Q. 46. How do you understand these words, “he ascended into heaven”?
A: That Christ, in sight of his disciples, was taken up from earth into heaven; and that he continues there for our interest, until he comes again to judge the quick and the dead.

Q: 47. Is not Christ then with us even to the end of the world, as he has promised?
A: Christ is very man and very God; with respect to his human nature, he is no more on earth; but with respect to his Godhead, majesty, grace and spirit, he is at no time absent from us.

Q: 48. But if his human nature is not present, wherever his Godhead is, are not then these two natures in Christ separated from one another?
A: Not as all, for since the Godhead is illimitable and omnipresent, it must necessarily follow that the same is beyond the limits of the human nature he assumed, and yet is nevertheless in this human nature, and remains personally united to it.

Q: 49. Of what advantage to us is Christ’s ascension into heaven?
A: First, that he is our advocate in the presence of his Father in heaven; secondly, that we have our flesh in heaven as a sure pledge that he, as the head, will also take up to himself, us, his members; thirdly, that he sends us his Spirit as an earnest, by whose power we “seek the things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God, and not things on earth.”

Q: 45. What does the “resurrection” of Christ profit us?
A: First, by his resurrection he has overcome death, that he might make us partakers of that righteousness which he had purchased for us by his death; secondly, we are also by his power raised up to a new life; and lastly, the resurrection of Christ is a sure pledge of our blessed resurrection.

Q: 40. Why was it necessary for Christ to humble himself even “unto death”?
A: Because with respect to the justice and truth of God, satisfaction for our sins could be made no otherwise, than by the death of the Son of God.

Q: 41. Why was he also “buried”?
A: Thereby to prove that he was really dead.

Q: 42. Since then Christ died for us, why must we also die?
A: Our death is not a satisfaction for our sins, but only an abolishing of sin, and a passage into eternal life.

Q: 43. What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross?
A: That by virtue thereof, our old man is crucified, dead and buried with him; that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more reign in us; but that we may offer ourselves unto him a sacrifice of thanksgiving.

Q: 44. Why is there added, “he descended into hell”?
A: 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, in which he was plunged during all his sufferings, but especially on the cross, has delivered me from the anguish and torments of hell.

Q: 37. What do you understand by the words, “He suffered”?
A: That he, all the time that he lived on earth, but especially at the end of his life, sustained in body and soul, the wrath of God against the sins of all mankind: that so by his passion, 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.

Q: 38. Why did he suffer “under Pontius Pilate, as judge”?
A: That he, being innocent, and yet condemned by a temporal judge, might thereby free us from the severe judgment of God to which we were exposed.

Q: 39. Is there anything more in his being “crucified”, than if he had died some other death?
A: Yes there is; for thereby I am assured, that he took on him the curse which lay upon me; for the death of the cross was accursed of God.

Q 35. What is the meaning of these words “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary”?
A: That God’s eternal Son, who is, and continues true and eternal God, took upon him the very nature of man, of the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, by the operation of the Holy Spirit; that he might also be the true seed of David, like unto his brethren in all things, sin excepted.

Q: 36. What profit do you receive by Christ’s holy conception and nativity?
A: That he is our Mediator; and with His innocence and perfect holiness, covers in the sight of God, my sins, wherein I was conceived and brought forth.