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The Heidelberg Catechism

The Heidelberg Catechism is an educational tool, following a question-and-answer format. It was created to help people learn the foundational truths taught in the Bible.

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Belgic Confession
The Apostles' Creed
Nicene Creed
Westminster Confession of Faith
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What Is The Heidelberg Catechism?

Has someone ever asked you what you believe, and you weren’t sure of your answer? You needed a catechism. A catechism is a teaching tool: a series of questions and answers. It clearly and concisely summarizes what a group of people believes. 

The Heidelberg Catechism emerged in 1563, birthed out of the minds and pens of three men: Fredrick (Elector Fredrick III), Caspar (Caspar Olevianus), and Zach (Zacharius Ursinus). Fredrick, a devoted Christian, ruled what was called, "the Palatinate"—one-seventh of the Roman Empire—what today would be Germany.

Martin Luther and John Calvin’s radical teaching that opposed Medieval Roman Catholicism had spread throughout the Roman Empire and taken root. Frederick wanted to . . .

by Bibles.net 

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HEIDELBERG CATECHISM
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Read the entirety of the Heidelberg Catechism here.
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The History of The Heidelberg Catechism

Protestant Reformation
Martin Luther posted his “ninety five theses” protesting the Roman Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences, thus beginning the Protestant Reformation.
The Council of Trent
The Council of Trent met for 25 sessions over a period of 18 years, producing an anti-Protestant confession that dominated Roman Catholicism until the 1960s.
War Ends
The Peace of Augsburg ended wars in Germany between Lutherans and Catholics, allowing religious freedom for both per the adage “whose the rule, his the religion.”
Fredrick III’s Conversion
Prince Frederick III, ruler of the German region Palatinate, moved away from Lutheran theology toward the biblical Reformed faith promoted by John Calvin.
Document Drafted
Frederick commissioned Zacharias Ursinus (1534-1583), a professor at the University of Heidelberg, to draft a question-and-answer confession (“catechism”) to help teach biblical Reformed theology in the region in which he had oversight.
Catechism Defended
Frederick stood before the Diet of Augsburg to defend his use of the Heidelberg Catechism in his German province, with many believing it violated the Peace of Augsburg.
Fredrick III’s Death
Prince Frederick died and most of his province reverted back to Lutheranism.
Catechism Accepted
Along with the Belgic Confession and the Canons of Dordt, the Heidelberg Catechism was adopted as one of the “three standards” of Reformed doctrine.
Impact
The Heidelberg Catechism was one of the foundational documents used to develop the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
1517
1545-1563
1555
1561
1563
1566
1576
1619
1647
History of the Heidelberg Catechism
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What is your only comfort
in life and death? 
That I am not my own,
but belong with body
and soul, both in life and
in death, to my faithful
Savior Jesus Christ.  

Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A #1, Lord's Day 1
Article: 7 Min

Why I Love the Heidelberg Catechism

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by Kevin DeYoung at The Gospel Coalition

Verse
ISAIAH 52: 9-10 NKJV

Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places of Jerusalem!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of all the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.

Verse
DEUTERONOMY 11:18-19 CSB

“Imprint these words of mine [the LORD] on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” 

Verse
ROMANS 15:4 NKJV

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Article: 6 Min

The Heidelberg’s History

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by Lyle Bierma at Ligonier Ministries

Message: 28 Min

A Detailed History
of the
Heidelberg Catechism

by Dr. Joel Beeke

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Proclaim things 
consistent with sound teaching.

TITUS 2:1 CSB
Article: 5 Min

Using the Heidelberg Catechism With Your Family

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by Erik Raymond at The Gospel Coalition

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Train up a child
in the way
he should go,
and when he is old
he will not depart from it.

PROVERBS 22:6 NKJV
What Does the Heidelberg Catechism Say?

Intro to the Heidelberg Catechism

The Heidelberg Catechism is easy to learn, because it exists in a question-and-answer format. It explains the Christian faith by asking questions of The Ten Commandments, The Lord's Prayer, and The Apostles' Creed. 

It wonderfully summarizes the Bible’s teaching and gives us a tool to explain what we believe. It’s also a unifying statement, reminding us what all Christians believe.

The catechism is divided into numbered sections, each titled “the Lord’s Day”. It’s divided this way so that people could read one section every Sunday for a year. It’s devotional at heart, aiming to answer the searching heart, establish the wavering youngster, and encourage the seasoned saint.

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THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM 1563 VERSION

BY LIGONIER MINISTRIES

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Quote

Preface to the Heidelberg Catechism

Given at Heidelberg on Tuesday, January 19, 1563:
We do herewith affectionately admonish and enjoin upon every one of you, that you do, for the honor of God and other subjects, and also for the sake of your own soul’s profit and welfare, thankfully accept this proffered Catechism or course of instruction, and that you do diligently and faithfully represent and explain the same according to its true import, to the youth in our schools and churches, and also from the pulpit to the common people, that you teach, and act, and live in accordance with it, in the assured hope, that if our youth in early life are earnestly instructed and educated in the Word of God, it will please Almighty God also to grant reformation of public and private morals, and temporal and eternal welfare. Desiring, as above said, that all this may be accomplished, we have made this provision.

by Elector Fredrick III | Source
Video: 1 Min
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Encourage one another 
AND BUILD ONE ANOTHER UP 
JUST AS YOU ARE DOING. 

1 THESSALONIANS 5:11 ESV

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My Only Comfort

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I Am Not My Own

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Heidelberg Catechism

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Heidelberg:
Songs from
the Catechism

“I spent nine months writing, studying, and praying the Heidelberg Catechism.”—Jeremy Zeyl, Artist

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The good news we almost forgot
The Good News We Almost Forgot
by Kevin DeYoung | Devotional
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The Ten Commandments

"And God spoke all these words..."

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The Lord’s Prayer

"Pray then like this..."

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BE OF GOOD COMFORT,
BE OF ONE MIND,
LIVE IN PEACE;

and the God of love and peace
will be with you.

2 Corinthians 13:11 NKJV
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