Overview

The hinge of the catechism. After the long descent into sin and misery (Q12–19), this single question announces that God did not leave mankind to perish but, out of mere good pleasure, elected a people and entered a covenant of grace to deliver them by a Redeemer. The whole rest of the “faith” section flows from this turn.

The Questions & Answers

Q20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? A. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

Scripture Proofs (ESV):

“…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world… In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” (Eph. 1:4–5, ESV)

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” (Eph. 2:4–5, ESV)

Further proofs: 2 Thess. 2:13–14; Rom. 5:21; Titus 1:2; Jer. 31:33; Gen. 3:15.

Exposition: Every phrase is gospel. The deliverance flows from God’s “mere good pleasure” — not from anything in us, for we were “dead in our trespasses.” It is rooted “from all eternity” in election, secured by “a covenant of grace,” and accomplished “by a Redeemer.” Note the contrast with Q12’s “covenant of life”: that covenant required our perfect obedience and we failed; this covenant rests on God’s grace and a Redeemer’s obedience. The first word after all that misery is “God” — and the verb is grace.

Connections

• WLC Q30–32 — God’s not leaving all mankind to perish; the covenant of grace; how the grace of God is manifested in the second covenant.
• WCF 7 (Of God’s Covenant with Man — the covenant of grace), WCF 3 (election), WCF 8 (Christ the Redeemer and Mediator).
• Loci: Covenant theology (the covenant of grace); election; the doctrines of grace.

Pastoral & Practical Significance

This answer is the turning point of the human story and of every believer’s testimony. After Q12–19 has shut every door — guilty in Adam, corrupt by nature, under wrath, bound for hell — Q20 opens the one door we could never open ourselves. And it makes unmistakably clear that salvation begins entirely with God: His good pleasure, His eternal election, His covenant, His Redeemer. There is no hint here of human initiative; grace runs all the way back to eternity and all the way down to the dead sinner. For the weary and the guilty, this is the sweetest news: God did not leave us to perish. Your hope does not rest on your climbing up to God but on God’s reaching down to you in a covenant He made and keeps.

For Memory & Reflection

• Commit Q20 to memory; anchor verse: Ephesians 2:4–5. It is the gospel hinge of the whole catechism.
• The deliverance is from God’s “mere good pleasure.” How does that exclude every ground of boasting — and every ground of despair?
• Contrast the covenant of life (Q12, requiring my obedience) with the covenant of grace (Q20, resting on a Redeemer). Which am I trusting in?