Position Papers
Providence Scripture Catechism
An Introduction to Biblical Christianity
All Scripture References are from the New English Translation (NET) unless noted otherwise. Sections from the Didache are the translations of the compiler of this catechism, Rev. Todd J. Murphy.
© 2011 Rev. Todd J. Murphy All rights reserved. This material cannot be reprinted or copied for resale or for profit. It may be copied or printed for ministry purposes.
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Introduction
What is Catechesis? Transmission of the Faith & Preparation for the Christian Life
What is Catechesis? Well for most people it just sounds like something Roman Catholics do. If you grew up in an active Roman Catholic family you probably went to CCD at some point. For many evangelical Christians, anything that sounds Roman Catholic does not sound very interesting either. To many people’s surprise however the term comes from the New Testament word κατηχέω, which simply means to instruct or inform. In Luke 1:4 when Luke is introducing his Gospel to Theophilus he says, “so that you may know for certain the things you were taught.” The word translated as “taught” is the same Greek word. And in Luke 1:4 it actually refers to a body of systematic teaching in the Christian faith. Early on, the Church developed a process for instructing children of the faithful and new converts in the basic beliefs and expectations of the Christian faith. This process became known as catechesis and such documents became known as catechisms. So many of us may also describe it as discipleship.
There is still a difference between the two historically. It is best to think of catechesis as a subset of discipleship. All catechesis is discipleship, but not all discipleship is catechesis. While discipleship encompasses the entirety of the Christian life, catechesis is designed to be an initial training in the foundations of the Christian life. We become a disciple through baptism, whether as an adult convert or as a young child that is born to believing parents. Being a disciple means we are made a part of Christ’s church and in that sense, we are “in Christ.” But that does not necessarily mean we will ultimately be saved. That requires an ongoing life of repentance and faith. Jesus and the New Testament writers, as well as the Didache (containing the earliest catechism of the church) all make clear that salvation comes to those who finish the race in faith. For this reason, discipleship is meant to be life encompassing. The entire life of the baptized convert is a pilgrimage of faith where we are called to persevere in until the end (Matt. 10:22 & 24:13).
The entire ministry of the Church is structured around an ongoing process of discipleship. Discipleship is the perpetual nurture and nourishment in the Christian faith. Contrary to popular opinion, discipleship is not just a training course at the beginning of our Christian life that we leave behind. Discipleship is according to the New Testament the ongoing life rhythms of the Church that shape and form spiritual life. Luke defines these regular life rhythms of discipleship in Acts 2:42: “They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” These four things are the core practices that define the life of the earliest church and what it meant to be a disciple. What is this regular pattern of discipleship meant to do? It is meant to evoke a constant call to faith and repentance. The discipled life then is that of ongoing nurture of the spiritual life toward Christ in repentance. It is not just basic training starting out our spiritual life but repentance that is practiced in the community around the preached word and the sacraments.
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So what then is the purpose of catechesis? When the Church first began, most of the converts were Jewish folk who had been raised on the Hebrew Scriptures. In Acts we see mass conversions of thousands of listeners, all being baptized together. But Jesus at the same time had already told them that they would be witnesses for him not only in Jerusalem and Judea, but also in Samaria and to the utter parts of the earth. So as the Church spread, they quickly found themselves touching the gentiles with the Gospel. This was both challenging and exciting (Acts 10). But they quickly discovered that the gentiles did not have the foundation in the scriptures, the faith, and morality that Hebrew converts took for granted. They had to be trained from the bottom up. So very quickly the early church found itself in need of developing short compact training in the expectations for the Christian life. The earliest known document of this type is known as the Didache or “The Teaching of the Twelve” of which some parts are adopted in this catechism. Basically the early Church needed to make sure that a gentile convert knew exactly what was expected of a Christian and what they were getting themselves into. This is particularly important for adult converts because in the ancient world, as for the most part still today, children by default are raised in the religious affiliation of the their parents. But the adult convert would naturally have a pagan and anti-Christian worldview. Catechesis was a compact and intense form of training in the Gospel and the basic Christian life. It clarified what the implications for the convert was and what it meant to take up one’s cross and bear it. It demonstrated the sacrifice and abandonment of worldly lusts in exchange for the kingdom of God. When we look at an ancient baptismal catechism like the first six sections of the Didache, one is not presented with a sleepy cultural Christianity that unenthusiastically shows up to a church building once a week for its religious inoculation. What we find is a sober, serious and vigilant faith that saw itself at war with the flesh and the world. As a good friend of mine has said, “If you think the Christian faith is easy, then you are not taking it seriously.” The community that gave us the Didache took their faith extremely serious. The document comes from either Judea or Syria and was composed by Jewish Christians sometime in about 50 to 70 A.D. To give you a picture of its importance, the last of the apostles, John, died just after 98 A.D. Thus it is a very important window into the faith, practice, and catechesis that was performed in the apostolic era. Catechesis then is preparation for the discipled life and participation in the Church. Especially in relation to adult converts, it is also an evangelistic tool that helps the potential convert embrace real Christianity and not a watered-down generic knock-off.
As sad as it is to say, what I just called the “watered-down generic knock-off” of the Christian faith is quite prevalent today. Compared to the age of the early Church, the modern church has become particularly infatuated with our image and how we are perceived in the world. We are obsessed with being “sensitive” and “relevant.” This is a stark contrast from the faith once delivered to the saints that we find in the New Testament, the Church fathers and Reformers. Our generation, especially within evangelical circles, has been so overcome by worldliness that we will do almost anything to get people into church. What is called “political correctness” in the social sphere is called “seeker sensitivity” in the religious. And this has forced us to change our practices and unfortunately for many churches, the message too. The earliest Church on the other hand stood out for its countercultural stance. It was unconcerned with popular opinion. As an example, many modern churches open up the Lord’s Table to everyone so as not to “offend” while the early apostolic faith was quite politically incorrect in how it
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dismissed the un-baptized before serving the Supper. In fact the sanctity of the table was held so tightly that the early Church was at times accused of cannibalism because outsiders heard they were privately eating flesh and blood of someone named Jesus. The Didache for instance says in 9.5; “But no one shall either eat nor drink from you’re Eucharist except the one who has been baptized into the name of the Lord. For the Lord spoke concerning this: “You shall not give what is holy to the dogs.” Hardly seeker sensitive! And yet the first four centuries of the Church proved to be some of the most prolific regarding mission and disciple making. So in the Didache, like much of the early Church’s process of catechesis, making a disciple at any cost was never the goal. To make a disciple who does not take seriously the Gospel is to not make one at all. So unlike our constant modern temptation to make the Gospel more “relevant” and palatable, the early Christian faith like what we find represented in the Didache would rather an individual reject the true Gospel than accept a false one.
The Scripture Catechism
With the exception of a few excerpts from the Didache and the Apostles’ Creed, the rest of this catechism comes from sacred Scripture, the Bible. As a minister in the Reformed Church tradition, one may wonder why I have not chosen to just use the wonderfully pastoral Heidelberg Catechism. Well there are several reasons for that. First of all, the Heidelberg is a cherished document that was extremely useful in its day. But in its day Europe was already Christian. Much like the Jewish converts of the Apostle's day, people already had a strong religious vocabulary. Our cultural context has much more in common with the Greco-Roman culture that the Apostles preached in. There is a great deal of similarity between their pre-modern pagan context and our post-modern western context. The average person now has very little biblical and religious capital to work with. Most people do not know the Bible well at all. Thus we cannot start by presupposing the religious foundation that people had in the age of the Reformation. Furthermore, the Reformation catechisms were not technically designed for evangelism in the strict sense. Most people in Europe to one degree or another considered themselves Christian. While these do call us to repentance and faith, they were still more aimed as sorting out good doctrine and practice from bad. Therefore the lack of biblical knowledge, and the orientation toward polity and dogmatic disputes, the Reformation Catechisms are less useful in the evangelization of new converts and Christian children today (the average Christian home is far less biblically literate today too).
I am not suggesting that we dispense with them of course. I love the Heidelberg and use it in my ministry all the time. But I have found the need for something a step lower and more rudimentary. What I felt was that we need something that will address a couple needs at once. First, like any catechism, it should prepare someone for the basic Christian life. It needs to set out the basic expectations for what it means to be a disciple. Second, we needed something that was directly focused on the historic Christian Gospel and not cluttered by 16th century dogmatic disputes. It is not that they are not important. They are just distracting when trying to present the basic message of the Gospel. Unlike the Reformation catechisms which are basically structured around systematic theology, the early catechisms like the Didache were much more basic. First of all they assumed the preaching of the Gospel, the so-called kerygma. This was the core
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content of the Gospel message, namely the doctrine of Jesus and his work to save sinners. After this, as in the Didache sections 1-6, it moved to basic instruction, or what was called didache. This was the basic training in the Christian life, in repentance and the moral obedience that is required of a disciple. The question answered by the kerygma is the person and work of Jesus, what he has done for sinners. The question answered by didache was how the person who embraces that message is expected to respond.
There are those today who would like us to think that kerygma and didache are opposed. But nothing could be further from the truth. The “teaching” or “instruction” in the Christian life that falls under the rubric of didache always assumes the kerygma. This Scripture catechism is meant to present the Christian faith in a sense “in its own words.” By using Scripture, the reader can get to the core Gospel message without much commentary. It presents the Gospel and a Christian worldview by presenting a selection of key scripture texts in succession. For this reason it has been organized under these two main categories. The first half is twelve lessons on the kerygma. The second half and remaining twelve lessons deal with preparation for living the Christian life in the Church. This is the didache or “instruction” section, which includes some excerpts from the Didache.
Third, the lack of biblical literacy necessitates using Scripture itself rather than the question and answer format of some of the Reformation catechisms. Scripture itself is far more neutral than the documents of one tradition or another because it is the inheritance of the entire church, not just one denomination or tradition. For instance, if I want to begin a dialogue with a Mormon or other cult member who comes to my door, a Protestant Catechism is not something that we can dialogue over. And this is true also for the many nominally religious un-churched people out there that think of themselves as Christian but show no real knowledge of discipleship. By developing a road map made up primarily of Scripture it allows us two advantages: First it gives us a logical framework for discussing the Gospel and what it means to be a Christian; Second it is laying a foundation for basic biblical literacy at the same time.
Fourth, we needed an easy blueprint for Gospel witness that is not a canned manipulative sales pitch, oversimplified bullet points, or spiritual laws. I do recognize that God can and does use these even in a pinch. And yes God has also been known to use even a jackass, but I would submit he was forced to because the prophet he wanted to use was being a bigger jackass than the jackass. These things have had their place, but by and large they minimize the Gospel because they oversimplify it too much. When we preach the Gospel, we are not merely preaching a message but a worldview, a way of interpreting reality. When we preach the Gospel, we are calling people to begin interpreting their entire reality through the God-man who was incarnated by a virgin, lived a perfect life, died a criminal’s death, was resurrected and now sits at the right hand of the Father God ruling. All history and life is summed up in the Christ event. Handing someone a tract or giving them a five point sales pitch will not wrest anyone of their already pagan worldview even if they embrace Jesus on the spot. Bad worldviews only change over time. Being a disciple is to be a pagan thinker in detox. We are all recovering pagans in our thought life. The proclamation of the Gospel is meant to unravel false worldviews. The best missionaries move into the relational sphere of a person or people group and begin a dialogue. In so doing, their worldview is challenged over time. Coming to faith in Christ is a dialogical process that engages the mind. What we needed was a blue print for discussion, for having such dialogue.
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Finally, the reason for a Scripture catechism was also to create a more neutral tool for various Christian traditions to use. By rooting this document primarily in Scripture and with the aid of two of the most important extra-biblical texts (the Didache and the Apostle’s Creed) it offers a universal tool for evangelism, catechesis, and discipleship. Those in more fundamentalist traditions will likely ask why use the Didache and the Apostle's creed at all and not only use the Bible. I understand this concern but it is a naivete that fails to see the progressive development of our understanding of the Bible. The Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of the Trinity, the deity of Christ and other major doctrines. The problem is that there are no single nice-n-tidy proof texts for them. These major doctrines must be taken as a whole. Further the generations that gave us creeds like the Apostle’s and Nicene creeds are in fact the same generations that ultimately canonized the New Testament. If you slight the generation that gave us the creed, you slight the generation that gave us the canonized New Testament. They arrived at these creeds because of their close reading and acceptance of the New Testament. In regard to the Didache, much of this material is also found in Matthew’s Gospel (though the Didache is older). So it would seem to some that I should just catalogue similar material from Matthew? Perhaps so, but then I felt I would be doing scripture injustice by piecing together the sayings of Jesus myself which I do not feel I have the authority to do. It, in a sense has already been done in the Didache which saw wide use in the early church. So I felt it best to stick with that. In the Didache 1-6 what we find is a catalogue of Jesus’ commandments and sayings. It seems that the early church took Jesus’ command to teach all that he commanded (Matt. 28:19-20) quite literally. As you shall see, these six sections of the Didache (found in Part II 2 &3) will prove to be extremely helpful in setting out the ethical expectation of the basic Christian life.
What are the Goals?
Francis Kelly in his excellent little book on catechesis defines catechesis in the following way: “Catechesis is the transmission of God’s Word to invite people to personal faith.”1 I love that definition. He goes on to explain, “Transmission puts the emphasis on our listening to and acceptance of God’s Word as the fundamental dynamic of catechetical ministry. This ministry is a service to God’s Word and the faith of the people.” Another way for me to put that is that catechesis is one application of the ministry of the Word in the Church. The central ministry of the Word in the Church is the gathering on the Lord’s Day to hear Scripture preached and celebrate the sacraments. But the early Church understood that to get the most out of that rich experience, converts needed to be prepared for it. They needed to develop a foundational understanding of the Gospel that included a vocabulary and big theological ideas. This was all the more necessary in a time when it would be more than a thousand years before private printed copies of the bible would be found in every Christian home. So catechesis is an application of the Church devoting itself the “apostles doctrine” (Acts 2:42).
Since our goal is transmission of the biblical faith for the purpose of invitation, Kelley is right to point out how this above all, requires faithfulness to that message. Far from the insipid
1 Francis D. Kelley, The Mystery We Proclaim: Catechesis for the Third Millennium, (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 1999), 44.
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poppy blather of health and happiness that parades itself as the Gospel today, the message to be presented in catechesis is to be a countercultural one, the Gospel of Jesus itself. As I mentioned of the Didache and early Church above, they would prefer someone reject the true Gospel than accept a false one. A false Gospel is the quickest way to build false assurances so that the unwary are ultimately damned. At least those who reject the true Gospel have the opportunity to still repent and embrace the real Gospel. But those who embrace a false Gospel hold onto its false assurances while the hope of the true Gospel passes them by.
Because catechesis creates a dialogue of “invitation” it is far better suited to sharing the Gospel in our modern culture. This does not mean we have to do formal classes, though some people seeking religious experiences may just sign up for that. But more importantly, this scripture catechism creates a discussion blueprint for the average Christian to enter into discussion with friends and neighbors about the Gospel. By using the discussion model of catechesis it creates a non-threatening dialogue where questions can be asked, doubts can be fielded and most of all, a person can experience warm Christian dialogue without feeling pressured or judged. For this reason Kelly reminds us, “we have to remember that faith is above all a gift of God. We can invite people to faith, but we cannot force their acceptance. We have to be patient to let God work in the hearts of those we serve.”2 This dialogical approach is the antithesis of those confrontational evangelistic approaches that use leading questions and sales tactics. Such measures are acts of desperation by Church traditions that have become so distanced from larger society, that they have to resort to absurd means. They lack all credibility and usually push away otherwise spiritually interested people. Thus true transmission of the Gospel message must be genuinely an invitation, not manipulation. Any method of sharing the Gospel that uses force, even an unnoticed manipulation, is not consistent with the Gospel itself. It makes the evangelized serve the agenda of the evangelist rather than serve that person the way Christ serves humanity in the Gospel.
Francis Kelly also lays out five major goals in the catechetical process. And while I am not a big fan of alliteration, these are not forced, but really hit on the mark. He lists them as follows:
1.Conversion 2.Community 3.Content 4.Contemplation 5.Commitment
Conversion. The central and fundamental message of the Gospel is “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” (Matt. 3:2). These are the first words recorded in Matthew of John the Baptizer’s message. Jesus preached this. The Apostles preached this. Repentance as we have already said above is a life encompassing process of turning our mind, will, emotions, and affections toward God. It requires first the belief that God exists and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him (Heb. 11:6). Conversion in the biblical sense describes the life that
2 ibid. 46.
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has recognized its sin through the power of the Holy Spirit and is reorienting his or her life God- ward. In this way the biblical ideas of repentance and conversion are coextensive. They are not two things, but one. They are one process and one journey of faith.
The term “conversion” has gotten a bit misused and misunderstood in our day. It is not that it has been totally redefined, but just truncated. For most of the Church in the west today, conversion is that point in time when a person professes Christ and embraces the Gospel. It is usually coupled with a “conversion experience.” Certainly there is a small part of this that is true. Indeed there is a historical point in time when people are baptized and become a member of earthly and physical body of Christ. But we also know that many people who are baptized, not only some as children but also many as adults, do not experience true saving faith till some time later. And others may never experience it at all. But we have no control over that. We can only preach faithfully. Only God knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. And for this reason, over the last couple centuries, there has grown up a theology of “conversionism” that naively seeks to have a “pure” church where there are only true believers. This conversionism has done this by basically mistaking a salvation experience (like a confession of Jesus, “making a decision” or “praying the sinner’s prayer”) with true saving faith. Certainly many true Christians still find Jesus this way. But unfortunately this has developed into creating false assurances where Christians begin to trust in those experiences and works rather than in Jesus himself. What I mean by this is that because of a faulty view of conversion many begin to have assurance of their salvation because they “prayed the sinner’s prayer” or had some other conversion experience rather than an ongoing trust in Christ. This is a dangerous theological pitfall that plagues a large part of evangelical Christians today. And ironically as much as evangelicals protest the idea that a person can be saved by mere ritual like baptism, trusting in having prayed a prayer or some experience is exactly the same thing. It is not biblical repentance and conversion.
So while we may still talk of the day a person “came to Christ” we never want to see the event as absolute. Only the day Jesus hung on a cross and then was raised from the dead is vicarious and absolute for our salvation. Biblical repentance and conversion does have a point at which it begins, but it continues throughout our life. So it may be much better for us speak of “the day that we began our journey with Christ.” This is because conversion is so much more than the day we discovered the Gospel. God is gentle and works in our lives gradually and so I have known many people whose thinking about the Gospel did not change in a moment, but gradually over time. This is because we are entering into a covenant relationship with Christ, a marriage of sorts. And so we can illustrate conversion best in the following question: Which s more important, the “I do” you say on your wedding day, or the “I do” you say every day after? The Christian life and conversion are the same way. The day the Christian stops saying “I do” to God, is the day that their Christian pilgrimage comes to an end. This is precisely the point of Jesus parable of the seeds sown on different kinds of ground (Mark 4:1-20). True faith is an enduring and persevering faith. The role of the Church is to be a nurturing mother of faith for God’s children. So catechesis’ primary goal is as Kelley said, and “invitation” and that invitation is to conversion. But as we have noted, catechesis is preparation for the discipled life. It does not merely call us to conversion initially, but it prepares us to be continually called to conversion through the ongoing nourishing ministry of the preached word, the sacraments, the community and prayer. So whether we are using this catechism with one of our baptized children, one of the
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many un-catechized adult Christians today that do not properly understand the Gospel who may join your church, or as a pure evangelism tool, the goal in catechesis is always conversion.
Community. As we have said, catechesis prepares the disciple for life in the church. One of the things that plagues the church today is the individualistic independence that pervades our culture. Faith is understood as a private affair. So even in Churches with very conservative theology, people are often herded in shoulder-to-shoulder to hear an inspiring message and then herded back out an hour and twenty minutes later to hardly think of each other at all till next week. That is not the Christianity of the New Testament. Christians are called to share the “life together” which is a more literal rendering of “fellowship” in Acts 2:42. Learning doctrine is not a private affair, but a communal one. Catechesis then not only prepares for life in the community, but it happens in community with at least one or more other Christians.
Content. We cannot forget the content. Catechesis is a uniquely Christian activity different from all other religions. The Gospel has been passed down to us in the New Testament. We do not teach anything novel. We preach as Paul said, what we have received. And that teaching we have received in the form of the Bible. God has come in both time and space and has made known to man his will. This is called “special revelation.” It is not us who went searching for God, but is as Abraham Herschel said, “God in search of man.” He made himself and his will known to us and now calls us to “obey the Gospel” in repentance and faith (2 Thess. 1:8). The content of our catechesis needs to be the core Gospel message and what it means to be a Christian. The proclamation of the Gospel in any form, whether preaching in the assembly, catechesis, or talking with a friend over lunch has the goal of passing on of the Gospel message. It is as Paul himself said, “I pass on to you that which I myself have learned.” People are meant to learn the Gospel from other Christians. The Gospel commission is to both be disciples and to make disciples.
Contemplation. Contemplation may be a big “C” word for prayer but Kelly is right to bring it up. His point is that often the faith is communicated in primarily moralistic and intellectual ways. We live in an inwardly spiritual age, and while this has its liabilities, it does remind us that man is at his most basic level is spiritual. All his strivings are in some way an outworking of his inner spiritual longings, whether he knows it or not. In a world where the Church is constantly put back on its heels, we often fall prey to using apologetic and defensive responses toward challenges to the Gospel. But what is far more winsome and attractive is a loving and unthreatened posture toward those who resist our message. A prayerful and contemplative posture goes a long way in this. As we share the Gospel through catechesis we are not just transmitting information, but the Christian faith. It is a call to commune with God in prayer.
Commitment. Finally the Gospel is about commitment. Our world is one of broken commitments. But the Gospel calls us to something greater. Catechesis is about calling a person to commitment to Christ. It is not a mere call to pronouncing a commitment, but to living one. The Gospel commitment is like a marriage commitment that must endure the tribulations of faith in this life. But again, catechesis prepares us to become part of a community where we are loved, supported and held up in that commitment. We are not asked to go it alone. We are called to dwell in Christ and within his body where we have fellow pilgrims along for the journey.
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Using this Catechism
In this catechism you may also quickly see that it lacks all originality on my part. It is very simple. It is taken mostly from key texts of Scripture that tell the Gospel story and explain it themselves. I wanted the Scriptures, as much as possible, to speak for themselves. It is then the job of the catechist to facilitate discussion around the Holy Scripture selections. This leads right into the teaching philosophy of the catechism. There are a lot of new introductory courses that have been developed today to engage people in dialogue. Many of these have been very effective. Their basic approach is to set up a series of common questions. But it has the drawback of dictating the questions to the disciple rather than inspiring it within them. This is what we find advantageous about a selection of key scriptures. They become discussion pieces that inspire questions rather than dictate them. We will include questions and answers to help facilitate, but the ultimate goal is to let Scripture do its job to create vibrant Spirit lead discussion.
The first thing we need to address is who this catechism should be used by. At times in the history of the church there have been special or professional catechists. In this model, as people interact with the Christians, they would then be directed to a catechist and handed off. This has worked well in some instances but I do not think it is the best use of the gifts and skills in the Church. There are certainly those who are far more gifted to teach complex doctrinal ideas. But at the same time the task of sharing the Gospel falls to every Christian. So this has been designed as a blueprint or roadmap for gospel witness and dialogue for every Christian. It lays out a plan for every believer to have a framework in which they can share the Gospel with their friends and neighbors who are inquiring.
Part I, which deals with the basic Gospel message, is made to be used in many ways. Large key sections of text are used so that the catechist can go as deep or as simple as need be based upon the occasion. Also one may also use random selections based upon the needs at the time. Perhaps one does not have that much time and so over a few meetings wants to present the most basic Gospel story, then one could just use part I lessons 1-7 which cover Creation, Fall, Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection. The seven sections that follow (8-14) are selections from Romans, which unpack that basic story. By the time you get through all of part one, most will have a good idea of the Gospel and also a good idea of whether or not they want to embrace it. This will determine whether you go on to Part II, which prepares the person for life in the Church.
When using this catechism, I highly urge that the catechist use prayer. If the context does not easily allow for it, perhaps like an impromptu discussion with a stranger, pray silently to one’s self for God to increase the seed planted in the discussion. But, the best way to use this is with a structure and a plan. Endeavor to meet on a normal basis and pray momentarily before each discussion. This does more than asking God’s blessing, which is most important, but it has the secondary use of modeling Christian submission to the Father through prayer. Nothing could be a more practical demonstration of the Gospel and conversion than seeing a Christian pray.
Finally, both the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed are included. If you are doing this in a formal manner, a primary goal is to memorize both. The Apostle’s creed lays out the doctrinal foundation for all Christians. The doctrines discussed in the Creed are the proverbial
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hills “to die on.” It is these doctrines that separate orthodox Christian belief from cult groups and the like. It should also be noted that Lord’s Prayer, being only about 20 seconds long was not merely a prayer in the earliest church, but an outline for prayer. Each petition sets out a major topic for approaching God in prayer. I highly recommend that you use it in this way. This makes the difference between it being just a rote prayer that is rattled off without thought, or a framework for focusing on our communion with God.
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Doing the Lessons
The catechism can be used for both personal and group use, but is primarily designed to be used by two or more people. The approach is semi-midrashic, which is discipleship through question and answer. Thus it is best used with a knowledgeable Christian as the leader (catechist) who is guiding one or more disciples (catechumens) through a discussion.
The assumption is not that anyone will ever get it all the first time around. The more important thing is to dialogue around the Gospel, which naturally leads into more questions. As questions are formulated they create better opportunities for memory and tradition. The study questions are a guide to the salient points. But they should not be slavishly adhered to in a way that would squash the student’s natural questions. The answers the student receives to her or his own questions will more naturally be remembered. The questions are a guide to the main points of the texts. They are in no way exhaustive. The catechist needs to ultimately be sensitive to his audience. How one uses them with a group of teens and a group of middle agers will be different. The goal is ultimately to discuss the biblical texts.
1. Creedal Memorization - Begin Memorizing the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed and the Ten Commandments (see appendix) right away or as soon as possible. If you are training new converts or undiscipled Christians, then start reading and memorizing right away. If you are using it for telling someone about the Christian faith, then you will want to use your discretion on when you introduce memorizations. You do not want to “force” your creed on them. You want them to embrace it with their own sense of “I believe” when they are ready.
2. Pray - Pray with your catechumen or group if it is appropriate. If the person studying with you does not consider them a Christian, and you want to pray, definitely ask permission to pray and respect their beliefs as you do.
3. Public Reading of Scripture - The Scriptures are not meant to be read in isolation, but always with the Church. They are the heritage of the Church. Before each lesson, read the scripture text as a group. (It is best if it has also been read and reflected on prior to meeting.)
4. Questions to Facilitate Discussion - It is best to begin by asking the catechumen(s) if there is anything that stood out to them. Begin discussing the text using the questions provided if necessary.
5. Repentance - This is the ultimate goal of all Bible study. The preaching of the Gospel is a call to repentance. Repentance is the recognition of your sin, confession of it, and the action of forsaking it at a habit of life. This is only accomplished through confrontation with the word of God. At all points along the way in this study, the goal of the leader is to lead in repentance. You are to model it by confessing your own faults which will naturally lead those whom you catechize to self reflect and begin to examine their own life.
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6. Follow Up - There is a great deal of information here. Again the goal of catechizing is developing an ongoing Gospel discussion that will transform an unrepentant life into a Christ pursuing repentant one. Upon completion you will need to use your discretion on what to do after you have completed it. If you feel it really was challenging to them, you may want to go back through it from the beginning again. If the catechumen(s) seems to have really understood it and to be ready for more, I highly recommend you move on to the Heidelberg Catechism, which will build their theological understanding more fully.
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PART I. The Gospel (kerygma)
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1. A Habitation for Man (Gen. 1:1-2:3)
Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. 3 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! 4 God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.
Gen. 1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water. 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.
Gen. 1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.
Gen. 1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so. 12 The land produced vegetation–plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening, and there was morning, a third day.
Gen. 1:14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, 15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. 16 God made two great lights–the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. 17 God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth, 18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.
Gen. 1:20 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 There was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
Gen. 1:24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.” 27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
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Gen. 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food.” It was so.
Gen. 1:31 God saw all that he had made–and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
Gen. 2:1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.
Questions
1. What do you think is the big idea of this story?
2. Why do you think God created the world? Was it for himself, or was it for man?
3. What do you think the imagery of God creating light and dispelling darkness says about the character of God?
4. What does it mean when it the story says that God made man in his image? Why would God make man in his image? What things did this mean man and God have in common?
5. What is the importance of God delegating dominion over the earth to mankind? What does this say about how God viewed man?
6. Was there anything lacking in the world God gave them? Did they have everything they needed, or did they have the right to feel shortchanged or want something more?
7. The creation mandate was to “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” What did it mean to “rule over.”
8. Why does vs. 31 say that everything that God created was “very good.”
2. The Creation of Man (Gen. 2:4-25)
Gen. 2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created–when the LORD God made the earth and heavens. 5 Now no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on
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the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 Springs would well up from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 The LORD God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 8 The LORD God planted an orchard in the east, in Eden; and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.) 10 Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is pure; pearls and lapis lazuli are also there). 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
Gen. 2:15 The LORD God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it. 16 Then the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”
Gen. 2:18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.” 19 The LORD God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
Gen. 2:24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife, and they become a new family. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed.
Questions:
1. What do you think is the big idea of this story?
2. Why do you think God created mankind? What did he get out of the relationship?
3. Sacred Gardens like Eden are a common image in and Ancient Near East. What do you think is significant about God placing man in the garden to tend and keep it for him?
4. God told the man he could eat of every tree of the garden except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why? Was there anything unique about this tree? If the world was so “good,” why did God forbid them from eating of this one tree?
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5. Why did God promise them that, “for when you eat from it, you shall surely die?” Is this a metaphor, real physical death, spiritual death, or both?
6. Why do you think the story here ends with the words “the man and his wife were both naked, but they were not ashamed?”
7. How does this state of being naked and unashamed contrast with the world we now live in? 8. What kinds of shame do you deal with and how has it affected you, both good and bad?
3. The Fall of Mankind into Sin (Gen 3:1-24)
Gen. 3:1 Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God moving about21 in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the orchard. 9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 11 And the LORD God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” 13 So the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
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The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl
and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel.” To the woman he said,
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“I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”
17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
Gen. 3:20 The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The LORD God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. 24 When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
Questions
1. What do you think is the big idea of the story?
2. What is the serpent here? Is he a real snake, the personification of evil, or who the Bible calls Satan?
3. Assuming that he is Satan (that is how most Jews and Christians have always understood the serpent) why do you think he is not mentioned by name?
4. Why do you think that the first thing the serpent does is to cast doubt on God and his word to Adam and Eve? What did this serve to accomplish?
5. When the serpent tells the woman that she will not die, but that here eyes will be opened and will become divine and knowing “good and evil,” is he telling the truth, a lie, or half truth?
6. When the story says that the woman saw that the fruit was “desirable,” what does this imply usually precedes our sin and disobedience to God?
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7. What is the sin that the couple commit here? Is it just a faux pas of eating a bad apple, or is there something deeper? (Hint: What does this say about how much they trust God and his word?)
8. Do you think we today do better at trusting God and his word, or are we worse at doubting God today?
9. According to the story, who was responsible for bringing sin, death and misery into the world, the serpent, God, or the man and the woman?
10.When God expelled them from the garden where God dwelt, what did it suggest about man’s relationship to God after sin entered the world?
11.What part of yourself do you see in this story, if any?
4. The Promise - (Genesis 15:1-7 & 17:1-27)
Gen. 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.” 2 But Abram said, “O sovereign LORD, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram added, “Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!” 4 But look, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 The LORD took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars–if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.3 7 The LORD said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
Gen. 17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the sovereign God. Walk before me and be blameless. 2 Then I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.” 3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer will your name be Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham because I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you extremely fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. 7 I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 I will give the whole land of Canaan–the land where you are now residing–to you and your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God.”
3 Verse. 6 is the ESV translation.
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Gen. 17:9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep the covenantal requirement I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder of the covenant between me and you. 12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants. 13 They must indeed be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant will be visible in your flesh as a permanent reminder. 14 Any uncircumcised male who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off from his people–he has failed to carry out my requirement.”
Gen. 17:15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; Sarah will be her name. 16 I will bless her and will give you a son through her. I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations. Kings of countries will come from her!” 17 Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live before you!”
Gen. 17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant for his descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes; I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” 22 When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
Gen. 17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) and circumcised them on that very same day, just as God had told him to do. 24 Now Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised; 25 his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the very same day. 27 All the men of his household, whether born in his household or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Questions:
1. Why is it important that it says “the Word of the Lord came to Abram in 12:4? What is “the Word of the Lord” and what does it suggest to us about how we know God?
2. What is the promise that God makes to Abram in 12:1-7?
3. Verse 12:6 says Abram “believed the Lord.” What does it mean to “believe the Lord” and why is that important for our relationship to God?
4. Verse 12:6 also says that because he believed God, it was “counted to him” as righteousness. What does it mean to be “accounted as righteous?”
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5. In Genesis 17 God reiterates the promise to Abram, changing his name also to Abraham. List and discuss some of the things that God promises here.
6. Why does it say in verses 23 & 27 that all of Abraham’s “household” were circumcised? Why did the sign of circumcision extend to the whole household and not just him?
7. The sign of circumcision was to be performed on every male child regardless of whether the child understood it. What did this sign (sacrament) point to? Since only males were circumcised, was the promise only to the males?
8. Did circumcision point to Abraham’s personal faith or his family’s faith, or did it point God’s promise? Why?
5. The Incarnation - (John 1:1-36)
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. 2 The Word was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. 5 And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it. 6 A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name–he has given the right to become God’s children 13 –children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God. 14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. 15 John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’” 16 For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.
John 1:19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed—he did not deny but confessed–“I am not the Christ!” 21 So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No!” 22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
John 1:23 John said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” 24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 So they asked John, “Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor
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Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, 27 who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal!” 28 These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan River where John was baptizing. 29 On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ 31 I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel.”
John 1:32 Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. 33 And I did not recognize him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining—this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have both seen and testified that this man is the Chosen One of God.”
John 1:35 Again the next day John was standing there with two of his disciples. 36 Gazing at Jesus as he walked by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
Questions
1. What do you think is the big idea of this story?
2. Who is the “Word” and what is this story about?
3. The opening words by the apostle John are: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. 2 The Word was with God in the beginning.” They reflect the words of another story we have already discussed. Which one and why?
4. Why is it important for the writer to emphasize that “the Word” created the world (John 1:3 & 14)? What does it say to us about him?
5. In vs. 12 it says that for all who “received him” he “gave them the right to become the children of God.” Are not all people the children of God? What does he mean here? And why does embracing Jesus give us the “right to become God’s children.”
6. What does it mean when it says, “the word became flesh and took up residence among us?” Why did God do this?
7. The law (Ten Commandments) is God’s standard of right and wrong for humans. Vs. 17 says the law came through Moses but that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” What is grace and why is i
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