Heidelberg Catechism Week 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 anger of God against the sin of the whole human race. This He did in order that, by His suffering as the only atoning sacrifice, He might set us free, body and soul, from eternal condemnation, and gain for us God's grace, righteousness, and eternal life.

38. Q. Why did He suffer "under Pontius Pilate" as judge? A. So that He, though innocent, might be condemned by a civil judge, and so free us from the severe judgment of God that was to fall on us.

39. Q. Is it significant that He was "crucified" instead of dying some other way? A. Yes. This death convinces me that He shouldered the curse which lay on me, since death by crucifixion was accursed by God.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

DeYoung provides Ursinus' list of seven ways Christ suffered:

1. He gave up the joys of heaven.
2. He experienced the infirmities of our nature (hunger, thirst, sadness, grief, etc.).
3. He knew deprivation and poverty (i.e., He had nowhere to lay His head).
4. He endured insults, treacheries, slanders, blasphemies, rejection, and contempt.
5.  He faced temptations from the Devil.
6. He died a shameful and painful death.
7. He experienced the bitter anguish of soul as one accursed of God and forsaken by His heavenly Father.

I appreciate DeYoung's attention to the issue of particular redemption in this chapter, especially because of the phrase "the sin of the whole human race" in the answer to question 37. As is understood in Reformed circles, "the death of Christ was sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world, but it was God's will that it should effectively redeem those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to Christ by the Father."

If Christ's death on the cross merely makes it possible for sinners to come to God, rather than truly reconciling sinners to God, than that would be dangerously close to the liberal theology we know as universalism. DeYoung: "If Jesus died for every person on the planet, then we no longer mean that He died in place of sinners, taking upon Himself our shame, our sins, and our rebellion... This is only half a gospel. Certainly, we need to come to Christ in faith. But faith is not the last work that finally makes us saved. Faith is trusting that Jesus has in fact died in our place and bore the curse for us - effectually, particularly, and perfectly."