Grace Thoughts
Why Learn a Christian Catechism? (Part Seven)
Welcome to our special series about Christian catechisms! The word “catechism” comes from the Greek word κατηχέω (oral instruction, teaching). If this is the first time you’ve read this series about learning a Christian catechism, we invite you to read the Introduction here.
We have looked previously at catechisms of the Early Church and from the early Reformation period (16th century). We move now to the 17th century and Keach’s Catechism.
Keach’s Catechism
This catechism is named after the primary author, Benjamin Keach. It is also known as the 1677 Baptist Catechism or 1693 Baptist Catechism. British Baptists published the catechism in 1693.
Keach’s Catechism has some similarities to the Heidelberg and Westminster catechisms from the previous century. It has 118 questions and answers. Here are some examples for you to consider.
Q. 1. Who is the first and best of beings?
A. God is the first and best of beings.
(Isaiah 44:6; Psalm 8:1; 97:9)
Q. 2. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
(1 Cor. 10:31; Psalm 73:25-26)
Q. 3. How do we know there is a God?
A. The light of nature in man, and the works of God, plainly declare that there is a God; but His Word and Spirit only, do effectually reveal Him unto us for our salvation.
(Rom. 1:18-20; Psalm 19:1-2; 2 Tim. 3:15; 1 Cor. 1:21-24; 1 Cor. 2:9-10)
Q. 4. What is the Word of God?
A. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
(2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Isaiah 8:20)
Q. 5. How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?
A. The Bible evidences itself to be God’s Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, its power to convert sinners and to edify saints; but the Spirit of God only, bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in our hearts, is able fully to persuade us that the Bible is the Word of God.
(1 Cor. 2:6-7, 13; Ps. 119:18, 129; Acts 10:43, 26:22; Acts 18:28; Heb 4:12; Ps. 19:7-9; Rom. 15:4; John 16:13-4; 1 John 2:20-27; 2 Cor. 3:14-17)
Q. 17. 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; Eccles. 7:29; Rom. 5:12)
Q. 18. What is sin?
A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
(1 John 3:4; Rom. 5:13)
Q. 19. 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, 13)
Q. 20. 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.
(1 Cor. 15:21-22; Rom. 5:12, 18-19)
Q. 21. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
A. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.
(Ps. 51:5; Rom. 5:18-19: Is. 64:6)
Q. 25. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever.
(Gal. 3:13; 1 Tim. 2:5; John 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 9:5; Col. 2:9)
Q. 26. 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 and a reasonable soul; being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her, yet without sin.
(Heb. 2:14; Matt. 26:38; Luke 2:52; John 12:27; Luke 1:31-35; Heb. 4:15; 7:26)
Q. 27. What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?
A. Christ, as our Redeemer, executes the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in His estate of humiliation and exaltation.
(Acts 3:22; Heb. 5:6; Ps. 2:6)
Q. 31. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?
A. Christ’s humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross, in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.
(Luke 2:7; Gal. 4:4; Is. 53:3; Luke 22:44; Matt. 27:46; Phil. 2:8; Matt. 12:40; Mark 15:45-46)
Q. 32. Wherein consists Christ’s exaltation?
A. Christ’s exaltation consists in His rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.
(1 Cor. 15:4; Acts 1:11; Mark 16:19; Acts 17:31)
Q. 37. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.
(Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 5:19; Phil. 3:9; Gal. 2:16)
Q. 38. What is adoption?
A. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.
(1 John 3:1; John 1:12; Rom. 8:16-17)
Q. 39. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is a work of God’s free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.
(2 Thess. 2:13; Eph. 4:23-24; Rom. 6:11)
Q. 40. 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, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.
(Rom. 5:1-5; 14:17; Prov. 4:18; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 John 5:13)
Q. 41. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
A. The souls of believers are at death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory, and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.
(Heb. 12:23; Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:8; Luke 23:43; 1 Thess 4:14; Is. 57:2; Job 19:26)
Q. 42. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the Resurrection?
A. At the resurrection, believers become raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity.
(Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Cor. 15:42-43; Matt. 10:32; 1 John 3:2; 1 Thess. 4:17)
Q. 46. 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; 5:13-14)
Q. 47. 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. 48. 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.
(Matt. 22:36-40; Mark 12:28-33)
Q. 52. 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, and to worship and glorify Him accordingly.
(Joshua 24:15; 1 Chron. 28:9; Deut. 26:17; Ps. 29:2; Matt. 4:10)
Q. 53. What is forbidden in the first commandment?
A. The first commandment forbids the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the true God, as God and our God; and the giving that worship and glory to any other, which is due unto Him alone.
(Joshua 24:27; Rom. 1:20-21; Ps. 14:1; Rom. 1:25)
Q. 91. What does every sin deserve?
A. Every sin deserves God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and in that which is to come.
(Eph.5:6; Gal. 3:10; Prov. 3:33; Ps. 11:6; Rev. 21:8)
Q. 92. 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 of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption.
(Acts 20:21; Acts 16:30-31; 17:30)
Q. 93. What is faith in Jesus Christ?
A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation, as He is offered to us in the Gospel.
(Heb. 10:39; John 1:12; Phil. 3-9; Gal. 2:15-16)
Q. 94. What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.
(Acts 2:37; Joel 2:13; Jer. 31:18-19: 2 Cor. 7:10-11; Rom. 6:18)
Q. 95. What are the outward and ordinary 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 are made effectual to the elect for salvation.
(Rom. 10:17; James 1:18; 1 Cor. 3:5; Acts 14:1; 2:41-42)
Q. 96. 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.
(Ps. 119:11-18; 1 Thess. 1:6; 1 Peter 2:1-2; Rom. 1:16; Ps. 19:7)
Q. 109. What is Prayer?
A. Prayer is an offering up of our desires to God, for things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies.
(1 John 5:14; 1 John 1:9; Phil. 4:6; Ps. 10:17; 145:19; John 14:13-14)
Q. 110. What rule has God given for our direction in prayer?
A. The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in prayer, but the special rule of direction is that prayer, which Christ taught His disciples, commonly called the Lord’s Prayer.
(Matt. 6:9-13; 2 Tim. 3:16-17)
Q. 111. 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,” teaches us to draw near to God, with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us, and that we should pray with and for others.
(Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:13; Rom. 8:15; Acts 12:5; 1 Tim. 2:1-3)
Q. 115. What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
A. In the fourth petition, which is, “Give us this day our daily bread,” 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.
(Matt. 6:11; Prov. 30:8-9; 1 Tim. 6:6-8; 4:4,5)
Q. 116. 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,” we pray that God, for Christ’s sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are the rather encouraged to ask, because by His grace we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.
(Matt. 6:12; Ps. 51:1-3, 7; Mark 11:25; Matt. 18:35)
Q. 117. 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,” we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.
(Matt. 6:13; 26:41; Ps. 19:13; 1 Cor. 10:13; John 17:15)
Q. 118. What does the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer teach us?
A. The conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer, which is, “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen,” teaches us to take our encouragement in prayer from God only, and in our prayers to praise Him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to Him; and in testimony of our desire, and assurance to be heard, we say, AMEN.
(Matt. 6:13; Dan. 9:18-19; 1 Chron. 29:11-13; 1 Cor. 14:16; Phil. 4:6; Rev. 22:20)
You can read the entire Keach’s (Baptist) Catechism here and here.
Next Time
We’ll look at A Puritan Catechism in the next part of our series.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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