The Heidelberg Catechism
Lord’s Day 23
60 Q. How are you right with God?
A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.1
Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God’s commandments and of never having kept any of them,2 and even though I am still inclined toward all evil,3 nevertheless, without my deserving it at all,4 out of sheer grace,5 God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ,6 as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me.7
All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.8
1 Rom. 3:21-28; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 3:8-11
2 Rom. 3:9-10
3 Rom. 7:23
4 Tit. 3:4-5
5 Rom. 3:24; Eph. 2:8
6 Rom. 4:3-5 (Gen. 15:6); 2 Cor. 5:17-19; 1 John 2:1-2
7 Rom. 4:24-25; 2 Cor. 5:21
8 John 3:18; Acts 16:30-31
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.1
And I can receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than by faith alone.2
1 1 Cor. 1:30-31
2 Rom. 10:10; 1 John 5:10-12
And what is justification?
Justification is an act of God’s free grace wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone.
And yet, so many claim that active obedience isn’t in the WCF. They say that it was hotly debated, and they chose not to put it in, because so many didn’t believe in it at that time. What a bunch of bad scholarship. Being accepted in God’s sight as righteous because of the imputed righteousness of Christ received by faith alone – how much clearer a statement of the active obedience of Christ could you have?