'"De schapen zijn de huid niet schuldig". De plichten van onderdanen en overheden in zeventiende- en achttiende-eeuwse verklaringen van de Heidelbergse Catechismus

Lord’s Day 39 (question and answer 104) of the Heidelberg Catechism offers an interpretation of the fifth commandment. It states that – beside our parents – we should honour, love and be loyal to all those in authority over us. When treating question and answer 104, explanations of the Heidelberg Catechism usually digress upon the duties of subjects and authorities. This article discusses a number of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century explanations of the Catechism published by Dutch Reformed ministers and focuses especially on statements concerning duty and authority. It tries among other things to demonstrate that the theological differences between Cocceians and Voetians, which of course also affected Dutch Reformed Pietists, did not leave their mark on the explanations of Lord’s Day 39. As a whole, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century statements on duty and authority do not seem to differ much, partly because the genre of Catechism explanations is highly influenced by the explanation of the man who compiled the Heidelberg Catechism, Zacharias Ursinus