Everyone seeks comfort—not just in the sense of material prosperity but also in the sense of assurance, stability, or, perhaps chief of all, happiness. The quest for happiness is universal, transcending barriers of race and geography and time. And many regard it as an eternal quest, an unanswerable question.
What is the nature of this happiness? Because life can be dangerous, people want to secure their well-being—that is, safety. Because much of life can be deemed menial, people want a sense that their lives count for something—that is, significance. Because life is difficult, people want to experience the assurance that someone cares for them—that is, sympathy. And because life is tarnished and complicated by transgressions, they want to experience freedom from their sense of guilt—that is, forgiveness.
In 1563, while the Protestant Reformation was still young, pastors and theologians in the German city of Heidelberg published a catechism—a textbook of the basics of Christian faith arranged in a question-and-answer format. The first question and answer endure as one of the great articulations of the Gospel’s provision for human happiness, expressed in the language of the Scriptures. Central to this provision is that happiness is not to be found in ourselves but rather in our relationship to our Creator.
The catechism was created to be a resource for churches and families so that children might be brought up to articulate (and believe!) an answer to the question “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” They would say,
That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to Him, Christ, by His Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.
To belong to our Savior means security even from the jaws of death, which could not hold Him (Acts 2:24), cannot surprise Him (Matt. 10:29–31; Luke 21:16–18), and does not end His relationship with us (1 Thess. 4:16).
To belong to our Savior means significance as we find our identity in Him (1 Cor. 6:19) and that we live through and for Him (Col. 1:16).
To belong to our Savior means sympathy as we take comfort in His faithfulness (2 Tim. 2:13) and His self-emptying love (Phil. 2:6–7).
And to belong to our Savior means forgiveness from every sin through the payment of His blood (1 Peter 1:18–19), which “can make the foulest clean.”1
The answer to the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism is thus a rich resource for a Christian’s meditation and memorization. It is a succinct and beautiful reminder that the quest for happiness has its answer incomparably in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is a clear framework to undergird the answer we give to those who would ask the reason for the hope within us (1 Peter 3:15).
This article was adapted from the sermon “Privileges” by Alistair Begg.
Charles Wesley, “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” (1739). ↩︎
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