Finally, we come to the end of our misery – that is, the last Lord's Day in the Misery section of the Heidelberg Catechism. Next week we will move on to contemplate Redemption! I do not want to imply that Ursinus has not fed us richly to this point – and this week is no different. His clear and methodical style, thorough and yet not burdensome, help us negotiate the intersection of doctrine and life. His use of easily understood illustrations, answering questions and objections as relevant today as they were 500 years ago, and frequently giving new insights to new understanding and practical application.
Lord's Day 3 focused on the human inability to do God's will. Lord's Day 4 examines God's justice in regard to that inability. Given the circumstances, Q.9 asks whether it is at all just to have expectations of creatures who have no ability to meet them. Q.10 continues, asking whether God might allow sin to go unpunished. Out of options, Q.11, attempts an end run, asking whether God's mercy might be a way out of the dilemma.
Human reason protests against the idea that one can be held responsible for what one cannot do – unfair! The catechism's answer: humans had the ability and threw it away! Ursinus gives the example of a prince who grants a nobleman a benefit; should the nobleman rebel, both he and his posterity will lose this royal favor. Augustine's famous acknowledgement of the creature's dependence on God for obedience: “Lord, give what you command, and command what you wilt, and you shall not command in vain.” To the righteous, failure to meet the demands of the law is acknowledgement of our misery without a savior. For the unrepentant, failure is a call to repentance and, at last, a demonstration of God's justice.
Q.10 focuses on the punishment of sin - “God punishes sin most severely, justly, and certainly.” An objection is raised that the wicked often seem to prosper. Ursinus notes that prosperity is all the more reason for one to recognize the goodness of God and, in the end, such prosperity testifies against the unrepentant. He also notes that present punishment is “but the beginning of everlasting punishment.” Finally, Ursinus accedes that while sins may receive differing degrees of punishment commensurate with their severity, all punishment for sin is eternal.
Human reason, in a last ditch effort, asks whether God is merciful (Q.11)? The answser? God is merciful, but he is also just. A concept like “Divine simplicity” is helpful in understanding the catechism's answer – as well as in other issues where we seek to pit God's love and mercy against his law and justice. We may be able to get to an answer we like by ignoring the God that the Bible presents – but that must also be factored in when we evaluate the outcomes we seek. God shows mercy in the extreme to those who come to him in repentance, but this requires that his justice also be satisfied, accomplished through the active and passive work of Jesus Christ. It is also of note that, while Ursinus addressed this issue 500 years ago, like many issues thought to be settled, they are challenged whenever the church either forgets their value or when human reason finds them offensive. For example, Synod 2022 was faced with the need to defend the doctrine of Penal Substitutionary Atonement.
Ursinus goes through an intersting and helpful discussion of the types and purposes of the afflictions suffered by humankind. As mentioned earlier, this life is the beginning of eternity, and afflictions must be seen in the light of their purpose in that bigger picture. While afflictions are the beginning of punishment of sin for the unrepentant, at the same time they are a call to repentance, to seek God's mercy. In terms of the repentant, Ursinus uses a word that at first seems peculiar - “the cross”. It makes better sense if we see in it the idea that we are to take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). Afflictions, then, are interpreted as the discipline of a loving Father – “These chastisements are to them sermons, and call to repentence.” Afflictions also teach the believer to hate sin and the world attempt to entice us away from God – as Q.127 later describes these as “our sworn enemies - the devil, the world, and our own flesh”. Afflictions try the faith of the believer so that it may be strengthened, and deliverance from trials, both for individuals, as well as the church, bring joyous praise to God. Afflictions also conform believers to Christ, even in persecution and martyrdom, as a testimony to the Gospel.
Finally, Ursinus looks at comforts – or benefits – that affliction may provide to believers and the church. He bookends various points of comfort, starting with the remission of sin which he says
is the first in order and lies at the bottom of all the rest... if this comfort be well grounded and fixed, all the others will naturally follow; for if God be our father, we may rest assured that he will not only not send any thing that will be an injury to us, but he will also defend us against all the evils of this life.
He concludes with complete and final delieverence – he notes that while “The first is the chief comfort, and foundation of all the others; this is the perfection and consummation of all”:
For as there are degrees of punishment, so there are also degrees of deliverance. The first degree is in this life, where we have the beginning of eternal life. The second is in temporal death, when the soul is carried into Abraham’s bosom. The third will be in the resurrection of the dead, and their glorification, when we shall be perfectly happy, both in body and soul. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” (Rev. 21:4)