Man's Misery
The knowledge of our sin and misery
Questions 1–11
Q1. 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 …
Q2. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?
First, how great my sins and misery are; second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; third, …
Q3. From where do you know your sins and misery?
From the law of God.
Q4. What does God's law require of us?
Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22: You shall love the LORD your God with all your …
Q5. Can you keep all this perfectly?
No, I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbour.
Q6. Did God, then, create man so wicked and perverse?
No, on the contrary, God created man good and in His image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so …
Q7. From where, then, did man's depraved nature come?
From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise, for there our nature became so …
Q8. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined to all evil?
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?
No, for God so created man that he was able to do it. But man, at the instigation of the …
Q10. Will God allow such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?
Certainly not. He is terribly displeased with our original sin as well as our actual sins. Therefore He will punish …
Q11. But is God not also merciful?
God is indeed merciful, but He is also just. His justice requires that sin committed against the most high majesty …