(First Part: Of Man’s Misery—Questions 3-11)
9. Does not God then wrong man, by requiring of him in His law that which he cannot perform?
- No: for God so made man, that he could perform it; but man, through the instigation of the devil, by wilful disobedience deprived himself and all his posterity of this power.
10. Will God suffer such disobedience and apostasy to go unpunished?
- By no means; but He is terribly displeased with our inborn as well as our actual sins, and will punish them in just judgment in time and eternity, as he has declared: Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them (Deut. 27:26).
11. Is then God not merciful?
- God is indeed merciful, but He is likewise just; wherefore His justice requires that sin, which is committed against the most high majesty of God, be also punished with extreme, that is, with everlasting punishment both of body and soul.
