Heidelberg Catechism Week 23

59. Q. What good does it do you, however, to believe all this? A. In Christ I am right with God and heir to life everlasting.

60. Q. How are you right with God? A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.

61. Q. Why do you say that by faith alone you are right with God? A. It is not because of any value my faith has that God is pleased with me. Only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness make me right with God. And I can receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than by faith alone.

My reflections on the reading from the book...

The answer to question #60 served as my introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, when I chanced upon it on a devotional blog several years ago. I was immediately struck by the beauty of this concise summary of the doctrine of justification. 

Comments from DeYoung:

Faith is not what God finds acceptable in us... Faith is only the instrument by which we embrace Christ, have communion with Him, and share in all His benefits. It is the object of our faith that matters... Believe in Christ with all your heart, but don't put your faith in your faith. Your experience of trusting Christ will ebb and flow. So be sure to rest in Jesus Christ and not your faith in Him.

Somehow, I never grasped this important concept of the gospel until in my 20s. The preaching I sat under for so many years stressed human effort. I was led to focus more upon my performance and the strength of my faith. Yet God gradually opened my eyes to more fully understand the saving work He had done in my life. One book that received much highlighting during those days was Michael Barrett's Complete in Him. For instance, his statement, "The value of faith is determined by the object of faith. Saving faith is saving faith because its object is Christ," helped me identify the erroneous thinking I had come to assume - that I somehow had to exercise the right fervency of faith, and demonstrate it in the right way, in order to be assured of God's grace. No!! My faith is placed in Christ, the perfect Saviour whose righteousness and sacrifice are credited to my account, no matter how weak I feel at the moment.

Not what these hands have done 

Can save this guilty soul; 

Not what this toiling flesh has borne 

Can make my spirit whole. 

Not what I feel or do 

Can give me peace with God; 

Not all my prayers and sighs and tears 

Can bear my awful load. 

Thy work alone, O Christ, 

Can ease this weight of sin; 

Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God, 

Can give me peace within. 

Thy love to me, O God, 

Not mine, O Lord, to Thee, 

Can rid me of this dark unrest, 

And set my spirit free. 

Thy grace alone, O God, 

To me can pardon speak; 

Thy power alone, O Son of God, 

Can this sore bondage break. 

I bless the Christ of God; 

I rest on love Divine; 

And with unfaltering lip and heart, 

I call this Saviour mine. 

(Horatius Bonar)