Heidelberg Catechism Devotional Q13 and Q14

Q.13. Can we pay this debt ourselves?

Aš Certainly not.  Actually, we increase our guilt every day.

Q.14. Can another creature – any at all – pay this debt for us?

Aš No.  To begin with, God will not punish another creature for what a human is guilty of.  Besides, no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal anger against sin and release others from it.

Monday

Have you ever wanted to buy something but you were a few dollars, or even just a few cents short?  Generally, a cashier isn’t going to give you a break if you don’t have enough money to complete the purchase.  You will have to give up that thing you long for until the piggy bank has enough to pay.

This is what the catechism is referring to when it say that we cannot pay the debt we owe to God.  When we show up before God with our best gifts, our greatest acts of religion, he looks at them and says, “There isn’t enough here to cover the offense.  In fact, your bill just grew again because your sin never leaves you.” 

We are hopelessly in debt to God and we can’t get out of the bill.  In the 18^th century, there were companies that hired men to work in the mines.  These men worked hard, but every day they worked and shopped in the company store, their debt to the company increased.  Their wages couldn’t pay their cost of living.  This is an example of increasing our bill before God each day. Read Romans 2:4-5.

Tuesday

When we come to God and offer up our actions as payment for our sin, we are sinning.  When we offer up our lives to appease his wrath, we are sinning.  Read Isaiah 64:6.  Surely God will not be duped into thinking that if we die, the debt has been settled and we can now live again.  No, even if we die there is still an outstanding balance due and he refuses to raise us to eternal life until the balance is paid in full.  This is why Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.”  In all our attempts to be good, we are stubbornly refusing to come to God and accept his terms for life.  The Pharisees were guilty of this in Jesus’ day and so are we.  Read John 5:39-40.  

Wednesday

If we are unable to pay our debt, can another creature pay the debt?  No for humans must pay their own debt in their own flesh.  Read Ezekiel 18:4, 20.  God clearly teaches that each person is responsible for his or her own life, both good and bad.  They must answer for how they live and pay any shortfall.

Thursday

The adjective mere in our question is the key to understanding the answer.  No creature that is just, or only a created being could stand the punishment God’s justice demands.  But, a creature that wasn’t merely created, but also the creator could.  Aren’t we blessed to have Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man?  Read Romans 8:3.

Friday

Read Psalms 49:7-9.  This week we have been reminded that no creature could pay the debt of another.  Today we build on that thought again.  The psalmist says, “The ransom for a life is costly.”  This is true, it is so costly that only God can pay, and only God’s Son could bear up under the wrath of God.  Only he could stand the separation and judgment, and release us from it.  Read Matthew 27:51-54.

Saturday

Many people unfortunately think that in the Old Testament, the animal sacrifices God asked for were a means of having another creature pay the debt for human sin.  But this is not true.  Read Hebrews 10:4.  No creature, living or dead can pay the debt of human sin.  No, to pay that debt requires the Creator to step in and fill the void.  He must make the payment, if any are to be redeemed.  Praise the Lord, Jesus the Son of God, the Creator or the earth, has paid the cost.  Read Hebrews 2:14-18.