The way of escape

If every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, how may we escape it? Question 85 answers that God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, and the diligent use of the outward means by which Christ gives us the benefits of redemption; and God gives what he requires.

A pilgrim running from the City of Destruction toward a far-off shining gate (The Pilgrim's Progress)

This week's questions

What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin? To escape the wrath and curse of God, due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.
Question 85

Question 84 confessed that every sin deserves God's wrath and curse (last week). Question 85 answers at once with the way of escape, and opens the catechism's last part. The weeks that follow take its three parts in turn: faith (Question 86, next week), repentance (Question 87), and then the means, the Word, sacraments and prayer (Questions 88 to 107).

Repentance and faith, God's gifts

An old, white-bearded Paul in a red cap sits lost in thought with his hands clasped before an open book, the hilt of a sword in the shadows at the left. — Rembrandt van Rijn, An Elderly Man as Saint Paul, probably 1659 (National Gallery, London) · Source

The first proof text is Paul's summary of his whole ministry, given to the elders of the church at Ephesus:

testifying to Jews and Greeks alike about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:21

Repentance turns to God; faith rests on Christ. The Larger Catechism, from the same Assembly, gives the same answer in the verse's order, ‘repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’ Larger Catechism, Q. 153; the Shorter puts faith first. Christians have spoken of their order in different ways. For John Calvin, repentance does more than follow faith: it is born of it Calvin, Institutes 3.3.1. Jesus called for both in one breath: "Repent and believe in the gospel!" (Mark 1:15). The Reformed confess them inseparable, two sides of one turning: true faith repents, and true repentance believes.

‘Requireth’ does not mean ‘pay for’. God gives what he asks. "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8), and repentance, too, is God's gift (Acts 11:18). Augustine, bishop of Hippo in North Africa, prayed, ‘Give what you command, and command what you will’ Augustine, Confessions 10.29.40. What makes us right with God is not the worth of our faith or repentance but the righteousness of Christ alone, as Question 33 taught in week 18. Faith is the hand that receives it; repentance is the face turned toward him.

The means, used diligently

Question 85 speaks not only of grace within but of outward means: what the church commonly calls the means of grace, which Question 88 names as his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments and prayer. The next proof text tells us to seek wisdom like silver and search for it like hidden treasure (Proverbs 2:1-5). The one after it blesses those who do:

Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at the posts of my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor of the LORD.
Proverbs 8:34-35

‘Diligent’ looks like that: someone waiting at the door every day. Yet this diligence is not labour to earn merit; it is answering an invitation. In the last proof text God, who has just called those without money to come and buy without cost, promises, "Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant" (Isaiah 55:3).

Inward grace and outward means go together. The Westminster Confession teaches that faith is the work of the Spirit of Christ, ‘ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word’, and increased and strengthened by it and by the sacraments and prayer WCF 14.1. The Heidelberg Catechism likewise traces faith to the Holy Spirit, who brings it to birth through the preached gospel and strengthens it through the sacraments Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 65.

The churches name and number these means differently. Lutherans, who follow the teaching of Martin Luther, speak of the means of grace with the Reformed, confessing that through the Word and sacraments the Holy Spirit is given and works faith Augsburg Confession, 5. The Orthodox churches of the East, who often call the sacraments ‘mysteries’, usually count seven, and the Catholic Church teaches seven Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1113. Many evangelicals prefer to speak of spiritual disciplines: reading Scripture, prayer, fellowship. The sacraments come in week 41 and week 42. On the gospel itself, see What believing the gospel means in the New Believers course, What is the gospel?, What does it mean to be saved? and How can I begin to believe?

To ponder this week

Along a path between flowering hawthorn bushes, two women in headscarves and a little girl walk to church. — Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, Churchgoing in Spring, 1863 (Wien Museum) · Source

Am I relying on Christ, turning from sin, and using the means God gives this week, or holding to only one of the three? If you lean toward one, there is no need to lose heart: God gives all three together. Listen to Sunday's sermon expecting God to speak, pray daily, even briefly, and bring one sin that comes to mind to Christ. Learn Question 85 by heart.

Practice

Practice 1 of 6
According to Question 85, what does God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse?
Practice 2 of 6
Which proof text of Question 85 has Paul testifying to Jews and Greeks about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ?
Practice 3 of 6
When Question 85 says that God ‘requireth’ faith and repentance, what does it mean?
Practice 4 of 6
According to the Westminster Confession, 14.1, how is the grace of faith ordinarily wrought and increased?
Practice 5 of 6
Which pairing of a church with its teaching on the means of grace is accurate?
Practice 6 of 6
Which is true of the order of faith and repentance?

Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.

Source

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 3.3.1 — 1559. The sum of the gospel is repentance and the forgiveness of sins, both given us by Christ through faith; repentance not only constantly follows faith but is born of it.
Augustine, Confessions 10.29.40 — c. 397–400. Praying for continence: 'Give what you command, and command what you will.' In On the Gift of Perseverance Augustine recalls that when these words were quoted in Rome, Pelagius could not bear them and spoke against them.
Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1113, 1127–1128 — 1992. The church's sacraments are seven: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, the anointing of the sick, holy orders and matrimony (1113). Since it is Christ himself who works in them, a sacrament rightly celebrated takes effect by the act done (ex opere operato), not by the minister's righteousness, though what it bears also depends on how the one receiving it comes (1127–1128).

Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds, the Westminster Shorter Catechism and the Reformed confessions, the Fathers and classic commentary. They teach the Catechism as the Reformed churches' own, a week at a time, and present both sides where the Reformed differ, and other traditions' views, fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.