Question 1: What is your only comfort, whether living or dying?

Commentary on Christian Doctrine, Part II

(Heidelberg Catechism)

Introduction

Question 1: What is your only comfort, whether living or dying?

Answer: Whether living or dying, I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has paid the price of all my sins with His precious blood and has freed me from the power of the devil. He also always protects me, just as not a hair on my head falls without the will of my heavenly Father. Indeed, all these things work together for my salvation. Because I am His, He guarantees me eternal life through His Holy Spirit and makes me willing to live for Him with all my heart.

The Bible speaks of a body of flesh (sarx) and a body of spirit (pneumatikon), with pneuma meaning spirit. Indeed, the fleshly body, the body of sin, does not belong to the Lord; it is a mortal being. Only the spirit and the spiritual body belong to the Lord.

Romans 6:6-7 says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” Therefore, the expression, “Body and soul belong to the faithful Savior Jesus Christ,” can be seen as incorrect.

To be free from the power of the devil, believers must believe that they died with Jesus Christ, for Jesus' blood acts as a cleansing agent for sin. Freedom from the power of the devil comes from being freed from sin. Therefore, when believers believe that they died with Jesus and were resurrected with him, they are freed from the law and are no longer slaves to sin. Therefore, having been freed from sin, they are guided by the law of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:1-2 says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." Nevertheless, church members today believe that they must repent of their sins daily and be forgiven by the blood of Jesus. This is because, since believers do not die with Jesus, their sins are visible to their physical eyes.

The blood of Jesus is applied only when believers die in union with Jesus Christ. Because the doctrine does not include this, believers are confused, thinking they must confess their sins daily and receive forgiveness.

In the verse, “All these things work together to achieve my salvation,” “All these things” means that Jesus paid the price for sin by shedding His blood on behalf of believers and was freed from the power of the devil. However, repentance is essential for salvation. In Acts 2:37, “Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

Repentance is the death of the old man. When we realize that the old man we call ourselves is a being destined to die, think of the body of Jesus crucified, and confess that that body is none other than ourselves, God bestows grace upon that believer. That old man is a being destined to die from the greed to become like God. The gift of the Holy Spirit signifies the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit guarantees salvation to those who turn to God.