Isn’t God merciful? God will not let sin go unpunished (Q. 10). The Heidelberg Catechism (1563) now asks the question everyone asks next.
Q. 11. Is, then, God not also merciful?
A. God is indeed merciful, but he is likewise just; wherefore his justice requires that sin, which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment both of body and soul.
Exodus 34 proclaims the LORD “merciful and gracious … and that will by no means clear the guilty.” Zacharias Ursinus explains: “God is exceedingly merciful in such a way, that he is also exceedingly just,” and every crime deserves punishment “in proportion to the majesty of him against whom it is committed.” Like a judge who passes sentence “and yet does not take pleasure in his punishment,” God “does not delight in the destruction of the wicked” (Ezekiel 18:23), “and has also shown his mercy and compassion towards us, by laying the punishment which we deserved upon his own Son.” Which leaves the next question: how can we escape this punishment?
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Will God Let Sin Go Unpunished?
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How Can We Escape God’s Punishment?
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SOURCES
Heidelberg Catechism, tr. Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, vol. III:
Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, tr. G. W. Williard (1888), Q. 11:
Lord’s Day 4:
SCRIPTURE (KJV)
Exodus 34:6–7 · Exodus 20:6 · Psalm 7:9 · Exodus 20:5 · Exodus 23:7 · Exodus 34:7 · Psalm 5:5–6 · Nahum 1:2–3 · Ezekiel 18:23 (the first eight are the proofs of the 1563 edition)
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