The Heidelberg Catechism

That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. With his precious blood he has fully satisfied for all my sins and delivered me from all the power of the devil. He so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must serve my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life and makes me sincerely willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Three. First, how great my sin and brokenness are. Second, how I may be delivered from all my sin and brokenness. Third, how I am to express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.

From the law of God.

Christ teaches us this in brief in Matthew 22:37–40: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Not at all, for I am inclined by nature to hate God and my neighbor.

By no means. God created man good and in his own image, in true righteousness and holiness, so that he might rightly know God his Creator, love him with all his heart, and live with him in eternal happiness, to glorify and praise him.

From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. Because of this, our nature has become so corrupt that we are all conceived and born in sin.

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

Not at all, for God made man able to do it. But man, at the instigation of the devil and by his own willful disobedience, deprived himself and all his descendants of those divine gifts.

By no means. He is terribly displeased with our original sin as well as our actual sins, and he will punish them by his just judgment, both in time and in eternity, as he has declared: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the book of the law, to do them.”

God is indeed merciful, but he is also just. Therefore his justice requires that sin committed against the most high majesty of God also be punished with the extreme penalty, that is, with everlasting punishment of body and soul.

God wills that his justice be satisfied. Therefore we must make this full satisfaction, either by ourselves or by another.

By no means. On the contrary, we increase our debt every day.

None. First, God will not punish any other creature for the sin that man has committed. Further, no mere creature can bear the burden of God’s eternal wrath against sin and so deliver others from it.

One who is a true man and perfectly righteous, and yet more powerful than all creatures; that is, one who is also true God.

Because the justice of God requires that the same human nature that has sinned should also make satisfaction for sin; and one who is himself a sinner cannot make satisfaction for others.

So that by the power of his Godhead he might bear in his human nature the burden of God’s wrath, and might obtain for us and restore to us righteousness and life.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, “who has been made for us by God wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.”

From the holy gospel, which God himself first revealed in Paradise, afterward proclaimed through the patriarchs and prophets and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law, and finally fulfilled through his only begotten Son.

No. Only those who are grafted into him and receive all his benefits by a true faith.

True faith is not only a sure knowledge by which I hold as true all that God has revealed to us in his word, but also a firm confidence which the Holy Spirit works in my heart through the gospel: that not only to others but to me also, forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation are freely given by God, purely by grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits.

Everything promised us in the gospel, which the articles of our catholic, undoubted Christian faith teach us in summary.

1. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
2. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
3. who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
4. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell.
5. On the third day he rose again from the dead.
6. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
7. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit,
9. the holy catholic church, the communion of saints,
10. the forgiveness of sins,
11. the resurrection of the body,
12. and the life everlasting.

Into three parts: the first is about God the Father and our creation; the second, about God the Son and our redemption; the third, about God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification.

Because God has so revealed himself in his word that these three distinct persons are the one, only, true, and eternal God.

That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing made heaven and earth with all that is in them, and who also upholds and governs them by his eternal counsel and providence, is, for the sake of Christ his Son, my God and my Father. I rely on him so completely that I have no doubt he will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul, and further, that whatever evils he sends upon me in this valley of tears he will turn to my good. For he is able to do it, being almighty God, and willing, being a faithful Father.

The almighty and everywhere-present power of God, by which he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures, as if by his hand, so that plants and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed all things, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand.

That we may be patient in adversity and thankful in prosperity, and that in all things that may yet happen to us we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that nothing will separate us from his love, since all creatures are so completely in his hand that without his will they cannot even move.

Because he saves us and delivers us from our sins, and because salvation is not to be sought, nor can it be found, in anyone else.

They do not. Though they boast of him in words, in their deeds they deny Jesus, the only deliverer and Savior. For one of these two things must be true: either Jesus is not a complete Savior, or those who receive this Savior by true faith must find in him all things necessary for their salvation.

Because he is ordained by God the Father and anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our chief Prophet and Teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption; and to be our only High Priest, who by the one sacrifice of his body has redeemed us and continually intercedes for us with the Father; and also to be our eternal King, who governs us by his word and Spirit and defends and preserves us in the salvation he has purchased for us.

Because by faith I am a member of Christ, and so I share in his anointing, so that I may confess his name, present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thankfulness, and also with a free and good conscience fight against sin and Satan in this life, and afterward reign with him eternally over all creatures.

Because Christ alone is the eternal and natural Son of God, but we are children adopted by God, by grace, for his sake.

Because he has redeemed us, both soul and body, from all our sins, not with silver or gold but with his precious blood, and has delivered us from all the power of the devil, and so has made us his own possession.

That God’s eternal Son, who is and remains true and eternal God, took upon himself true human nature, from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, by the working of the Holy Spirit, so that he might also be the true seed of David, like his brothers in all things, except for sin.

That he is our Mediator, and with his innocence and perfect holiness he covers, in the sight of God, my sins, in which I was conceived and born.

That during the whole time he lived on earth, but especially at the end of his life, he bore in body and soul the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind, so that by his suffering, as the only propitiatory sacrifice, he might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtain for us the favor of God, righteousness, and eternal life.

So that he, though innocent, and yet condemned by an earthly judge, might thereby free us from the severe judgment of God to which we were exposed.

Yes, there is. By this I am assured that he took upon himself the curse that lay on me, for the death of the cross was cursed by God.

Because, with respect to the justice and truth of God, satisfaction for our sins could be made in no other way than by the death of the Son of God.

To prove by this that he was truly dead.

Our death is not a satisfaction for our sins, but only an abolishing of sin and a passage into eternal life.

That by its power our old self is crucified, dead, and buried with him, so that the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no longer reign in us, but that we may offer ourselves to him as a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

So that in my greatest temptations I may be assured, and wholly comfort myself in this: that my Lord Jesus Christ, by his inexpressible anguish, pains, terrors, and hellish agonies, into which he was plunged throughout all his sufferings, but especially on the cross, has delivered me from the anguish and torments of hell.

First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, so that he might make us sharers in the righteousness he had purchased for us by his death. Second, we too are raised up by his power to a new life. And last, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.

That Christ, in the sight of his disciples, was taken up from earth into heaven, and that he remains there on our behalf until he comes again to judge the living and the dead.

Christ is true man and true God. With respect to his human nature, he is no longer on earth; but with respect to his Godhead, majesty, grace, and Spirit, he is never absent from us.

Not at all. Since the Godhead is unlimited and omnipresent, it must necessarily follow that it is beyond the bounds of the human nature he took on, and yet it is nonetheless in this human nature and remains personally united to it.

First, that he is our advocate in the presence of his Father in heaven. Second, that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that he, as the head, will also take us, his members, up to himself. Third, that he sends us his Spirit as a guarantee, by whose power we “seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, and not the things on earth.”

Because Christ ascended into heaven for this purpose: that he might appear there as head of his church, through whom the Father governs all things.

First, that by his Holy Spirit he pours out heavenly graces upon us, his members. And then, that by his power he defends and preserves us against all enemies.

That in all my sorrows and persecutions, with head held high, I look for the very same one who once offered himself for my sake to the tribunal of God and has removed all curse from me, to come as judge from heaven. He will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but will take me, with all his chosen ones, to himself into heavenly joy and glory.

First, that he is true and coeternal God with the Father and the Son. Second, that he is also given to me, to make me, by true faith, a sharer in Christ and all his benefits, so that he may comfort me and remain with me forever.

That the Son of God, from the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends, and preserves for himself, by his Spirit and word, out of the whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting life, united in true faith; and that I am, and forever will remain, a living member of it.

First, that all believers, each and every one, as members of Christ, share in common in him and in all his riches and gifts. Second, that each one must know it to be his duty to use his gifts readily and cheerfully for the benefit and salvation of the other members.

That God, for the sake of Christ’s satisfaction, will no longer remember my sins, nor my corrupt nature, against which I must struggle all my life long, but will graciously impute to me the righteousness of Christ, so that I may never be condemned before the tribunal of God.

That not only will my soul, after this life, be taken up at once to Christ its head, but also this very body of mine, raised by the power of Christ, will be reunited with my soul and made like the glorious body of Christ.

That since I now feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, after this life I will inherit perfect salvation, which “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the human heart” to conceive, and there I will praise God forever.

That I am righteous in Christ before God, and an heir of eternal life.

Only by true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, although my conscience accuses me that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and have kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil, nevertheless God, without any merit of mine, purely out of grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, just as if I had never had or committed any sin, indeed, as if I myself had fully accomplished all the obedience that Christ has accomplished for me, inasmuch as I embrace this benefit with a believing heart.

Not that I am acceptable to God because of the worthiness of my faith, but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God, and I cannot receive it and apply it to myself in any other way than by faith only.

Because the righteousness that can be approved before the tribunal of God must be absolutely perfect and in every respect conform to the divine law, and also because our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin.

This reward is not a matter of merit, but of grace.

By no means. For it is impossible that those who are implanted into Christ by true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness.

From the Holy Spirit, who works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel and confirms it by the use of the sacraments.

The sacraments are holy, visible signs and seals, appointed by God for this purpose: that by their use he may more fully declare and seal to us the promise of the gospel, namely, that he freely grants us the forgiveness of sins and eternal life because of the one sacrifice of Christ accomplished on the cross.

Yes, indeed. For the Holy Spirit teaches us in the gospel, and assures us by the sacraments, that our whole salvation depends on the one sacrifice of Christ, which he offered for us on the cross.

Two: holy baptism and the holy supper.

In this way: Christ appointed this outward washing with water and added to it this promise: that I am washed by his blood and Spirit from all the pollution of my soul, that is, from all my sins, just as certainly as I am washed outwardly with water, which commonly washes away the dirt of the body.

It means to receive from God the forgiveness of sins, freely, because of Christ’s blood, which he shed for us in his sacrifice on the cross; and also to be renewed by the Holy Spirit and sanctified as members of Christ, so that more and more we may die to sin and live holy and blameless lives.

In the institution of baptism, which reads: “Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). And: “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). This promise is also repeated where Scripture calls baptism “the washing of regeneration” and the washing away of sins (Titus 3:5; Acts 22:16).

Not at all. For only the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit cleanse us from all sin.

God speaks this way not without good reason. He wants not only to teach us by it that, just as the dirt of the body is removed by water, so our sins are removed by the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ; but, more importantly, he wants to assure us by this divine pledge and sign that we are cleansed from our sins spiritually as truly as we are washed outwardly with water.

Yes. For since they, as well as adults, belong to the covenant and church of God, and since redemption from sin by the blood of Christ, and the Holy Spirit, the author of faith, are promised to them no less than to adults, they must also be received into the Christian church by baptism, as a sign of the covenant, and be distinguished from the children of unbelievers. This was done in the old covenant, or testament, by circumcision, in place of which baptism has been instituted in the new covenant.

In this way: Christ has commanded me and all believers to eat of this broken bread and to drink of this cup in remembrance of him, and has added these promises: first, that his body was offered and broken on the cross for me, and his blood shed for me, as certainly as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup given to me; and further, that with his crucified body and shed blood he feeds and nourishes my soul to everlasting life, as surely as I receive from the hand of the minister, and taste with my mouth, the bread and cup of the Lord as sure signs of the body and blood of Christ.

It means not only to embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings and death of Christ, and by this to receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life; but also, beyond that, to be united more and more to his sacred body by the Holy Spirit, who lives both in Christ and in us. So, although Christ is in heaven and we are on earth, we are nevertheless “flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone,” and we live and are governed forever by one Spirit, as the members of one body are by one soul.

In the institution of the supper, which reads: “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘Eat; this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new testament in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:23–26). This promise is repeated by the holy apostle Paul, where he says: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body, for we all share in that one bread” (1 Cor. 10:16–17).

Not at all. Just as the water in baptism is not changed into the blood of Christ, and is not itself the washing away of sin, but is only the sign and confirmation of it appointed by God, so the bread in the Lord’s Supper is not changed into the very body of Christ, although, in keeping with the nature and character of sacraments, it is called the body of Christ Jesus.

Christ speaks this way not without good reason. He wants not only to teach us by it that, just as bread and wine sustain this earthly life, so his crucified body and shed blood are the true food and drink by which our souls are fed to eternal life; but, more importantly, he wants to assure us by these visible signs and pledges that we share in his true body and blood by the working of the Holy Spirit as truly as we receive these holy signs with our bodily mouths in remembrance of him; and that all his sufferings and obedience are as certainly ours as if we ourselves had suffered and made satisfaction to God for our sins.

The Lord’s Supper testifies to us that we have full forgiveness of all our sins through the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which he himself accomplished once for all on the cross; and that by the Holy Spirit we are grafted into Christ, who according to his human nature is now not on earth but in heaven, at the right hand of God his Father, and wills to be worshiped by us there. But the Mass teaches that the living and the dead do not have forgiveness of sins through the sufferings of Christ unless Christ is still offered for them daily by the priests; and further, that Christ is bodily present under the form of bread and wine and is therefore to be worshiped in them. And so the Mass, at bottom, is nothing else than a denial of the one sacrifice and sufferings of Jesus Christ, and an accursed idolatry.

Question 80 was added in the catechism’s second edition of 1563 and sharpened in the third.

For those who are truly sorry for their sins, and yet trust that these are forgiven them for Christ’s sake, and that their remaining weaknesses are covered by his suffering and death; and who also earnestly desire to have their faith strengthened more and more and their lives made more holy. But hypocrites, and those who do not turn to God with sincere hearts, eat and drink judgment on themselves.

No, for by this the covenant of God would be profaned, and his wrath kindled against the whole congregation. Therefore it is the duty of the Christian church, according to the appointment of Christ and his apostles, to exclude such persons by the keys of the kingdom of heaven until they show amendment of life.

The preaching of the holy gospel, and Christian discipline, or excommunication from the Christian church. By these two, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers.

In this way: according to the command of Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to each and every believer that, whenever they receive the promise of the gospel by true faith, all their sins are truly forgiven them by God for the sake of Christ’s merits. On the other hand, it is declared and testified to all unbelievers, and to those who do not sincerely repent, that they stand under the wrath of God and eternal condemnation as long as they remain unconverted. According to this testimony of the gospel, God will judge them, both in this life and in the life to come.

In this way: according to the command of Christ, those who, under the name of Christians, hold doctrines or practices inconsistent with that name, and who, after being admonished often and in a brotherly way, will not renounce their errors and wicked way of life, are reported to the church, or to those whom the church has appointed for this purpose. If they despise this admonition, they are forbidden by them the use of the sacraments, and so they are excluded from the Christian church, and by God himself from the kingdom of Christ. And when they promise and show real amendment, they are received again as members of Christ and his church.

Because Christ, having redeemed and delivered us by his blood, also renews us by his Holy Spirit after his own image, so that with our whole conduct we may show our gratitude to God for his blessings, and that he may be praised by us; also, that each of us may be assured in ourselves of our faith by its fruits; and that by our godly way of life others may be won to Christ.

By no means. For the Holy Scripture declares that no unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, covetous person, drunkard, slanderer, robber, or anyone like them, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Of two parts: the mortification of the old self, and the quickening of the new self.

It is a sincere sorrow of heart that we have provoked God by our sins, and to hate them and flee from them more and more.

It is a sincere joy of heart in God through Christ, and to live with love and delight according to the will of God in all good works.

Only those that proceed from true faith and are done according to the law of God and for his glory, and not those that are based on our own ideas or on human institutions.

God spoke all these words, Exodus 20:1–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21, saying: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

1. FirstYou shall have no other gods before me.
2. SecondYou shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. ThirdYou shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
4. FourthRemember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5. FifthHonor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
6. SixthYou shall not kill.
7. SeventhYou shall not commit adultery.
8. EighthYou shall not steal.
9. NinthYou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. TenthYou shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.

Into two tables. The first teaches us how we must conduct ourselves toward God; the second, what duties we owe to our neighbor.

That I, as sincerely as I desire the salvation of my own soul, avoid and flee from all idolatry, sorcery, fortune-telling, superstition, and the invocation of saints or any other creatures; and that I learn rightly to know the only true God, trust in him alone, submit to him with humility and patience, expect all good things from him only, and love, fear, and glorify him with my whole heart; so that I would rather renounce and forsake all creatures than do even the least thing against his will.

Idolatry is to devise or to have some other object in which people place their trust, instead of, or alongside, the one true God who has revealed himself in his Word.

That we in no way represent God by images, nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his Word.

God cannot and may not be represented in any way. As for creatures, although they may be represented, God forbids making or having any likeness of them either in order to worship them or to serve God by them.

No, for we must not try to be wiser than God, who wants his people to be taught not by mute images but by the living preaching of his word.

That we must not profane or abuse the name of God, not only by cursing or perjury, but also by rash swearing; nor by our silence or connivance become partakers of these horrible sins in others. In short, that we use the holy name of God only with fear and reverence, so that he may be rightly confessed and worshiped by us and be glorified in all our words and works.

It certainly is, for there is no sin greater or more provoking to God than the profaning of his name. That is why he commanded that this sin be punished with death.

Yes: either when the magistrates require it of their subjects, or when necessity calls us to confirm faithfulness and truth by it, for the glory of God and the safety of our neighbor. For such an oath is grounded in God’s word, and so it was rightly used by the saints in both the Old and the New Testament.

No, for a lawful oath is calling upon God, as the only one who knows the heart, to bear witness to the truth and to punish me if I swear falsely. This honor is due to no creature.

First, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained; and that I, especially on the Sabbath, that is, on the day of rest, diligently attend the church of God to hear his word, to use the sacraments, to call publicly on the Lord, and to give to the relief of the poor. Second, that all the days of my life I rest from my evil works and yield myself to the Lord, to let him work in me by his Holy Spirit, and so begin in this life the eternal Sabbath.

That I show all honor, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother and to all in authority over me, and submit myself with due obedience to their good instruction and correction; and also that I patiently bear with their weaknesses and failings, since it pleases God to govern us by their hand.

That I not dishonor, hate, wound, or kill my neighbor, whether by myself or through another, neither in thoughts, nor words, nor gestures, much less in deeds; but that I lay aside all desire for revenge. Also, that I not harm myself nor willfully expose myself to any danger. That is also why the magistrate is armed with the sword: to prevent murder.

In forbidding murder, God teaches us that he abhors its causes, such as envy, hatred, anger, and desire for revenge, and that he counts all these as murder.

No. When God forbids envy, hatred, and anger, he commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves; to show patience, peace, meekness, mercy, and all kindness toward him; to prevent harm to him as far as we are able; and to do good even to our enemies.

That all impurity is cursed by God, and that we must therefore detest it with all our hearts and live chastely and temperately, whether in holy marriage or in single life.

Since both our body and soul are temples of the Holy Spirit, he commands us to keep them pure and holy. Therefore he forbids all unchaste actions, gestures, words, thoughts, desires, and whatever can entice anyone toward them.

God forbids not only the thefts and robberies that the magistrate punishes; under the name of theft he also includes all the wicked tricks and schemes by which we try to take for ourselves the goods that belong to our neighbor, whether by force or under a show of right, such as by false weights, lengths, and measures, fraudulent merchandise, counterfeit coins, usury, or by any other means God forbids. It also includes all covetousness, and all abuse and waste of his gifts.

That I promote my neighbor’s good in every way I can or may, and deal with him as I want others to deal with me; and further, that I work faithfully so that I may be able to relieve those in need.

That I bear false witness against no one, nor twist anyone’s words; that I not be a backbiter or a slanderer; that I not judge or join in condemning anyone rashly or unheard; but that I avoid all kinds of lying and deceit as the devil’s own works, unless I want to bring the heavy wrath of God down on myself; likewise, that in court and in all my other dealings I love the truth, speak it honestly, and confess it; and also that I defend and promote my neighbor’s honor and good name as much as I am able.

That not even the smallest inclination or thought contrary to any of God’s commandments ever arise in our hearts, but that at all times we hate all sin with our whole heart and delight in all righteousness.

No. Even the holiest people have only a small beginning of this obedience while in this life; yet they do begin, with sincere resolve, to live not only according to some but according to all the commandments of God.

First, so that throughout our lives we may learn more and more to know our sinful nature, and so seek all the more earnestly the forgiveness of sin and righteousness in Christ. Likewise, so that we may constantly strive and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may be conformed more and more to the image of God, until we reach the perfection set before us in the life to come.

Because it is the chief part of the thankfulness that God requires of us; and also because God will give his grace and Holy Spirit only to those who continually ask him for them with sincere longing and are thankful for them.

First, that from the heart we pray to the one true God only, who has revealed himself in his word, for all things he has commanded us to ask of him. Second, that we rightly and thoroughly know our need and brokenness, so that we may humble ourselves deeply in the presence of his divine majesty. Third, that we be fully persuaded that, although we are unworthy of it, he will certainly hear our prayer for the sake of Christ our Lord, as he has promised us in his word.

All things necessary for soul and body, which Christ our Lord has summed up in the prayer he himself taught us.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

So that at the very beginning of our prayer he might awaken in us a childlike reverence for God and trust in him, which are the foundation of our prayer: namely, that God has become our Father in Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of him in true faith than our parents will refuse us earthly things.

So that we do not form any earthly ideas of God’s heavenly majesty, and so that we may expect from his almighty power all things necessary for soul and body.

“Hallowed be your name.” That is: grant us, first, to know you rightly, and to sanctify, glorify, and praise you in all your works, in which your power, wisdom, goodness, justice, mercy, and truth are clearly displayed; and further, that we may so order and direct our whole lives, our thoughts, words, and actions, that your name may never be blasphemed on our account, but rather honored and praised.

“Your kingdom come.” That is: so rule us by your word and Spirit that we submit ourselves to you more and more; preserve and increase your church; destroy the works of the devil, and all violence that would exalt itself against you, and also all wicked schemes devised against your holy word; until the full perfection of your kingdom comes, in which you will be all in all.

“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” That is: grant that we and all people may renounce our own will and, without grumbling, obey your will, which alone is good; so that everyone may attend to and carry out the duties of their station and calling as willingly and faithfully as the angels do in heaven.

“Give us today our daily bread.” That is: be pleased to provide us with all things necessary for the body, so that by this we may acknowledge you to be the only fountain of all good, and that neither our care nor our labor, nor even your gifts, can do us any good without your blessing; and so that we may therefore withdraw our trust from all creatures and place it in you alone.

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” That is: for the sake of Christ’s blood, be pleased not to impute to us, poor sinners, our transgressions, nor the depravity that always clings to us; even as we feel this evidence of your grace in us, that it is our firm resolve from the heart to forgive our neighbor.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” That is: since we are so weak in ourselves that we cannot stand for a moment, and since, besides this, our mortal enemies, the devil, the world, and our own flesh, never stop attacking us, therefore preserve and strengthen us by the power of your Holy Spirit, so that we may not be overcome in this spiritual warfare, but may constantly and strenuously resist our enemies until at last we win a complete victory.

“For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.” That is: we ask all these things of you because you, as our King and almighty, are willing and able to give us every good thing; and we pray for all this so that not we, but your holy name, may be glorified forever.

“Amen” means: it shall truly and certainly be. For my prayer is more surely heard by God than I feel in my heart that I desire these things from him.