Read the Westminster Standards in a year.

Shorter Catechism

Q 27. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?

A. Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition,1 made under the law,2 undergoing the miseries of this life,3 the wrath of God,4 and the cursed death of the cross;5 in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.6

Larger Catechism

Q 46. What was the estate of Christ’s humiliation?

A. The estate of Christ’s humiliation was that low condition, wherein he for our sakes, emptying himself of his glory, took upon him the form of a servant,7 in his conception8 and birth,9 life,10 death,11 and after his death,12 until his resurrection.13


  1. Luke 2:7

    And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

    2 Corinthians 8:9

    For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

    Galatians 4:4

    But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, (ESV)

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  2. Galatians 4:4

    But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, (ESV)

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  3. Isaiah 53:3

    He was despised and rejected by men;
    a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
    and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

    Luke 9:58

    And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

    John 4:6

    Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

    John 11:35

    Jesus wept.

    Hebrews 2:18

    For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (ESV)

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  4. Psalm 22:1

    22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

    Matthew 27:46

    And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

    Isaiah 53:10

    Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
    when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
    the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

    1 John 2:2

    He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (ESV)

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  5. Galatians 3:13

    Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

    Philippians 2:8

    And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

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  6. Matthew 12:40

    For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

    1 Corinthians 15:3-4

    For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, (ESV)

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  7. Philippians 2:6-8

    who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

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  8. Luke 1:31

    And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. (ESV)

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  9. Luke 2:7

    And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (ESV)

    ↩︎
  10. Galatians 4:4

    But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

    2 Corinthians 8:9

    For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

    Luke 9:58

    And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

    Hebrews 2:18

    For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

    Isaiah 53:3

    He was despised and rejected by men;
    a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
    and as one from whom men hide their faces
    he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (ESV)

    ↩︎
  11. Psalm 22:1

    22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

    Matthew 27:46

    And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

    Isaiah 53:10

    Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
    when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
    the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

    1 John 2:2

    He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

    Philippians 2:8

    And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (ESV)

    ↩︎
  12. Matthew 12:40

    For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

    1 Corinthians 15:3-4

    For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, (ESV)

    ↩︎
  13. Acts 2:24-27

    God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him,

    “‘I saw the Lord always before me,
    for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
    therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
    my flesh also will dwell in hope.
    For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
    or let your Holy One see corruption.

    Acts 2:31

    he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. (ESV)

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Copyright © Tim Hopper. Based on Calendar of Readings in the Westminster Standards by Dr. Joey Pipa. Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.