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HC Q2. Man's Misery
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Q2. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

A. First, how great my sins and misery are; second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.

See also in WCF: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8 See also in WLC: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5 See also in WSC: Q1, Q2, Q3
Rom. 3:9-10
[9] What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, [10] as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
1 John 1:10
[10] If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
John 17:3
[3] And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Acts 4:12
[12] And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 10:43
[43] To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Matt. 5:16
[16] In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Rom. 6:13
[13] Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Eph. 5:8-10
[8] for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light [9] (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), [10] and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
1 Pet. 2:9-10
[9] But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. [10] Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
See also in WCF
1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8
See also in WLC
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
See also in WSC
Q1 Q2 Q3

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Q1: What is your only comfort in life and … Q3: From where do you know your sins and …

Man's Misery

The knowledge of our sin and misery

Q1. What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

Q2. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

A. First, how great my sins and misery are; second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.

Q3. From where do you know your sins and misery?

A. From the law of God.

Q4. What does God's law require of us?

A. Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22: You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

Q5. Can you keep all this perfectly?

A. No, I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbour.

Q6. Did God, then, create man so wicked and perverse?

A. No, on the contrary, God created man good and in His image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that he might rightly know God His Creator, heartily love Him, and live with Him in eternal blessedness to praise and glorify Him.

Q7. From where, then, did man's depraved nature come?

A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise, for there our nature became so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin.

Q8. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined to all evil?

A. Yes, unless we are regenerated by the Spirit of God.

Q9. Is God, then, not unjust by requiring in His law what man cannot do?

A. No, for God so created man that he was able to do it. But man, at the instigation of the devil, in deliberate disobedience robbed himself and all his descendants of these gifts.

Q10. Will God allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?

A. Certainly not. He is terribly displeased with our original sin as well as our actual sins. Therefore He will punish them by a just judgment both now and eternally, as He has declared: Cursed be every one who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them (Galatians 3:10).

Q11. But is God not also merciful?

A. God is indeed merciful, but He is also just. His justice requires that sin committed against the most high majesty of God also be punished with the most severe, that is, with everlasting, punishment of body and soul.