Benjamin Keach, a pastor who was involved in the development of The 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, is often attributed with writing this catechism, which is also commonly known as “Keach's Catechism.” It is likely that it was actually compiled by William Collins, another prominent pastor involved in drafting the Confession. The catechism was officially published by the British Baptists in 1693. There is a later revision of the catechism which was adopted by the Philadelphia Baptist Association in 1742. This is the original 1693 version in modern English.
1.
QUESTION: Who is the first and best of beings?
ANSWER: God is the first and best of beings.
Isaiah 44:6; Psalm 8:1; 97:9
2.
QUESTION: Ought everyone to believe there is a God?
ANSWER: Everyone ought to believe there is a God; and it is their great sin and folly who do not.
Hebrews 11:6; Psalm 14:1
3.
QUESTION: How do we know there is a God?
ANSWER: The light of nature in man and the works of God plainly declare there is a God; but His Word and Spirit only do it fully and effectually for the salvation of sinners.
Romans 1:19-20; Psalm 19:1-3; Acts 17:24; 1 Corinthians 2:10; 2 Timothy 3:15-16
4.
QUESTION: What is the Word of God?
ANSWER: The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of God, the only certain rule of faith and obedience.
2 Timothy 3:16,17; Ephesians 2:20
5.
QUESTION: May all men make use of the Scriptures?
ANSWER: All men are not only permitted, but commanded and exhorted, to read, hear, and understand the Scriptures.
John 5:38; 17:17-18; Revelation 1:3; Acts 8:30
6.
QUESTION: What things are chiefly contained in the Holy Scriptures?
ANSWER: The Holy Scriptures chiefly contain what man ought to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
2 Timothy 1:13; 3:15-16
7.
QUESTION: What is God?
ANSWER: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal; and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
John 4:24; Job 11:7-9; Psalm 110:2; James 1:17; Exodus 3:14; Psalm 147:5; Revelation 4:8; Revelation 15:4; Exodus 34:6
8.
QUESTION: Are there more gods than one?
ANSWER: There is but one only, the living and true God.
Deuteronomy 6:4; Jeremiah 10:10
9.
QUESTION: How many persons are there in the Godhead?
ANSWER: 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; Matthew 28:19
10.
QUESTION: What are the decrees of God?
ANSWER: The decrees of God are His eternal purpose according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.
Ephesians 1:4, 11; Romans 9:22-23; Isaiah 46:10; Lamentations 3:37
11.
QUESTION: How does God execute His decrees?
ANSWER: God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence.
Genesis 1:1; Revelation 4:11; Matthew 6:26; Acts 14:17
12.
QUESTION: What is the work of creation?
ANSWER: The work of creation is God's making all things of nothing, by the Word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.
Genesis 1:1; Hebrews 11:3
13.
QUESTION: How did God create man?
ANSWER: God created man male and female, after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.
Genesis 1:27; Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24; Genesis 1:28
14.
QUESTION: What are God's works of providence?
ANSWER: God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all His creatures, and all their actions.
Psalm 145:17; Isaiah 28:29; Psalm 104:24; Hebrews 1:3; Psalm 103:19; Matthew 10:29-31
15.
QUESTION: What special act of providence did God exercise towards man, in the estate wherein he was created?
ANSWER: When God had created man, He entered into a covenant of works 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.
Genesis 2:16,17; Galatians 3:12
16.
QUESTION: Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?
ANSWER: Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.
Genesis 3:6-8, 13; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Romans 5:12
17.
QUESTION: What is sin?
ANSWER: Sin is any lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God.
1 John 3:4
18.
QUESTION: What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?
ANSWER: The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created was their eating the forbidden fruit.
Genesis 3:6,12,16-17
19.
QUESTION: Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?
ANSWER: 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 Corinthians 15:21,22; Romans 5:12, Genesis 2:16-17
20.
QUESTION: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
ANSWER: The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.
Romans 5:12
21.
QUESTION: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate to which man fell?
ANSWER: The sinfulness of that estate to which man fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.
Romans 5:12 to the end; Ephesians 2:1-3; James 1:14-15; Matthew 15:19
22.
QUESTION: What is the misery of that estate to which man fell?
ANSWER: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.
Genesis 3:8, 10, 24; Ephesians 2:2-3; Galatians 3:10; Lamentations 3:39; Romans 6:23; Matthew 25:41, 46
23.
QUESTION: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
ANSWER: God-having out of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life-did enter into a Covenant of Grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.
Ephesians 1:4-5; Romans 3:20-22; Galatians 3:21-22
24.
QUESTION: Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?
ANSWER: 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.
1 Timothy 2:5-6; John 1:14; Galatians 4:4; Romans 9:5; Luke 1:35; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 7:24-25
25.
QUESTION: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
ANSWER: 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.
Hebrews 2:14, 17; 10:5; Matthew 26:38; Luke 1:27, 31, 34-35, 42; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 4:15; 7:26
26.
QUESTION: What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?
ANSWER: 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; Hebrews 12:25; 2 Corinthians 13:3; Hebrews 5:5-7; 7:25; Psalm 2:6; Isaiah 9:6-7; Matthew 21:5; Psalm 2:8-11
27.
QUESTION: How does Christ execute the office of a prophet?
ANSWER: Christ executes the office of a prophet in revealing to us, by this Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.
John 1:18; 1 Peter 1:10-12; John 15:15; 20:31
28.
QUESTION: How does Christ execute the office of a priest?
ANSWER: Christ executes the office of priest in His once offering up Himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us.
Hebrews 9:14, 28; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 7:24-25
29.
QUESTION: How does Christ execute the office of a king?
ANSWER: Christ executes the office of a king, in subduing us to Himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all His and our enemies.
Acts 15:14-16; Isaiah 33:22; Isaiah 32:1-2; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Psalm 110
30.
QUESTION: Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?
ANSWER: 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; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 12:2-3; Isaiah 53:2-3; Luke 22:44; Matthew 27:46; Philippians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Acts 2:24-27, 31; Matthew 12:40
31.
QUESTION: Wherein consists Christ's exaltation?
ANSWER: 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 Corinthians 15:4; Mark 16:19; Ephesians 1:20; Acts 1:11; 17:31
32.
QUESTION: How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
ANSWER: We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit.
John 1:11-12; Titus 3:5-6
33.
QUESTION: How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
ANSWER: The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.
Ephesians 1:13-14; John 6:37, 39; Ephesians 2:8; Ephesians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 1:9
34.
QUESTION: What is effectual calling?
ANSWER: Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit whereby-convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills-He does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel.
2 Timothy 1:9; 2Th 2:13-14; Acts 2:37; Acts 26:18; Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 6:44-45; Philippians 2:13
35.
QUESTION: What benefits do they that are effectually called, partake of in this life?
ANSWER: They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.
Romans 8:30; Ephesians 1:5; 1 Corinthians 1:30
36.
QUESTION: What is justification?
ANSWER: 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.
Romans 3:24-25; 4:6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:19, 21; Romans 5:17-19; Galatians 2:16; Philippians 3:9
37.
QUESTION: What is adoption?
ANSWER: 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; Romans 8:14-17
38.
QUESTION: What is sanctification?
ANSWER: Sanctification is the 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 to sin and live to righteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2:13; Ephesians 4:23-24; Romans 6:4, 6; 8:1
39.
QUESTION: What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
ANSWER: 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 to the end.
Romans 5:1-2, 5; Romans 5:5, 17; Proverbs 4:18; 1 John 5:13; 1 Peter 1:5
40.
QUESTION: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
ANSWER: The souls of believers are at their 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.
Hebrews 12:23; 2 Corinthians 5:1, 6, 8; Philippians 1:23; Luke 23:43; 1 Thessalonians 4:14; Isaiah 57:2; Job 19:26-27
41.
QUESTION: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
ANSWER: At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the Day of Judgment, and made perfectly blessed both in soul and body, in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity.
1 Corinthians 15:43; Matthew 25:23; 10:32; 1 John 3:2; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
32.
QUESTION: How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
ANSWER: We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit.
John 1:11-12; Titus 3:5-6
33.
QUESTION: How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
ANSWER: The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.
Ephesians 1:13-14; John 6:37, 39; Ephesians 2:8; Ephesians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 1:9
44.
QUESTION: What is the duty which God requires of man?
ANSWER: The duty which God requires of man is obedience to His revealed will.
Micah 6:8; 1 Samuel 15:22
45.
QUESTION: What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?
ANSWER: The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience was the moral law.
Romans 2:14,15; 10:5
46.
QUESTION: Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?
ANSWER: The moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments.
Deuteronomy 10:4; Matthew 19:17
47.
QUESTION: What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?
ANSWER: 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.
Matthew 22:37-40
48.
QUESTION: What is the preface to the Ten Commandments?
ANSWER: The preface to the Ten Commandments is, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery" (Exodus 20:2).
49.
QUESTION: What does the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us?
ANSWER: 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 Peter 1:15-19
50.
QUESTION: Which is the first commandment?
ANSWER: The first commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3).
51.
QUESTION: What is required in the first commandment?
ANSWER: The first commandment requires us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and to worship and glorify Him accordingly.
1 Chronicles 28:9; Deuteronomy 26:17; Matthew 4:10; Psalm 29:2
52.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the first commandment?
ANSWER: The first commandment forbids the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying, the true God as God and our God, and the giving of that worship and glory to any other which is due to Him alone.
Psalm 14:1; Romans 1:21; Psalm 81:10-11; Romans 1:25-26
53.
QUESTION: What are we especially taught by these words, "before me," in the first commandment?
ANSWER: 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.
Exodus 8:5 to the end
54.
QUESTION: Which is the second commandment?
ANSWER: The second commandment is, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:4-6).
55.
QUESTION: What is required in the second commandment?
ANSWER: 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.
Deuteronomy 32:46; Matthew 23:20; Acts 2:42
56.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the second commandment?
ANSWER: The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His Word.
Deuteronomy 4:15-19; Exodus 32:5, 8; Deuteronomy 7:31-32
57.
QUESTION: What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment?
ANSWER: The reasons annexed to the second commandment are God's sovereignty over us, His propriety in us, and the zeal He has to His own worship.
Psalm 45:2-3, 6; Psalm 45:11; Exodus 34:13-14
58.
QUESTION: Which is the third commandment?
ANSWER: The third commandment is, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain" (Exodus 20:7).
59.
QUESTION: What is required in the third commandment?
ANSWER: The third commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, Word and works.
Matthew 6:9; Deuteronomy 28:58; Psalm 68:4; Revelation 15:3-4; Malachi 1:11, 14; Psalm 136: 1-2; Job 36:24
60.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the third commandment?
ANSWER: The third commandment forbids all profaning and abusing of anything whereby God makes Himself known.
Malachi 1:6,7, 12; 2:2; 3:14
61.
QUESTION: What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?
ANSWER: The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that howsoever the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape His righteous judgment.
1 Samuel 2:12, 17, 22, 29; 3:13; Deuteronomy 28:58-59
62.
QUESTION: Which is the fourth commandment?
ANSWER: The fourth commandment is, "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 to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" (Exodus 20:8-11).
Deuteronomy 10:4; Matthew 19:17
63.
QUESTION: What is required in the fourth commandment?
ANSWER: 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 to Himself.
Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-14
64.
QUESTION: Which day of the seven has God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?
ANSWER: Before the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath.
Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-14; Psalm 118:24; Matthew 28:1; Mark 2:27-28; John 20:19-20, 26; Revelation 1:10; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1, 30-36; John 20:1; Acts 1:3; 2:1-2; 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2
65.
QUESTION: How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?
ANSWER: The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.
Exodus 20:8, 10; Exodus 16:25-28; Nehemiah 13:15-22; Luke 4:16; Acts 20:7; Psalm 92 title; Isaiah 66:23; Matthew 12:1-13
66.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
ANSWER: The fourth commandment forbids the omission or careless performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary thoughts, words, or works about worldly employments or recreations.
Ezekiel 22:26; Amos 8:5; Malachi 1:13; Acts 20:7, 9; Ezekiel 23:38; Jeremiah 17:24-27; Isaiah 58:13
67.
QUESTION: What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?
ANSWER: The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment are God's allowing us six days of the week for our own lawful employments, His challenging a special propriety in a seventh, His own example, and His blessing the Sabbath day.
Exodus 20:9; Exodus 20:11
68.
QUESTION: Which is the fifth commandment?
ANSWER: The fifth commandment is, "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you" (Exodus 20:12).
69.
QUESTION: What is required in the fifth commandment?
ANSWER: The fifth commandment requires preserving the honor and performing the duties belonging to everyone in their several places and relations: as superiors, inferiors, or equals.
Ephesians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:17; Romans 12:10
70.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the fifth commandment?
ANSWER: The fifth commandment forbids the neglect of, or doing anything against, the honor and duty which belongs to everyone in their several places and relations.
Matthew 15:4-6; Ezekiel 34:24; Romans 13:8
71.
QUESTION: What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?
ANSWER: 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.
Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:2-3
72.
QUESTION: Which is the sixth commandment?
ANSWER: The sixth commandment is, "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13).
73.
QUESTION: What is required in the sixth commandment?
ANSWER: The sixth commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life and the life of others.
Ephesians 5:28-29; 1 Kings 18:4
74.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?
ANSWER: The sixth commandment forbids the taking away our own life, or the life of our neighbor unjustly, or whatsoever tends to this.
Acts 26:28; Genesis 9:9
75.
QUESTION: Which is the seventh commandment?
ANSWER: The seventh commandment is, "You shall not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14).
76.
QUESTION: What is required in the seventh commandment?
ANSWER: The seventh commandment requires the preservation of our own and our neighbors' chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior.
1 Corinthians 7:2-3, 5, 34, 36; Colossians 4:6; 1 Peter 3:2
77.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?
ANSWER: The seventh commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.
Matthew 15:19; 5:28; Ephesians. 5:3-4
78.
QUESTION: Which is the eighth commandment?
ANSWER: The eighth commandment is, "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15).
79.
QUESTION: What is required in the eighth commandment?
ANSWER: The eighth commandment requires the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.
Genesis 30:30; 1 Timothy 5:8; Leviticus 25:35; Deuteronomy 22:1-5; Exodus 23:4-5; Genesis 47:14, 20
80.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?
ANSWER: The eighth commandment forbids whatsoever does or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbor's wealth or outward estate.
1 Timothy 5:8; Proverbs 28:19; Proverbs 21:17; 23:20-21; Ephesians 4:28
81.
QUESTION: Which is the ninth commandment?
ANSWER: The ninth commandment is, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Exodus 20:16).
82.
QUESTION: What is required in the ninth commandment?
ANSWER: The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own neighbor's good name, especially in witnessbearing.
Zechariah 8:16; John 5:12; Proverbs 14:5, 25
83.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?
ANSWER: The ninth commandment forbids whatsoever is prejudicial to the truth, or injurious to our own or our neighbor's good name.
1 Samuel 17:28; Leviticus 19:16; Psalm 15:2-3
84.
QUESTION: Which is the tenth commandment?
ANSWER: The tenth commandment is, "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 is your neighbor's" (Exodus 20:17).
85.
QUESTION: What is required in the tenth commandment?
ANSWER: The tenth commandment requires full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbor and all that is his.
Hebrews 13:5; 1 Timothy 6:6; Job 31:29; Romans 7:15; 1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Corinthians 8:4, 7
86.
QUESTION: What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
ANSWER: The tenth commandment forbids all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his.
1 Kings 21:4; Esther 5:13; 1 Corinthians 10:10; Galatians 5:26; James 3:14, 16; Romans 7:7-8; 13:9; Deuteronomy 5:21
87.
QUESTION: Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
ANSWER: No mere man since the Fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but does daily break them in thought, word, or deed.
Ecclesiastes 7:20; 1 John 1:8, 10; Galatians 5:17; Genesis 4:5; 7:21; Romans 3:9-21; James 3:2-13
88.
QUESTION: Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
ANSWER: Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.
Ezekiel 8:6, 13, 15; 1 John 5:16; Psalm 78:17, 32, 56
89.
QUESTION: What does every sin deserve?
ANSWER: Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and in that which is to come.
Ephesians 5:6; Galatians 3:10; Lamentations 3:39; Matthew 25:41; Romans 6:23
90.
QUESTION: What does God require of us, that we may escape His wrath and curse, due to us for sin?
ANSWER: To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance to life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption.
Acts 20:21; Proverbs 2:1-6; 8:33 to end; Isaiah 55:2-3
91.
QUESTION: What is faith in Jesus Christ?
ANSWER: 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.
Hebrews 10:39; John 1:12; Isaiah 26:3-4; Philippians 3:9; Galatians 2:16
92.
QUESTION: What is repentance to life?
ANSWER: Repentance to 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 to God, with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.
Acts 11:28; Acts 2:37-38; Joel 2:12; Jeremiah 3:22; Jeremiah 31:18-19; Ezekiel 36:31; 2 Corinthians 7:11; Isaiah 1:16-17
93.
QUESTION: What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption?
ANSWER: 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.
Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 2:42, 46-47
94.
QUESTION: How is the Word made effectual to salvation?
ANSWER: 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 to salvation.
Nehemiah 8:8; Act 26:18; Psalm 19:8; Acts 20:32; Romans 1:15-16; 10:13-17; 15:4; 1 Corinthians 14:24-25; 2 Timothy 3:15-17
95.
QUESTION: How is the Word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation?
ANSWER: That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend to it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; receive it with faith and love, lay it up in our hearts, and practice it in our lives.
Proverbs 8:34; 1 Peter 2:1-2; Psalm 119:18; Hebrews 4:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:10; Psalm 119:18; Luke 8:15; James 1:25
96.
QUESTION: How do Baptism and the Lord's Supper become effectual means of salvation?
ANSWER: Baptism and the Lord's Supper become effectual means of salvation, not for any virtue in them or in him that does administer them, but only by the blessing of Christ and the working of the Spirit in those that by faith receive them.
1 Peter 3:21; Matthew 3:11; 1 Corinthians 3:6-7; 1 Corinthians 12:3; Matthew 28:19
97.
QUESTION: What is Baptism?
ANSWER: Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament instituted by Jesus Christ, to be to the party baptized a sign of his fellowship with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection; of his being engrafted into Him; of remission of sins; and of his giving up himself to God through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12; Galatians 3:27; Mark 1:4; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Romans 6:3-4
98.
QUESTION: To whom is Baptism to be administered?
ANSWER: Baptism is to be administered to all those who actually profess repentance towards God, faith in, and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to none other.
Acts 2:38; Matthew 3:6; Acts 8:12, 36-38; 10:47-48
99.
QUESTION: Are the infants of such as are professing believers to be baptized?
ANSWER: 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.
Exodus 23:13; Proverbs 30:6; Luke 3:7-8
100.
QUESTION: How is Baptism rightly administered?
ANSWER: Baptism is rightly administered by immersion, or dipping the whole body of the party in 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; and not by sprinkling or pouring of water, or dipping some part of the body, after the tradition of men.
Matthew 3:16; John 3:23; 4:1-2; Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 8:38; Romans 6:4; Colossians 2:12;
101.
QUESTION: What is the duty of those who are rightly baptized?
ANSWER: It is the duty of those 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 blameless.
Acts 2:41-42; 5:13-14; 9:26; 1 Peter 2:5; Luke 1:6
102.
QUESTION: What is the Lord's Supper?
ANSWER: 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-not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith-made partakers of His body and blood, with all His benefits, to their spiritual nourishment and growth in grace.
Matthew 26:26-28; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; 10:16
103.
QUESTION: Who are the proper subjects of this ordinance?
ANSWER: They who have been baptized upon a personal profession of their faith in Jesus Christ, and repentance from dead works.
Acts 2:41-42
104.
QUESTION: What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord's Supper?
ANSWER: 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, of their faith to feed upon Him, of their repentance, love, and new obedience, lest coming unworthily they eat and drink judgment to themselves.
1 Corinthians 11:28-29; 2 Corinthians 13:5; 1 Corinthians 11:31; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; 1 Corinthians 11:28-29
105.
QUESTION: What is Prayer?
ANSWER: Prayer is an offering up our desires to God, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit, for things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, believing, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgments of His mercies.
Psalm 62:8; Romans 8:26; 1 John 5:14; Romans 8:27; John 16:23; Matthew 21:22; James 1:6; Psalm 32:5-6; Daniel 9:4; Philippians 4:6
106.
QUESTION: What rule has God given for our direction in prayer?
ANSWER: 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.
1 John 5:14; Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4
107.
QUESTION: What does the preface of the Lord's Prayer teach us?
ANSWER: The preface of the Lord's Prayer, which is, "Our Father which art in heaven" (Matthew 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; and that we should pray with and for others.
Romans 8:15; Luke 11:13; Isaiah 24:8; Acts 12:5; 1 Timothy 2:1-2
108.
QUESTION: What do we pray for in the first petition?
ANSWER: In the first petition, which is Hallowed be thy name" (Matthew 6:9), we pray that God would enable us and others to glorify Him in all that whereby He makes Himself known, and that He would dispose all things to His own glory.
Psalm 67:2-3; Psalm 83; Romans 11:36
109.
QUESTION: What do we pray for in the second petition?
ANSWER: In the second petition, which is "Your kingdom come," we pray that Satan's kingdom may be destroyed and that the kingdom of grace may be advanced, ourselves and others brought into it and kept in it, and that the kingdom of glory may be hastened.
Psalm 68:1, 18; Revelation 12:10-11; 2 Thessalonians 3:1; Romans 10:1; John 17:19-20; Revelation 22:10
110.
QUESTION: What do we pray for in the third petition?
ANSWER: In the third petition, which is, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven," (Matthew 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, as the angels do in heaven.
Psalm 67; 119:36; 2 Samuel 15:25; Job 1:21; Psalm 103:20-21
111.
QUESTION: What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
ANSWER: In the fourth petition, which is, "Give us this day our daily bread," (Matthew 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.
Proverbs 30:8; Genesis 28:20; 1 Timothy 4:4-5
112.
QUESTION: What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
ANSWER: In the fifth petition, which is, "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors," (Matthew 6:12), we pray that God, for Christ's sake, would freely pardon all our sins; which we are rather encouraged to ask because, of His grace, we are enabled from the heart to forgive others.
Psalm 51:1-2, 7, 9; Daniel 9:17-19; Luke 11:4; Matthew 18:35
113.
QUESTION: What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
ANSWER: In the sixth petition, which is, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," (Matthew 6:13), we pray that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.
Matthew 26:31; 2 Corinthians 12:8
114.
QUESTION: What does the conclusion of the Lord's Prayer teach us?
ANSWER: The conclusion of the Lord's Prayer, which is, "For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen," (Matthew 6:13), 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".
Daniel 9:4, 7-9, 16-19; 1 Chronicles 29:10-13; 1 Corinthians 4:16; Revelation 11:20; 22:20-21