Catechism

Raising up doctrinally mature believers is a critical aspect of any ministry. As you teach the Bible to your children, an accompanying catechism meets the need.

1. Who made you?
God.

2. What else did God make?
God made all things.

3. Why did God make you and all things?
For His own glory.

4. How can you glorify God?
By loving Him and doing what He commands.

5. Why are you to glorify God?
Because He made me and takes care of me.

6. Are there more gods than one?
No, there is only one true God.

7. In how many Persons is this one true God?
Three.

8. Name these three Persons.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

9. What is God?
God is a Spirit and has no body as we do.

10. Where is God?
God is everywhere.

11. Can you see God?
No, I cannot see God, but He can always see me.

12. Does God know all things?
Yes, nothing can be hidden from God.

13. Can God do all things?
Yes, God can do all His holy will.

14. Where do you learn how to love and obey God?
In the Bible alone.

15. Who wrote the Bible?
Chosen men who wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

16. Who were the first people?
Adam and Eve.

17. How did God make the first people?
God made Adam’s body out of the ground and Eve’s body out of a rib from Adam.

18. What did God give Adam and Eve besides bodies?
He gave them spirits that will last forever.

19. Do you have a spirit as well as a body?
Yes, and my spirit is going to last forever.

20. How do you know your spirit will last forever?
Because the Bible tells me so.

21. In what condition did God make Adam and Eve?
He made them holy and happy.

22. What is a sacred covenant?
A relationship that God sets up with us and guarantees by His word.

23. What covenant did God make with Adam?
The covenant of life.

24. What did God require Adam to do in the covenant of life?
To obey Him perfectly.

25. What did God promise in the covenant of life?
To reward Adam with life if he obeyed Him.

26. What did God threaten in the covenant of life?
To punish Adam with death if he disobeyed Him.

27. Did Adam keep the covenant of life?
No. He sinned against God.

28. What is sin?
Any thought, word, or deed that breaks God’s law by omission or commission.

29. What is a sin of omission?
Not being or doing what God requires.

30. What is a sin of commission?
Doing what God forbids.

31. What does every sin deserve?
The wrath and curse of God.

32. What was the sin of our first parents?
Eating the forbidden fruit.

33. Who tempted them to this sin?
Satan tempted Eve first, and then he used her to tempt Adam.

34. How did Adam and Eve change when they sinned?
Instead of being holy and happy, they became sinful and miserable.

35. Did Adam act for himself alone in the covenant of life?
No, he represented the whole human race.

36. What did Adam’s sin do to you?
It made me guilty and sinful.

37. How sinful are you by nature?
I am corrupt in every part of my being.

38. Can you go to heaven with this sinful nature?
No, my heart must be changed before I can be fit for heaven.

39. What is the changing of your heart called?
The new birth, or regeneration.

40. Who is able to change your heart?
The Holy Spirit alone.

41. Can you be saved through the covenant of life?
No, because I broke it and am condemned by it.

42. How did you break the covenant of life?
Adam represented me, and so I fell with him in his first sin.

43. How, then, can you be saved?
By the Lord Jesus Christ in the covenant of grace.

44. Who was represented by Jesus in the covenant of grace?
His elect people.

45. How did Jesus fulfill the covenant of grace?
He kept the whole law for His people, and then was punished for all of their sins.

46. Did Jesus ever sin?
No, He lived a sinless life.

47. How could the Son of God suffer?
The Son of God became a man so that He could obey and suffer.

48. For whom did Christ obey and suffer?
For all who were given to Him by the Father.

49. What kind of life did Christ live on earth?
A life of poverty and suffering.

50. What kind of death did Jesus die?
The painful and shameful death of the cross.

51. What is meant by the atonement?
Christ satisfied God's justice by His suffering and death in the place of sinners.

52. What did God the Father guarantee in the covenant of grace?
To justify and sanctify all those for whom Christ died.

53. How can God justify you?
By forgiving all my sins and declaring me to be righteous.

54. How can God sanctify you?
By making me holy in heart and conduct.

55. What must you do to be saved?
I must repent of my sins and believe in Christ.

56. How do you repent of your sins?
By being sorry enough for my sin to hate and forsake it.

57. Why must you hate and forsake your sin?
Because it displeases God.

58. What does it mean to believe in Christ?
To trust in Him alone for my salvation.

59. Can you repent and believe by your own power?
No, I cannot do anything good unless the Holy Spirit enables me.

60. How can you get the help of the Holy Spirit?
God will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

61. How long ago did Christ die?
About two thousand years.

62. How were sinners saved before Christ came?
By believing in the Messiah to come.

63. How did they show their faith?
By offering the sacrifices God required.

64. What did these sacrifices represent?
Christ, the Lamb of God, who would come to die for sinners.

65. How many offices did the Lord Jesus fulfill as the promised Messiah?
He fulfilled three offices.

66. What are they?
The offices of prophet, priest, and king.

67. How is Christ your prophet?
He teaches me the will of God.

68. How is Christ your priest?
He died for my sins and prays for me.

69. How is Christ your king?
He rules over me and defends me.

70. Why do you need Christ as your prophet?
Because I am ignorant by nature.

71. Why do you need Christ as your priest?
Because I am guilty of breaking God's law.

72. Why do you need Christ as your king?
Because I am weak and helpless.

73. How many commandments did God write down on the stone tablets?
Ten commandments.

74. What do the first four commandments teach you?
What it means to love and serve God.

75. What do the last six commandments teach you?
What it means to love and serve my neighbor.

76. What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?
To love God with all my heart, and my neighbor as myself.

77. Who is your neighbor?
Everybody is my neighbor.

78. Is God pleased if you love and obey Him?
Yes, He loves those who love Him.

79. Is God displeased with those who refuse to love and obey Him?
Yes, God is angry with the wicked every day.

80. What is the first commandment?
"You shall have no other gods before Me." Exodus 20:3 (NASB).

81. What does the first commandment teach you?
To worship the true God and Him alone.

82. What is the second commandment?
“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth; you shall not worship them or serve them.” Exodus 20:4 (NASB).

83. What does the second commandment teach you?
To worship God in a proper manner and to avoid idolatry.

84. What is the third commandment?
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” Exodus 20:7 (NASB).

85. What does the third commandment teach you?
To treat God's name, word and works with reverence.

86. What is the fourth commandment?
“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.” Exodus 20:8‐10 (NASB).

87. What does the fourth commandment teach you?
To find rest in Christ, who is Lord of the Sabbath.

88. What is the fifth commandment?
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” Exodus 20:12 (NASB).

89. What does the fifth commandment teach you?
To love and obey my parents and all others that God appoints to teach and govern me.

90. What is the sixth commandment?
“You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13 (NASB).

91. What does the sixth commandment teach you?
Not to take anyone's life unjustly.

92. What is the seventh commandment?
“You shall not commit adultery.” Exodus 20:14 (NASB).

93. What does the seventh commandment teach you?
To be pure in heart, language and conduct.

94. What is the eighth commandment?
“You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15 (NASB).

95. What does the eighth commandment teach you?
Not to take anything owned by another person.

96. What is the ninth commandment?
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Exodus 20:16 (NASB).

97. What does the ninth commandment teach you?
To tell the truth at all times.

98. What is the tenth commandment?
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Exodus 20:17 (NASB).

99. What does the tenth commandment teach you?
To be content with whatever God chooses to give me.

100. Can you keep the Ten Commandments perfectly?
No, since the fall of Adam, the only one who has been able to do this is Jesus.

101. Of what use are the Ten Commandments to you?
They teach me what is pleasing to God and how much I need a Savior.

102. What is prayer?
Prayer is asking God for the things He has promised in the Bible and giving thanks for what He has given.

103. In whose name are we to pray?
In the name of Christ only.

104. What did Christ give us to teach us about prayer?
The Lord's Prayer.

105. What is the Lord's Prayer?
“Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:9-13 (NASB).

106. How many petitions are there in the Lord's Prayer?
Six.

107. What is the first petition?
“Hallowed be Your name.”

108. What do we pray for in the first petition?
That God’s name may be honored by us and all people.

109. What is the second petition?
“Your kingdom come.”

110. What do we pray for in the second petition?
That the Gospel may be preached in all the world and be believed and obeyed by us and all people.

111. What is the third petition?
“Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

112. What do we pray for in the third petition?
That people on earth may serve God as the angels do in heaven.

113. What is the fourth petition?
“Give us this day our daily bread.”

114. What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
That God would give us all things needful for our bodies and souls.

115. What is the fifth petition?
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

116. What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
That God would pardon our sins for Christ’s sake and enable us to forgive those who have injured us.

117. What is the sixth petition?
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

118. What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
That God would keep us from sin.

119. How many ordinances are there?
Two.

120. What are they called?
Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

121. Who appointed these ordinances?
The Lord Jesus Christ.

122. Why did Christ appoint these ordinances?
To mark us off from the world and to give us comfort and strength.

123. What sign is used in baptism?
Immersion in water.

124. What does this immersion in water represent?
Union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.

125. In whose name are we baptized?
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

126. Who are to be baptized?
Only those who repent of their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

127. Should babies be baptized?
No, because the Bible neither commands it nor describes it.

128. What sign is used in the Lord's Supper?
Eating bread and drinking juice in remembrance of the suffering and death of Jesus.

129. What does the bread represent?
Christ's body sacrificed for our sins.

130. What does the juice represent?
Christ's blood shed for our sins.

131. Who may rightly take the Lord's Supper?
Only those who repent of their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

132. Did Christ remain in the tomb after He was buried?
No. He came back out of His tomb on the third day.

133. Where is Jesus now?
At the right hand of the Father, praying for us.

134. Will the Lord Jesus come again?
Yes, He will return to judge the world on the last day.

135. What will happen to us when we die?
Our bodies will return to the dust, while our spirits return to God.

136. Will the bodies of all the dead be raised again?
Yes, some will be raised to everlasting life and others to everlasting death.

137. What will God do to unbelievers on the last day?
He will cast them into the lake of fire, along with Satan and his angels.

138. What will the lake of fire be like?
It will be an awful place where the lost will suffer for their sins forever.

139. What will God do for believers on the last day?
He will give them a home in the new heaven and the new earth.

140. What will the new heaven and the new earth be like?
It will be a glorious and happy place where the saved will be with Jesus forever.

This catechism is a modified version of the 1840 Joseph P. Engles' Catechism.

Catechism divisions taken from Susan Hunt and Richie Hunt, Big Truths for Little Kids (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1999).

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission. www.Lockman.org