(Second Part: Of Man’s Redemption—Questions 12-85)
37. What dost thou understand by the word: Suffered?
- That all the 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 sin of the whole human race; in order that by His passion, as the only propitiatory sacrifice, He might redeem our body and soul from everlasting damnation, and obtain for us the grace of God, righteousness, and eternal life.
38. Why did He suffer under Pontius Pilate, as judge?
- That He, being innocent, might be condemned by the temporal judge, and thereby deliver us from the severe judgment of God, to which we are exposed.
39. Is there anything more in His having been crucified, than if He had died some other death?
- Yes: for thereby I am assured, that He took on Himself the curse which lay upon me; because the death of the cross was accursed of God.
