Dr. Thomas J. Nettles, in the Foreword of Dr. Jim Scott Orrick's A Commentary on the Baptist Catechism, highlights Dr. Orrick's understanding of the Catechism when he writes: "The Catechism is not inspired; Scripture alone is the writing of the Holy Spirit. The Catechism has no intrinsic authority; Scripture alone is authoritative. Instead, Orrick locates the Catechism's value as an aid in comprehending Scripture" (xvi). He quotes Orrick to the effect: "The revelation that [God] sent through Moses, the prophets, and Jesus has been preserved in the Bible and now the Holy Spirit authenticates the Bible in a way that renders miraculous authentication unnecessary. The Bible itself is a standing testimony to God's supernatural providence." Dr. Nettles adds: "The one who will not believe Scripture will not believe under the influence of a miracle [cf. Luke 16:27, 28, 29, 30, 31]. The revelation of Scripture has been authenticated in Moses, the prophets, the words and works of Jesus and the preaching and subsequent writing of the apostles." This is how B.B. Warfield can rightly say: "The Bible is the Word of God in such a way that, when the Bible speaks, God speaks." Drs. Nettles and Orrick argue that we were created for seeing God's revealed glory--glory in nature and in His Word.
From the Introduction, Orrick writes, "In the 1600s, some people were spreading false rumors about the Baptists, and a lot of people thought that the rumors were true. They thought that the Baptists were like a cult that taught heresy. The Baptists wanted to be forthright about what they believed, so they issued a Confession of Faith that demonstrated that they held to doctrines that were Biblical and in harmony with the historic, orthodox Christian [and Reformed] Faith. The Baptist Confession of 1689 was based on the widely accepted Westminster Confession of Faith [1647]. At about the same time, the Baptists also published a Catechism that, for the most part, was a word-for-word reproduction of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The Shorter Catechism has 107 questions and answers and the Baptist Catechism has 114. The two Catechisms share 100 questions and answers in common. The Baptists made a slight revision of the beginning of the Shorter Catechism and they revised the questions and answers having to do with the Lord's Supper and Baptism. Other than that, the two Catechisms are virtually the same."
Search online for: The Baptist Catechism Set to Music.
See also: A Scriptural Exposition of the Baptist Catechism by Way of Question and Answer by Benjamin Beddome, February 27, 1752.
Q. 1. Who is the first and chiefest being?
A. God is the first and chiefest being (Isa. 44:6; 48:12).
Q. 2. Ought everyone 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).
Q. 3. 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 (Ps. 19:1-3; Acts 17:24; Rom. 1:19-20); 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).
Q. 4. 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).
Q. 5. 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 (Rev. 1:3; Acts 8:30; John 5:39; Deut. 17:18-19).
Q. 6. 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 requires of man (2 Tim. 1:13, 15, 16).
Q. 7. What is God?
A. God is Spirit (John 4:24), infinite (Job 11:7-9), eternal (Ps. 90:2), and unchangeable (James 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. 34:6-7).
Q. 8. Are there more gods than one?
A. There is only one God, the only living and true God (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 44:6; 45:5, 6, 21 46:9; Jer. 10:10; 1 Tim. 2:5).
Q. 9. 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; Matt. 28:19).
Q. 10. What are the decrees of God?
A. The decrees of God are His eternal purposes according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:4, 11; Rom. 9:22, 23; Lam. 3:37).
Q. 11. How does God execute His decrees?
A. God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence.
Q. 12. What is the work of creation?
A. The work of creation is God's making all things out of nothing by the word of His power in the space of six days and all very good (Gen. 1:1-31; Heb. 11:3).
Q. 13. 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. 1:26-28; Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24).
Q. 14. What are God's works of providence?
A. God's works of providence are His most holy (Ps. 145:17), wise (Isa. 28:29; Ps. 104:24), and powerful preserving (Heb. 1:3) and governing all His creatures and all their actions (Ps. 103:19; Matt. 10:29-31).
Q. 15. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the state in which 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).
Q. 16. Did our first parents continue in the state in which they were created?
A. Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the state wherein they were created by sinning against God (Gen. 3:6, 7, 8, 13; Eccl. 7:29).
Q. 17. What is sin?
A. Sin is any lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the Law of God (1 John 3:4).
Q. 18. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the state in which they were created?
A. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the state in which they were created was their eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6, 12, 16, 17).
Q. 19. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?
A. The Covenant God 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).
Q. 20. Into what state did the fall bring mankind?
A. The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery (Rom. 5:12).
Q. 21. What consists of the sinfulness of that state into which man fell?
A. The sinfulness of that state into which man fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the lack and loss 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).
Q. 22. What is the misery of that state into which all 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 forever (Lam. 3:39; Rom. 6:23; Mt. 25:41, 46).
Q. 23. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state 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), enter into a Covenant of Grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer (Rom. 3:20-22; Gal. 3:21, 22).
Q. 24. 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 continues to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever (Rom. 9:5; Lk. 1:35; Col. 2:9; Heb. 7:24, 25).
Q. 25. 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).
Q. 26. What Offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?
A. Christ as our Redeemer executes the Offices of a Prophet, of a Priest, and of King, both in His state 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).
Q. 27. How does Christ execute the Office of a Prophet?
A. Christ executes 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).
Q. 28. How does Christ execute the Office of a Priest?
A. Christ executes the office of Priest in His one offering up of Himself as 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).
Q. 29. How does Christ execute the Office of King?
A. Christ executes 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 of His and our enemies (1 Cor. 15:25; Ps. 110:1-7).
Q. 30. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?
A. Christ's humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a lowly condition (Luke 2:7), born 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 on 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).
Q. 31. Wherein consists Christ's exaltation? A. Christ's exaltation consists 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).
Q. 32 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).
Q. 33. How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ by working [and birthing] faith within us (Eph. 1:13, 14; John 6:37, 39; Eph. 2:8, 9; 2 Pet. 1:1), and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling (Eph. 3:17; 1 Cor. 1:9).
Q. 34. 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 both persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the Gospel (John 6:44, 45; Phil. 2:13).
Q. 35. What benefits do those who are effectually called partake of in this life?
A. Those who are effectually called in this life partake of justification (Rom. 8:30), adoption (Eph. 1:5), sanctification and the several benefits which in this life either accompany or flow from them (1 Cor. 1:30).
Q. 36. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God's free grace whereby He pardons all our sins (Rom. 3:24, 25; and 4:6, 7, 8), and accepts us as righteous in His sight (2 Cor. 5:19, 21), only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us (Rom. 5:17-19), received by faith alone (Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).
Q. 37. What is adoption?
A. Adoption is an act of God's free grace (1 John 3:1) whereby we are received into the number of the elect and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God (John 1:12; Rom. 8:14-17).
Q. 38. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace (2 Thess. 2:13) whereby we are wholly renewed in the image of God (Eph. 4:23, 24) and are enabled more and more to die to sin and live to righteousness (Rom. 6:4,6; 8:1).
Q. 39. What are the benefits which in this life accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A. The benefits which in this life 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).
Q. 40. 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 immediately pass into glory (2 Cor. 5:1, 6, 8; Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43), their bodies being still united to Christ (1 Thess. 4:14), rest in their graves (Is. 57:2) until the resurrection (Job 19:26, 27).
Q. 41 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).
Q. 42. 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, until 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).
Q. 43. 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 forever (John 5:28, 29; Matt. 25:41, 46; 2 Thes. 1:8, 9).
Q. 44. What is the duty which God requires of man?
A. The duty which God requires of man is obedience to His revealed will (Micah 6:8; 1 Sam. 15:22).
Q. 45. 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; 10:5).
Q. 46. Where is the Moral Law summarily comprehended?
A. The Moral Law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments (Deut. 10:4; Matt. 19:17).
Q. 47. 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 neighbor as ourselves (Mt. 22:37-40).
Q. 48. 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 has brought you out of the land of Egypt--out of the house of bondage (Ex. 20:2).
Q. 49. What does the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us?
A. The preface to the Ten Commandments teaches 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).
Q. 50. What is the First Commandment?
A. The First Commandment is: You shall have no other gods before [or besides] Me (Ex. 20:3).
Q. 51. What is required in the First Commandment?
A. The First Commandment requires 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).
Q. 52. What is forbidden in the First Commandment?
A. The First Commandment forbids the denying (Ps. 14: 1), or not worshiping 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).
Q. 53. 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 sees all things, takes notice of and is much displeased with the sin of having any other god (Ex. 8:5ff.).
Q. 54. What is the Second Commandment?
A. The Second Commandment is: You shall not make unto yourself any graven [carved] image or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or that is on earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow yourself down to them nor serve [or worship] them: for I the Lord your 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 showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My Commandments (Ex. 20:4, 5, 6).
Q. 55. What is required in the Second Commandment?
A. The Second Commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God has appointed in His Word (Deut. 32:46; Mt. 23:20; Acts 2:42).
Q. 56. What is forbidden in the Second Commandment?
A. The Second Commandment forbids the worshiping 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).
Q. 57. 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 [holy standards] in us (Ps. 45:11), and the zeal He has to His own worship (Ex. 34:13, 14).
Q. 58. What is the Third Commandment?
A. The Third Commandment is: You shall not take the Name [YHWH: Ex. 3:14, 15] of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His Name in vain (Ex. 20:7).
Q. 59. What is required in the Third Commandment?
A. The Third Commandment requires 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).
Q. 60. What is forbidden in the Third Commandment?
A. The Third Commandment forbids all profaning and abusing of anything whereby God makes Himself known (Mal. 1:6, 7, 12; 2:2; 3:14).
Q. 61. 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 allow them to escape His righteous judgment (1 Sam. 2:12, 17, 22, 29; 3:13; Deut. 28:58, 59).
Q. 62. What is the Fourth Commandment?
A. The Fourth Commandment is: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy: six days shall you labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God, in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servants, nor your cattle, nor the stranger that is within your gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it (Ex. 20:8-11).
Q. 63. What is required in the Fourth Commandment?
A. The Fourth Commandment requires the keeping holy to God such set times as He has appointed in His Word, expressly, one whole day in seven to be a holy sabbath unto Himself (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-14).
Q. 64. Which day of the seven has God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?
A. Before the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-14); and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath (Ps. 118:24; Mt. 28:1; Mk. 2:27, 28; Jn. 20:19, 20, 26; Rev. 1:10; Mk. 16:2; Lk. 24:1, 30-36; Jn. 20:1; Acts 1:3; 2:1, 2; 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1, 2).
Q. 65. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?
A. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day (Ex. 20:8, 10), even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days (Ex. 16:25-28; Neh. 13:15-22), and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship (Lk. 4:16; Acts 20:7; Ps. 92:title; Is. 66:23)--unless absolutely necessary or to show someone mercy with help (Mt. 12:1-13).
Q. 66. What is forbidden in the Fourth Commandment?
A. The Fourth Commandment forbids the omission or careless performance of the duties required (Ez. 22:26; Amos 8:5; Mal. 1:13), and the profaning the day by idleness (Acts 20:7, 9), or doing that which is in itself sinful (Ez. 23:38), or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about worldly employments or recreations (Jer 17:24-27; Is. 58:13).
Q. 67. What are the reasons annexed to the Fourth Commandment?
A. The reasons annexed to the Fourth Commandment are God's allowing us six days of the week for our own lawful employments (Ex. 20:9), His challenging a special propriety in a seventh, His own example and His blessing the Sabbath day (Ex. 20:11).
Q. 68. What is the Fifth Commandment?
A. The Fifth Commandment is: Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you (Ex. 20:12).
Q. 69. What is required in the Fifth Commandment?
A. The Fifth Commandment requires the preserving of the honor, and performing the duties belonging to, everyone in their various places and relations as superiors (Eph. 5:21), inferiors (1 Pet. 2:17), or equals (Rom. 12:10).
Q. 70. What is forbidden in the Fifth Commandment?
A. The Fifth Commandment forbids the neglect of, or doing anything against, the honor and duty which belongs to everyone in their various places and relations (Mt. 15:4-6; Ez. 34:24; Rom. 13:8).
Q. 71. What is the reason annexed to the Fifth Commandment?
A. The reason annexed to the Fifth Commandment is a promise of long life and prosperity (as far as it shall serve for God's glory and their own good) to all such as keep this Commandment (Deut. 5:16; Eph. 6:2, 3).
Q. 72. What is the Sixth Commandment?
A. The Sixth Commandment is: You shall not kill (Ex. 20:13).
Q. 73. What is required in the Sixth Commandment?
A. The Sixth Commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life (Eph. 5:28, 29) and the life of others (1 Kings 18:4).
Q. 74. What is forbidden in the Sixth Commandment?
A. The Sixth Commandment absolutely forbids the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatsoever tends thereunto (Acts 26:28; Gen. 9:9).
Q. 75. What is the Seventh Commandment?
A. The Seventh Commandment is: You shall not commit adultery (Ex. 20:14).
Q. 76. What is required in the Seventh Commandment?
A. The Seventh Commandment requires the preservation of our own and our neighbor's chastity, in heart, speech and behavior (1 Cor. 7:2, 3, 5, 34, 36; Col. 4:6; 1 Pet. 3:2).
Q. 77. What is forbidden in the Seventh Commandment?
A. The Seventh Commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions (Mt. 15:19, 5:28; Eph. 5:3, 4).
Q. 78. What is the Eighth Commandment?
A. The Eighth Commandment is: You shall not steal (Ex. 20:15).
Q. 79. What is required in the Eighth Commandment?
A. The Eighth Commandment requires the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward state of ourselves and others (Gen. 30:30; 1 Tim. 5:8; Lev. 25:35; Deut. 22:1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Ex. 23:4, 5; Gen. 47:14, 20).
Q. 80. What is forbidden in the Eighth Commandment?
A. The Eighth Commandment forbids whatsoever does or may unjustly hinder our own (1 Tim. 5:8; Pr. 28:19) or our neighbor's wealth or outward state (Pr. 21:17, and 23:20, 21; Eph. 4:28).
Q. 81. What is the Ninth Commandment?
A. The Ninth Commandment is: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Ex. 20:16).
Q. 82. What is required in the Ninth Commandment?
A. The Ninth Commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man (Zech. 8:16), and of our own neighbor's good name (Jn. 5:12), especially in bearing truthful witness (Pr. 14:5, 25).
Q. 83. What is forbidden in the Ninth Commandment?
A. The Ninth Commandment forbids whatsoever is prejudicial to the truth or injurious to our own or our neighbor's good name (1 Sam. 17:28; Lev. 19:16; Ps. 15:2, 3).
Q. 84. What is the Tenth Commandment?
A. The Tenth Commandment is: You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his servants, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor (Ex. 20:17).
Q. 85. What is required in the Tenth Commandment?
A. The Tenth Commandment requires full contentment with our own condition (Heb. 13:5; 1 Tim. 6:6), with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor, and all that is his (Job 31:29; Rom. 7:15; 1 Tim. 1:5; 1 Cor. 8:4, 7).
Q. 86. What is forbidden in the Tenth Commandment?
A. The Tenth Commandment forbids all discontentment with our own state (1 Kings 21:4; Esther 5:13; 1 Cor. 10:10), envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor (Gal. 5:26; James 3:14, 16), and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his (Rom. 7:7, 8, 13:9; Deut. 5:21).
Q. 87. Is any man able perfectly to keep the Commandments of God?
A. No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the Commandments of God (Eccl. 7:20; 1 John 1:8, 10; Gal. 5:17), but does daily break them in thought, word or deed (Gn 4:5, and 7:21; Rom. 3:9-21; James 3:2-13).
Q. 88. Are all transgressions of the Law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others (Ez. 8:6, 13, 15; 1 Jn. 5:16; Ps. 78:17, 32, 56).
Q. 89. What does every sin deserve?
A. Every sin deserves God's wrath, and curse, both in this life and that which is to come (Eph. 5:6; Gal. 3:10; Lam. 3:39; Mt. 25:41; Rom. 6:23).
Q. 90. What does God require of us that we may escape His wrath, and curse, due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requires from us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life (Acts 20:21), with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption (Pr. 2:1-6, 8:33ff.; Isa. 55:2, 3).
Q. 91. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace (Heb. 10:39), whereby we receive, and rest upon Him alone for, salvation; as He is offered to us in the Gospel (Jn. 1:12; Is. 26:3, 4; Ph. 3:9; Gal. 2:16).
Q. 92. What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace (Acts 11:28), whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin (Acts 2:37, 38), and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ (Joel 2:12; Jer 3:22), does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God (Jer 31:18, 19; Ez. 36:3 1), with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience (2 Cor. 7: 1 1; Is. 1: 16, 17).
Q. 93. What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are His ordinances, especially the Word, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Prayer; all which means are made effectual to the elect for salvation (Mt. 28:19, 20; Acts 2:42, 46, 47).
Q. 94. How is the Word made effectual to salvation?
A. The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation (Neh. 8:8; Acts 26:18; Ps. 19:8; Acts 20:32; Rom. 1: 15, 16, 10: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17; 15:4; 1 Cor. 14:24, 25; 1 Tim. 3:15, 16, 17).
Q. 95. How is the Word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation?
A. That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence (Pr. 8:34), preparation (1 Pet. 2:1, 2) and prayer (Ps. 119:18); receive it with faith and love (Heb. 4:2; 2 Thes. 2:10), lay it up in our hearts (Ps. 119:18), and practice it in our lives (Luke 8:15; James 1:25).
Q. 96. How do Baptism and the Lord's Supper become effectual means of salvation?
A. Baptism and the Lord's Supper become effectual means of salvation not for any virtue in them, or in him that administers them, but only by the blessing of Christ (1 Pet. 3:21; Mt. 3:11; 1 Cor. 3:6, 7) in the working of the Holy Spirit in those that by faith receive them (1 Cor. 12:3; Mt. 28:19).
Q. 97. What is Baptism?
A. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament instituted by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized a sign of his fellowship with Him, in His death, burial and resurrection; of his being engrafted into Him (Rom. 6:3, 4, 5; Col. 2:12; Gal. 3:27); of forgiveness of sins (Mk. 1:4; Acts 2:38, and 22:16); and of one's giving up of oneself unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3, 4).
Q. 98. To whom is Baptism to be administered?
A. Baptism is to be administered to all those who actually profess repentance towards God (Acts 2:38; Mt. 3:6), faith in and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to none other (Acts 8:12, 36, 37, 38; 10:47, 48).
Q. 99. Are the infants of such as are professing believers to be Baptized?
A. The infants of such as are professing believers are not to be Baptized because there is neither command or example in the holy Scriptures or certain consequence from them to Baptize such (Ex. 23:13; Pr. 30:6; Lk. 3:7, 8).
Q. 100. How is Baptism rightly administered?
A. Baptism is rightly administered by immersion, or dipping the whole body of the party into water, into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, according to Christ's institution, and the practice of the apostles (Mt. 3:16; Jn. 3:23; 4:1, 2; Mt. 28:19, 20; Acts 8:38; Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12)--not by sprinkling or pouring of water, or dipping some part of the body, after the traditions of men.
Q. 101. What is the duty of such who are rightly Baptized?
A. It is the duty of such who are rightly Baptized to give up themselves to some particular and orderly church of Jesus Christ, that they may walk in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blamelessly (Acts 2:41, 42; 5:13, 14; 9:26; 1 Pet. 2:5; Lk. 1:6).
Q. 102. What is the Lord's Supper?
A. The Lord's Supper is an Ordinance of the New Testament instituted by Jesus Christ; wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to His appointment, His death is shown forth and the worthy receivers are made partakers of His body and blood, with all His benefits, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace, not after a corporal [bodily] and carnal [fleshly] manner [a denial of transubstantiation], but by faith (Mt. 26:26, 27, 28; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; 10:16).
Q. 103. Who are the proper subjects of this Ordinance?
A. They who have been Baptized upon a personal profession of their faith in Jesus Christ and repentance from dead works (Acts 2:41, 42).
Q. 104. What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper?
A. It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body (1 Cor. 11:28, 29), of their faith to feed upon Him (2 Cor. 13:5), of their repentance (1 Cor. 11:31), love (1 Cor. 10:16, 17), and new obedience (1 Cor. 5:7, 8), lest coming unworthily they eat and drink judgment to themselves (1 Cor. 11:28, 29).
Q. 105. What is Prayer?
A. Prayer is an offering up our desires to God (Ps. 62:8), by the assistance of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26), for things agreeable to His will (1 Jn. 5:14; Rom. 8:27), in the Name of Christ (Jn. 16:23), believing (Mt. 21:22; James 1:6), with confession of our sins (Ps. 32:5, 6; Dan. 9:4), and thankful acknowledgments of His mercies (Ph. 4:6).
Q. 106. What rule has God given for our direction in Prayer?
A. The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in Prayer (1 Jn. 5:14); but the special rule of direction is that Prayer which Christ taught His disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer (Mt. 6:9-13; with Lk. 11:2-4).
Q. 107. What does the Preface of the Lord's Prayer teach us?
A. The Preface of the Lord's Prayer, which is "Our Father which art in Heaven" (Mt. 6:9), teaches us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a Father, able and ready to help us (Rom. 8:15; Lk. 11:13; Is. 24:8); and that we should Pray with and for others (Acts 12:5; 1 Tim. 2:1, 2).
Q. 108. What do we Pray for in the First Petition?
A. In the First Petition, which is, "Hallowed be Thy Name" (Mt. 6:9), we Pray that God would enable us and others to glorify Him in all that whereby He makes Himself known (Ps. 67:2, 3), and that He would dispose all things to His own glory (Ps. 83 throughout; Rom. 11:36).
Q. 109. What do we Pray for in the Second Petition?
A. In the Second Petition, which is, "Thy Kingdom come" (Mt. 6:10), we pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed (Ps. 68:1, 18), and that the Kingdom of Grace may be advanced (Rev. 12:10, 11), ourselves and others brought into it and kept in it (2 Thes. 3: 1; Rom. 10: 1; Jn. 17:19, 20), and that His Kingdom of Glory may be hastened (Rev. 22:10).
Q. 110. What do we Pray for in the Third Petition?
A. In the Third Petition, which is, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" (Mt. 6:10), we pray that God by His grace would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things (Ps. 67: throughout; Ps. 119:36; 2 Sam. 15:25; Job 1:21), as the angels do in Heaven (Ps. 103:20, 21).
Q. 111. What do we Pray for in the Fourth Petition?
A. In the Fourth Petition, which is, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Mt. 6:11), we pray that, of God's free gift, we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life and enjoy His blessing with them (Pr. 30:8; Gn 28:20; 1 Tim. 4:4, 5).
Q. 112. What do we Pray for in the Fifth Petition?
A. In the Fifth Petition, which is, "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" (Mt. 6:12), we pray that God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all our sins (Ps. 51:1, 2, 7, 9; Dan. 9:17-19); which we are rather encouraged to ask, because by His grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others (Lk. 11:4; Mt. 18:35).
Q. 113. What do we Pray for in the Sixth Petition?
A. In the Sixth Petition, which is, "And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" (Mt. 6:13), we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin (Mt. 26:31) or support and deliver us when we are tempted (2 Cor. 12:8).
Q. 114. What does the Conclusion of the Lord's Prayer teach?
A. The Conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, which is, "For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever. Amen" (Mt. 6:13), teaches us to take our encouragement in Prayer from God only (Dan. 9:4, 7-9, 16-19), and in our Prayers to praise Him, ascribing Kingdom, Power, and Glory to Him (1 Chron. 29:10-13); and in testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard, we say, "Amen." (1 Cor. 4:16; Rev. 11:20; 22:20, 21).
From the Introduction, Orrick writes, "In the 1600s, some people were spreading false rumors about the Baptists, and a lot of people thought that the rumors were true. They thought that the Baptists were like a cult that taught heresy. The Baptists wanted to be forthright about what they believed, so they issued a Confession of Faith that demonstrated that they held to doctrines that were Biblical and in harmony with the historic, orthodox Christian [and Reformed] Faith. The Baptist Confession of 1689 was based on the widely accepted Westminster Confession of Faith [1647]. At about the same time, the Baptists also published a Catechism that, for the most part, was a word-for-word reproduction of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The Shorter Catechism has 107 questions and answers and the Baptist Catechism has 114. The two Catechisms share 100 questions and answers in common. The Baptists made a slight revision of the beginning of the Shorter Catechism and they revised the questions and answers having to do with the Lord's Supper and Baptism. Other than that, the two Catechisms are virtually the same."
Search online for: The Baptist Catechism Set to Music.
See also: A Scriptural Exposition of the Baptist Catechism by Way of Question and Answer by Benjamin Beddome, February 27, 1752.
Q. 1. Who is the first and chiefest being?A. God is the first and chiefest being (Isa. 44:6; 48:12).
Q. 2. Ought everyone 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).
Q. 3. 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 (Ps. 19:1-3; Acts 17:24; Rom. 1:19-20); 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).
Q. 4. 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).
Q. 5. 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 (Rev. 1:3; Acts 8:30; John 5:39; Deut. 17:18-19).
Q. 6. 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 requires of man (2 Tim. 1:13, 15, 16).
Q. 7. What is God?
A. God is Spirit (John 4:24), infinite (Job 11:7-9), eternal (Ps. 90:2), and unchangeable (James 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. 34:6-7).
Q. 8. Are there more gods than one?
A. There is only one God, the only living and true God (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 44:6; 45:5, 6, 21 46:9; Jer. 10:10; 1 Tim. 2:5).
Q. 9. 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; Matt. 28:19).
Q. 10. What are the decrees of God?
A. The decrees of God are His eternal purposes according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:4, 11; Rom. 9:22, 23; Lam. 3:37).
Q. 11. How does God execute His decrees?
A. God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence.
Q. 12. What is the work of creation?
A. The work of creation is God's making all things out of nothing by the word of His power in the space of six days and all very good (Gen. 1:1-31; Heb. 11:3).
Q. 13. 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. 1:26-28; Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24).
Q. 14. What are God's works of providence?
A. God's works of providence are His most holy (Ps. 145:17), wise (Isa. 28:29; Ps. 104:24), and powerful preserving (Heb. 1:3) and governing all His creatures and all their actions (Ps. 103:19; Matt. 10:29-31).
Q. 15. What special act of providence did God exercise towards man in the state in which 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).
Q. 16. Did our first parents continue in the state in which they were created?
A. Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the state wherein they were created by sinning against God (Gen. 3:6, 7, 8, 13; Eccl. 7:29).
Q. 17. What is sin?
A. Sin is any lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the Law of God (1 John 3:4).
Q. 18. What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the state in which they were created?
A. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the state in which they were created was their eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6, 12, 16, 17).
Q. 19. Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?
A. The Covenant God 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).
Q. 20. Into what state did the fall bring mankind?
A. The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery (Rom. 5:12).
Q. 21. What consists of the sinfulness of that state into which man fell?
A. The sinfulness of that state into which man fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the lack and loss 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).
Q. 22. What is the misery of that state into which all 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 forever (Lam. 3:39; Rom. 6:23; Mt. 25:41, 46).
Q. 23. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state 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), enter into a Covenant of Grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer (Rom. 3:20-22; Gal. 3:21, 22).
Q. 24. 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 continues to be God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever (Rom. 9:5; Lk. 1:35; Col. 2:9; Heb. 7:24, 25).
Q. 25. 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).
Q. 26. What Offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?
A. Christ as our Redeemer executes the Offices of a Prophet, of a Priest, and of King, both in His state 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).
Q. 27. How does Christ execute the Office of a Prophet?
A. Christ executes 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).
Q. 28. How does Christ execute the Office of a Priest?
A. Christ executes the office of Priest in His one offering up of Himself as 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).
Q. 29. How does Christ execute the Office of King?
A. Christ executes 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 of His and our enemies (1 Cor. 15:25; Ps. 110:1-7).
Q. 30. Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?
A. Christ's humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a lowly condition (Luke 2:7), born 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 on 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).
Q. 31. Wherein consists Christ's exaltation? A. Christ's exaltation consists 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).
Q. 32 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).
Q. 33. How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ by working [and birthing] faith within us (Eph. 1:13, 14; John 6:37, 39; Eph. 2:8, 9; 2 Pet. 1:1), and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling (Eph. 3:17; 1 Cor. 1:9).
Q. 34. 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 both persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the Gospel (John 6:44, 45; Phil. 2:13).
Q. 35. What benefits do those who are effectually called partake of in this life?
A. Those who are effectually called in this life partake of justification (Rom. 8:30), adoption (Eph. 1:5), sanctification and the several benefits which in this life either accompany or flow from them (1 Cor. 1:30).
Q. 36. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God's free grace whereby He pardons all our sins (Rom. 3:24, 25; and 4:6, 7, 8), and accepts us as righteous in His sight (2 Cor. 5:19, 21), only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us (Rom. 5:17-19), received by faith alone (Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).
Q. 37. What is adoption?
A. Adoption is an act of God's free grace (1 John 3:1) whereby we are received into the number of the elect and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God (John 1:12; Rom. 8:14-17).
Q. 38. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God's free grace (2 Thess. 2:13) whereby we are wholly renewed in the image of God (Eph. 4:23, 24) and are enabled more and more to die to sin and live to righteousness (Rom. 6:4,6; 8:1).
Q. 39. What are the benefits which in this life accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
A. The benefits which in this life 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).
Q. 40. 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 immediately pass into glory (2 Cor. 5:1, 6, 8; Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43), their bodies being still united to Christ (1 Thess. 4:14), rest in their graves (Is. 57:2) until the resurrection (Job 19:26, 27).
Q. 41 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).
Q. 42. 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, until 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).
Q. 43. 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 forever (John 5:28, 29; Matt. 25:41, 46; 2 Thes. 1:8, 9).
Q. 44. What is the duty which God requires of man?
A. The duty which God requires of man is obedience to His revealed will (Micah 6:8; 1 Sam. 15:22).
Q. 45. 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; 10:5).
Q. 46. Where is the Moral Law summarily comprehended?
A. The Moral Law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments (Deut. 10:4; Matt. 19:17).
Q. 47. 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 neighbor as ourselves (Mt. 22:37-40).
Q. 48. 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 has brought you out of the land of Egypt--out of the house of bondage (Ex. 20:2).
Q. 49. What does the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us?
A. The preface to the Ten Commandments teaches 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).
Q. 50. What is the First Commandment?
A. The First Commandment is: You shall have no other gods before [or besides] Me (Ex. 20:3).
Q. 51. What is required in the First Commandment?
A. The First Commandment requires 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).
Q. 52. What is forbidden in the First Commandment?
A. The First Commandment forbids the denying (Ps. 14: 1), or not worshiping 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).
Q. 53. 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 sees all things, takes notice of and is much displeased with the sin of having any other god (Ex. 8:5ff.).
Q. 54. What is the Second Commandment?
A. The Second Commandment is: You shall not make unto yourself any graven [carved] image or any likeness of any thing that is in Heaven above or that is on earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow yourself down to them nor serve [or worship] them: for I the Lord your 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 showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My Commandments (Ex. 20:4, 5, 6).
Q. 55. What is required in the Second Commandment?
A. The Second Commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God has appointed in His Word (Deut. 32:46; Mt. 23:20; Acts 2:42).
Q. 56. What is forbidden in the Second Commandment?
A. The Second Commandment forbids the worshiping 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).
Q. 57. 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 [holy standards] in us (Ps. 45:11), and the zeal He has to His own worship (Ex. 34:13, 14).
Q. 58. What is the Third Commandment?
A. The Third Commandment is: You shall not take the Name [YHWH: Ex. 3:14, 15] of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His Name in vain (Ex. 20:7).
Q. 59. What is required in the Third Commandment?
A. The Third Commandment requires 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).
Q. 60. What is forbidden in the Third Commandment?
A. The Third Commandment forbids all profaning and abusing of anything whereby God makes Himself known (Mal. 1:6, 7, 12; 2:2; 3:14).
Q. 61. 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 allow them to escape His righteous judgment (1 Sam. 2:12, 17, 22, 29; 3:13; Deut. 28:58, 59).
Q. 62. What is the Fourth Commandment?
A. The Fourth Commandment is: Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy: six days shall you labor and do all your work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God, in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servants, nor your cattle, nor the stranger that is within your gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it (Ex. 20:8-11).
Q. 63. What is required in the Fourth Commandment?
A. The Fourth Commandment requires the keeping holy to God such set times as He has appointed in His Word, expressly, one whole day in seven to be a holy sabbath unto Himself (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-14).
Q. 64. Which day of the seven has God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?
A. Before the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath (Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-14); and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath (Ps. 118:24; Mt. 28:1; Mk. 2:27, 28; Jn. 20:19, 20, 26; Rev. 1:10; Mk. 16:2; Lk. 24:1, 30-36; Jn. 20:1; Acts 1:3; 2:1, 2; 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1, 2).
Q. 65. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?
A. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day (Ex. 20:8, 10), even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days (Ex. 16:25-28; Neh. 13:15-22), and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship (Lk. 4:16; Acts 20:7; Ps. 92:title; Is. 66:23)--unless absolutely necessary or to show someone mercy with help (Mt. 12:1-13).
Q. 66. What is forbidden in the Fourth Commandment?
A. The Fourth Commandment forbids the omission or careless performance of the duties required (Ez. 22:26; Amos 8:5; Mal. 1:13), and the profaning the day by idleness (Acts 20:7, 9), or doing that which is in itself sinful (Ez. 23:38), or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about worldly employments or recreations (Jer 17:24-27; Is. 58:13).
Q. 67. What are the reasons annexed to the Fourth Commandment?
A. The reasons annexed to the Fourth Commandment are God's allowing us six days of the week for our own lawful employments (Ex. 20:9), His challenging a special propriety in a seventh, His own example and His blessing the Sabbath day (Ex. 20:11).
Q. 68. What is the Fifth Commandment?
A. The Fifth Commandment is: Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you (Ex. 20:12).
Q. 69. What is required in the Fifth Commandment?
A. The Fifth Commandment requires the preserving of the honor, and performing the duties belonging to, everyone in their various places and relations as superiors (Eph. 5:21), inferiors (1 Pet. 2:17), or equals (Rom. 12:10).
Q. 70. What is forbidden in the Fifth Commandment?
A. The Fifth Commandment forbids the neglect of, or doing anything against, the honor and duty which belongs to everyone in their various places and relations (Mt. 15:4-6; Ez. 34:24; Rom. 13:8).
Q. 71. What is the reason annexed to the Fifth Commandment?
A. The reason annexed to the Fifth Commandment is a promise of long life and prosperity (as far as it shall serve for God's glory and their own good) to all such as keep this Commandment (Deut. 5:16; Eph. 6:2, 3).
Q. 72. What is the Sixth Commandment?
A. The Sixth Commandment is: You shall not kill (Ex. 20:13).
Q. 73. What is required in the Sixth Commandment?
A. The Sixth Commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life (Eph. 5:28, 29) and the life of others (1 Kings 18:4).
Q. 74. What is forbidden in the Sixth Commandment?
A. The Sixth Commandment absolutely forbids the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatsoever tends thereunto (Acts 26:28; Gen. 9:9).
Q. 75. What is the Seventh Commandment?
A. The Seventh Commandment is: You shall not commit adultery (Ex. 20:14).
Q. 76. What is required in the Seventh Commandment?
A. The Seventh Commandment requires the preservation of our own and our neighbor's chastity, in heart, speech and behavior (1 Cor. 7:2, 3, 5, 34, 36; Col. 4:6; 1 Pet. 3:2).
Q. 77. What is forbidden in the Seventh Commandment?
A. The Seventh Commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions (Mt. 15:19, 5:28; Eph. 5:3, 4).
Q. 78. What is the Eighth Commandment?
A. The Eighth Commandment is: You shall not steal (Ex. 20:15).
Q. 79. What is required in the Eighth Commandment?
A. The Eighth Commandment requires the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward state of ourselves and others (Gen. 30:30; 1 Tim. 5:8; Lev. 25:35; Deut. 22:1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Ex. 23:4, 5; Gen. 47:14, 20).
Q. 80. What is forbidden in the Eighth Commandment?
A. The Eighth Commandment forbids whatsoever does or may unjustly hinder our own (1 Tim. 5:8; Pr. 28:19) or our neighbor's wealth or outward state (Pr. 21:17, and 23:20, 21; Eph. 4:28).
Q. 81. What is the Ninth Commandment?
A. The Ninth Commandment is: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Ex. 20:16).
Q. 82. What is required in the Ninth Commandment?
A. The Ninth Commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man (Zech. 8:16), and of our own neighbor's good name (Jn. 5:12), especially in bearing truthful witness (Pr. 14:5, 25).
Q. 83. What is forbidden in the Ninth Commandment?
A. The Ninth Commandment forbids whatsoever is prejudicial to the truth or injurious to our own or our neighbor's good name (1 Sam. 17:28; Lev. 19:16; Ps. 15:2, 3).
Q. 84. What is the Tenth Commandment?
A. The Tenth Commandment is: You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his servants, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor (Ex. 20:17).
Q. 85. What is required in the Tenth Commandment?
A. The Tenth Commandment requires full contentment with our own condition (Heb. 13:5; 1 Tim. 6:6), with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor, and all that is his (Job 31:29; Rom. 7:15; 1 Tim. 1:5; 1 Cor. 8:4, 7).
Q. 86. What is forbidden in the Tenth Commandment?
A. The Tenth Commandment forbids all discontentment with our own state (1 Kings 21:4; Esther 5:13; 1 Cor. 10:10), envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor (Gal. 5:26; James 3:14, 16), and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his (Rom. 7:7, 8, 13:9; Deut. 5:21).
Q. 87. Is any man able perfectly to keep the Commandments of God?
A. No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the Commandments of God (Eccl. 7:20; 1 John 1:8, 10; Gal. 5:17), but does daily break them in thought, word or deed (Gn 4:5, and 7:21; Rom. 3:9-21; James 3:2-13).
Q. 88. Are all transgressions of the Law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others (Ez. 8:6, 13, 15; 1 Jn. 5:16; Ps. 78:17, 32, 56).
Q. 89. What does every sin deserve?
A. Every sin deserves God's wrath, and curse, both in this life and that which is to come (Eph. 5:6; Gal. 3:10; Lam. 3:39; Mt. 25:41; Rom. 6:23).
Q. 90. What does God require of us that we may escape His wrath, and curse, due to us for sin?
A. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requires from us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life (Acts 20:21), with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption (Pr. 2:1-6, 8:33ff.; Isa. 55:2, 3).
Q. 91. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace (Heb. 10:39), whereby we receive, and rest upon Him alone for, salvation; as He is offered to us in the Gospel (Jn. 1:12; Is. 26:3, 4; Ph. 3:9; Gal. 2:16).
Q. 92. What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace (Acts 11:28), whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin (Acts 2:37, 38), and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ (Joel 2:12; Jer 3:22), does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God (Jer 31:18, 19; Ez. 36:3 1), with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience (2 Cor. 7: 1 1; Is. 1: 16, 17).
Q. 93. What are the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption are His ordinances, especially the Word, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and Prayer; all which means are made effectual to the elect for salvation (Mt. 28:19, 20; Acts 2:42, 46, 47).
Q. 94. How is the Word made effectual to salvation?
A. The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching, of the Word an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation (Neh. 8:8; Acts 26:18; Ps. 19:8; Acts 20:32; Rom. 1: 15, 16, 10: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17; 15:4; 1 Cor. 14:24, 25; 1 Tim. 3:15, 16, 17).
Q. 95. How is the Word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation?
A. That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend thereunto with diligence (Pr. 8:34), preparation (1 Pet. 2:1, 2) and prayer (Ps. 119:18); receive it with faith and love (Heb. 4:2; 2 Thes. 2:10), lay it up in our hearts (Ps. 119:18), and practice it in our lives (Luke 8:15; James 1:25).
Q. 96. How do Baptism and the Lord's Supper become effectual means of salvation?
A. Baptism and the Lord's Supper become effectual means of salvation not for any virtue in them, or in him that administers them, but only by the blessing of Christ (1 Pet. 3:21; Mt. 3:11; 1 Cor. 3:6, 7) in the working of the Holy Spirit in those that by faith receive them (1 Cor. 12:3; Mt. 28:19).
Q. 97. What is Baptism?
A. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament instituted by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized a sign of his fellowship with Him, in His death, burial and resurrection; of his being engrafted into Him (Rom. 6:3, 4, 5; Col. 2:12; Gal. 3:27); of forgiveness of sins (Mk. 1:4; Acts 2:38, and 22:16); and of one's giving up of oneself unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3, 4).
Q. 98. To whom is Baptism to be administered?
A. Baptism is to be administered to all those who actually profess repentance towards God (Acts 2:38; Mt. 3:6), faith in and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to none other (Acts 8:12, 36, 37, 38; 10:47, 48).
Q. 99. Are the infants of such as are professing believers to be Baptized?
A. The infants of such as are professing believers are not to be Baptized because there is neither command or example in the holy Scriptures or certain consequence from them to Baptize such (Ex. 23:13; Pr. 30:6; Lk. 3:7, 8).
Q. 100. How is Baptism rightly administered?
A. Baptism is rightly administered by immersion, or dipping the whole body of the party into water, into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, according to Christ's institution, and the practice of the apostles (Mt. 3:16; Jn. 3:23; 4:1, 2; Mt. 28:19, 20; Acts 8:38; Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12)--not by sprinkling or pouring of water, or dipping some part of the body, after the traditions of men.
Q. 101. What is the duty of such who are rightly Baptized?
A. It is the duty of such who are rightly Baptized to give up themselves to some particular and orderly church of Jesus Christ, that they may walk in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blamelessly (Acts 2:41, 42; 5:13, 14; 9:26; 1 Pet. 2:5; Lk. 1:6).
Q. 102. What is the Lord's Supper?
A. The Lord's Supper is an Ordinance of the New Testament instituted by Jesus Christ; wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to His appointment, His death is shown forth and the worthy receivers are made partakers of His body and blood, with all His benefits, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace, not after a corporal [bodily] and carnal [fleshly] manner [a denial of transubstantiation], but by faith (Mt. 26:26, 27, 28; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; 10:16).
Q. 103. Who are the proper subjects of this Ordinance?
A. They who have been Baptized upon a personal profession of their faith in Jesus Christ and repentance from dead works (Acts 2:41, 42).
Q. 104. What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper?
A. It is required of them that would worthily partake of the Lord's Supper that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord's body (1 Cor. 11:28, 29), of their faith to feed upon Him (2 Cor. 13:5), of their repentance (1 Cor. 11:31), love (1 Cor. 10:16, 17), and new obedience (1 Cor. 5:7, 8), lest coming unworthily they eat and drink judgment to themselves (1 Cor. 11:28, 29).
Q. 105. What is Prayer?
A. Prayer is an offering up our desires to God (Ps. 62:8), by the assistance of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26), for things agreeable to His will (1 Jn. 5:14; Rom. 8:27), in the Name of Christ (Jn. 16:23), believing (Mt. 21:22; James 1:6), with confession of our sins (Ps. 32:5, 6; Dan. 9:4), and thankful acknowledgments of His mercies (Ph. 4:6).
Q. 106. What rule has God given for our direction in Prayer?
A. The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in Prayer (1 Jn. 5:14); but the special rule of direction is that Prayer which Christ taught His disciples, commonly called the Lord's Prayer (Mt. 6:9-13; with Lk. 11:2-4).
Q. 107. What does the Preface of the Lord's Prayer teach us?
A. The Preface of the Lord's Prayer, which is "Our Father which art in Heaven" (Mt. 6:9), teaches us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a Father, able and ready to help us (Rom. 8:15; Lk. 11:13; Is. 24:8); and that we should Pray with and for others (Acts 12:5; 1 Tim. 2:1, 2).
Q. 108. What do we Pray for in the First Petition?
A. In the First Petition, which is, "Hallowed be Thy Name" (Mt. 6:9), we Pray that God would enable us and others to glorify Him in all that whereby He makes Himself known (Ps. 67:2, 3), and that He would dispose all things to His own glory (Ps. 83 throughout; Rom. 11:36).
Q. 109. What do we Pray for in the Second Petition?
A. In the Second Petition, which is, "Thy Kingdom come" (Mt. 6:10), we pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed (Ps. 68:1, 18), and that the Kingdom of Grace may be advanced (Rev. 12:10, 11), ourselves and others brought into it and kept in it (2 Thes. 3: 1; Rom. 10: 1; Jn. 17:19, 20), and that His Kingdom of Glory may be hastened (Rev. 22:10).
Q. 110. What do we Pray for in the Third Petition?
A. In the Third Petition, which is, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" (Mt. 6:10), we pray that God by His grace would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things (Ps. 67: throughout; Ps. 119:36; 2 Sam. 15:25; Job 1:21), as the angels do in Heaven (Ps. 103:20, 21).
Q. 111. What do we Pray for in the Fourth Petition?
A. In the Fourth Petition, which is, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Mt. 6:11), we pray that, of God's free gift, we may receive a competent portion of the good things of this life and enjoy His blessing with them (Pr. 30:8; Gn 28:20; 1 Tim. 4:4, 5).
Q. 112. What do we Pray for in the Fifth Petition?
A. In the Fifth Petition, which is, "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" (Mt. 6:12), we pray that God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all our sins (Ps. 51:1, 2, 7, 9; Dan. 9:17-19); which we are rather encouraged to ask, because by His grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others (Lk. 11:4; Mt. 18:35).
Q. 113. What do we Pray for in the Sixth Petition?
A. In the Sixth Petition, which is, "And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil" (Mt. 6:13), we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin (Mt. 26:31) or support and deliver us when we are tempted (2 Cor. 12:8).
Q. 114. What does the Conclusion of the Lord's Prayer teach?
A. The Conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, which is, "For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, forever. Amen" (Mt. 6:13), teaches us to take our encouragement in Prayer from God only (Dan. 9:4, 7-9, 16-19), and in our Prayers to praise Him, ascribing Kingdom, Power, and Glory to Him (1 Chron. 29:10-13); and in testimony of our desire and assurance to be heard, we say, "Amen." (1 Cor. 4:16; Rev. 11:20; 22:20, 21).