own bodies in which they lived. And as for those who are still alive, they will not die like the others but will be changed “in the twinkling of an eye” from “corruptible to incorruptible.”<sup>82</sup> Then “the books” (that is, the consciences) will be opened, and the dead will be judged according to the things they did in the world,<sup>83</sup> whether good or evil. Indeed, all people will give account of all the idle words they have spoken,<sup>84</sup> which the world regards as only playing games. And then the secrets and hypocrisies of men will be publicly uncovered in the sight of all. Therefore, with good reason the thought of this judgment is horrible and dreadful to wicked and evil people. But it is very pleasant and a great comfort to the righteous and elect, since their total redemption will then be accomplished. They will then receive the fruits of their labor and of the trouble they have suffered; their innocence will be openly recognized by all; and they will see the terrible vengeance that God will bring on the evil ones who tyrannized, oppressed, and tormented them in this world. The evil ones will be convicted by the witness of their own consciences, and shall be made immortal—but only to be tormented in the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.<sup>85</sup> In contrast, the faithful and elect will be crowned with glory and honor. The Son of God will “confess their names”<sup>86</sup> before God his Father and the holy and elect angels; all tears will be “wiped from their eyes”;<sup>87</sup> and their cause—at present condemned as heretical and evil by many judges and civil officers—will be acknowledged as the “cause of the Son of God.” And as a gracious reward the Lord will make them possess a glory such as the heart of man could never imagine. So we look forward to that great day with longing in order to enjoy fully the promises of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

  <sup>81</sup>1 Thess. 4:16
  <sup>82</sup>1 Cor. 15:51–53
  <sup>83</sup>Rev. 20:12
  <sup>84</sup>Matt. 12:36
  <sup>85</sup>Matt. 25:14
  <sup>86</sup>Matt. 10:32
  <sup>87</sup>Rev. 7:17


type: cd
name: Canon of Dort
label: CD1
content:
  # The First Main Point of Doctrine
  ## Divine Election and Reprobation

  The Judgment concerning Divine Predestination Which the Synod Declares to Be in Agreement with the Word of God and Accepted till Now in the Reformed Churches, Set Forth in Several Articles

  ### Article 1: God’s Right to Condemn All People

  Since all people have sinned in Adam and have come under the sentence of the curse and eternal death, God would have done no one an injustice if it had been his will to leave the entire human race in sin and under the curse, and to condemn them on account of their sin. As the apostle says: “The whole world is liable to the condemnation of God” (Rom. 3:19), “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

  ### Article 2: The Manifestation of God’s Love

  But this is how God showed his love: he sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (1 John 4:9; John 3:16).

  ### Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel

  In order that people may be brought to faith, God mercifully sends proclaimers of this very joyful message to the people he wishes and at the time he wishes. By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. For “how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone preaching? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent?” (Rom. 10:14–15).

  ### Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel

  God’s anger remains on those who do not believe this gospel. But those who do receive it and embrace Jesus the Savior with a true and living faith are delivered through him from God’s anger and from destruction, and receive the gift of eternal life.

  ### Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith

  The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, is not at all in God, but in man. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvation through him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is a gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). Likewise: “It has been freely given to you to believe in Christ” (Phil. 1:29).

  ### Article 6: God’s Eternal Decision

  The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, and that others do not, stems from his eternal decision. For “all his works are known to God from eternity” (Acts 15:18; Eph. 1:11). In accordance with this decision he graciously softens the hearts, however hard, of his chosen ones and inclines them to believe, but by his just judgment he leaves in their wickedness and hardness of heart those who have not been chosen. And in this especially is disclosed to us his act—unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just—of distinguishing between people equally lost. This is the well-known decision of election and reprobation revealed in God’s Word. This decision the wicked, impure, and unstable distort to their own ruin, but it provides holy and godly souls with comfort beyond words.

  ### Article 7: Election

  Election [or choosing] is God’s unchangeable purpose by which he did the following:

  Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, he chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. He did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation.

  And so he decided to give the chosen ones to Christ to be saved, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ’s fellowship through his Word and Spirit. In other words, he decided to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of his Son, to glorify them.

  God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of the riches of his glorious grace.

  As Scripture says, “God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; he predestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, in himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved” (Eph. 1:4–6). And elsewhere, “Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).

  ### Article 8: A Single Decision of Election

  This election is not of many kinds; it is one and the same election for all who were to be saved in the Old and the New Testament. For Scripture declares that there is a single good pleasure, purpose, and plan of God’s will, by which he chose us from eternity both to grace and to glory, both to salvation and to the way of salvation, which he prepared in advance for us to walk in.

  ### Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith

  This same election took place, not on the basis of foreseen faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, or of any other good quality and disposition, as though it were based on a prerequisite cause or condition in the person to be chosen, but rather for the purpose of faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, and so on. Accordingly, election is the source of each of the benefits of salvation. Faith, holiness, and the other saving gifts, and at last eternal life itself, flow forth from election as its fruits and effects. As the apostle says, “He chose us” (not because we were, but) “so that we should be holy and blameless before him in love” (Eph. 1:4).

  ### Article 10: Election Based on God’s Good Pleasure

  But the cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the good pleasure of God. This does not involve his choosing certain human qualities or actions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation, but rather involves his adopting certain particular persons from among the common mass of sinners as his own possession. As Scripture says, “When the children were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad …, she [Rebecca] was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’ ” (Rom. 9:11–13). Also, “All who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).

  ### Article 11: Election Unchangeable

  Just as God himself is most wise, unchangeable, all-knowing, and almighty, so the election made by him can neither be suspended nor altered, revoked, or annulled; neither can his chosen ones be cast off, nor their number reduced.

  ### Article 12: The Assurance of Election

  Assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election to salvation is given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differing measure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden and deep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy and holy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God’s Word—such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow for their sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.

  ### Article 13: The Fruit of This Assurance

  In their awareness and assurance of this election God’s children daily find greater cause to humble themselves before God, to adore the fathomless depth of his mercies, to cleanse themselves, and to give fervent love in return to him who first so greatly loved them. This is far from saying that this teaching concerning election, and reflection upon it, make God’s children lax in observing his commandments or carnally self-assured. By God’s just judgment this does usually happen to those who casually take for granted the grace of election or engage in idle and brazen talk about it but are unwilling to walk in the ways of the chosen.

  ### Article 14: Teaching Election Properly

  Just as, by God’s wise plan, this teaching concerning divine election has been proclaimed through the prophets, Christ himself, and the apostles, in Old and New Testament times, and has subsequently been committed to writing in the Holy Scriptures, so also today in God’s church, for which it was specifically intended, this teaching must be set forth—with a spirit of discretion, in a godly and holy manner, at the appropriate time and place, without inquisitive searching into the ways of the Most High. This must be done for the glory of God’s most holy name, and for the lively comfort of his people.

  ### Article 15: Reprobation

  Moreover, Holy Scripture most especially highlights this eternal and undeserved grace of our election and brings it out more clearly for us, in that it further bears witness that not all people have been chosen but that some have not been chosen or have been passed by in God’s eternal election—those, that is, concerning whom God, on the basis of his entirely free, most just, irreproachable, and unchangeable good pleasure, made the following decision: to leave them in the common misery into which, by their own fault, they have plunged themselves; not to grant them saving faith and the grace of conversion; but finally to condemn and eternally punish them (having been left in their own ways and under his just judgment), not only for their unbelief but also for all their other sins, in order to display his justice. And this is the decision of reprobation, which does not at all make God the author of sin (a blasphemous thought!) but rather its fearful, irreproachable, just judge and avenger.

  ### Article 16: Responses to the Teaching of Reprobation

  Those who do not yet actively experience within themselves a living faith in Christ or an assured confidence of heart, peace of conscience, a zeal for childlike obedience, and a glorying in God through Christ, but who nevertheless use the means by which God has promised to work these things in us—such people ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to count themselves among the reprobate; rather they ought to continue diligently in the use of the means, to desire fervently a time of more abundant grace, and to wait for it in reverence and humility. On the other hand, those who seriously desire to turn to God, to be pleasing to him alone, and to be delivered from the body of death, but are not yet able to make such progress along the way of godliness and faith as they would like—such people ought much less to stand in fear of the teaching concerning reprobation, since our merciful God has promised that he will not snuff out a smoldering wick and that he will not break a bruised reed. However, those who have forgotten God and their Savior Jesus Christ and have abandoned themselves wholly to the cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh—such people have every reason to stand in fear of this teaching, as long as they do not seriously turn to God.

  ### Article 17: The Salvation of Deceased Infants of Believers

  Since we must make judgments about God’s will from his Word, which testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature but by virtue of the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents are included, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom God calls out of this life in infancy.

  ### Article 18: The Proper Attitude toward Election and Reprobation

  To those who complain about this grace of an undeserved election and about the severity of a just reprobation, we reply with the words of the apostle, “Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” (Rom. 9:20), and with the words of our Savior, “Have I no right to do what I want with my own?” (Matt. 20:15). We, however, with reverent adoration of these secret things, cry out with the apostle: “Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways beyond tracing out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has first given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Rom. 11:33–36).

  ## Rejection of the Errors

  Having set forth the orthodox teaching concerning election and reprobation, the Synod rejects the errors of those
  1. Who teach that the will of God to save those who would believe and persevere in faith and in the obedience of faith is the whole and entire decision of election to salvation, and that nothing else concerning this decision has been revealed in God’s Word.

  For they deceive the simple and plainly contradict Holy Scripture in its testimony that God does not only wish to save those who would believe, but that he has also from eternity chosen certain particular people to whom, rather than to others, he would within time grant faith in Christ and perseverance. As Scripture says, “I have revealed your name to those whom you gave me” (John 17:6). Likewise, “All who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48), and “He chose us before the foundation of the world so that we should be holy…” (Eph. 1:4).

  2. Who teach that God’s election to eternal life is of many kinds: one general and indefinite, the other particular and definite; and the latter in turn either incomplete, revocable, nonperemptory (or conditional), or else complete, irrevocable, and peremptory (or absolute). Likewise, who teach that there is one election to faith and another to salvation, so that there can be an election to justifying faith apart from a peremptory election to salvation.

  For this is an invention of the human brain, devised apart from the Scriptures, which distorts the teaching concerning election and breaks up this golden chain of salvation: “Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).

  3. Who teach that God’s good pleasure and purpose, which Scripture mentions in its teaching of election, does not involve God’s choosing certain particular people rather than others, but involves God’s choosing, out of all possible conditions (including the works of the law) or out of the whole order of things, the intrinsically unworthy act of faith, as well as the imperfect obedience of faith, to be a condition of salvation; and it involves his graciously wishing to count this as perfect obedience and to look upon it as worthy of the reward of eternal life.

  For by this pernicious error the good pleasure of God and the merit of Christ are robbed of their effectiveness and people are drawn away, by unprofitable inquiries, from the truth of undeserved justification and from the simplicity of the Scriptures. It also gives the lie to these words of the apostle: “God called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of works, but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim. 1:9).

  4. Who teach that in election to faith a prerequisite condition is that man should rightly use the light of nature, be upright, unassuming, humble, and disposed to eternal life, as though election depended to some extent on these factors.

  For this smacks of Pelagius, and it clearly calls into question the words of the apostle: “We lived at one time in the passions of our flesh, following the will of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in transgressions, made us alive with Christ, by whose grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with him and seated us with him in heaven in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages we might show the surpassing riches of his grace, according to his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith (and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God) not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:3–9).

  5. Who teach that the incomplete and nonperemptory election of particular persons to salvation occurred on the basis of a foreseen faith, repentance, holiness, and godliness, which has just begun or continued for some time; but that complete and peremptory election occurred on the basis of a foreseen perseverance to the end in faith, repentance, holiness, and godliness. And that this is the gracious and evangelical worthiness, on account of which the one who is chosen is more worthy than the one who is not chosen. And therefore that faith, the obedience of faith, holiness, godliness, and perseverance are not fruits or effects of an unchangeable election to glory, but indispensable conditions and causes, which are prerequisite in those who are to be chosen in the complete election, and which are foreseen as achieved in them.

  This runs counter to the entire Scripture, which throughout impresses upon our ears and hearts these sayings among others: “Election is not by works, but by him who calls” (Rom. 9:11–12); “All who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48); “He chose us in himself so that we should be holy” (Eph. 1:4); “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16); “If by grace, not by works” (Rom. 11:6); “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son” (1 John 4:10).

  6. Who teach that not every election to salvation is unchangeable, but that some of the chosen can perish and do in fact perish eternally, with no decision of God to prevent it.

  By this gross error they make God changeable, destroy the comfort of the godly concerning the steadfastness of their election, and contradict the Holy Scriptures, which teach that “the elect cannot be led astray” (Matt. 24:24), that “Christ does not lose those given to him by the Father” (John 6:39), and that “those whom God predestined, called, and justified, he also glorifies” (Rom. 8:30).

  7. Who teach that in this life there is no fruit, no awareness, and no assurance of one’s unchangeable election to glory, except as conditional upon something changeable and contingent.

  For not only is it absurd to speak of an uncertain assurance, but these things also militate against the experience of the saints, who with the apostle rejoice from an awareness of their election and sing the praises of this gift of God; who, as Christ urged, “rejoice” with his disciples “that their names have been written in heaven” (Luke 10:20); and finally who hold up against the flaming arrows of the devil’s temptations the awareness of their election, with the question “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen?” (Rom. 8:33).

  8. Who teach that it was not on the basis of his just will alone that God decided to leave anyone in the fall of Adam and in the common state of sin and condemnation or to pass anyone by in the imparting of grace necessary for faith and conversion.

  For these words stand fast: “He has mercy on whom he wishes, and he hardens whom he wishes” (Rom. 9:18). And also: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matt. 13:11). Likewise: “I give glory to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and have revealed them to little children; yes, Father, because that was your pleasure” (Matt. 11:25–26).

  9. Who teach that the cause for God’s sending the gospel to one people rather than to another is not merely and solely God’s good pleasure, but rather that one people is better and worthier than the other to whom the gospel is not communicated.

  For Moses contradicts this when he addresses the people of Israel as follows: “Behold, to Jehovah your God belong the heavens and the highest heavens, the earth and whatever is in it. But Jehovah was inclined in his affection to love your ancestors alone, and chose out their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as at this day” (Deut. 10:14–15). And also Christ: “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! for if those mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matt. 11:21).


type: cd
name: Canon of Dort
label: CD2
content:
  # The Second Main Point of Doctrine
  ## Christ’s Death and Human Redemption through It

  ### Article 1: The Punishment Which God’s Justice Requires

  God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely just. His justice requires (as he has revealed himself in the Word) that the sins we have committed against his infinite majesty be punished with both temporal and eternal punishments, of soul as well as body. We cannot escape these punishments unless satisfaction is given to God’s justice.

  ### Article 2: The Satisfaction Made by Christ

  Since, however, we ourselves cannot give this satisfaction or deliver ourselves from God’s anger, God in his boundless mercy has given us as a guarantee his only begotten Son, who was made to be sin and a curse for us, in our place, on the cross, in order that he might give satisfaction for us.

  ### Article 3: The Infinite Value of Christ’s Death

  This death of God’s Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world.

  ### Article 4: Reasons for This Infinite Value

  This death is of such great value and worth for the reason that the person who suffered it is—as was necessary to be our Savior—not only a true and perfectly holy man, but also the only begotten Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Another reason is that this death was accompanied by the experience of God’s anger and curse, which we by our sins had fully deserved.

  ### Article 5: The Mandate to Proclaim the Gospel to All

  Moreover, it is the promise of the gospel that whoever believes in Christ crucified shall not perish but have eternal life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be announced and declared without differentiation or discrimination to all nations and people, to whom God in his good pleasure sends the gospel.

  ### Article 6: Unbelief Man’s Responsibility

  However, that many who have been called through the gospel do not repent or believe in Christ but perish in unbelief is not because the sacrifice of Christ offered on the cross is deficient or insufficient, but because they themselves are at fault.

  ### Article 7: Faith God’s Gift

  But all who genuinely believe and are delivered and saved by Christ’s death from their sins and from destruction receive this favor solely from God’s grace—which he owes to no one—given to them in Christ from eternity.

  ### Article 8: The Saving Effectiveness of Christ’s Death

  For it was the entirely free plan and very gracious will and intention of God the Father that the enlivening and saving effectiveness of his Son’s costly death should work itself out in all his chosen ones, in order that he might grant justifying faith to them only and thereby lead them without fail to salvation. In other words, it was God’s will that Christ through the blood of the cross (by which he confirmed the new covenant) should effectively redeem from every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to him by the Father; that he should grant them faith (which, like the Holy Spirit’s other saving gifts, he acquired for them by his death); that he should cleanse them by his blood from all their sins, both original and actual, whether committed before or after their coming to faith; that he should faithfully preserve them to the very end; and that he should finally present them to himself, a glorious people, without spot or wrinkle.

  ### Article 9: The Fulfillment of God’s Plan

  This plan, arising out of God’s eternal love for his chosen ones, from the beginning of the world to the present time has been powerfully carried out and will also be carried out in the future, the gates of hell seeking vainly to prevail against it. As a result the chosen are gathered into one, all in their own time, and there is always a church of believers founded on Christ’s blood, a church which steadfastly loves, persistently worships, and—here and in all eternity—praises him as her Savior who laid down his life for her on the cross, as a bridegroom for his bride.

  # Rejection of the Errors
  ## Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those

  1. Who teach that God the Father appointed his Son to death on the cross without a fixed and definite plan to save anyone by name, so that the necessity, usefulness, and worth of what Christ’s death obtained could have stood intact and altogether perfect, complete and whole, even if the redemption that was obtained had never in actual fact been applied to any individual.

  For this assertion is an insult to the wisdom of God the Father and to the merit of Jesus Christ, and it is contrary to Scripture. For the Savior speaks as follows: “I lay down my life for the sheep, and I know them” (John 10:15, 27). And Isaiah the prophet says concerning the Savior: “When he shall make himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand” (Isa. 53:10). Finally, this undermines the article of the creed in which we confess what we believe concerning the church.

  2. Who teach that the purpose of Christ’s death was not to establish in actual fact a new covenant of grace by his blood, but only to acquire for the Father the mere right to enter once more into a covenant with men, whether of grace or of works.

  For this conflicts with Scripture, which teaches that Christ “has become the guarantee and mediator” of a better—that is, “a new”—“covenant” (Heb. 7:22; 9:15), and that “a will is in force only when someone has died” (Heb. 9:17).

  3. Who teach that Christ, by the satisfaction which he gave, did not certainly merit for anyone salvation itself and the faith by which this satisfaction of Christ is effectively applied to salvation, but only acquired for the Father the authority or plenary will to relate in a new way with men and to impose such new conditions as he chose, and that the satisfying of these conditions depends on the free choice of man; consequently, that it was possible that either all or none would fulfill them.

  For they have too low an opinion of the death of Christ, do not at all acknowledge the foremost fruit or benefit which it brings forth, and summon back from hell the Pelagian error.

  4. Who teach that what is involved in the new covenant of grace which God the Father made with men through the intervening of Christ’s death is not that we are justified before God and saved through faith, insofar as it accepts Christ’s merit, but rather that God, having withdrawn his demand for perfect obedience to the law, counts faith itself, and the imperfect obedience of faith, as perfect obedience to the law, and graciously looks upon this as worthy of the reward of eternal life.

  For they contradict Scripture: “They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ, whom God presented as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:24–25). And along with the ungodly Socinus, they introduce a new and foreign justification of man before God, against the consensus of the whole church.

  5. Who teach that all people have been received into the state of reconciliation and into the grace of the covenant, so that no one on account of original sin is liable to condemnation, or is to be condemned, but that all are free from the guilt of this sin.

  For this opinion conflicts with Scripture which asserts that we are by nature children of wrath.

  Who make use of the distinction between obtaining and applying in order to instill in the unwary and inexperienced the opinion that God, as far as he is concerned, wished to bestow equally upon all people the benefits which are gained by Christ’s death; but that the distinction by which some rather than others come to share in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life depends on their own free choice (which applies itself to the grace offered indiscriminately) but does not depend on the unique gift of mercy which effectively works in them, so that they, rather than others, apply that grace to themselves.

  For, while pretending to set forth this distinction in an acceptable sense, they attempt to give the people the deadly poison of Pelagianism.

  6. Who teach that Christ neither could die, nor had to die, nor did die for those whom God so dearly loved and chose to eternal life, since such people do not need the death of Christ.

  For they contradict the apostle, who says: “Christ loved me and gave himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20), and likewise: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died,” that is, for them (Rom. 8:33–34). They also contradict the Savior, who asserts: “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15), and “My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12–13).


type: cd
name: Canon of Dort
label: CD3
content:
  # The Third and Fourth Main Points of Doctrine
  ## Human Corruption, Conversion to God, and the Way It Occurs
  ### Article 1: The Effect of the Fall on Human Nature

  Man was originally created in the image of God and was furnished in his mind with a true and salutary knowledge of his Creator and things spiritual, in his will and heart with righteousness, and in all his emotions with purity; indeed, the whole man was holy. However, rebelling against God at the devil’s instigation and by his own free will, he deprived himself of these outstanding gifts. Rather, in their place he brought upon himself blindness, terrible darkness, futility, and distortion of judgment in his mind; perversity, defiance, and hardness in his heart and will; and finally impurity in all his emotions.

  ### Article 2: The Spread of Corruption

  Man brought forth children of the same nature as himself after the fall. That is to say, being corrupt he brought forth corrupt children. The corruption spread, by God’s just judgment, from Adam to all his descendants—except for Christ alone—not by way of imitation (as in former times the Pelagians would have it) but by way of the propagation of his perverted nature.

  ### Article 3: Total Inability

  Therefore, all people are conceived in sin and are born children of wrath, unfit for any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, and slaves to sin; without the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit they are neither willing nor able to return to God, to reform their distorted nature, or even to dispose themselves to such reform.

  ### Article 4: The Inadequacy of the Light of Nature

  There is, to be sure, a certain light of nature remaining in man after the fall, by virtue of which he retains some notions about God, natural things, and the difference between what is moral and immoral, and demonstrates a certain eagerness for virtue and for good outward behavior. But this light of nature is far from enabling man to come to a saving knowledge of God and conversion to him—so far, in fact, that man does not use it rightly even in matters of nature and society. Instead, in various ways he completely distorts this light, whatever its precise character, and suppresses it in unrighteousness. In doing so he renders himself without excuse before God.

  ### Article 5: The Inadequacy of the Law

  In this respect, what is true of the light of nature is true also of the Ten Commandments given by God through Moses specifically to the Jews. For man cannot obtain saving grace through the Decalogue, because, although it does expose the magnitude of his sin and increasingly convict him of his guilt, yet it does not offer a remedy or enable him to escape from his misery, and, indeed, weakened as it is by the flesh, leaves the offender under the curse.

  ### Article 6: The Saving Power of the Gospel

  What, therefore, neither the light of nature nor the law can do, God accomplishes by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word or the ministry of reconciliation. This is the gospel about the Messiah, through which it has pleased God to save believers, in both the Old and the New Testament.

  ### Article 7: God’s Freedom in Revealing the Gospel

  In the Old Testament, God revealed this secret of his will to a small number; in the New Testament (now without any distinction between peoples) he discloses it to a large number. The reason for this difference must not be ascribed to the greater worth of one nation over another, or to a better use of the light of nature, but to the free good pleasure and undeserved love of God. Therefore, those who receive so much grace, beyond and in spite of all they deserve, ought to acknowledge it with humble and thankful hearts; on the other hand, with the apostle they ought to adore (but certainly not inquisitively search into) the severity and justice of God’s judgments on the others, who do not receive this grace.

  ### Article 8: The Serious Call of the Gospel

  Nevertheless, all who are called through the gospel are called seriously. For seriously and most genuinely God makes known in his Word what is pleasing to him: that those who are called should come to him. Seriously he also promises rest for their souls and eternal life to all who come to him and believe.

  ### Article 9: Human Responsibility for Rejecting the Gospel

  The fact that many who are called through the ministry of the gospel do not come and are not brought to conversion must not be blamed on the gospel, nor on Christ, who is offered through the gospel, nor on God, who calls them through the gospel and even bestows various gifts on them, but on the people themselves who are called. Some in self-assurance do not even entertain the Word of life; others do entertain it but do not take it to heart, and for that reason, after the fleeting joy of a temporary faith, they relapse; others choke the seed of the Word with the thorns of life’s cares and with the pleasures of the world and bring forth no fruits. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13).

  ### Article 10: Conversion as the Work of God

  The fact that others who are called through the ministry of the gospel do come and are brought to conversion must not be credited to man, as though one distinguishes himself by free choice from others who are furnished with equal or sufficient grace for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains). No, it must be credited to God: just as from eternity he chose his own in Christ, so within time he effectively calls them, grants them faith and repentance, and, having rescued them from the dominion of darkness, brings them into the kingdom of his Son, in order that they may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called them out of darkness into this marvelous light, and may boast not in themselves, but in the Lord, as apostolic words frequently testify in Scripture.

  ### Article 11: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Conversion

  Moreover, when God carries out this good pleasure in his chosen ones, or works true conversion in them, he not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, he also penetrates into the inmost being of man, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised. He infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant; he activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds.

  ### Article 12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work

  And this is the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from the dead, and the making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which God works in us without our help. But this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God has done his work, it remains in man’s power whether or not to be reborn or converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work, one that is at the same time most powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which is not lesser than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches. As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe. And then the will, now renewed, is not only activated and motivated by God but in being activated by God is also itself active. For this reason, man himself, by that grace which he has received, is also rightly said to believe and to repent.

  ### Article 13: The Incomprehensible Way of Regeneration

  In this life believers cannot fully understand the way this work occurs; meanwhile, they rest content with knowing and experiencing that by this grace of God they do believe with the heart and love their Savior.

  ### Article 14: The Way God Gives Faith

  In this way, therefore, faith is a gift of God, not in the sense that it is offered by God for man to choose, but that it is in actual fact bestowed on man, breathed and infused into him. Nor is it a gift in the sense that God bestows only the potential to believe, but then awaits assent—the act of believing—from man’s choice; rather, it is a gift in the sense that he who works both willing and acting and, indeed, works all things in all people produces in man both the will to believe and the belief itself.

  ### Article 15: Responses to God’s Grace

  God does not owe this grace to anyone. For what could God owe to one who has nothing to give that can be paid back? Indeed, what could God owe to one who has nothing of his own to give but sin and falsehood? Therefore the person who receives this grace owes and gives eternal thanks to God alone; the person who does not receive it either does not care at all about these spiritual things and is satisfied with himself in his condition, or else in self-assurance foolishly boasts about having something which he lacks. Furthermore, following the example of the apostles, we are to think and to speak in the most favorable way about those who outwardly profess their faith and better their lives, for the inner chambers of the heart are unknown to us. But for others who have not yet been called, we are to pray to the God who calls things that do not exist as though they did. In no way, however, are we to pride ourselves as better than they, as though we had distinguished ourselves from them.

  ### Article 16: Regeneration’s Effect

  However, just as by the fall man did not cease to be man, endowed with intellect and will, and just as sin, which has spread through the whole human race, did not abolish the nature of the human race but distorted and spiritually killed it, so also this divine grace of regeneration does not act in people as if they were blocks and stones; nor does it abolish the will and its properties or coerce a reluctant will by force, but spiritually revives, heals, reforms, and—in a manner at once pleasing and powerful—bends it back. As a result, a ready and sincere obedience of the Spirit now begins to prevail where before the rebellion and resistance of the flesh were completely dominant. It is in this that the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consists. Thus, if the marvelous Maker of every good thing were not dealing with us, man would have no hope of getting up from his fall by his free choice, by which he plunged himself into ruin when still standing upright.

  ### Article 17: God’s Use of Means in Regeneration

  Just as the almighty work of God by which he brings forth and sustains our natural life does not rule out but requires the use of means, by which God, according to his infinite wisdom and goodness, has wished to exercise his power, so also the aforementioned supernatural work of God by which he regenerates us in no way rules out or cancels the use of the gospel, which God in his great wisdom has appointed to be the seed of regeneration and the food of the soul. For this reason, the apostles and the teachers who followed them taught the people in a godly manner about this grace of God, to give him the glory and to humble all pride, and yet did not neglect meanwhile to keep the people, by means of the holy admonitions of the gospel, under the administration of the Word, the sacraments, and discipline. So even today it is out of the question that the teachers or those taught in the church should presume to test God by separating what he in his good pleasure has wished to be closely joined together. For grace is bestowed through admonitions, and the more readily we perform our duty, the more lustrous the benefit of God working in us usually is and the better his work advances. To him alone, both for the means and for their saving fruit and effectiveness, all glory is owed forever. Amen.

  ## Rejection of the Errors
  ### Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those

  1. Who teach that, properly speaking, it cannot be said that original sin in itself is enough to condemn the whole human race or to warrant temporal and eternal punishments.

  For they contradict the apostle when he says: “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death passed on to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12); also: “The guilt followed one sin and brought condemnation” (Rom. 5:16); likewise: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

  2. Who teach that the spiritual gifts or the good dispositions and virtues such as goodness, holiness, and righteousness could not have resided in man’s will when he was first created, and therefore could not have been separated from the will at the fall.

  For this conflicts with the apostle’s description of the image of God in Ephesians 4:24, where he portrays the image in terms of righteousness and holiness, which definitely reside in the will.

  3. Who teach that in spiritual death the spiritual gifts have not been separated from man’s will, since the will in itself has never been corrupted but only hindered by the darkness of the mind and the unruliness of the emotions, and since the will is able to exercise its innate free capacity once these hindrances are removed, which is to say, it is able of itself to will or choose whatever good is set before it—or else not to will or choose it.

  This is a novel idea and an error and has the effect of elevating the power of free choice, contrary to the words of Jeremiah the prophet: “The heart itself is deceitful above all things and wicked” (Jer. 17:9); and of the words of the apostle: “All of us also lived among them [the sons of disobedience] at one time in the passions of our flesh, following the will of our flesh and thoughts” (Eph. 2:3).

  4. Who teach that unregenerate man is not strictly or totally dead in his sins or deprived of all capacity for spiritual good but is able to hunger and thirst for righteousness or life and to offer the sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit which is pleasing to God.

  For these views are opposed to the plain testimonies of Scripture: “You were dead in your transgressions and sins” (Eph. 2:1, 5); “The imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart is only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5; 8:21). Besides, to hunger and thirst for deliverance from misery and for life, and to offer God the sacrifice of a broken spirit is characteristic only of the regenerate and of those called blessed (Ps. 51:17; Matt. 5:6).

  5. Who teach that corrupt and natural man can make such good use of common grace (by which they mean the light of nature) or of the gifts remaining after the fall that he is able thereby gradually to obtain a greater grace—evangelical or saving grace—as well as salvation itself; and that in this way God, for his part, shows himself ready to reveal Christ to all people, since he provides to all, to a sufficient extent and in an effective manner, the means necessary for the revealing of Christ, for faith, and for repentance.

  For Scripture, not to mention the experience of all ages, testifies that this is false: “He makes known his words to Jacob, his statutes and his laws to Israel; he has done this for no other nation, and they do not know his laws” (Ps. 147:19–20); “In the past God let all nations go their own way” (Acts 14:16); “They [Paul and his companions] were kept by the Holy Spirit from speaking God’s word in Asia”; and “When they had come to Mysia, they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit would not allow them to” (Acts 16:6–7).

  6. Who teach that in the true conversion of man new qualities, dispositions, or gifts cannot be infused or poured into his will by God, and indeed that the faith [or believing] by which we first come to conversion and from which we receive the name “believers” is not a quality or gift infused by God, but only an act of man, and that it cannot be called a gift except in respect to the power of attaining faith.

  For these views contradict the Holy Scriptures, which testify that God does infuse or pour into our hearts the new qualities of faith, obedience, and the experiencing of his love: “I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts” (Jer. 31:33); “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring” (Isa. 44:3); “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). They also conflict with the continuous practice of the church, which prays with the prophet: “Convert me, Lord, and I shall be converted” (Jer. 31:18).

  7. Who teach that the grace by which we are converted to God is nothing but a gentle persuasion, or (as others explain it) that the way of God’s acting in man’s conversion that is most noble and suited to human nature is that which happens by persuasion, and that nothing prevents this grace of moral suasion even by itself from making natural men spiritual; indeed, that God does not produce the assent of the will except in this manner of moral suasion, and that the effectiveness of God’s work by which it surpasses the work of Satan consists in the fact that God promises eternal benefits while Satan promises temporal ones.

  For this teaching is entirely Pelagian and contrary to the whole of Scripture, which recognizes besides this persuasion also another, far more effective and divine way in which the Holy Spirit acts in man’s conversion. As Ezekiel 36:26 puts it: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; and I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.…”

  8. Who teach that God in regenerating man does not bring to bear that power of his omnipotence whereby he may powerfully and unfailingly bend man’s will to faith and conversion, but that even when God has accomplished all the works of grace which he uses for man’s conversion, man nevertheless can, and in actual fact often does, so resist God and the Spirit in their intent and will to regenerate him, that man completely thwarts his own rebirth; and, indeed, that it remains in his own power whether or not to be reborn.

  For this does away with all effective functioning of God’s grace in our conversion and subjects the activity of Almighty God to the will of man; it is contrary to the apostles, who teach that “we believe by virtue of the effective working of God’s mighty strength” (Eph. 1:19), and that “God fulfills the undeserved good will of his kindness and the work of faith in us with power” (2 Thess. 1:11), and likewise that “his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).

  9. Who teach that grace and free choice are concurrent partial causes which cooperate to initiate conversion, and that grace does not precede—in the order of causality—the effective influence of the will; that is to say, that God does not effectively help man’s will to come to conversion before man’s will itself motivates and determines itself.

  For the early church already condemned this doctrine long ago in the Pelagians, on the basis of the words of the apostle: “It does not depend on man’s willing or running but on God’s mercy” (Rom. 9:16); also: “Who makes you different from anyone else?” and “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7); likewise: “It is God who works in you to will and act according to his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).


type: cd
name: Canon of Dort
label: CD5
content:
  # The Fifth Main Point of Doctrine
  ## The Perseverance of the Saints
  ### Article 1: The Regenerate Not Entirely Free from Sin

  Those people whom God according to his purpose calls into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, he also sets free from the reign and slavery of sin, though in this life not entirely from the flesh and from the body of sin.

  ### Article 2: The Believer’s Reaction to Sins of Weakness

  Hence daily sins of weakness arise, and blemishes cling to even the best works of God’s people, giving them continual cause to humble themselves before God, to flee for refuge to Christ crucified, to put the flesh to death more and more by the Spirit of supplication and by holy exercises of godliness, and to strain toward the goal of perfection, until they are freed from this body of death and reign with the Lamb of God in heaven.

  ### Article 3: God’s Preservation of the Converted

  Because of these remnants of sin dwelling in them and also because of the temptations of the world and Satan, those who have been converted could not remain standing in this grace if left to their own resources. But God is faithful, mercifully strengthening them in the grace once conferred on them and powerfully preserving them in it to the end.

  ### Article 4: The Danger of True Believers’ Falling into Serious Sins

  Although that power of God strengthening and preserving true believers in grace is more than a match for the flesh, yet those converted are not always so activated and motivated by God that in certain specific actions they cannot by their own fault depart from the leading of grace, be led astray by the desires of the flesh, and give in to them. For this reason they must constantly watch and pray that they may not be led into temptations. When they fail to do this, not only can they be carried away by the flesh, the world, and Satan into sins, even serious and outrageous ones, but also by God’s just permission they sometimes are so carried away—witness the sad cases, described in Scripture, of David, Peter, and other saints falling into sins.

  ### Article 5: The Effects of Such Serious Sins

  By such monstrous sins, however, they greatly offend God, deserve the sentence of death, grieve the Holy Spirit, suspend the exercise of faith, severely wound the conscience, and sometimes lose the awareness of grace for a time—until, after they have returned to the way by genuine repentance, God’s fatherly face again shines upon them.

  ### Article 6: God’s Saving Intervention

  For God, who is rich in mercy, according to his unchangeable purpose of election does not take his Holy Spirit from his own completely, even when they fall grievously. Neither does he let them fall down so far that they forfeit the grace of adoption and the state of justification, or commit the sin which leads to death (the sin against the Holy Spirit), and plunge themselves, entirely forsaken by him, into eternal ruin.

  ### Article 7: Renewal to Repentance

  For, in the first place, God preserves in those saints when they fall his imperishable seed from which they have been born again, lest it perish or be dislodged. Secondly, by his Word and Spirit he certainly and effectively renews them to repentance so that they have a heartfelt and godly sorrow for the sins they have committed; seek and obtain, through faith and with a contrite heart, forgiveness in the blood of the Mediator; experience again the grace of a reconciled God; through faith adore his mercies; and from then on more eagerly work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.

  ### Article 8: The Certainty of This Preservation

  So it is not by their own merits or strength but by God’s undeserved mercy that they neither forfeit faith and grace totally nor remain in their downfalls to the end and are lost. With respect to themselves this not only easily could happen, but also undoubtedly would happen; but with respect to God it cannot possibly happen, since his plan cannot be changed, his promise cannot fail, the calling according to his purpose cannot be revoked, the merit of Christ as well as his interceding and preserving cannot be nullified, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit can neither be invalidated nor wiped out.

  ### Article 9: The Assurance of This Preservation

  Concerning this preservation of those chosen to salvation and concerning the perseverance of true believers in faith, believers themselves can and do become assured in accordance with the measure of their faith, by which they firmly believe that they are and always will remain true and living members of the church, and that they have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

  ### Article 10: The Ground of This Assurance

  Accordingly, this assurance does not derive from some private revelation beyond or outside the Word, but from faith in the promises of God which he has very plentifully revealed in his Word for our comfort, from the testimony “of the Holy Spirit testifying with our spirit that we are God’s children and heirs” (Rom. 8:16–17), and finally from a serious and holy pursuit of a clear conscience and of good works. And if God’s chosen ones in this world did not have this well-founded comfort that the victory will be theirs and this reliable guarantee of eternal glory, they would be of all people most miserable.

  ### Article 11: Doubts concerning This Assurance

  Meanwhile, Scripture testifies that believers have to contend in this life with various doubts of the flesh and that under severe temptation they do not always experience this full assurance of faith and certainty of perseverance. But God, the Father of all comfort, “does not let them be tempted beyond what they can bear, but with the temptation he also provides a way out” (1 Cor. 10:13), and by the Holy Spirit revives in them the assurance of their perseverance.

  ### Article 12: This Assurance as an Incentive to Godliness

  This assurance of perseverance, however, so far from making true believers proud and carnally self-assured, is rather the true root of humility, of childlike respect, of genuine godliness, of endurance in every conflict, of fervent prayers, of steadfastness in crossbearing and in confessing the truth, and of well-founded joy in God. Reflecting on this benefit provides an incentive to a serious and continual practice of thanksgiving and good works, as is evident from the testimonies of Scripture and the examples of the saints.

  ### Article 13: Assurance No Inducement to Carelessness

  Neither does the renewed confidence of perseverance produce immorality or lack of concern for godliness in those put back on their feet after a fall, but it produces a much greater concern to observe carefully the ways of the Lord which he prepared in advance. They observe these ways in order that by walking in them they may maintain the assurance of their perseverance, lest, by their abuse of his fatherly goodness, the face of the gracious God (for the godly, looking upon his face is sweeter than life, but its withdrawal is more bitter than death) turn away from them again, with the result that they fall into greater anguish of spirit.

  ### Article 14: God’s Use of Means in Perseverance

  And, just as it has pleased God to begin this work of grace in us by the proclamation of the gospel, so he preserves, continues, and completes his work by the hearing and reading of the gospel, by meditation on it, by its exhortations, threats, and promises, and also by the use of the sacraments.

  ### Article 15: Contrasting Reactions to the Teaching of Perseverance

  This teaching about the perseverance of true believers and saints, and about their assurance of it—a teaching which God has very richly revealed in his Word for the glory of his name and for the comfort of the godly and which he impresses on the hearts of believers—is something which the flesh does not understand, Satan hates, the world ridicules, the ignorant and the hypocrites abuse, and the spirits of error attack. The bride of Christ, on the other hand, has always loved this teaching very tenderly and defended it steadfastly as a priceless treasure; and God, against whom no plan can avail and no strength can prevail, will ensure that she will continue to do this. To this God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen.

  ## Rejection of the Errors

  Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those

  1. Who teach that the perseverance of true believers is not an effect of election or a gift of God produced by Christ’s death, but a condition of the new covenant which man, before what they call his “peremptory” election and justification, must fulfill by his free will.

  For Holy Scripture testifies that perseverance follows from election and is granted to the chosen by virtue of Christ’s death, resurrection, and intercession: “The chosen obtained it; the others were hardened” (Rom. 11:7); likewise, “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not, along with him, grant us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised—who also sits at the right hand of God, and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Rom. 8:32–35).

  2. Who teach that God does provide the believer with sufficient strength to persevere and is ready to preserve this strength in him if he performs his duty, but that even with all those things in place which are necessary to persevere in faith and which God is pleased to use to preserve faith, it still always depends on the choice of man’s will whether or not he perseveres.

  For this view is obviously Pelagian; and though it intends to make men free it makes them sacrilegious. It is against the enduring consensus of evangelical teaching which takes from man all cause for boasting and ascribes the praise for this benefit only to God’s grace. It is also against the testimony of the apostle: “It is God who keeps us strong to the end, so that we will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:8).

  3. Who teach that those who truly believe and have been born again not only can forfeit justifying faith as well as grace and salvation totally and to the end, but also in actual fact do often forfeit them and are lost forever.

  For this opinion nullifies the very grace of justification and regeneration as well as the continual preservation by Christ, contrary to the plain words of the apostle Paul: “If Christ died for us while we were still sinners, we will therefore much more be saved from God’s wrath through him, since we have now been justified by his blood” (Rom. 5:8–9); and contrary to the apostle John: “No one who is born of God is intent on sin, because God’s seed remains in him, nor can he sin, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9); also contrary to the words of Jesus Christ: “I give eternal life to my sheep, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28–29).

  4. Who teach that those who truly believe and have been born again can commit the sin that leads to death (the sin against the Holy Spirit).

  For the same apostle John, after making mention of those who commit the sin that leads to death and forbidding prayer for them (1 John 5:16–17), immediately adds: “We know that anyone born of God does not commit sin” [that is, that kind of sin], “but the one who was born of God keeps himself safe, and the evil one does not touch him” (v. 18).

  5. Who teach that apart from a special revelation no one can have the assurance of future perseverance in this life.

  For by this teaching the well-founded consolation of true believers in this life is taken away and the doubting of the Romanists is reintroduced into the church. Holy Scripture, however, in many places derives the assurance not from a special and extraordinary revelation but from the marks peculiar to God’s children and from God’s completely reliable promises. So especially the apostle Paul: “Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39); and John: “They who obey his commands remain in him and he in them. And this is how we know that he remains in us: by the Spirit he gave us” (1 John 3:24).

  6. Who teach that the teaching of the assurance of perseverance and of salvation is by its very nature and character an opiate of the flesh and is harmful to godliness, good morals, prayer, and other holy exercises, but that, on the contrary, to have doubt about this is praiseworthy.

  For these people show that they do not know the effective operation of God’s grace and the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and they contradict the apostle John, who asserts the opposite in plain words: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, but what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he is made known, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:2–3). Moreover, they are refuted by the examples of the saints in both the Old and the New Testament, who though assured of their perseverance and salvation yet were constant in prayer and other exercises of godliness.

  7. Who teach that the faith of those who believe only temporarily does not differ from justifying and saving faith except in duration alone.

  For Christ himself in Matthew 13:20ff. and Luke 8:13ff. clearly defines these further differences between temporary and true believers: he says that the former receive the seed on rocky ground, and the latter receive it in good ground, or a good heart; the former have no root, and the latter are firmly rooted; the former have no fruit, and the latter produce fruit in varying measure, with steadfastness, or perseverance.

  8. Who teach that it is not absurd that a person, after losing his former regeneration, should once again, indeed quite often, be reborn.

  For by this teaching they deny the imperishable nature of God’s seed by which we are born again, contrary to the testimony of the apostle Peter: “Born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable” (1 Pet. 1:23).

  9. Who teach that Christ nowhere prayed for an unfailing perseverance of believers in faith.

  For they contradict Christ himself when he says: “I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32); and John the gospel writer when he testifies in John 17 that it was not only for the apostles, but also for all those who were to believe by their message that Christ prayed: “Holy Father, preserve them in your name” (v. 11); and “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you preserve them from the evil one” (v. 15).


type: cd
name: Canon of Dort
label: CD
content:
  # Conclusion
  ## Rejection of False Accusations

  And so this is the clear, simple, and straightforward explanation of the orthodox teaching on the five articles in dispute in the Netherlands, as well as the rejection of the errors by which the Dutch churches have for some time been disturbed. This explanation and rejection the Synod declares to be derived from God’s Word and in agreement with the confessions of the Reformed churches. Hence it clearly appears that those of whom one could hardly expect it have shown no truth, equity, and charity at all in wishing to make the public believe:

  that the teaching of the Reformed churches on predestination and on the points associated with it by its very nature and tendency draws the minds of people away from all godliness and religion, is an opiate of the flesh and the devil, and is a stronghold of Satan where he lies in wait for all people, wounds most of them, and fatally pierces many of them with the arrows of both despair and self-assurance;
  that this teaching makes God the author of sin, unjust, a tyrant, and a hypocrite; and is nothing but a refurbished Stoicism, Manicheism, Libertinism, and Mohammedanism;
  that this teaching makes people carnally self-assured, since it persuades them that nothing endangers the salvation of the chosen, no matter how they live, so that they may commit the most outrageous crimes with self-assurance; and that on the other hand nothing is of use to the reprobate for salvation even if they have truly performed all the works of the saints;
  that this teaching means that God predestined and created, by the bare and unqualified choice of his will, without the least regard or consideration of any sin, the greatest part of the world to eternal condemnation; that in the same manner in which election is the source and cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the cause of unbelief and ungodliness; that many infant children of believers are snatched in their innocence from their mothers’ breasts and cruelly cast into hell so that neither the blood of Christ nor their baptism nor the prayers of the church at their baptism can be of any use to them;
  and very many other slanderous accusations of this kind which the Reformed churches not only disavow but even denounce with their whole heart.

  Therefore this Synod of Dort in the name of the Lord pleads with all who devoutly call on the name of our Savior Jesus Christ to form their judgment about the faith of the Reformed churches, not on the basis of false accusations gathered from here or there, or even on the basis of the personal statements of a number of ancient and modern authorities—statements which are also often either quoted out of context or misquoted and twisted to convey a different meaning—but on the basis of the churches’ own official confessions and of the present explanation of the orthodox teaching which has been endorsed by the unanimous consent of the members of the whole Synod, one and all.

  Moreover, the Synod earnestly warns the false accusers themselves to consider how heavy a judgment of God awaits those who give false testimony against so many churches and their confessions, trouble the consciences of the weak, and seek to prejudice the minds of many against the fellowship of true believers.

  Finally, this Synod urges all fellow ministers in the gospel of Christ to deal with this teaching in a godly and reverent manner, in the academic institutions as well as in the churches; to do so, both in their speaking and writing, with a view to the glory of God’s name, holiness of life, and the comfort of anxious souls; to think and also speak with Scripture according to the analogy of faith; and, finally, to refrain from all those ways of speaking which go beyond the bounds set for us by the genuine sense of the Holy Scriptures and which could give impertinent sophists a just occasion to scoff at the teaching of the Reformed churches or even to bring false accusations against it.

  May God’s Son Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of God and gives gifts to men, sanctify us in the truth, lead to the truth those who err, silence the mouths of those who lay false accusations against sound teaching, and equip faithful ministers of his Word with a spirit of wisdom and discretion, that all they say may be to the glory of God and the building up of their hearers. Amen.


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD1
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 1

  ### 1. Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?

  **A**. That I am not my own,<sup>1</sup> but belong—body and soul, in life and in death<sup>2</sup>—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.<sup>3</sup>He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,<sup>4</sup> and has delivered me from the tyranny of the devil.<sup>5</sup>. He also watches over me in such a way<sup>6</sup> that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;<sup>7</sup> in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.<sup>8</sup>. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, also assures me of eternal life<sup>9</sup> and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.<sup>10</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 6:19–20](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#19)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 14:7–9](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans14.md#7)
  <sup>3</sup> [1 Cor. 3:23](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians3.md#23); [Titus 2:14](/References/Bible/56%20-%20Titus/Titus2.md#14)
  <sup>4</sup> [1 Pet. 1:18–19](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter1.md#18); [1 John 1:7–9](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John1.md#7); [2:2](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John2.md#2)
  <sup>5</sup> [John 8:34–36](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John8.md#34); [Heb. 2:14–15](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews2.md#14); [1 John 3:1–11](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John3.md#1)
  <sup>6</sup> [John 6:39–40](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John6.md#39); [10:27–30](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John10.md#27); [2 Thess. 3:3](/References/Bible/53%20-%202Thessalonians/2Thessalonians3.md#3); [1 Pet. 1:5](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter1.md#5)
  <sup>7</sup> [Matt. 10:29–31](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew10.md#29); [Luke 21:16–18](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke21.md#16)
  <sup>8</sup> [Rom. 8:28](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#28)
  <sup>9</sup> [Rom. 8:15–16](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#15); [2 Cor. 1:21–22](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians1.md#21); [5:5](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#5); [Eph. 1:13–14](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians1.md#13)
  <sup>10</sup> [Rom. 8:1–17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#1)

  <hr>

  ### 2. Q. How many things must you know to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

  **A**. Three: first, how great my sin and misery are;<sup>1</sup> second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery;<sup>2</sup> third, how I am to thank God for such deliverance.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 3:9–10](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3#9); [1 John 1:10](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John1.md#10)
  <sup>2</sup> [John 17:3](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John17.md#3); [Acts 4:12](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts4.md#12); [10:43](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts10.md#43)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 5:16](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew5.md#16); [Rom. 6:13](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#13); [Eph. 5:8–10](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians5.md#8); [2 Tim. 2:15](/References/Bible/55%20-%202Timothy/2Timothy2.md#15); [1 Pet. 2:9–10](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter2.md#9)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD2
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 2

  ### 3. Q. How do you come to know your misery?

  **A**.The law of God tells me.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 3:20](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3.md#20); [7:7–25](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans7.md#7)

  <hr>

  ### 4. Q. What does God’s law require of us?

  **A**. Christ teaches us this in summary in Matthew 22:37–40: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength.”<sup>1</sup> This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”<sup>2</sup> On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

  <sup>1</sup> [Deut. 6:5](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy6.md#5)
  <sup>2</sup> [Lev. 19:18](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus19.md#18)

  <hr>

  ### 5. Q. Can you live up to all this perfectly?

  **A**. No.<sup>1</sup> I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 3:9–20, 23](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3.md#9); [1 John 1:8, 10](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John1.md#8)
  <sup>2</sup> [Gen. 6:5](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis6.md#5); [Jer. 17:9](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jeremiah17.md#9); [Rom. 7:23–24](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans7.md#23); [8:7](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#7); [Eph. 2:1–3](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians2.md); [Titus 3:3](/References/Bible/56%20-%20Titus/Titus3.md#3)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD3
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 3
  ### 6. Q. Did God create man so wicked and perverse?

  **A**. No. God created man good<sup>1</sup> and in his own image,<sup>2</sup> that is, in true righteousness and holiness,<sup>3</sup> so that he might truly know God his creator,<sup>4</sup> love him with all his heart, and live with God in eternal happiness, for his praise and glory.<sup>5</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 1:31](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis1.md#31)
  <sup>2</sup> [Gen. 1:26–27](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis1.md#26)
  <sup>3</sup> [Eph. 4:24](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians4.md#24)
  <sup>4</sup> [Col. 3:10](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians3.md#10)
  <sup>5</sup> [Ps. 8](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms8.md)

  <hr>

  ### 7. Q. Then where does man’s corrupt nature come from?

  **A**. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise.<sup>1</sup> This fall has so poisoned our nature<sup>2</sup> that we are all conceived and born in sin.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 3](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis3.md)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 5:12, 18–19](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans5.md#12)
  <sup>3</sup> [Ps. 51:5](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms51.md#5)

  <hr>

  ### 8. Q. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil?

  **A**. Yes,<sup>1</sup> unless we are born again by the Spirit of God.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 6:5](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis6.md#5); [8:21](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis8.md#21); [Job 14:4](/References/Bible/18%20-%20Job/Job14.md#4); [Isa. 53:6](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah53.md#6)
  <sup>2</sup> [John 3:3–5](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#3)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD4
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 4

  ### 9. Q. But doesn’t God do man an injustice by requiring in his law what man is unable to do?

  **A**. No, God created man with the ability to keep the law.<sup>1</sup> Man, however, at the instigation of the devil,<sup>2</sup> in willful disobedience,<sup>3</sup> robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.<sup>4</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 1:31](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis1.md#1); [Eph. 4:24](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians4.md#24)
  <sup>2</sup> [Gen. 3:13](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis3.md#13); [John 8:44](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John8.md#44)
  <sup>3</sup> [Gen. 3:6](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis3.md#6)
  <sup>4</sup> [Rom. 5:12, 18, 19](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans5.md#12)

  <hr>

  ### 10. Q. Will God permit such disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished?

  **A**. Certainly not. He is terribly angry with the sin we are born with as well as our actual sins. God will punish them by a just judgment both now and in eternity,<sup>1</sup> having declared: “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.”<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ex. 34:7](/References/Bible/02%20-%20Exodus/Exodus34.md#7); [Ps. 5:4–6](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms5.md#4); [Nah. 1:2](/References/Bible/34%20-%20Nahum/Nahum1.md#2); [Rom. 1:18](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans1.md#18); [Eph. 5:6](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians5.md#6); [Heb. 9:27](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews9.md#27)
  <sup>2</sup> [Gal. 3:10](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians3.md#10); [Deut. 27:26](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy27.md#26)

  <hr>

  ### 11. Q. But isn’t God also merciful?

  **A**. God is certainly merciful,<sup>1</sup> but he is also just.<sup>2</sup> His justice demands that sin, committed against his supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty—eternal punishment of body and soul.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ex. 34:6–7](/References/Bible/02%20-%20Exodus/Exodus34.md#6); [Ps. 103:8–9](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms103.md#8)
  <sup>2</sup> [Ex. 34:7](/References/Bible/02%20-%20Exodus/Exodus34.md#7); [Deut. 7:9–11](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy7.md#9); [Ps. 5:4–6](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms5.md#4); [Heb. 10:30–31](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews10.md#30)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 25:35–46](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthews/Matthews25.md#35)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD5
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 5

  ### 12. Q. According to God’s righteous judgment we deserve punishment both now and in eternity: how then can we escape this punishment and return to God’s favor?

  **A**. God requires that his justice be satisfied.<sup>1</sup> Therefore the claims of this justice must be paid in full, either by ourselves or by another.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ex. 23:7](/References/Bible/02%20-%20Exodus/Exodus23.md#7); [Rom. 2:1–11](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans2.md)
  <sup>2</sup> [Isa.  53:11](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah53.md#11); [Rom. 8:3–4](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans8.md#3)

  <hr>

  ### 13. Q.Can we make this payment ourselves?

  **A**. Certainly not. Actually, we increase our debt every day.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 6:12](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew6.md#12); [Rom. 2:4–5](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans2.md#4)

  <hr>

  ### 14. Q.Can another creature—any at all—pay this debt for us?

  **A**. No. To begin with, God will not punish any other creature for what a human is guilty of.<sup>1</sup> Furthermore, no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ezek. 18:4, 20](/References/Bible/26%20-%20Ezekiel/Ezekiel18.md#4); [Heb. 2:14–18](/References/Bible/57%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews2.md#14)
  <sup>2</sup> [Ps. 49:7–9](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms49.md#7); [130:3](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms130.md#3)

  <hr>

  ### 15. Q.What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for  then?

  **A**. One who is a true<sup>1</sup> and righteous<sup>2</sup> man, yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is also true God.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 1:3](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans1.md#3); [1 Cor. 15:21](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians15.md#21); [Heb. 2:17](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews2.md#17)
  <sup>2</sup> [Isa. 53:9](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah53.md#9); [2 Cor. 5:21](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#21); [Heb. 7:26](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews7.md#26)
  <sup>3</sup> [Isa. 7:14](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah7.md#14); [9:6](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah9.md#6); [Jer. 23:6](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jeremiah23.md#6); [John 1:1](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John1.md)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD6
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 6
  ### 16. Q. Why must the mediator be a true and righteous man?

  **A**. Because God’s justice requires that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for its sin;<sup>1</sup> but a sinner could never pay for others.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 5:12, 15](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans5.md#12); [1 Cor. 15:21](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians15.md#21); [Heb. 2:14–16](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews2.md#14)
  <sup>2</sup> [Heb. 7:26–27](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews7.md#26); [1 Pet. 3:18](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter3.md#18)

  <hr>

  ### 17. Q. Why must he also be true God?

  **A**. So that, by the power of his divinity, he might bear in his humanity the weight of God’s wrath, and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Isa. 53](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah53.md); [John 3:16](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#16); [2 Cor. 5:21](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#21)

  <hr>

  ### 18. Q. Then who is this mediator—true God and at the same time a true and righteous man?

  **A**. Our Lord Jesus Christ,<sup>1</sup> who was given to us for our complete deliverance and righteousness.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 1:21–23](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew1.md#21); [Luke 2:11](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke2.md#11); [1 Tim. 2:5](/References/Bible/54%20-%201Timothy/1Timothy2.md#5)
  <sup>2</sup> [1 Cor. 1:30](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians1.md#30)

  <hr>

  ### 19. Q. How do you come to know this?

  **A**. The holy gospel tells me. God himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise;<sup>1</sup> later, he proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs<sup>2</sup> and prophets<sup>3</sup> and foreshadowed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law;<sup>4</sup> and finally he fulfilled it through his own beloved Son.<sup>5</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 3:15](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis3.md#15)
  <sup>2</sup> [Gen. 22:18](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis22.md#18); [49:10](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis49.md#10)
  <sup>3</sup> [Isa. 53](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah53.md); [Jer. 23:5–6](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jeremiah23.md#5); [Mic. 7:18–20](/References/Bible/33%20-%20Micah/Micah7.md#18); [Acts 10:43](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts10.md#43); [Heb. 1:1–2](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews1.md)
  <sup>4</sup> [Lev. 1–7](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus1.md); [John 5:46](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John5.md#46); [Heb. 10:1–10](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews10.md)
  <sup>5</sup> [Rom. 10:4](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans10.md#4); [Gal. 4:4–5](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians4.md#4); [Col. 2:17](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians2.md#17)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD7
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 7
  ### 20. Q. Are all people then saved through Christ just as they were lost through Adam?

  **A**. No. Only those are saved who through true faith are grafted into Christ and accept all his benefits.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 7:14](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew7.md#14); [John 3:16, 18, 36](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#16); [Rom. 11:16–21](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans11.md#16)

  <hr>

  ### 21. Q. What is true faith?

  **A**. True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in his Word;<sup>1</sup> it is also a wholehearted trust,<sup>2</sup> which the Holy Spirit works in me<sup>3</sup> by the gospel,<sup>4</sup> that God has freely granted, not only to others but to me also,<sup>5</sup> forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness, and salvation.<sup>6</sup> These gifts are purely of grace, only because of Christ’s merit.<sup>7</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [John 17:3, 17](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John17.md#3); [Heb. 11:1–3](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews11.md); [James 2:19](/References/Bible/59%20-%20James/James2.md#19)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 4:18–21](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans4.md#18); [5:1](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans5.md); [10:10](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans10.md#10); [Heb. 4:14–16](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews4.md#14)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 16:15–17](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew16.md#15); [John 3:5](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#5); [Acts 16:14](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts16.md#14)
  <sup>4</sup> [Rom. 1:16](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans1.md#16); [10:17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans10.md#17); [1 Cor. 1:21](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians1.md#21)
  <sup>5</sup> [Gal. 2:20](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians2.md#20)
  <sup>6</sup> [Rom. 1:17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans1.md#17); [Heb. 10:10](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews10.md#10)
  <sup>7</sup> [Rom. 3:21–26](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3.md#21); [Gal. 2:16](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians2.md#16); [Eph. 2:8–10](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians2.md#8)

  <hr>

  ### 22. Q. What then must a Christian believe?

  **A**. All that is promised us in the gospel,<sup>1</sup> a summary of which is taught us in the articles of our catholic and undoubted Christian faith.

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 28:18–20](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#18); [John 20:30–31](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John20.md#30)

  <hr>

  ### 23. Q. What are these articles?

  **A**. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended to heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD8
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 8
  ### 24. Q. How are these articles divided?

  **A**. Into three parts: God the Father and our creation; God the Son and our deliverance; and God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

  <hr>

  ### 25. Q. Since there is only one divine being,<sup>1</sup> why do you speak of three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

  **A**. Because that is how God has revealed himself in his Word:<sup>2</sup> these three distinct persons are one, true, eternal God.

  <sup>1</sup> [Deut. 6:4](/References/Bible/5%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy6.md#4); [1 Cor. 8:4, 6](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians8.md#4)
  <sup>2</sup> [Matt. 3:16–17](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew3.md#16); [28:18–19](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#18); [Luke 4:18](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke4.md#18) ([Isa. 61:1](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah61.md)); [John 14:26](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John14.md#26); [15:26](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John15.md#26); [2 Cor. 13:14](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians13.md#14) [Gal. 4:6](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians4.md#6); [Titus 3:5–6](/References/Bible/56%20-%20Titus/Titus3.md#5)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD9
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 9
  ### 26. Q. What do you believe when you say, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth”?

  **A**. That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them,<sup>1</sup> who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence,<sup>2</sup> is my God and Father for the sake of Christ his Son.<sup>3</sup> I trust God so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul,<sup>4</sup> and will turn to my good whatever adversity he sends upon me in this vale of tears.<sup>5</sup> He is able to do this because he is almighty God;<sup>6</sup> he desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.<sup>7</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 1–2](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis1.md); [Ex. 20:11](/References/Bible/02%20-%20Exodus/Exodus20.md#11); [Ps. 33:6](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms33.md#6); [Isa. 44:24](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah44.md#24); [Acts 4:24](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts4.md#24); [14:15](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts14.md#15)
  <sup>2</sup> [Ps. 104](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms104.md); [Matt. 6:30](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew6.md#30); [10:29](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew10.md#29); [Eph. 1:11](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians1.md#11)
  <sup>3</sup> [John 1:12–13](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John1.md#12); [Rom. 8:15–16](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#15)
  <sup>4</sup> [Ps. 55:22](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms55.md#22); [Matt. 6:25–26](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew6.md#25); [Luke 12:22–31](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke12.md#22)
  <sup>5</sup> [Rom. 8:28](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#28)
  <sup>6</sup> [Gen. 18:14](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis18.md#14); [Rom. 8:31–39](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#31)
  <sup>7</sup> [Matt. 7:9–11](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew7.md#9)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD10
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 10
  ### 27. Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?

  **A**. Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God<sup>1</sup> by which God upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures,<sup>2</sup> and so rules them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty<sup>3</sup>—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance<sup>4</sup> but by his fatherly hand.<sup>5</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Jer. 23:23–24](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jeremiah23.md#23); [Acts 17:24–28](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts17.md#24)
  <sup>2</sup> [Heb. 1:3](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews1.md#3)
  <sup>3</sup> [Jer. 5:24](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jeremiah5.md#24); [Acts 14:15–17](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts14.md#15); [John 9:3](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John9.md#3); [Prov. 22:2](/References/Bible/20%20-%20Proverbs/Proverbs22.md#2)
  <sup>4</sup> [Prov. 16:33](/References/Bible/20%20-%20Proverbs/Proverbs16.md#33)
  <sup>5</sup> [Matt. 10:29](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew10.md#29)

  <hr>

  ### 28. Q. How does the knowledge of God’s creation and providence help us?

  **A**. We can be patient in adversity,<sup>1</sup> thankful in prosperity,<sup>2</sup> and for the future we can have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature will separate us from his love.<sup>3</sup> For all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they can neither move nor be moved.<sup>4</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Job 1:21–22](/References/Bible/18%20-%20Job/Job1.md#21); [James 1:3](/References/Bible/59%20-%20James/James1.md#3)
  <sup>2</sup> [Deut. 8:10](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy8.md#10); [1 Thess. 5:18](/References/Bible/52%20-%201Thessalonians/1Thessalonians5.md#18)
  <sup>3</sup> [Ps. 55:22](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms55.md#22); [Rom. 5:3–5](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans5.md#3); [8:38–39](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#38)
  <sup>4</sup> [Job 1:12](/References/Bible/18%20-%20Job/Job1.md#12); [2:6](/References/Bible/18%20-%20Job/Job2.md#6); [Prov. 21:1](/References/Bible/20%20-%20Proverbs/Proverbs21.md); [Acts 17:24–28](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts17.md#24)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD11
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 11
  ### 29. Q. Why is the Son of God called “Jesus,” meaning “savior”?

  **A**. Because he saves us from our sins;<sup>1</sup> and because salvation is not to be sought or found in anyone else.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 1:21](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew1.md#21); [Heb. 7:25](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews7.md#25)
  <sup>2</sup> [Isa. 43:11](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah43.md#11); [John 15:5](/References/Bible/43%20-%20/John/John15.md#5); [Acts 4:11–12](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts4.md#11); [1 Tim. 2:5](/References/Bible/54%20-%201Timothy/1Timothy2.md#5)

  ### 30. Q. Do those who look for their salvation and security in saints, in themselves, or elsewhere really believe in the only savior Jesus?

  **A**. No. Although they boast of being his, by their actions they deny the only savior, Jesus.<sup>1</sup> Either Jesus is not a perfect savior, or those who in true faith accept this savior have in him all they need for their salvation.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 1:12–13](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians1.md#12); [Gal. 5:4](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians5.md#4)
  <sup>2</sup> [Col. 1:19–20](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians1.md#19); [2:10](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians2.md#10); [1 John 1:7](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John1.md#7)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD12
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 12
  ### 31. Q. Why is he called “Christ,” meaning “anointed”?

  **A**. Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit<sup>1</sup> to be our chief prophet and teacher<sup>2</sup> who fully reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our deliverance;<sup>3</sup> our only high priest<sup>4</sup> who has delivered us by the one sacrifice of his body,<sup>5</sup> and who continually intercedes for us before the Father;<sup>6</sup> and our eternal king<sup>7</sup> who governs us by his Word and Spirit, and who guards us and keeps us in the deliverance he has won for us.<sup>8</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Luke 3:21–22](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke3.md#21); [4:14–19](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke4.md#14) ([Isa.  61:1](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah61.md)); [Heb. 1:9](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews1.md#9) ([Ps. 45:7](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms45.md#7))
  <sup>2</sup> [Acts 3:22](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts3.md#22) ([Deut. 18:15](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy18.md#15))
  <sup>3</sup> [John 1:18](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John1.md#18); [15:15](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John15.md#15)
  <sup>4</sup> [Heb. 7:17](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews7.md#17) ([Ps. 110:4](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms110.md#4))
  <sup>5</sup> [Heb. 9:12](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews9.md#12); [10:11–14](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews10.md#11)
  <sup>6</sup> [Rom. 8:34](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#34); [Heb. 9:24](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews9.md#24)
  <sup>7</sup> [Matt. 21:5](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew21.md#5) ([Zech. 9:9](/References/Bible/38%20-%20Zechariah/Zechariah9.md#9))
  <sup>8</sup> [Matt. 28:18–20](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#18); [John 10:28](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John10.md#28); [Rev. 12:10–11](/References/Bible/66%20-%20Revelation/Revelation12.md#10)

  <hr>

  ### 32. Q. But why are you called a Christian?

  **A**. Because by faith I am a member of Christ<sup>1</sup> and so I share in his anointing.<sup>2</sup> I am anointed to confess his name,<sup>3</sup> to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks,<sup>4</sup> to strive with a free conscience against sin and the devil in this life,<sup>5</sup> and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for eternity.<sup>6</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 12:12–27](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians12.md#12)
  <sup>2</sup> [Acts 2:17](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts2.md#17) ([Joel 2:28](/References/Bible/29%20-%20Joel/Joel2.md#28)); [1 John 2:27](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John2.md#27)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 10:32](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew10.md#32); [Rom. 10:9–10](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans10.md#9); [Heb. 13:15](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews13.md#15)
  <sup>4</sup> [Rom. 12:1](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans12.md); [1 Pet. 2:5, 9](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter2.md#5)
  <sup>5</sup> [Gal. 5:16–17](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians5.md#16); [Eph. 6:11](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians6.md#11); [1 Tim. 1:18–19](/References/Bible/54%20-%201Timothy/1Timothy1.md#18)
  <sup>6</sup> [Matt. 25:34](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew25.md#34); [2 Tim. 2:12](/References/Bible/55%20-%202Timothy/2Timothy2.md#12)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD13
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 13
  ### 33. Q. Why is he called God’s “only begotten Son” when we also are God’s children?

  **A**. Because Christ alone is the eternal, natural Son of God.<sup>1</sup> We, however, are adopted children of God—adopted by grace for the sake of Christ.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [John 1:1–3, 14, 18](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John1.md); [Heb. 1](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hewbrews/Hebrews1.md)
  <sup>2</sup> [John 1:12](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John1.md#12); [Rom. 8:14–17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#14); [Eph. 1:5–6](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians1.md#5)

  <hr>

  ### 34. Q. Why do you call him “our Lord”?

  **A**. Because—not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood<sup>1</sup>—he has delivered and purchased us body and soul from sin and from the tyranny of the devil,<sup>2</sup> to be his very own.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Pet. 1:18–19](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter1.md#18)
  <sup>2</sup> [Col. 1:13–14](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians1.md#13); [Heb. 2:14–15](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews2.md#14)
  <sup>3</sup> [1 Cor. 6:20](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#20); [1 Tim. 2:5–6](/References/Bible/54%20-%201Timothy/1Timothy2.md#5)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD14
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 14
  ### 35. Q. What does it mean that he “was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary”?

  **A**. That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God,<sup>1</sup> took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit,<sup>2</sup> from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary,<sup>3</sup> a true human nature so that he might also become David’s true descendant,<sup>4</sup> like his brothers in all things<sup>5</sup> except for sin.<sup>6</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [John 1:1](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John1.md); [10:30–36](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John10.md#30); [Acts 13:33](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts13.md#33) ([Ps. 2:7](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms2.md#7)); [Col. 1:15–17](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians1.md#15); [1 John 5:20](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John5.md#20)
  <sup>2</sup> [Luke 1:35](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke1.md#35)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 1:18–23](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew1.md#18); [John 1:14](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John1.md#14); [Gal. 4:4](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians4.md#4); [Heb. 2:14](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews2.md#14)
  <sup>4</sup> [2 Sam. 7:12–16](/References/Bible/10%20-%202Samuel/2Samuel7.md#12); [Ps. 132:11](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms132.md#11); [Matt. 1:1](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew1.md); [Rom. 1:3](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans1.md#3)
  <sup>5</sup> [Phil. 2:7](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Pilippians/Philippians2.md#7); [Heb. 2:17](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews2.md#17)
  <sup>6</sup> [Heb. 4:15](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews4.md#15); [7:26–27](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews7.md#26)

  ### 36. Q. How does the holy conception and birth of Christ benefit you?

  **A**. He is our mediator<sup>1</sup> and, in God’s sight, he covers with his innocence and perfect holiness my sin, in which I was conceived.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Tim. 2:5–6](/References/Bible/54%20-%201Timothy/1Timothy2.md#5); [Heb. 9:13–15](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews9.md#13)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 8:3–4](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#3); [2 Cor. 5:21](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#21); [Gal. 4:4–5](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians4.md#4); [1 Pet. 1:18–19](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter1.md#18)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD15
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 15
  ### 37. Q. What do you understand by the word “suffered”?

  **A**. That during his whole life on earth, but especially at the end, Christ sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race.<sup>1</sup> This he did in order that, by his suffering as the only atoning sacrifice,<sup>2</sup> he might deliver us, body and soul, from eternal condemnation,<sup>3</sup> and gain for us God’s grace, righteousness, and eternal life.<sup>4</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Isa. 53](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews53.md); [1 Pet. 2:24](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter2.md#24); [3:18](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter3.md#18)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 3:25](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3.md#25); [Heb. 10:14](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews10.md#14); [1 John 2:2](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John2.md#2); [4:10](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John4.md#10)
  <sup>3</sup> [Rom. 8:1–4](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md); [Gal. 3:13](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians3.md#13)
  <sup>4</sup> [John 3:16](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#16); [Rom. 3:24–26](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3.md#24)

  ### 38. Q. Why did he suffer “under Pontius Pilate” as judge?

  **A**. So that he, though innocent, might be condemned by an earthly judge,<sup>1</sup> and so free us from the severe judgment of God that was to fall on us.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Luke 23:13–24](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke23.md#13); [John 19:4, 12–16](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John19.md#4)
  <sup>2</sup> [Isa. 53:4–5](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah53.md#4); [2 Cor. 5:21](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#21); [Gal. 3:13](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians3.md#13)

  ### 39. Q. Is it significant that he was “crucified” instead of dying some other way?

  **A**. Yes. By this death I am convinced that he shouldered the curse which lay on me, since death by crucifixion was cursed by God.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gal. 3:10–13](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians3.md#10) ([Deut. 21:23](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy21.md#23))


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD16
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 16
  ### 40. Q. Why did Christ have to suffer death?

  **A**. Because God\’s justice and truth require it: <sup>1</sup>nothing else could pay for our sins except the death of the Son of God.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 2:17](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis2.md#17)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 8:3–4](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#3); [Phil. 2:8](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Philippians/Philippians2.md#8); [Heb. 2:9](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews2.md#9)

  <hr>

  ### 41. Q. Why was he “buried”?

  **A**. His burial testifies that he really died.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Isa. 53:9](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah53.md#9); [John 19:38–42](/References/Bible/42%20-%20John/John19.md#38); [Acts 13:29](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts13.md#29); [1 Cor. 15:3–4](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians15.md#3)

  <hr>

  ### 42. Q. Since Christ has died for us, why do we still have to die?

  **A**. Our death is not a payment for our sins,<sup>1</sup> but only a dying to sins and an entering into eternal life.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ps. 49:7](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms49.md#7)
  <sup>2</sup> [John 5:24](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John5.md#24); [Phil. 1:21–23](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Pilippians/Philippians1.md#21); [1 Thess. 5:9–10](/References/Bible/52%20-%201Thessalonians/1Thessalonians5.md#9)

  <hr>

  ### 43. Q. What further benefit do we receive from Christ’s sacrifice and death on the cross?

  **A**. By his power our old man is crucified, put to death, and buried with him,<sup>1</sup> so that the evil desires of the flesh may no longer rule us,<sup>2</sup> but that instead we may offer ourselves as a sacrifice of thanksgiving to him.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 6:5–11](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#5); [Col. 2:11–12](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians2.md#11)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 6:12–14](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#12)
  <sup>3</sup> [Rom. 12:1](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans12.md); [Eph. 5:1–2](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians5.md)

  <hr>

  ### 44. Q. Why does the creed add, “He descended into hell”?

  **A**. To assure me during attacks of deepest dread and temptation that Christ my Lord, by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul, on the cross but also earlier, has delivered me from hellish anguish and torment.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Isa. 53](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah53.md); [Matt. 26:36–46](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew26.md#36); [27:45–46](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew27.md#45); [Luke 22:44](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke22.md#44); [Heb. 5:7–10](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews5.md#7)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD17
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 17
  ### 45. Q. How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?

  **A**. First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, so that he might make us share in the righteousness he obtained for us by his death.<sup>1</sup> Second, by his power we too are already raised to a new life.<sup>2</sup> Third, Christ’s resurrection is a sure pledge to us of our blessed resurrection.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 4:25](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans4.md#25); [1 Cor. 15:16–20](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians15.md#16); [1 Pet. 1:3–5](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter1.md#3)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 6:5–11](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#5); [Eph. 2:4–6](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians2.md#4); [Col. 3:1–4](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians3.md)
  <sup>3</sup> [Rom. 8:11](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#11); [1 Cor. 15:12–23](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians15.md#12); [Phil. 3:20–21](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Philippians/Philippians3.md#20)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD18
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 18
  ### 46. Q. What do you mean by saying, “He ascended to heaven”?

  **A**. That Christ, while his disciples watched, was taken up from the earth into heaven<sup>1</sup> and remains there on our behalf <sup>2</sup> until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Luke 24:50–51](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke24.md#50); [Acts 1:9–11](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts1.md#9)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 8:34](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#34); [Eph. 4:8–10](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians4.md#8); [Heb. 7:23–25](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews7.md#23); [9:24](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews9.md#24)
  <sup>3</sup> [Acts 1:11](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts1.md#11)

  <hr>

  ### 47. Q. But isn’t Christ with us until the end of the world as he promised us?<sup>1</sup>

  **A**. Christ is true man and true God. In his human nature Christ is not now on earth;<sup>2</sup> but in his divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit he is never absent from us.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 28:20](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#20)
  <sup>2</sup> [Acts 1:9–11](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts1.md#9); [3:19–21](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts3.md#19)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 28:18–20](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#18); [John 14:16–19](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John14.md#16)

  <hr>

  ### 48. Q. If his humanity is not present wherever his divinity is, then aren’t the two natures of Christ separated from each other?

  **A**. Certainly not. Since divinity is not limited and is present everywhere,<sup>1</sup> it is evident that Christ’s divinity is surely beyond the bounds of the humanity that has been taken on, but at the same time his divinity is in and remains personally united to his humanity.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Jer. 23:23–24](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jereimah23.md#23); [Acts 7:48–49](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts7.md#48) ([Isa. 66:1](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah66.md))
  <sup>2</sup> [John 1:14](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John1.md#14); [3:13](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#13); [Col. 2:9](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians2.md#9)

  <hr>

  ### 49. Q. How does Christ’s ascension to heaven benefit us?

  **A**. First, he is our advocate in heaven in the presence of his Father.<sup>1</sup> Second, we have our own flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that Christ our head will also take us, his members, up to himself.<sup>2</sup> Third, he sends his Spirit to us on earth as a corresponding pledge.<sup>3</sup> By the Spirit’s power we seek not earthly things but the things above, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand.<sup>4</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 8:34](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#34); [1 John 2:1](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John2.md)
  <sup>2</sup> [John 14:2](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John14.md#2); [17:24](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John17.md#24); [Eph. 2:4–6](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians2.md#4)
  <sup>3</sup> [John 14:16](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John14.md#16); [2 Cor. 1:21–22](/References/Bible/46%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians1.md#21); [5:5](/References/Bible/46%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#5)
  <sup>4</sup> [Col. 3:1–4](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians3.md)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD19
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 19
  ### 50. Q. Why the next words: “and sits at the right hand of God”?

  **A**. Christ ascended to heaven, there to show that he is head of his church,<sup>1</sup> the one through whom the Father governs all things.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Eph. 1:20–23](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians1.md#20); [Col. 1:18](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians1.md#18)
  <sup>2</sup> [Matt. 28:18](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#18); [John 5:22–23](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John5.md#22)

  <hr>

  ### 51. Q. How does this glory of Christ our head benefit us?

  **A**. First, through his Holy Spirit he pours out gifts from heaven upon us his members.<sup>1</sup> Second, by his power he defends us and preserves us from all enemies.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Acts 2:33](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts2.md#33); [Eph. 4:7–12](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians4.md#7)
  <sup>2</sup> [Ps. 110:1–2](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms110.md); [John 10:27–30](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John10.md#27); [Rev. 19:11–16](/References/Bible/66%20-%20Revelations/Revelations19.md#11)

  <hr>

  ### 52. Q. How does Christ’s return “to judge the living and the dead” comfort you?

  **A**. In all distress and persecution, with uplifted head, I confidently await the very judge who has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place and removed the whole curse from me.<sup>1</sup> Christ will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but will take me and all his chosen ones to himself into the joy and glory of heaven.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Luke 21:28](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke21.md#28); [Rom. 8:22–25](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#22); [Phil. 3:20–21](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Philippians/Philippians3.md#20); [Titus 2:13–14](/References/Bible/56%20-%20Titus/Titus2.md#13)
  <sup>2</sup> [Matt. 25:31–46](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew25.md#31); [2 Thess. 1:6–10](/References/Bible/53%20-%202Thessalonians/2Thessalonians1.md#6)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD20
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 20
  ### 53. Q. What do you believe concerning “the Holy Spirit”?

  **A**. First, that the Spirit, with the Father and the Son, is eternal God.<sup>1</sup> Second, that he is given also to me,<sup>2</sup> so that, through true faith, he makes me share in Christ and all his benefits,<sup>3</sup> comforts me,<sup>4</sup> and will remain with me forever.<sup>5</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 1:1–2](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis1.md); [Matt. 28:19](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#19); [Acts 5:3–4](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts5.md#3)
  <sup>2</sup> [1 Cor. 6:19](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#19); [2 Cor. 1:21–22](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians1.md#21); [Gal. 4:6](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians4.md#6)
  <sup>3</sup> [Gal. 3:14](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians3.md#14)
  <sup>4</sup> [John 15:26](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John15.md#26); [Acts 9:31](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts9.md#31)
  <sup>5</sup> [John 14:16–17](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John14.md#16); [1 Pet. 4:14](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter4.md#14)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD21
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 21
  ### 54. Q. What do you believe concerning “the holy catholic church”?

  **A**. I believe that the Son of God through his Spirit and Word,<sup>1</sup> out of the entire human race,<sup>2</sup> from the beginning of the world to its end,<sup>3</sup> gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life<sup>4</sup> and united in true faith.<sup>5</sup> And of this community I am<sup>6</sup> and always will be<sup>7</sup> a living member.

  <sup>1</sup> [John 10:14–16](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John10.md#14); [Acts 20:28](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts20.md#28); [Rom. 10:14–17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans10.md#14); [Col. 1:18](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians1.md#18)
  <sup>2</sup> [Gen. 26:3b–4](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis26.md#3); [Rev. 5:9](/References/Bible/66%20-%20Revelation/Revelation5.md#9)
  <sup>3</sup> [Isa. 59:21](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah59.md#21); [1 Cor. 11:26](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#26)
  <sup>4</sup> [Matt. 16:18](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew16.md#18); [John 10:28–30](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John10.md#28); [Rom. 8:28–30](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#28); [Eph. 1:3–14](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians1.md#3)
  <sup>5</sup> [Acts 2:42–47](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts2.md#42); [Eph. 4:1–6](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians4.md)
  <sup>6</sup> [1 John 3:14, 19–21](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John3.md#14)
  <sup>7</sup> [John 10:27–28](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John10.md#27); [1 Cor. 1:4–9](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians1.md#4); [1 Pet. 1:3–5](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter1.md#3)

  <hr>

  ### 55. Q. What do you understand by “the communion of saints”?

  **A**. First, that believers one and all, as members of Christ the Lord, have communion with him and share in all his treasures and gifts.<sup>1</sup> Second, that each member should consider it a duty to use these gifts readily and joyfully for the service and enrichment of the other members.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 8:32](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#32); [1 Cor. 6:17](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#17); [12:4–7, 12–13](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians12.md#4); [1 John 1:3](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John1.md#3)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 12:4–8](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans12.md#4); [1 Cor. 12:20–27](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians12.md#20); [13:1–7](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians13.md); [Phil. 2:4–8](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Philippians/Philippians2.md#4)

  <hr>

  ### 56. Q. What do you believe concerning “the forgiveness of sins”?

  **A**. I believe that God, because of Christ’s satisfaction,
  will no longer remember any of my sins<sup>1</sup> or my sinful nature which I need to struggle against all my life.<sup>2</sup> Rather, by his grace God grants me the righteousness of Christ that I may never come into judgment.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ps. 103:3–4, 10, 12](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms103.md#3); [Mic. 7:18–19](/References/Bible/33%20-%20Micah/Micah7.md#18); [2 Cor. 5:18–21](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#18); [1 John 1:7](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John1.md#7); [2:2](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John2.md#2)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 7:21–25](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans7.md#21)
  <sup>3</sup> [John 3:17–18](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#17); [Rom. 8:1–2](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD22
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 22
  ### 57. Q. How does “the resurrection of the body” comfort you?

  **A**. Not only will my soul be taken immediately after this life to Christ its head,<sup>1</sup> but also my very flesh, raised by the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul, and made like Christ’s glorious body.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Luke 23:43](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke23.md#43); [Phil. 1:21–23](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Philippians/Philippians1.md#21)
  <sup>2</sup> [1 Cor. 15:20, 42–46, 54](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians15.md#20); [Phil. 3:21](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Philippians/Philippians3.md#21); [1 John 3:2](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John3.md#2)

  <hr>

  ### 58. Q. How does the article concerning “life everlasting” comfort you?

  **A**. Even as I already now experience in my heart the beginning of eternal joy,<sup>1</sup> so after this life I will have perfect blessedness such as no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has ever imagined: a blessedness in which to praise God eternally.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 14:17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans14.md#17)
  <sup>2</sup> [John 17:3](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John17.md#3); [1 Cor. 2:9](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians2.md#9)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD23
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 23
  ### 59. Q. But how does it help you now that you believe all this?

  **A**. That I am righteous in Christ before God and an heir to life everlasting.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [John 3:36](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#36); [Rom. 1:17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans1.md#17) ([Hab. 2:4](/References/Bible/35%20-%20Habakkuk/Habakkuk2.md#4)); [Rom. 5:1–2](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans5.md)

  <hr>

  ### 60. Q. How are you righteous before God?

  **A**. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.<sup>1</sup> Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments, of never having kept any of them,<sup>2</sup> and of still being inclined toward all evil,<sup>3</sup> nevertheless, without any merit of my own,<sup>4</sup> out of sheer grace,<sup>5</sup> God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,<sup>6</sup> as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, and as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me.<sup>7</sup>—if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.<sup>8</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 3:21–28](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3.md#21); [Gal. 2:16](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians2.md#16); [Eph. 2:8–9](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians2.md#8); [Phil 3:8–11](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Philippians/Philippians3.md#8)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 3:9–10](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3.md#9)
  <sup>3</sup> [Rom. 7:23](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans7.md#23)
  <sup>4</sup> [Titus 3:4–5](/References/Bible/56%20-%20Titus/Titus3.md#4)
  <sup>5</sup> [Rom. 3:24](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3.md#24); [Eph. 2:8](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians2.md#8)
  <sup>6</sup> [Rom. 4:3–5](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans4.md#3) ([Gen. 15:6](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis15.md#6)); [2 Cor. 5:17–19](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#17); [1 John 2:1–2](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John2.md)
  <sup>7</sup> [Rom. 4:24–25](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans4.md#24); [2 Cor. 5:21](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#21)
  <sup>8</sup> [John 3:18](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#18); [Acts 16:30–31](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts16.md#30)

  <hr>

  ### 61. Q. Why do you say that through faith alone you are righteous?

  **A**. Not because I please God by the worthiness of my faith, for only Christ’s satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness are my righteousness before God,<sup>1</sup> and I can receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than by faith alone.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 1:30–31](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians1.md#30)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 10:10](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans10.md#10); [1 John 5:10–12](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John5.md#10)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD24
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 24
  ### 62. Q. Why can’t our good works be our righteousness before God, or at least a part of our righteousness?

  **A**. Because the righteousness which can pass God’s judgment must be entirely perfect and must in every way measure up to the divine law.<sup>1</sup> But even our best works in this life are all imperfect and stained with sin.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 3:20](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans3.md#20); [Gal. 3:10](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians3.md#10) ([Deut. 27:26](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy27.md#26))
  <sup>2</sup> [Isa. 64:6](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah64.md#6)

  <hr>

  ### 63. Q. How can our good works be said to merit nothing when God promises to reward them in this life and the next?<sup>1</sup>

  **A**. This reward is not merited; it is a gift of grace.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 5:12](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew5.md#12); [Heb. 11:6](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews11.md#6)
  <sup>2</sup> [Luke 17:10](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke17.md#10); [2 Tim. 4:7–8](/References/Bible/55%20-%202Timothy/2Timothy4.md#7)

  <hr>

  ### 64. Q. But doesn’t this teaching make people indifferent and wicked?

  **A**. No. It is impossible for those grafted into Christ by true faith not to produce fruits of gratitude.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Luke 6:43–45](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke6.md#43); [John 15:5](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John15.md#5)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD25
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 25
  ### 65. Q. It is by faith alone that we share in Christ and all his benefits: where then does that faith come from?

  **A**. The Holy Spirit works it in our hearts<sup>1</sup> by the preaching of the holy gospel,<sup>2</sup> and confirms it by the use of the holy sacraments.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [John 3:5](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#5); [1 Cor. 2:10–14](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians2.md#10); [Eph. 2:8](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians2.md#8)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 10:17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans10.md#17); [1 Pet. 1:23–25](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter1.md#23)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 28:19–20](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#19); [1 Cor. 10:16](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians10.md#16)

  <hr>

  ### 66. Q. What are sacraments?

  **A**. Sacraments are visible, holy signs and seals. They were instituted by God so that by our use of them he might make us understand more clearly the promise of the gospel, and seal that promise.<sup>1</sup> And this is God’s gospel promise: he grants us forgiveness of sins and eternal life by grace because of Christ’s one sacrifice accomplished on the cross.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 17:11](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis17.md#11); [Deut. 30:6](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy30.md#6); [Rom. 4:11](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans4.md#11)
  <sup>2</sup> [Matt. 26:27–28](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew26.md#27); [Acts 2:38](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts2.md#38); [Heb. 10:10](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews10.md#10)

  <hr>

  ### 67. Q. Are both the word and the sacraments then intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation?

  **A**. Yes indeed! The Holy Spirit teaches us in the gospel and confirms by the holy sacraments that our entire salvation rests on Christ’s one sacrifice for us on the cross.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 6:3](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#3); [1 Cor. 11:26](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#26); [Gal. 3:27](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians3.md#27)

  <hr>

  ### 68. Q. How many sacraments did Christ institute in the New Testament?

  **A**. Two: holy baptism and the holy supper.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 28:19–20](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#19); [1 Cor. 11:23–26](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#23)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD26
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 26
  ### 69. Q. How does holy baptism remind and assure you that Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross benefits you personally?

  **A**. In this way: Christ instituted this outward washing<sup>1</sup> and with it promised that, as surely as water washes away the dirt from the body, so certainly his blood and his Spirit wash away my soul’s impurity, that is, all my sins.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Acts 2:38](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts2.md#38)
  <sup>2</sup> [Matt. 3:11](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew3.md#11); [Rom. 6:3–10](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#3); [1 Pet. 3:21](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter3.md#21)

  <hr>

  ### 70. Q. What does it mean to be washed with Christ’s blood and Spirit?

  **A**. To be washed with Christ’s blood means that God, by grace, has forgiven our sins because of Christ’s blood poured out for us in his sacrifice on the cross.<sup>1</sup> To be washed with Christ’s Spirit means that the Holy Spirit has renewed and sanctified us to be members of Christ, so that more and more we die to sin and live holy and blameless lives.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Zech. 13:1](/References/Bible/38%20-%20Zechariah/Zechariah13.md); [Eph. 1:7–8](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians1.md#7); [Heb. 12:24](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews12.md#24); [1 Pet. 1:2](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter1.md#2); [Rev. 1:5](/References/Bible/66%20-%20Revelation/Revelation1.md#5)
  <sup>2</sup> [Ezek. 36:25–27](/References/Bible/26%20-%20Ezekiel/Ezekiel36.md#25); [John 3:5–8](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#5); [Rom. 6:4](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#4); [1 Cor. 6:11](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#11); [Col. 2:11–12](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians2.md#11)

  <hr>

  ### 71. Q. Where does Christ promise that we are washed with his blood and Spirit as surely as we are washed with the water of baptism?

  **A**. In the institution of baptism, where he says: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”<sup>1</sup> “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”<sup>2</sup> This promise is repeated when Scripture calls baptism “the washing of regeneration”<sup>3</sup> and the washing away of sins.<sup>4</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 28:19](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew28.md#19)
  <sup>2</sup> [Mark 16:16](/References/Bible/41%20-%20Mark/Mark16.md#16)
  <sup>3</sup> [Titus 3:5](/References/Bible/56%20-%20Titus/Titus3.md#5)
  <sup>4</sup> [Acts 22:16](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts22.md#16)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD27
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 27
  ### 72. Q. Does this outward washing with water itself wash away sins?

  **A**. No, only Jesus Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sins.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 3:11](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew3.md#11); [1 Pet. 3:21](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter3.md#21); [1 John 1:7](/References/Bible/63%20-%201John/1John1.md#7)

  <hr>

  ### 73. Q. Why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the water of rebirth and the washing away of sins?

  **A**. God has good reason for these words. To begin with, he wants to teach us that the blood and Spirit of Christ take away our sins just as water removes dirt from the body.<sup>1</sup> But more importantly, he wants to assure us, by this divine pledge and sign, that we are as truly washed of our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water physically.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 6:11](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#11); [Rev. 1:5](/References/Bible/66%20-%20Revelation/Revelation1.md#5); [7:14](/References/Bible/66%20-%20Revelation/Revelation7.md#14)
  <sup>2</sup> [Acts 2:38](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts2.md#38); [Rom. 6:3–4](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#3); [Gal. 3:27](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians3.md#27)

  <hr>

  ### 74. Q. Should infants also be baptized?

  **A**. Yes. Infants as well as adults are included in God’s covenant and people,<sup>1</sup> and they, no less than adults, are promised deliverance from sin through Christ’s blood and the Holy Spirit who works faith.<sup>2</sup> Therefore, by baptism, the sign of the covenant, they too should be incorporated into the Christian church and distinguished from the children of unbelievers.<sup>3</sup> This was done in the Old Testament by circumcision,<sup>4</sup> which was replaced in the New Testament by baptism.<sup>5</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Gen. 17:7](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis17.md#7); [Matt. 19:14](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew19.md#14)
  <sup>2</sup> [Isa. 44:1–3](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah44.md); [Acts 2:38–39](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts2.md#38); [16:31](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts16.md#31)
  <sup>3</sup> [Acts 10:47](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts10.md#47); [1 Cor. 7:14](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians7.md#14)
  <sup>4</sup> [Gen. 17:9–14](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis17.md#9)
  <sup>5</sup> [Col. 2:11–13](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians2.md#11)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD28
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 28
  ### 75. Q. How does the holy supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ’s one sacrifice on the cross and in all his benefits?

  **A**. In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup in remembrance of him. With this command come these promises:<sup>1</sup> First, as surely as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared with me, so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured out for me on the cross. Second, as surely as I receive from the hand of him who serves, and taste with my mouth the bread and cup of the Lord, given me as sure signs of Christ’s body and blood, so surely he nourishes and refreshes my soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured-out blood.

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 26:26–28](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew26.md#26); [Mark 14:22–24](/References/Bible/41%20-%20Mark/Mark14.md#22); [Luke 22:19–20](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke22.md#19); [1 Cor. 11:23–25](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#23)

  <hr>

  ### 76. Q. What does it mean to eat the crucified body of Christ and to drink his poured-out blood?

  **A**. It means to accept with a believing heart the entire suffering and death of Christ and in this way to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.<sup>1</sup> But it means more. Through the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us, we are united more and more to Christ’s blessed body.<sup>2</sup> And so, although he is in heaven<sup>3</sup> and we are on earth, we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone.<sup>4</sup> And we forever live on and are governed by one Spirit, as the members of our body are by one soul.<sup>5</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [John 6:35, 40, 50–54](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John6.md#35)
  <sup>2</sup> [John 6:55–56](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John6.md#55); [1 Cor. 12:13](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians12.md#13)
  <sup>3</sup> [Acts 1:9–11](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts1.md#9); [1 Cor. 11:26](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#26); [Col. 3:1](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians3.md)
  <sup>4</sup> [1 Cor. 6:15–17](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#15); [Eph. 5:29–30](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians5.md#29); [1 John 4:13](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John4.md#13)
  <sup>5</sup> [John 6:56–58](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John6.md#56); [15:1–6](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John15.md); [Eph. 4:15–16](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians4.md#15); [1 John 3:24](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John3.md#24)

  <hr>

  ### 77. Q. Where does Christ promise to nourish and refresh believers with his body and blood as surely as they eat this broken bread and drink this cup?

  **A**. In the institution of the Lord’s Supper: “The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”<sup>1</sup> This promise is repeated by Paul in these words: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 11:23-26](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#23)
  <sup>2</sup> [1 Cor. 10:16-17](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians10.md#16)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD29
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 29
  ### 78. Q. Do the bread and wine become the real body and blood of Christ?

  **A**. No. Just as the water of baptism is not changed into Christ’s blood and does not itself wash away sins but is simply a divine sign and assurance<sup>1</sup> of these things, so too the holy bread of the Lord’s Supper does not become the body of Christ itself,<sup>2</sup> even though it is called the body of Christ<sup>3</sup> in keeping with the nature and language of sacraments.<sup>4</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Eph. 5:26](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians5.md#26); [Titus 3:5](/References/Bible/56%20-%20Titus/Titus3.md#5)
  <sup>2</sup> [Matt. 26:26–29](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew26.md#26)
  <sup>3</sup> [1 Cor. 10:16–17](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians10.md#16); [11:26–28](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#26)
  <sup>4</sup> [Gen. 17:10–11](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis17.md#10); [Ex. 12:11, 13](/References/Bible/02%20-%20Exodus/Exodus12.md#11); [1 Cor. 10:1–4](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians10.md)

  <hr>

  ### 79. Q. Why then does Christ call the bread his body and the cup his blood, or the new covenant in his blood, and Paul use the words, a participation in Christ’s body and blood?

  **A**. Christ has good reason for these words. He wants to teach us that just as bread and wine nourish the temporal life, so too his crucified body and poured-out blood are the true food and drink of our souls for eternal life.<sup>1</sup> But more important, he wants to assure us, by this visible sign and pledge, that we, through the Holy Spirit’s work, share in his true body and blood as surely as our mouths receive these holy signs in his remembrance,<sup>2</sup> and that all of his suffering and obedience are as definitely ours as if we personally had suffered and made satisfaction for our sins.<sup>3</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [John 6:51, 55](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John6.md#51)
  <sup>2</sup> [1 Cor. 10:16–17](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians10.md#16); [11:26](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#26)
  <sup>3</sup> [Rom. 6:5–11](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#5)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD30
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 30
  ### 80. Q. How does the Lord’s Supper differ from the Roman Catholic Mass?

  **A**. The Lord’s Supper declares to us that all our sins are completely forgiven through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself accomplished on the cross once for all.<sup>1</sup> It also declares to us that the Holy Spirit grafts us into Christ,<sup>2</sup> who with his true body is now in heaven at the right hand of the Father<sup>3</sup> where he wants us to worship him.<sup>4</sup> But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have their sins forgiven through the suffering of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests. It also teaches that Christ is bodily present under the form of bread and wine where Christ is therefore to be worshiped. Thus the Mass is basically nothing but a denial of the one sacrifice and suffering of Jesus Christ and a condemnable idolatry.

  <sup>1</sup> [John 19:30](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John19.md#30); [Heb. 7:27](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews7.md#27); [9:12, 25–26](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews9.md#12); [10:10–18](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews10.md#10)
  <sup>2</sup> [1 Cor. 6:17](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#17); [10:16–17](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians10.md#16)
  <sup>3</sup> [Acts 7:55–56](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts7.md#55); [Heb. 1:3](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews1.md#3); [8:1](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews8.md)
  <sup>4</sup> [Matt. 6:20–21](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew6.md#20); [John 4:21–24](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John4.md#21); [Phil. 3:20](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Philippians/Philippians3.md#20); [Col. 3:1–3](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians3.md)

  <hr>

  ### 81. Q. Who should come to the Lord’s table?

  **A**. Those who are displeased with themselves because of their sins, but who nevertheless trust that their sins are pardoned and that their remaining weakness is covered by the suffering and death of Christ, and who also desire more and more to strengthen their faith and to lead a better life. Hypocrites and those who are unrepentant, however, eat and drink judgment on themselves.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 10:19–22](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians10.md#19); [11:26–32](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#26)

  <hr>

  ### 82. Q. Should those be admitted to the Lord’s Supper who show by what they profess and how they live that they are unbelieving and ungodly?

  **A**. No, that would dishonor God’s covenant and bring down God’s wrath upon the entire congregation.<sup>1</sup> Therefore, according to the instruction of Christ and his apostles, the Christian church is duty-bound to exclude such people, by the official use of the keys of the kingdom, until they reform their lives.

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 11:17–32](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians11.md#17); [Ps. 50:14–16](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms50.md#14); [Isa. 1:11–17](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah1.md#11)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD31
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 31
  ### 83. Q. What are the keys of the kingdom?

  **A**. The preaching of the holy gospel and Christian discipline toward repentance. Both of them open the kingdom of heaven to believers and close it to unbelievers.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 16:19](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew16.md#19); [John 20:22–23](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John20.md#22)

  <hr>

  ### 84. Q. How does preaching the holy gospel open and close the kingdom of heaven?

  **A**. According to the command of Christ: The kingdom of heaven is opened by proclaiming and publicly declaring to all believers, each and every one, that, as often as they accept the gospel promise in true faith, God, because of Christ’s merit, truly forgives all their sins. The kingdom of heaven is closed, however, by proclaiming and publicly declaring to unbelievers and hypocrites that, as long as they do not repent, the wrath of God and eternal condemnation rest on them. God’s judgment, both in this life and in the life to come, is based on this gospel testimony.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 16:19](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew16.md#19); [John 3:31–36](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John3.md#31); [20:21–23](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John20.md#21)

  <hr>

  ### 85. Q. How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by Christian discipline?

  **A**. According to the command of Christ: Those who, though called Christians, profess unchristian teachings or live unchristian lives, and who, after repeated personal and loving admonitions, refuse to abandon their errors and evil ways, and who, after being reported to the church, that is, to those ordained by the church for that purpose, fail to respond also to the church’s admonitions— such persons the church excludes from the Christian community by withholding the sacraments from them, and God also excludes them from the kingdom of Christ.<sup>1</sup> Such persons, when promising and demonstrating genuine reform, are received again as members of Christ and of his church.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 18:15–20](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew18.md#15); [1 Cor. 5:3–5, 11–13](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians5.md#3); [2 Thess. 3:14–15](/References/Bible/53%20-%202Thessalonians/2Thessalonians3.md#14)
  <sup>2</sup> [Luke 15:20–24](/References/Bible/42%20-%20Luke/Luke15.md#20); [2 Cor. 2:6–11](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians2.md#6)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD32
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 32
  ### 86. Q. Since we have been delivered from our misery by grace through Christ without any merit of our own, why then should we do good works?

  **A**. Because Christ, having redeemed us by his blood, is also renewing us by his Spirit into his image, so that with our whole lives we may show that we are thankful to God for his benefits,<sup>1</sup> and that he may be praised through us,<sup>2</sup> and further, so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits,<sup>3</sup> and by our godly living our neighbors may be won over to Christ.<sup>4</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 6:13](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#13); [12:1–2](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans12.md); [1 Pet. 2:5–10](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter2.md#5)
  <sup>2</sup> [Matt. 5:16](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew5.md#16); [1 Cor. 6:19–20](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#19)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 7:17–18](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew7.md#17); [Gal. 5:22–24](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians5.md#22); [2 Pet. 1:10–11](/References/Bible/61%20-%202Peter/2Peter1.md#10)
  <sup>4</sup> [Matt. 5:14–16](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew5.md#14); [Rom. 14:17–19](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans14.md#17); [1 Pet. 2:12](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter2.md#12); [3:1–2](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter3.md)

  <hr>

  ### 87. Q. Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and unrepentant ways?

  **A**. By no means. Scripture tells us that no unchaste person, no idolater, adulterer, thief, no covetous person, no drunkard, slanderer, robber, or the like will inherit the kingdom of God.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 6:9–10](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#9); [Gal. 5:19–21](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians5.md#19); [Eph. 5:1–20](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians5.md); [1 John 3:14](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John3.md#14)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD33
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 33
  ### 88. Q. What is involved in genuine repentance or conversion?

  **A**. Two things: the dying-away of the old self, and the rising-to-life of the new.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 6:1–11](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md); [2 Cor. 5:17](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians5.md#17); [Eph. 4:22–24](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians4.md#22); [Col. 3:5–10](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians3.md#5)

  <hr>

  ### 89. Q. What is the dying-away of the old self?

  **A**. To be genuinely sorry for sin and more and more to hate
  and run away from it.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ps. 51:3–4, 17](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms51.md#3); [Joel 2:12–13](/References/Bible/29%20-%20Joel/Joel2.md#12); [Rom. 8:12–13](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans8.md#12); [2 Cor. 7:10](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians7.md#10)

  <hr>

  ### 90. Q. What is the rising-to-life of the new self?

  **A**. Wholehearted joy in God through Christ<sup>1</sup> and a love and delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ps. 51:8, 12](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms51.md#8); [Isa. 57:15](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah57.md#15); [Rom. 5:1](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans5.md); [14:17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans14.md#17)
  <sup>2</sup> [Rom. 6:10–11](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans6.md#10); [Gal. 2:20](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians2.md#20)

  <hr>

  ### 91. Q. But what are good works?

  **A**. Only those which are done out of true faith,<sup>1</sup> conform to God’s law,<sup>2</sup> and are done for his glory;<sup>3</sup> and not those based on our own opinion or human tradition.<sup>4</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [John 15:5](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John15.md#5); [Heb. 11:6](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews11.md#6)
  <sup>2</sup> [Lev. 18:4](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus18.md#4); [1 Sam. 15:22](/References/Bible/09%20-%201Samuel/1Samuel15.md#22); [Eph. 2:10](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians2.md#10)
  <sup>3</sup> [1 Cor. 10:31](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians10.md#31)
  <sup>4</sup> [Deut. 12:32](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy12.md#32); [Isa. 29:13](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah29.md#13); [Ezek. 20:18–19](/References/Bible/26%20-%20Ezekiel/Ezekiel20.md#18); [Matt. 15:7–9](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew15.md#7)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD34
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 34
  ### 92. Q. What is God’s law?

  **A**. God spoke all these words:

  *THE FIRST COMMANDMENT*<br>
  I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

  *THE SECOND COMMANDMENT*<br>
  You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

  *THE THIRD COMMANDMENT*<br>
  You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

  *THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT*<br>
  Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work— you, your son or your daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.

  *THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT*<br>
  Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you.

  *THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT*<br>
  You shall not murder.

  *THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT*<br>
  You shall not commit adultery.

  *THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT*<br>
  You shall not steal.

  *THE NINTH COMMANDMENT*<br>
  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

  *THE TENTH COMMANDMENT*<br>
  You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female servant, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ex. 20:1–17](/References/Bible/02%20-%20Exodus/Exodus20.md); [Deut. 5:6–21](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy5.md#6)

  <hr>

  ### 93. Q. How are these commandments divided?

  **A**. Into two tables. The first has four commandments, teaching us how we should live in relation to God. The second has six commandments, teaching us what we owe our neighbor.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Matt. 22:37–39](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew22.md#37)

  <hr>

  ### 94. Q. What does the Lord require in the first commandment?

  **A**. That I, not wanting to endanger my own salvation, avoid and shun all idolatry,<sup>1</sup> sorcery,<sup>2</sup> superstitious rites, and prayer to saints or to other creatures.<sup>3</sup> That I rightly know the only true God,<sup>4</sup> trust him alone,<sup>5</sup> and look to God for every good thing<sup>6</sup> humbly<sup>7</sup> and patiently,<sup>8</sup> and love,<sup>9</sup> fear,<sup>10</sup> and honor<sup>11</sup> him with all my heart. In short, that I renounce all created things rather than go against God’s will in any way.<sup>12</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Cor. 6:9–10](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians6.md#9); [10:5–14](/References/Bible/46%20-%201Corinthians/1Corinthians10.md#5); [1 John 5:21](/References/Bible/62%20-%201John/1John5.md#21)
  <sup>2</sup> [Lev. 19:31](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus19.md#31); [Deut. 18:9–12](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy18.md#9)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 4:10](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew4.md#10); [Rev. 19:10](/References/Bible/66%20-%20Revelation/Revelation19.md#10); [22:8–9](/References/Bible/66%20-%20Revelation/Revelation22.md#8)
  <sup>4</sup> [John 17:3](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John17.md#3)
  <sup>5</sup> [Jer. 17:5, 7](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jeremiah17.md#5)
  <sup>6</sup> [Ps. 104:27–28](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms104.md#27); [James 1:17](/References/Bible/59%20-%20James/James1.md#17)
  <sup>7</sup> [1 Pet. 5:5–6](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter5.md#5)
  <sup>8</sup> [Col. 1:11](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians1.md#11); [Heb. 10:36](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews10.md#36)
  <sup>9</sup> [Matt. 22:37](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew22.md#37) ([Deut. 6:5](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy6.md#5))
  <sup>10</sup> [Prov. 9:10](/References/Bible/20%20-%20Proverbs/Proverbs9.md#10); [1 Pet. 1:17](/References/Bible/60%20-%201Peter/1Peter1.md#17)
  <sup>11</sup> [Matt. 4:10](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew4.md#10) ([Deut. 6:13](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy6.md#13))
  <sup>12</sup> [Matt. 5:29–30](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew5.md#29); [10:37–39](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew10.md#37)

  <hr>

  ### 95. Q. What is idolatry?

  **A**. Idolatry is having or inventing something in which one trusts in place of or alongside of the only true God, who has revealed himself in his Word.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [1 Chron. 16:26](/References/Bible/13%20-%201Chronicles/1Chronicles16.md#26); [Gal. 4:8–9](/References/Bible/48%20-%20Galatians/Galatians4.md#8); [Eph. 5:5](/References/Bible/49%20-%20Ephesians/Ephesians5.md#5); [Phil. 3:19](/References/Bible/50%20-%20Philippians/Philippians3.md#19)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD35
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 35
  ### 96. Q. What is God’s will for us in the second commandment?

  **A**. That we in no way make any image of God <sup>1</sup> nor worship him in any other way than has been commanded in God’s Word.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Deut. 4:15–19](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy4.md#15); [Isa. 40:18–25](/References/Bible/23%20-%20Isaiah/Isaiah40.md#18); [Acts 17:29](/References/Bible/44%20-%20Acts/Acts17.md#29); [Rom. 1:22–23](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans1.md#22)
  <sup>2</sup> [Lev. 10:1–7](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus10.md); [1 Sam. 15:22–23](/References/Bible/9%20-%201Samuel/1Samuel15.md#22); [John 4:23–24](/References/Bible/43%20-%20John/John4.md#23)

  <hr>

  ### 97. Q. May we then not make any image at all?

  **A**. God cannot and may not be visibly portrayed in any way. Although creatures may be portrayed, yet God forbids making or having such images in order to worship them or serve God through them.<sup>1</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Ex. 34:13–14, 17](/References/Bible/02%20-%20Exodus/Exodus34.md#13); [2 Kings 18:4–5](/References/Bible/12%20-%202Kings/2Kings18.md#4)

  <hr>

  ### 98. Q. But may not images, as books for the unlearned, be permitted in churches?

  **A**. No, we should not try to be wiser than God.He wants the  Christian community instructed by the living preaching of his Word<sup>1</sup>—not by idols that cannot even talk.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 10:14–15, 17](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans10.md#14); [2 Tim. 3:16–17](/References/Bible/55%20-%202Timothy/2Timothy3.md#16); [2 Pet. 1:19](/References/Bible/61%20-%202Peter/2Peter1.md#19)
  <sup>2</sup> [Jer. 10:8](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jeremiah10.md#8); [Hab. 2:18–20](/References/Bible/35%20-%20Habakkuk/Habakkuk2.md#18)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD36
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 36
  ### 99. Q. What is God’s will for us in the third commandment?

  **A**. That we neither blaspheme nor misuse the name of God by cursing,<sup>1</sup> perjury,<sup>2</sup> or unnecessary oaths,<sup>3</sup> nor share in such horrible sins by being silent bystanders.<sup>4</sup> In summary, we must use the holy name of God only with reverence and awe,<sup>5</sup> so that we may properly confess him,<sup>6</sup> call upon him,<sup>7</sup> and praise him in everything we do and say.<sup>8</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Lev. 24:10–17](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus24.md#10)
  <sup>2</sup> [Lev. 19:12](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus19.md#12)
  <sup>3</sup> [Matt. 5:37](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew5.md#37); [James 5:12](/References/Bible/59%20-%20James/James5.md#12)
  <sup>4</sup> [Lev. 5:1](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus5.md); [Prov. 29:24](/References/Bible/20%20-%20Proverbs/Proverbs29.md#24)
  <sup>5</sup> [Ps. 99:1–5](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms99.md); [Jer. 4:2](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jeremiah4.md#2)
  <sup>6</sup> [Matt. 10:32–33](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew10.md#32); [Rom. 10:9–10](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans10.md#9)
  <sup>7</sup> [Ps. 50:14–15](/References/Bible/19%20-%20Psalms/Psalms50.md#14); [1 Tim. 2:8](/References/Bible/54%20-%201Timothy/1Timothy2.md#8)
  <sup>8</sup> [Col. 3:17](/References/Bible/51%20-%20Colossians/Colossians3.md#17)

  <hr>

  ### 100. Q. Is blasphemy of God’s name by swearing and cursing really such serious sin that God is angry also with those who do not do all they can to help prevent and forbid it?

  **A**. Yes, indeed.<sup>1</sup> No sin is greater or provokes God’s wrath more than blaspheming his name. That is why he commanded it to be punished with death.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Lev. 5:1](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus5.md)
  <sup>2</sup> [Lev. 24:10–17](/References/Bible/03%20-%20Leviticus/Leviticus24.md#10)


type: hc
name: Heidelberg Catechism
label: LD37
content:
  ## Lord’s Day 37
  ### 101. Q. But may we swear an oath in God’s name if we do it reverently?

  **A**. Yes, when the government demands it, or when necessity requires it, in order to maintain and promote truth and trustworthiness for God’s glory and our neighbor’s good. Such oath-taking is grounded in God’s Word<sup>1</sup> and was rightly used by the saints in the Old and New Testaments.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Deut. 6:13](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy6.md#13); [10:20](/References/Bible/05%20-%20Deuteronomy/Deuteronomy10.md#20); [Jer. 4:1–2](/References/Bible/24%20-%20Jeremiah/Jeremiah4.md); [Heb. 6:16](/References/Bible/58%20-%20Hebrews/Hebrews6.md#16)
  <sup>2</sup> [Gen. 21:24](/References/Bible/01%20-%20Genesis/Genesis21.md#24); [Josh. 9:15](/References/Bible/06%20-%20Joshua/Joshua9.md#15); [1 Kings 1:29–30](/References/Bible/11%20-%201Kings/1Kings1.md#29); [Rom. 1:9](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans1.md#9); [2 Cor. 1:23](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians1.md#23)

  <hr>

  ### 102. Q. May we also swear by saints or other created things?

  **A**. No. A legitimate oath is calling upon God as the one who knows my heart to witness to the truth and to punish me if I swear falsely.<sup>1</sup> No created thing is worthy of such honor.<sup>2</sup>

  <sup>1</sup> [Rom. 9:1](/References/Bible/45%20-%20Romans/Romans9.md); [2 Cor. 1:23](/References/Bible/47%20-%202Corinthians/2Corinthians1.md#23)
  <sup>2</sup> [Matt. 5:34–37](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew5.md#34); [23:16–22](/References/Bible/40%20-%20Matthew/Matthew23.md#16); [James 5:12](/References/Bible/59%20-%20James/James5.md#12)


