Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 19

19. Lord’s Day

Q. 50. Why is it added, “and sitteth at the right hand of God”?
A. Because Christ is ascended into heaven for this end, that he might appear as head of his church, [a] by whom the Father governs all things. [b]

Q. 51. What profit is this glory of Christ, our head, unto us?
A. First, that by his Holy Spirit he pours out heavenly graces upon us his members; [a] and then that by his power he defends and preserves us against all enemies. [b]

Q. 52. What comfort is it to thee that “Christ shall come again to judge the quick and the dead”?
A. That in all my sorrows and persecutions, with uplifted head I look for the very same person, who before offered himself for my sake, to the tribunal of God, and has removed all curse from me, to come as judge from heaven: [a] who shall cast all his and my enemies into everlasting condemnation, [b] but shall translate me with all his chosen ones to himself, into heavenly joys and glory. [c]

Westminster Confession, Week 19

Chapter 11: Of Justification

4: God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect,^[244] and Christ did, in the fullness of time, die for their sins, and rise again for their justification:^[245] nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit does, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.^[246]

5: God does continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified;^[247] and although they can never fall from the sate of justification,^[248] yet they may, by their sins, fall under God’s fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of His countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.^[249]

6: The justification of believers under the Old Testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament.^[250]

Canons of Dordt, Week 19

The Second Head of Doctrine: Christ’s Death and Human Redemption Through It

Article 6: Unbelief Man’s Responsibility

However, that many who have been called through the gospel do not repent or believe in Christ but perish in unbelief is not because the sacrifice of Christ offered on the cross is deficient or insufficient, but because they themselves are at fault.

Article 7: Faith God’s Gift

But all who genuinely believe and are delivered and saved by Christ’s death from their sins and from destruction receive this favor solely from God’s grace – which he owes to no one – given to them in Christ from eternity.

Larger Catechism, Week 19

Q. 82. What is the communion in glory which the members of the invisible church have with Christ?
A. The communion in glory which the members of the invisible church have with Christ, is in this life,^[357] immediately after death,^[358] and at last perfected at the resurrection and day of judgment.^[359]

Q. 83. What is the communion in glory with Christ which the members of the invisible church enjoy in this life?
A. The members of the invisible church have communicated to them in this life the firstfruits of glory with Christ, as they are members of him their head, and so in him are interested in that glory which he is fully possessed of;^[360] and, as an earnest thereof, enjoy the sense of God’s love,^[361] peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, and hope of glory;^[362] as, on the contrary, sense of God’s revenging wrath, horror of conscience, and a fearful expectation of judgment, are to the wicked the beginning of their torments which they shall endure after death.^[363]

Q. 84. Shall all men die?
A. Death being threatened as the wages of sin,^[364] it is appointed unto all men once to die;^[365] for that all have sinned.^[366]

Q. 85. Death, being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ?
A. The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and curse of it;^[367] so that, although they die, yet it is out of God’s love,^[368] to free them perfectly from sin and misery,^[369] and to make them capable of further communion with Christ in glory, which they then enter upon.^[370]

Q. 86. What is the communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death?
A. The communion in glory with Christ, which the members of the invisible church enjoy immediately after death is, in that their souls are then made perfect in holiness,^[371] and received into the highest heavens,^[372] where they behold the face of God in light and glory,^[373] waiting for the full redemption of their bodies,^[374] which even in death continue united to Christ,^[375] and rest in their graves as in their beds,^[376] till at the last day they be again united to their souls.^[377] Whereas the souls of the wicked are at their death cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, and their bodies kept in their graves, as in their prisons, till the resurrection and judgment of the great day.^[378]

Belgic Confession, Week 19

Article 28: The Obligations of Church Members

We believe that since this holy assembly and congregation is the gathering of those who are saved and there is no salvation apart from it, no one ought to withdraw from it, content to be by himself, regardless of his status or condition. But all people are obliged to join and unite with it, keeping the unity of the church by submitting to its instruction and discipline, by bending their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ, and by serving to build up one another, according to the gifts God has given them as members of each other in the same body. And to preserve this unity more effectively, it is the duty of all believers, according to God’s Word, to separate themselves from those who do not belong to the church, in order to join this assembly wherever God has established it, even if civil authorities and royal decrees forbid and death and physical punishment result. And so, all who withdraw from the church or do not join it act contrary to God’s ordinance.

Shorter Catechism, Week 19

Q. 29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.^[83]

Q. 30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us,^[84] and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.^[85]

Children’s Catechism, Week 19

Q. 64. What offices has Christ?
A. Christ has three offices.

Q. 65. What are they?
A. The offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king.

Q. 66. How is Christ a prophet?
A. Because he teaches us the will of God.

Q. 67. How is Christ a priest?
A. Because he died for our sins and pleads with God for us.

Q. 68. How is Christ a king?
A. Because he rules over us and defends us.

Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 18

18. Lord’s Day

Q. 46. How dost thou understand these words, “he ascended into heaven”?
A. That Christ, in sight of his disciples, was taken up from earth into heaven; [a] and that he continues there for our interest, [b] until he comes again to judge the quick and the dead. [c]

Q. 47. Is not Christ then with us even to the end of the world, as he has promised?
A. Christ is very man and very God; with respect to his human nature, he is no more on earth; but with respect to his Godhead, majesty, grace and spirit, he is at no time absent from us [a].

Q. 48. But if his human nature is not present, wherever his Godhead is, are not then these two natures in Christ separated from one another?
A. Not as all, for since the Godhead is illimitable and omnipresent, [a] it must necessarily follow that the same is beyond the limits of the human nature he assumed, [b] and yet is nevertheless in this human nature, and remains personally united to it.

Q. 49. Of what advantage to us is Christ’s ascension into heaven?
A. First, that he is our advocate in the presence of his Father in heaven; [a] secondly, that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that he, as the head, will also take up to himself, us, his members; [b] thirdly, that he sends us his Spirit as an earnest, [c] by whose power we “seek the things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God, and not things on earth.” [d]

Westminster Confession, Week 18

Chapter 11: Of Justification

1: Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies;^[234] not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them,^[235] they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.^[236]

2: Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification:^[237] yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but works by love.^[238]

3: Christ, by His obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a proper, real and full satisfaction to His Father’s justice in their behalf.^[239] Yet, in as much as He was given by the Father for them;^[240] and His obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead;^[241] and both, freely, not for any thing in them; their justification is only of free grace;^[242] that both the exact justice, and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.^[243]

Canons of Dordt, Week 18

The Second Head of Doctrine: Christ’s Death and Human Redemption Through It

Article 5: The Mandate to Proclaim the Gospel to All

Moreover, it is the promise of the gospel that whoever believes in Christ crucified shall not perish but have eternal life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be announced and declared without differentiation or discrimination to all nations and people, to whom God in his good pleasure sends the gospel.