While cherished for its rich theological tone, the catechism's length and breadth can be difficult for the common man and children. This was recognized soon after publication, so an official, shorter version was commissioned by Frederick III's son and successor, John Casimir, Count Palatine of Simmern. This "Small Heidelberg Catechism" first appeared in 1576, accompanied by a "Warning to the Reader." The text was later revised and reissued in 1585. The Small Catechism was printed alongside the standard catechism within the Church Order itself.
In 1599, Hermanus Faukelius produced a similar abridgement in the Dutch language called A Compendium of the Christian Religion. This Compendium would find official recommendation at the Synod of Dort.
The text presented here is the 1585 revsion, as found in the critical German edition Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des XVI. Jahrhunderts (14. Band): Kurpfalz (1969). An 1859 edition is also available with supporting biblical citations. This English translation was produced using Gemini 3 Pro and compared to the 400th anniversary edition. Question numbers are added for convenience.
This extract has not been composed with the intention of introducing a new catechism, nor of abolishing or displacing the original one. In this extract, we present not only the same Christian doctrine but also nearly the same wording as the larger catechism. We pray to Almighty God that in these troubled times He would grant us true and steadfast constancy in the saving doctrine that is grounded in the writings of the prophets and apostles.
However, because some questions in the catechism might be too long or too difficult for the common person and for young, beginning children, we have prepared this extract. It briefly comprehends the most important parts of Christian doctrine so that no one may have an excuse, and so that all households, children, and students may practice themselves in godliness and have an introduction to the catechism.
May the Father of lights, from whom alone all good gifts come, give to all heads of households and housemothers—indeed, to all of us—the diligence and zeal to love, practice, and promote the saving doctrine from the heart. Amen.
This extract or small catechism has not been conceived and newly revised with the intention of bringing a new catechism into use or of abolishing and setting aside the large one (which treats the main points of Christian doctrine in detail), for in this extract we present not only the very same doctrine but also nearly the exact words of the large catechism. And we pray from the bottom of our hearts to our faithful God that in these sorrowful, last times, amidst so many adversities which we face on the right and on the left, he would grant us a true, steadfast constancy in the sound doctrine of the Christian catechism.
For we can testify and say with a good conscience that in our catechism we have looked to no man’s name or writings, but have diligently endeavored that the main points of Christian doctrine, as much as is possible, be drawn and explained from the firm ground of the prophets and apostles, out of the very words that stand in the Holy Bible.
However, because some questions in the large catechism might seem somewhat too long for the common, simple man, as well as for the beginning youth, and some might seem too difficult, we set forth this extract and small catechism (in which, nevertheless, the most principal and necessary parts of the Christian doctrine are briefly, clearly, and orderly comprehended) several years ago, and have now newly revised it with all diligence and in the fear of God, with the counsel of God-fearing and learned people here, especially regarding the doctrine of the holy Sacraments
Given at Heidelberg, the 1st day of June, 1585.
What is your only comfort, in life and in death?
That I belong—body and soul, in life and in death—not to myself, but to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and completely freed me from all the dominion of the devil; therefore I am also baptized in his name and am called a Christian.
How many things must you know that you may live and die in the blessedness of this comfort?
Three things: first, how great my sins and wretchedness are; second, how I am freed from all my sins and wretchedness; and third, how I am to be grateful to God for such redemption.
Where do you learn of your wretchedness?
From the Law of God.
What does the Law of God require of us?
Christ teaches us this in a summary in Matthew 22: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the law and the prophets.
Can you keep all this perfectly?
No, for by nature I am prone to hate God and my neighbor.
Where, then, does this corrupt nature of man come from?
From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise, whereby our nature was so poisoned that we are all conceived and born in sins.
Will God let such disobedience and defection go unpunished?
By no means, but will punish them temporally and eternally, as he has said: Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law and do them.
How might we then escape these punishments and come again to grace?
God wills that his righteousness be satisfied either by ourselves or by another.
Can we make this payment ourselves?
Not at all, rather we increase our debt daily.
What kind of mediator and redeemer must we then seek?
One who is a true and righteous man, and at the same time true God.
Who is this mediator, who is at the same time true God and a true, righteous man?
Our Lord Jesus Christ, as the articles of the Christian faith teach us in a summary.
Then recite the articles of the faith.
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only-begotten Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, his Almighty Father; from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; one holy, catholic Christian Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and an everlasting life, Amen.
Since there is only one divine being, why do you speak of three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
Because God has thus revealed himself in his Word, that these three distinct persons are the one, true, eternal God.
What do you believe when you say: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth?
That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who created heaven and earth with all that is in them out of nothing, and also upholds and governs them by his providence, is for the sake of his Son Christ my God and Father, who provides me with all bodily needs and turns to my good whatever evil may befall me.
Why is the Son of God called Jesus, that is, Savior?
Because he saves us from our sins.
From where do you know and are certain that he saves you?
From the holy gospel, which is comprehended in the articles of faith.
Why then is he called Christ?
Precisely because he is anointed, that is, ordained by God the Father and sent into the world to be my true Prophet and Teacher; to be my High Priest, who offered himself for me and intercedes for me with the Father; and to be my King, who governs me here on earth until he finally takes me to himself into eternal blessedness.
What do you believe concerning the Holy Spirit?
First, that he is equally eternal God with the Father and the Son; second, that he is also given to me as the true Comforter, who sanctifies me, and plants and awakens in me faith in Christ, prayer, and all fruits of faith.
How are you righteous before God?
Only by true faith in Jesus Christ, through which my sins are forgiven me, so that only the satisfaction of Christ is my righteousness before God, and I can accept it only by faith.
What is true faith?
A certain knowledge of the divine and fatherly will toward us, and a firm trust in his gracious promise through Christ our Savior.
But why cannot our good works be our righteousness before God, or a part of it?
Because even our best works in this life here are imperfect and defiled with sins.
Do our good works then merit nothing, since God will reward them in this and the future life?
This reward is not given out of merit, but out of grace.
What are the sacraments?
They are visible, divine signs and seals, attached to the promise of the gospel, to assure us that God, because of the one sacrifice of Christ accomplished on the cross, grants us the forgiveness of sins and eternal life out of grace.
Do both, then, the Word and the Sacraments, direct us to the same Christ and the same ground of salvation?
Yes indeed, for Christ's true body, given for us, is the true treasure of the gospel and of the holy sacraments.
How many sacraments has Christ instituted in the New Testament?
Two: holy Baptism and the holy Supper.
What then is holy baptism?
It is not a mere washing with water, but a sacrament or divine sign of the New Testament, which assures me that I am a member of the Christian church, and just as I am externally sprinkled with water, so Christ washes and cleanses me internally by his blood from all sin, and gives me rebirth to the sonship of God and to a new life.
Where has Christ promised this?
In the institution of baptism, which reads thus: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned. This promise is also repeated where the Scripture calls baptism the washing of rebirth and the washing away of sins.
Should infants also be baptized?
Yes, for they as well as adults belong to the covenant of God and his church.
What is the holy Supper?
It is the second sacrament or divine sign of the New Testament, instituted for those who are growing and increasing in Christ, where the Lord does not merely offer bread and wine, but much more testifies and assures that he has given his body into death for us for the forgiveness of our sins, and feeds and nourishes our souls to eternal life with that same body and with his shed blood.
How do the words of institution read?
The holy apostle Paul recounts them from the three evangelists thus: I have received from the Lord what I also delivered to you. For the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said: Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said: This cup is the new covenant 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. And this promise is also repeated by St. Paul, when he says: The cup of thanksgiving with which we give thanks, is it not the sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the sharing in the body of Christ? For it is one bread, so we, being many, are one body, since we all partake of one bread.
But Christ calls the bread his body in the institution, not a sign of his body.
Since he ordains a sacrament in remembrance of him, and sacraments are divine signs, bread and wine are rightly called divine signs.
Are they then mere signs?
Not at all, rather they are such true signs with which the Lord simultaneously gives to his true table guests the heavenly gift, namely his body given for us and his shed blood.
But how can we eat Christ's body, since he has ascended into heaven?
Very well, for although he is bodily in heaven until he shall come to judge the living and the dead, as the articles of faith teach us, nevertheless he is received with faith in the word of the promise, and believers are certain that by his almighty Spirit they are united with him and are his members, indeed that he lives in them and they in him.
Does our faith then make the sacrament?
No, but Christ's ordinance and command make the sacrament; faith, however, receives the gift promised in the sacrament, namely his body and blood, just as the hand or the mouth receives the holy signs of bread and wine.
But Christ does not say: take, believe; but: take, eat.
Take, eat, is said of that which he took in his hand and broke, namely of the bread. But the promise: this is my body, which is given for you, demands entirely believing hearts and a spiritual eating and drinking of souls.
Since we then are redeemed from our wretchedness without any merit of our own by grace through Christ, why should we do good works?
Because Christ, after he has bought us with his blood, also renews us by his Holy Spirit into his image, so that with our whole life we show ourselves grateful.
Can those then who do not turn to God from their ungrateful, impenitent conduct be saved?
By no means, for as the Scripture says: No unchaste person, idolater, adulterer, thief, greedy person, drunkard, slanderer, robber, and the like shall inherit the kingdom of God.
What is Christian repentance?
It is not only a sorrow and heartache over our committed sins, but also a transformation of the believing heart and conversion to God, which brings forth true fruits of repentance, namely good works.
But what are good works?
Only those which are done out of true faith according to the Law of God, for his glory.
How does the Law of the Lord read?
God spoke all these words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make yourself a graven 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 strong, jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You 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.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner 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 the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor's.
What does the Lord require in the first commandment?
That I must avoid and flee all idolatry, sorcery, superstitious enchantments, invocation of saints or other creatures.
What is idolatry?
In place of the one true God, who has revealed himself in his Word, or beside him, to invent or possess something else in which man puts his trust.
What does God require in the second commandment?
That we should not represent God in any way, nor worship him in any other manner than he has commanded in his Word.
What does the third commandment require?
God wills that the preaching office and schools be maintained, and that I, especially on the day of rest, diligently come to the congregation of God.
What does God will in the fourth commandment?
That we do not blaspheme or abuse the name of God, not only by cursing or false oaths, but also by unnecessary swearing.
What does God will in the fifth commandment?
That I show all honor, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother and to all who are set in authority over me.
What does God will in the sixth commandment?
God wills to teach us by forbidding murder that he hates the root of murder, such as envy, hatred, anger, and desire for revenge, and that all such things are hidden murder before him.
What does the seventh commandment will?
That all unchastity is condemned by God, and therefore forbids all unchaste gestures, words, thoughts, desires, and whatever may incite man to them.
What does God forbid in the eighth commandment?
He forbids not only theft and robbery, which the civil authorities punish, but God also calls theft all wicked tricks and schemes by which we scheme to get our neighbor's goods for ourselves.
What does the ninth commandment will?
That I am to avoid all lying and deceit as the very works of the devil, under penalty of God's heavy wrath.
What does the tenth commandment will?
That even the least desire or thought contrary to any commandment of God should never come into our heart.
Why does God have the ten commandments preached so strictly, since no one can keep them perfectly in this life?
First, that we may increasingly recognize our sinful nature and seek righteousness in Christ; second, that we pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that we may more and more be renewed in the image of God.
How does the prayer read?
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.
Why has Christ commanded us to address God thus: Our Father etc.?
That he might awaken in us the childlike reverence and trust toward God, namely that God has become our Father through Christ.
What is the first petition?
Hallowed be thy name, that is, grant us that we may rightly know thee, and hallow, glorify, and praise thee in all thy works.
What is the second petition?
Thy kingdom come, that is, govern us by thy Word and Holy Spirit.
What is the third petition?
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, that is, grant that we may renounce our own will and obey his solely good will without any contradiction, as the angels in heaven do.
What is the fourth petition?
Give us this day our daily bread, that is, be pleased to provide us with all bodily needs.
What is the fifth petition?
And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors, that is, be pleased, for the sake of Christ's blood, not to charge to us all our sins, just as we also find this witness of thy grace in us, that we heartily forgive our neighbor.
What is the sixth petition?
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, that is, since the devil, the world, and our own flesh do not cease to assail us, be pleased to preserve and strengthen us by the power of thy Holy Spirit, so that we may offer them firm resistance.
What does the little word Amen mean?
Amen means: this shall truly and certainly be.
The End.