THE BAPTIST CATECHISM

Based on the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession of Faith.

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Question 1

Q. Who is the first and chiefest being?

A. God is the first and chiefest being (Is. 44:6; 48:12; Ps. 97:9)

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Question 2

Q. Ought every one to believe there is a God?

A. Everyone ought to believe there is a God (Heb. 11:6); and it is their great sin and folly who do not (Ps. 14:1).

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Question 3

Q. How may we know there is a God?

A. The light of nature in man and the works of God plainly declare there is a God (Rom. 1:19,20; Ps. 19:1, 2, 3; Acts 17:24); but his word and Spirit only do it fully and effectually for the salvation of sinners (1 Cor. 2:10; 2 Tim. 3:15,16).

 

Question 4

Q. What is the word of God?

A. The holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the word of God, and the only certain rule of faith and obedience (2 Tim. 3:16; Eph. 2:20).

 

 Question 5

Q. May all men make use of the holy scriptures?

A. All men are not only permitted, but commanded and exhorted to read, hear, and understand the holy scriptures (John 5:38; John 17:17,18; Rev.1:3; Acts 8:30).

 

Question 6

Q. What things are chiefly contained in the holy scriptures?

A. The holy scriptures chiefly contain what man ought to believe concerning God, and what duty God requireth of man (2 Tim. 1:13; 3:15,16).

 

Question 7

Q. What is God?

A. God is a Spirit (John 4:24), infinite (Job 11:7, 8, 9), eternal (Ps. 110:2), and unchangeable (Jas. 1:17) in his being (Ex. 3:14), wisdom (Ps. 147:5), power (Rev. 4:8), holiness (Rev. 15:4), justice, goodness, and truth (Ex. 34:6).

 

 Question 8

Q. Are there more gods than one?

A. There is but one only, the living and true God (Deut. 6:4; Jer 10:10).

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Question 9

Q. How many persons are there in the Godhead?

A. There are three persons in the godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory (1 John 5:7; Mt. 28:19).

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Question 10

Q. What are the decrees of God?

A. The decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:4, 11; Rom. 9:22-23; Is. 46:10; Lam. 3:37).

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Question 11

Q. How doth God execute his decrees?

A. God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.

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Question 12

Q. What is the work of creation?

A. The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of his power, in the space of six days, and all very good (Gen. 1 throughout; Heb. 11:3).

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Question 13

Q. How did God create man?

A. God created man, male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures (Gen. 1:26, 27, 28; Col. 3:10, Eph. 4:24).

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Question 14

Q. What are God’s works of providence?

A. God’s works of providence are his most holy, (Ps. 145:17;) wise (Is. 28:29, Ps. 104:24), and powerful preserving (Heb. 1:3) and governing all his creatures, and all their actions (Ps. 103:19; Mt. 10:29, 30, 31).

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Question 15

Q. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the estate wherein he was created?

A. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience: forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death (Gal. 3:12; Gen. 2:17).

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Question 16

Q. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

A. Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God (Gen. 3:6, 7, 8, 13; Eccles. 7:29).

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Question 17

Q. What is sin?

A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God (1 John 3:4).

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Question 18

Q. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

A. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6, 12, 16, 17).

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Question 19

Q. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?

A. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression (Gen. 2:16, 17; Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22).

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Question 20

Q. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

A. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery (Rom. 5:12).

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Question 21

Q. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?

A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it (Rom. 5:12, to the end; Eph. 2:1, 2, 3; James 1:14, 15; Mt. 15:19).

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Question 22

Q. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God (Gen. 3:8, 10, 24), are under his wrath and curse (Eph. 2:2, 3; Gal. 3:10), and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever (Lam. 3:39; Rom. 6:23; Mt. 25:41, 46).

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Question 23

Q. 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 (Eph. 1:4, 5), 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 (Rom. 3:20-22; Gal. 3:21, 22).

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Question 24

Q. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?

A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5, 6); who, being the eternal Son of God, became man (John 1:14; Gal. 4:4), and so was and continueth to be God and man in two distinct natures, and one person for ever (Rom. 9:5; Lk. 1:35; Col. 2:9; Heb. 7:24, 25).

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Question 25

Q. How did Christ, being the Son of God become man?

A. Christ the Son of God became man by taking to himself a true body (Heb. 2:14, 17; 10:5), and a reasonable soul (Mt. 26:38); being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her (Luke 1:27, 31, 34, 35, 42; Gal. 4:4), yet without sin (Heb. 4:15; 7:26).

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Question 26

Q. What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?

A. Christ as our Redeemer executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation (Acts 3:22; Heb. 12:25; 2 Cor. 13:3; Heb. 5:5, 6, 7; 7:25; Ps. 2:6; Is. 9:6, 7; Mt. 21:5; Ps. 2:8-11).

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Question 27

Q. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?

A. Christ executeth the office of prophet in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation (John 1:18; 1 Pet.1:10,11, 12; John 15:15; and 20:31).

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Question 28

Q. How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

A. Christ executeth the office of priest in his once offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice (Heb. 9:14, 28) and reconcile us to God (Heb. 2:17), and in making continual intercession for us (Heb.7:24, 25).

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Question 29

Q. How doth Christ execute the office of king?

A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself (Acts 15:14, 15, 16), in ruling (Is. 33:22), and defending us (Is. 32:1, 2), and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies (1 Cor. 15:25; Ps. 110 throughout).

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Question 30

Q. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?

A.Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition (Luke 2:7), made under the law (Gal. 4:4), undergoing the miseries of this life (Heb. 12:2, 3; Is. 53:2, 3), the wrath of God (Luke 22:44; Mt. 27:46), and the cursed death of the cross (Phil. 2:8); in being buried (1 Cor. 15:3,4), and continuing under the power of death for a time (Acts 2:24, 25, 26, 27, 31; Mt. 12:40).

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Question 31

Q. Wherein consisteth Christ’s exaltation?

A. Christ’s exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day (1 Cor. 15:4), in ascending up into heaven (Mark 16:19), in sitting at the right hand of God the Father (Eph. 1:20), and in coming to judge the world at the last day (Acts 1: 11; 17:31).

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Question 32

Q. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us (John 1:11,12) by his Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5,6).

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Question 33

Q. How doth the spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us (Eph. 1:13, 14; John 6:37, 39; Eph. 2:8), and thereby uniting us to Christ, in our effectual calling (Eph. 3:17; 1 Cor. 1:9).

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Question 34

Q. What is effectual calling?

A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit (2 Tim. 1:9; 2 Thess. 2:13, 14), whereby convincing us of our sin and misery (Acts 2:37), enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ (Acts 26:18), and renewing our wills (Ez. 36:26, 27), he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel (John 6:44, 45; Phil. 2:13).

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Question 35

Q. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

A. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification (Rom. 8:30), adoption (Eph. 1:5), sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them (1 Cor. 1:30).

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Question 36

Q. What is justification?

A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins (Rom. 3:24, 25; and 4:6, 7, 8), and accepteth us as righteous in his sight (2 Cor. 5:19, 21), only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us (Rom. 5:17-19), and received by faith alone (Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).

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Question 37

Q. What is adoption?

A. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace (1 John 3:1), whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God (John 1:12; Rom. 8:14-17).

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Question 38

Q. What is sanctification?

A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace (2 Thess. 2:13), whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God (Eph. 4:23, 24), and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness (Rom. 6:4,6; 8:1).

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Question 39

Q. What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience (Rom. 5:1, 2, 5), joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5, 17), increase of grace (Pr. 4:18), and perseverance therein to the end (1 John 5:13; 1 Pet. 1:5).

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Question 40

Q. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death?

A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness (Heb. 12:23), and do immediately pass into glory (2 Cor. 5:1, 6, 8; Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43); and their bodies being still united to Christ (1 Thess. 4:14), do rest in their graves (Is. 57:2) till the resurrection (Job 19:26, 27).

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Question 41

Q. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

A. At the resurrection believers, being raised up in glory (1 Cor. 15:43), shall be openly acknowledged, and acquitted in the day of judgment (Mt. 25:23; Mt. 10:32), and made perfectly blessed, both in soul and body, in the full enjoyment of God (1 John 3:2; 1 Cor. 13:12) to all eternity (1 Thess. 4:17, 18).

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Question 42

Q. But what shall be done to the wicked at their death?

A. The souls of the wicked shall, at their death, be cast into the torments of hell, and their bodies lie in their graves, till the resurrection and judgment of the great day (Luke 16:23, 24; Acts 2:24; Jude 5, 7; 1 Pet. 3:19; Ps. 49:14).

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Question 43

Q. What shall be done to the wicked, at the day of judgment?

A. At the day of judgment the bodies of the wicked, being raised out of their graves, shall be sentenced, together with their souls, to unspeakable torments with the devil and his angels for ever (John 5:28, 29; Mt. 25:41, 46; 2 Thes. 1:8, 9).

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Question 44

Q. What is the duty which God requireth of man?

A. The duty which God requireth of man is, obedience to his revealed will (Mic 6:8; 1 Sam. 15:22).

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Question 45

Q. What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?

A. The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the moral law (Rom. 2; 14, 15, and 10:5).

 

Question 46

Q. Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?

A. The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments (Deut. 10:4; Mt. 19:17).

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Question 47

Q. What is the sum of the ten commandments?

A. The sum of the ten commandments is, to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbour as ourselves (Mt. 22:37-40).

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Question 48

Q. What is the preface to the ten commandments?

A. The preface to the ten commandments is in these words; I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (Ex. 20:2).

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Question 49

Q. What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?

A. The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us that because God is the Lord, and our God and redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments (Luke 1:74, 75; 1 Pet. 1:15-19).

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Question 50

Q. Which is the first commandment?

A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me (Ex. 20:3).

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Question 51

Q. What is required in the first commandment?

A. The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God and our God (1 Chron. 28:9; Deut. 26:17), and to worship and glorify him accordingly (Mt. 4:10; Ps. 29:2).

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Question 52

Q. What is forbidden in the first commandment?

A. The first commandment forbiddeth the denying (Ps. 14: 1), or not worshipping and glorifying the true God (Rom. 1:21), as God and our God (Ps. 81:10, 11), and the giving of that worship and glory to any other, which is due unto him alone (Rom. 1:25, 26).

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Question 53

Q. What are we especially taught by these words before me, in the first commandment?

A. These words before me, in the first commandment teach us, that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of and is much displeased with the sin of having any other god (Ex. 8:5, to the end).

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Question 54

Q. Which is the second commandment?

A. The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments (Ex. 20:4, 5, 6).

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Question 55

Q. What is required in the second commandment?

A. The second commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances, as God hath appointed in his word (Deut. 32:46; Mt. 23:20; Acts 2:42).

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Question 56

Q. What is forbidden in the second commandment?

A. The second commandment forbiddeth the worshipping of God by images (Deut. 4:15-19; Ex. 32:5, 8), or any other way not appointed in his word (Deut. 7:31, 32).

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Question 57

Q. What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment?

A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment are, God’s sovereignty over us (Ps. 45:2, 3, 6), his propriety in us (Ps. 45:11), and the zeal he hath to his own worship (Ex. 34:13, 14).

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Question 58

Q. Which is the third commandment?

A. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain (Ex. 20:7).

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Question 59

Q. What is required in the third commandment?

A. The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God’s names (Mt. 6:9; Deut. 23:58), titles (Ps. 68:4), attributes (Rev. 15:3, 4), ordinances, (Mal. 1: 11, 14), word (Ps. 136: 1, 2) and works (Job 36:24).

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Question 60

Q. What is forbidden in the third commandment?

A. The third commandment forbiddeth all profaning and abusing of any thing whereby God makes himself known (Mal. 1:6, 7, 12; 2:2; 3:14).

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Question 61

Q. What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?

A. The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape his righteous judgment (1 Sam. 2:12, 17, 22, 29; 3:13; Deut. 28:58, 59).

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