The Heidelberg Catechism
Part 1: Of Man's Wretchedness or Miserable State
Lord's Day / Week 3
Question 6
Did God, then, make man so adverse, crooked and disobedient?
Answer
No, for God made him (man) good,1 and in the likeness of Himself.2 That is, (man was) endowed with true righteousness and holiness3 that he should rightly know God his Maker4 and heartily love Him and live forever with Him, to the end that he might love and praise Him.5
1. Genesis 1:31
2. Genesis 1:26-27
3. Ephesians 4:24
4. Colossians 3:10
5. Psalm 8
Question 7
Then from where sprang up this crooked disobedience of man's nature?
Answer
Of the fall and disobedience of our first father and mother, Adam and Eve,1 by whom our nature is so made crooked and naughty,2 we all are conceived and born in sin.3
1. Genesis 3
2. Romans 5:12, 18-19
3. Psalm 51:5
Question 8
Are we then all so wounded that we are utterly insufficient to do any good thing, (being) disposed and ready to all vice and wickedness?
Answer
Yes,1 surely, except that we be born again by the Holy Spirit.2
1. Genesis 6:5, 8:21; Job 14:4; Isaiah 53:6
2. John 3:3-5
The Heidelberg Catechism was originally composed in 1563 by Zacharias Ursinus, with contributions provided by Caspar Olevianus.
This is our attempt at a modernized version of the first English translation, which was produced by William Turner in 1572, which he originally titled Catechisme for Children, thankfully made available in digital form by the University of Michigan.