The Baptist Catechism

The Baptist Catechism – Questions 62-67, The Fourth Commandment

/ William F. Leonhart III / 1 Comment

Q.62: What is the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy: six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

( Exodus 20:8-11 )

Q.63: What is required in the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God one whole day in seven to be a Sabbath to Himself.

( Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-14 )

Q.64: Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?

A. Before the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; 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; 16:2; Luke 24:1, 30-36; John 20:1, 19-21, 26; Acts 1:3; 2:1-2; 20:7; 1Corinthians 16:1-2; Revelation 1:10 )

Q.65: How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?

A. 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 16:25-28; 20:8, 10; Nehemiah 13:15-22; Psalm 92; Isaiah 66:23; Matthew 12:1-13; Luke 4:16 )

Q.66: What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth 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.

( Jeremiah 17:24-27; Isaiah 58:13; Ezekiel 22:26; 23:38; Amos 8:5; Malachi 1:13; Acts 20:38 )

Q.67: What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?

A. The reasons annexed to the fourth commandment, are God’s allowing us six days of the week for our own lawful employments, His challenging a special propriety in a seventh, His own example, and His blessing the Sabbath day.

( Exodus 20:9, 11 )

The Baptist Catechism – Questions 50-61, The First Three of the Ten Commandments

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Q.50: Which is the first commandment?

A. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

( Exodus 20:3 )

 

Q.51: What is required in the first commandment?

A. The first commandment requireth us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God and our God; and to worship and glorify Him accordingly.

( 1Chronicles 28:9; Deuteronomy 26:17; Psalm 29:2; Matthew 4:10 )

 

Q.52: What is forbidden in the first commandment?

A. The first commandment forbiddeth the denying, or not worshipping and glorifying the true God, as God and our God, and the giving that worship and glory to any other, which is due unto Him alone.

( Psalms 14:1; 81:10-11; Romans 1:21, 25-26 )

 

Q.53: What are we especially taught by these words “before Me,” in the first commandment?

A. These words “before Me,” in the first commandment teach us, that God, who seeth all things, taketh notice of and is much displeased with the sin of having any other god.

( Ezekiel 8:5-18 )

 

Q.54: Which is the second commandment?

A. The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto the any graven image, or the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the father upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments.

( Exodus 20:4-6 )

 

Q.55: What is required in the second commandment?

A. The second commandment requireth the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances, as God hath appointed in His word.

( Deuteronomy 32:46; Matthew 28:20; Acts 2:42 )

 

Q.56: What is forbidden in the second commandment?

A. The second commandment forbiddeth the worshipping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His word.

( Deuteronomy 4:15-19; 12:31-32; Exodus 32:5, 8 )

 

Q.57: What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment?

A. The reasons annexed to the second commandment are, God’s sovereignty over us, His propriety in us, and the zeal He hath to His own worship.

( Psalms 45:11; 95:2-3, 6; Exodus 34:13-14 )

 

Q.58: Which is the third commandment?

A. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

( Exodus 20:7 )

 

Q.59: What is required in the third commandment?

A. The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God’s names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works.

( Deuteronomy 28:58; Job 36:24; Psalms 68:4; 138:1-2; Malachi 1:11, 14; Matthew 6:9; Revelation 15:3-4 )

 

Q.60: What is forbidden in the third commandment?

A. The third commandment forbiddeth all profaning and abusing of anything whereby God makes Himself known.

( Malachi 1:6-7, 12; 2:2; 3:14 )

 

Q.61: What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?

A. The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment for men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape His righteous judgment.

( Deuteronomy 28:58-59; 1Samuel 2:12, 17, 22, 24, 29; 3:13 )

The Baptist Catechism – Questions 44-49, Preface to the Moral Law

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Q.44: What is the duty which God requireth of man?

A. The duty God requireth of man, is obedience to His revealed will.

( Micah 6:8; 1Samuel 15:22 )

Q.45: What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?

A. The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the moral law.

( Romans 2:14-15; 10:5 )

Q.46: Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?

A. The moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments.

( Deuteronomy 10:4; Matthew 19:17-19 )

Q.47: What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?

A. The sum of the Ten Commandments is, to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.

( Matthew 22:37-40 )

Q.48: What is the preface to the Ten Commandments?

A. The preface to the Ten Commandments is in these words; I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

( Exodus 20:2 )

Q.49: What doth the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us?

A. The preface to the Ten Commandments teacheth 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; 1Peter 1:15-19 )

The Baptist Catechism – Questions 42-43, The Punishment of the Wicked

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Q.42: But what shall be done to the wicked at their death?

A. The souls of the wicked shall, at their death, be cast into the torments of hell, and their bodies lie in their graves, till the resurrection and judgment of the great day.

( Luke 16:23-24; Acts 1:25; Jude 7; 1Peter 3:19; Psalm 49:14 )

 

Q.43: What shall be done to the wicked, at the Day of Judgment?

A. At the Day of Judgment the bodies of the wicked, being raised out of their graves, shall be sentenced, together with their souls, to unspeakable torments with the devil and his angels for ever.

( John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:41, 46; 2Thessalonians 1:8-9 )

The Baptist Catechism – Questions 33-41, The Application of Redemption

/ William F. Leonhart III / 1 Comment

Q.33: How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ, in our effectual calling.

( John 6:37,39; Ephesians 1:13-14; 2:8; 3:17; 1Corinthians 1:9 )

 

Q.34: What is effectual calling?

A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and our misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, He doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the Gospel.

( Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 6:44-45; Acts 2:37; 26:18; Philippians 2;13; 2Timothy 1:9; 2Thessalonians 2:13-14 )

 

Q.35: What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

A. 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.

( 1Corinthians 1:30; Romans 8:30; Ephesians 1:5 )

 

Q.36: What is justification?

A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all of our sins, and accepteth 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; 5:17-19; 2Corinthians 5:19-21; Galatians 2:16; Philippians 3:9 )

 

Q.37: What is adoption?

A. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.

( John 1:12; Romans 8:14; 1John 3:1 )

 

Q.38: What is sanctification?

A. 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 unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

( Romans 4:4-6; Ephesians 4:23-24; 2Thessalonians 2:13 )

 

Q.39: What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

( Proverbs 4:18; Romans 5:1-2,5,17; 1Peter 1:5; 1John 5:13 )

 

Q.40: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death?

A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory, and their bodies being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.

( Job 19:26-27; Isaiah 57:2; Luke 23:43; 2Corinthians 5:1,6,8; Philippians 1:23; 1Thessalonians 4:14 Hebrews 12:23 )

 

Q.41: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

A. 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.

( Matthew 10:32; 25:23; 1Corinthians 13:12; 15:43; 1John 3:2; 1Thessalonians 4:17-18 )

Why Blog The Baptist Confession?

/ William F. Leonhart III / Leave a comment

Some of you have doubtless wondered why I have apparently made it my mission to blog The Baptist Confession and The Baptist Catechism here at CredoCovenant. I mean, surely there are other places on the internet where these confessional statements are made available. Why consolidate them here on CredoCovenant? Surely others of you, thinking you know my reasons, see no reason to ponder the question in the first place. So to answer the question myself and to clear up any misconceptions that may prevail, I thought I’d just list my reasons:

1. Our church is considering the adoption of The Baptist Confession as our own. As such, we are currently teaching through it in our adult’s Sunday school class, and our members have been asked to familiarize themselves with it. Blogging The Baptist Confession helps me to meet two goals in this regard:

a. It helps me equip the body at my church to have online access to the individual chapters of the confession and the Scripture passages that support them, and..

b. It provides me with an opportunity to personally revisit the confession, chapter-by-chapter, and reconsider my personal subscription to it.

2. I have enjoyed revisiting these confessional statements for my own personal edification.

3. It provides visitors to CredoCovenant with a theological context for the content they will find on the site.

4. It’s a quick and easy resource to which I might link when engaging in theological conversations elsewhere on the web.

5. Blogging The Baptist Confession and The Baptist Catechism gives me something to do when I’m bored.

The Baptist Catechism – Questions 24-32, Christ the Mediator

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Q.24: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?

A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ; who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was and continueth to be God and man in two distinct natures, and one person for ever.

( 1Timothy 2:5-6; John 1:14; Galatians 4:4; Romans 9:5; Luke 1:35; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 7:24-25 )

 

Q.25: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

A. Christ the Son of God became man by taking to Himself a true body, 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 2:14-16; 10:5 Matthew 26:38; Luke 1:27,31,34,35, 42; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 4:15; 7:26 )

 

Q.26: What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?

A. Christ as our Redeemer executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in His state of humiliation and exaltation.

( Acts 3:32; Hebrews 12:25; 2Corinthians 13:3; Hebrews 5:5-7; Psalm 2:6; Isaiah 9:6-7; Matthew 21:5; Psalm 2:8-11 )

 

Q.27: How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?

A. Christ executeth the office of a prophet in revealing to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.

( John 1:18; 2Peter 1:10-12; John 15:15; 20:31 )

 

Q.28: How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?

A. Christ executeth the office of a 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; 2:17; 7:24-25 )

 

Q.29: How doth Christ execute the office of a king?

A. Christ executeth 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; 32:1-2; 1Corinthians 15:25; Psalm 110 )

 

Q.30: Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?

A. Christ’s humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

( Luke 2:7; Galatians 4:4; Hebrews 12:2-3; Isaiah 53:2-3; Luke 22:44; Matthew 27:46; Philippians 2:8; 1Corinthians 15:4; Acts 2:24-27,31; Matthew 12:40 )

 

Q.31: Wherein consisteth Christ’s exaltation?

A. Christ’s exaltation consisteth in His rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up to heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.

( 1Corinthians 15:4; Mark 16:19; Ephesians 1:20; Acts 1:11; 17:31 )

 

Q.32: How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit.

( John 1:11-13; Titus 3:5-6 )

The Baptist Catechism – Questions 17-23, Sin and the Fall

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Q.17: What is sin?

A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

( 1John 3:4 )

 

Q.18: What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?

A. The sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created, was their eating the forbidden fruit.

( Genesis 3:6,12 )

 

Q.19: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s transgression?

A. The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him in ordinary generation sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression.

( Genesis 2:16-17; Romans 5:12; 1Corinthians 15:21-22 )

 

Q.20: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

A. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.

( Romans 5:12 )

 

Q.21: Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?

A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto 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 5:12-21; Ephesians 2:1-3; James 1:14-15; Matthew 15:19 )

 

Q.22: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

A. All mankind by their fall lost communication 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 for ever.

( Genesis 3:8,10,24; Ephesians 2:2-3; Galatians 3:10; Lamentations 3:39; Romans 6:23; Matthew 25:41,46 )

 

Q.23: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

A. 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 )

The Baptist Catechism – Questions 14-16, Divine Providence and Our First Parents

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Q.14: What are God’s works of providence?

A. God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing of all His creatures, and all their actions.

( Psalm 145:17; 104:24; Isaiah 28:29; Hebrews 1:3; Psalm 103:19; Matthew 10:29-31 )

 

Q.15: What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?

A. When God had created man, He entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience: forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.

( Galatians 3:12; Genesis 2:17 )

 

Q.16: Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

A. Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.

( Genesis 3:6-8, 13; Ecclesiastes 7:29 )

The Baptist Catechism – Questions 12-13, Creation

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Q.12: What is the work of Creation?

A. 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; Hebrews 11:3 )

 

Q.13: How did God create man?

A. God created man, male and female, after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.

( Genesis 1:26-28; Colossians 3:10; Ephesians 4:24 )