What possible relevance could an old catechism, a little book of 129 questions and answers, written 463 years ago have for young pastors who are facing a brave new world dominated by artificial intelligence, a sexual revolution, and global instability? As it happens, an old catechism is just what we need. The catechism I have in mind is the Heidelberg Catechism, which was drafted mainly by a young man not much older than many of our students. Zacharias Ursinus (1534–83) was about 28 when he began drafting the catechism. His colleague, Caspar Olevianus (1536–87), who would contribute to the catechism, was 26.Ursinus wrote the catechism during a turbulent time. Europe was in the midst of its own technological and religious revolution. The Gutenberg Press was a little more than a century old. Printed texts were disseminating information at what was then blinding speed. Just as our economy is being revolutionized, in the sixteenth century economies across Europe were being transformed by urbanization and by what economists call rationalization, i.e., people exchanging coins, instead of chickens, for goods. The Great Mortality of the fourteenth century had not been the end of the Bubonic Plague. It regularly visited cities bringing with it death and dislocation.The Holy Roman Empire of the sixteenth century was in constant political and military turmoil. Emperor Charles V (1500–58), exhausted from fighting both France to his West and the Ottoman Empire to his East, abdicated the throne in 1556 and divided his holdings between his brother Ferdinand (1503–64), who became Holy Roman Emperor, and his son Philip II (1527–98), to whom he gave Spain.On the religious front, beginning in 1517, an Augustinian monk in Wittenberg had successfully challenged the authority of the church and lived to tell about it and the Reformation he inaugurated gave opportunity for Anabaptists and other radicals to challenge not only the religion of Europe but the social order of the previous millennium. As a consequence of the Reformation and the wars that accompanied it, Europe was now divided between Evangelical and Catholic cities, and to add to the chaos, in the 1540s and 50s there had emerged a religious group that was accepted by neither the Lutherans nor the Roman Catholics: the Reformed. Under the Peace of Augsburg (1555) the Reformed churches in the empire had no legal status. This was a pressing matter in Heidelberg because in 1559, Frederick III had not only succeeded the Lutheran Otto Heinrich (1505–59) as the Elector of the Palatinate (one of seven electoral districts in the Empire) but he had done so while affirming the Reformed faith. Both the Lutheran and Roman Catholic electors were troubled by this development and there was even a possibility that they might go to war against Frederick over it. It was not just the nobility and elite who were experiencing turmoil in the sixteenth century. Imagine being a Christian layman in the Palatinate in this period. In the span of just a few years, one had awakened one morning to be Roman Catholic in 1555, Lutheran in 1556, and in 1559, Reformed.It was no accident, therefore, that the catechism drafted by Ursinus and adopted by the Reformed Church in the German Palatinate began as it did by asking about comfort. “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” The Elector and the pastors of the Palatinate wanted the people to know, to borrow a phrase from Olevianus, what was their firm foundation:That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that all things must work together for my salva-tion. Wherefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.However quickly technology, economies, and even empires may have changed, the Christians in the Palatinate needed to know that they were accepted by God for Christ’s sake alone, that Christ had redeemed them, and that he would keep them. Seminary students preparing for ministry in 2026 are preparing to minister to believers and to evangelize the lost in a world that is only superficially different from that which existed when the catechism was first published. The fundamental human needs of righteousness with God, salvation, the communion of the saints, and eternal life have not changed and will not change until Christ returns.Because those realities are unchanging, it is exceedingly useful that young pastors should be grounded in the historic grammar, way of thinking, and the way of speaking about the faith adopted by the churches. Every Christian needs to know the greatness of his sin and misery, how he is redeemed from his sins, by grace alone, through faith alone, and how he ought to be thankful to God for such redemption (Heidelberg Catechism, 2). He needs to know the law of God, from which he not only learned his sin and misery but also the abiding norm of the Christian life. Just as in 1563, believers in 2026 need to know the good news, that God the Son has taken on a true human nature, has obeyed in our place, has satisfied God’s righteousness for us, has suffered in our place, died for us, been raised for our justification, and is ascended to the right hand where he intercedes for us, from where he will come to judge the nations. Not only that but young pastors need to learn about the church, her sacraments, what the law of God requires of those who believe, and how to pray so that they can lead congregations into the wonderful riches of the Christian faith as articulated in catechisms such as the Heidelberg Catechism.The Heidelberg Catechism: A Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Commentary (Lexham Press, 2025) by R. Scott Clark is a comprehensive 1,000+ page guide exploring the 1563 Reformed confession. It provides detailed commentary on all 129 questions, focusing on the historical context, theological nuances, and pastoral application of the text. Ligon Duncan says, “This book is an invaluable resource for pastors, teachers, seminarians, and church members seeking a deeper understanding of the Reformed faith.” Get Dr. Clark’s definitive work today!This article is from our Spring 2026 edition of UPDATE Magazine, High Standards for a Holy Calling.
