Q1
Who made you?
God.
Q2
What else did God make?
God made all things.
Q3
Why did God make you and all things?
For his own glory.
Q4
How can you glorify God?
By loving him and doing what he commands.
Q5
Why ought you to glorify God?
Because he made me and takes care of me.
Q6
Are there more gods than one?
There is only one God.
Q7
In how many persons does this one God exist?
In three persons.
Q8
What are they?
The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Q9
What is God?
God is a Spirit, and has not a body like men.
Q10
Where is God?
God is everywhere.
Q11
Can you see God?
No; I cannot see God, but he always sees me.
Q12
Does God know all things?
Yes; nothing can be hid from God.
Q13
Can God do all things?
Yes; God can do all his holy will.
Q14
Where do you learn how to love and obey God?
In the Bible alone.
Q15
Who wrote the Bible?
Holy men who were taught by the Holy Ghost.
Q16
Who were our first parents?
Adam and Eve.
Q17
Of what were our first parents made?
God made the body of Adam out of the ground, and formed Eve from the body of Adam.
Q18
What did God give Adam and Eve besides bodies?
He gave them souls that could never die.
Q19
Have you a soul as well as a body?
Yes; I have a soul that can never die.
Q20
How do you know that you have a soul?
Because I can think about God and the world to come.
Q21
In what condition did God make Adam and Eve?
He made them holy and happy.
Q22
What is a covenant?
An agreement between two or more persons.
Q23
What covenant did God make with Adam?
The covenant of works.
Q24
What was Adam bound to do by the covenant of works?
To obey God perfectly.
Q25
What did God promise in the covenant of works?
To reward Adam with life if he obeyed him.
Q26
What did God threaten in the covenant of works?
To punish Adam with death if he disobeyed.
Q27
Did Adam keep the covenant of works?
No; he sinned against God.
Q28
What is sin?
Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.
Q29
What is meant by want of conformity?
Not being or doing what God requires.
Q30
What is meant by transgression?
Doing what God forbids.
Q31
What was the sin of our first parents?
Eating the forbidden fruit.
Q32
Who tempted them to this sin?
The devil tempted Eve, and she gave the fruit to Adam.
Q33
What befell our first parents when they had sinned?
Instead of being holy and happy, they became sinful and miserable.
Q34
Did Adam act for himself alone in the covenant of works?
No; he represented all his posterity.
Q35
What effect had the sin of Adam on all mankind?
All mankind are born in a state of sin and misery.
Q36
What is that sinful nature which we inherit from Adam called?
Original sin.
Q37
What does every sin deserve?
The wrath and curse of God.
Q38
Can any one go to heaven with this sinful nature?
No, our hearts must be changed before we can be fit for heaven.
Q39
What is a change of heart called?
Regeneration.
Q40
Who can change a sinner's heart?
The Holy Spirit alone.
Q41
Can any one be saved through the covenant of works?
None can be saved through the covenant of works.
Q42
Why can none be saved through the covenant of works?
Because all have broken it, and are condemned by it.
Q43
With whom did God the Father make the covenant of grace?
With Christ, his eternal Son.
Q44
Whom did Christ represent in the covenant of grace?
His elect people.
Q45
What did Christ undertake in the covenant of grace?
To keep the whole law for his people, and to suffer the punishment due to their sins.
Q46
Did our Lord Jesus Christ ever commit the least sin?
No; he was holy, harmless and undefiled.
Q47
How could the Son of God suffer?
Christ, the Son of God, became man that he might obey and suffer in our nature.
Q48
What is meant by the Atonement?
Christ's satisfying divine justice, by his sufferings and death, in the place of sinners.
Q49
What did God the Father undertake in the covenant of grace?
To justify and sanctify those for whom Christ should die.
Q50
What is justification?
It is God's forgiving sinners, and treating them as if they had never sinned.
Q51
What is sanctification?
It is God's making sinners holy in heart and conduct.
Q52
For whom did Christ obey and suffer?
For those whom the Father had given him.
Q53
What kind of life did Christ live on earth?
A life of poverty and suffering.
Q54
What kind of death did Christ die?
The painful and shameful death of the cross.
Q55
Who will be saved?
Only those who repent of sin, believe in Christ and lead holy lives.
Q56
What is it to repent?
To be sorry for sin, and to hate and forsake it because it is displeasing to God.
Q57
What is it to believe or have faith in Christ?
To trust in Christ alone for salvation.
Q58
Can you repent and believe in Christ by your own power?
No; I can do nothing good without the help of God's Holy Spirit.
Q59
How can you get the help of the Holy Spirit?
God has told us that we must pray to him for the Holy Spirit.
Q60
How long ago is it since Christ died?
More than eighteen hundred years.
Q61
How were pious persons saved before the coming of Christ if
By believing in a Saviour to come.
Q62
How did they show their faith?
By offering sacrifices on God's altar.
Q63
What did these sacrifices represent?
Christ, the Lamb of God, who was to die for sinners.
Q64
What offices has Christ?
Christ has three offices.
Q65
What are they?
The offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king.
Q66
How is Christ a prophet?
Because he teaches us the will of God.
Q67
How is Christ a priest?
Because he died for our sins and pleads with God for us.
Q68
How is Christ a king?
Because he rules over us and defends us.
Q69
Why do you need Christ as a prophet?
Because I am ignorant.
Q70
Why do you need Christ as a priest?
Because I am guilty.
Q71
Why do you need Christ as a king?
Because I am weak and helpless.
Q72
How many commandments did God give on Mount Sinai?
Ten commandments.
Q73
What are the ten commandments sometimes called?
The Decalogue.
Q74
What do the first four commandments teach?
Our duty to God.
Q75
What do the last six commandments teach?
Our duty to our fellow-men.
Q76
What is the sum of the ten commandments?
To love God with all my heart, and my neighbor as myself.
Q77
Who is your neighbor?
All my fellow-men are my neighbors.
Q78
Is God pleased with those who love and obey him?
Yes; he says, 'I love them that love me.'
Q79
Is God displeased with those who do not love and obey him?
Yes; 'God is angry with the wicked every day.'
Q80
What is the first commandment?
The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Q81
What does the first commandment teach us?
To worship God alone.
Q82
What is the second commandment?
The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing 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 fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
Q83
What does the second commandment teach us?
To worship God in a proper manner, and to avoid idolatry.
Q84
What is the third commandment?
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.
Q85
What does the third commandment teach us?
To reverence God's name, word, and works.
Q86
What is the fourth commandment?
The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor 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, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy 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 on the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Q87
What does the fourth commandment teach us?
To keep the Sabbath holy.
Q88
What day of the week is the Christian Sabbath?
The first day of the week, called the Lord's day.
Q89
Why is it called the Lord's day?
Because on that day Christ rose from the dead.
Q90
How should the Sabbath be spent?
In prayer and praise, in hearing and reading God's word, and in doing good to our fellow-men.
Q91
What is the fifth commandment?
The fifth commandment is, Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Q92
What does the fifth commandment teach us?
To love and obey our parents and teachers.
Q93
What is the sixth commandment?
The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.
Q94
What does the sixth commandment teach us?
To avoid angry passions.
Q95
What is the seventh commandment?
The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Q96
What does the seventh commandment teach us?
To be pure in heart, language, and conduct.
Q97
What is the eighth commandment?
The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.
Q98
What does the eighth commandment teach us?
To be honest and industrious.
Q99
What is the ninth commandment?
The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Q100
What does the ninth commandment teach us?
To tell the truth.
Q101
What is the tenth commandment?
The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.
Q102
What does the tenth commandment teach us?
To be content with our lot.
Q103
Can any man keep these ten commandments perfectly?
No mere man, since the fall of Adam, ever did or can keep the ten commandments perfectly.
Q104
Of what use are the ten commandments to us?
They teach us our duty, and show our need of a Saviour.
Q105
What is prayer?
Prayer is asking God for things which he has promised to give.
Q106
In whose name should we pray?
Only in the name of Christ.
Q107
What has Christ given us to teach us how to pray?
The Lord's Prayer.
Q108
Repeat the Lord's Prayer.
OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THY NAME. THY KINGDOM COME. THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD; AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS; AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL. FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM, AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, FOR EVER. AMEN.
Q109
How many petitions are there in the Lord's Prayer?
Six.
Q110
What is the first petition?
'Hallowed be thy name.'
Q111
What do we pray for in the first petition?
That God's name may be honored by us and all men.
Q112
What is the second petition?
'Thy kingdom come.'
Q113
What do we pray for in the second petition?
That the gospel may be preached in all the world, and believed and obeyed by us and all men.
Q114
What is the third petition?
'Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.'
Q115
What do we pray for in the third petition?
That men on earth may serve God as the angels do in heaven.
Q116
What is the fourth petition?
'Give us this day our daily bread.'
Q117
What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
That God would give us all things needful for our bodies and souls.
Q118
What is the fifth petition?
'And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.'
Q119
What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
That God would pardon our sins for Christ's sake, and enable us to forgive those who have injured us.
Q120
What is the sixth petition?
'And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'
Q121
What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
That God would keep us from sin.
Q122
How many sacraments are there?
Two.
Q123
What are they?
Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Q124
Who appointed these sacraments?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
Q125
Why did Christ appoint these sacraments?
To distinguish his disciples from the world, and to comfort and strengthen them.
Q126
What sign is used in baptism?
The washing with water.
Q127
What does this signify?
That we are cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ.
Q128
In whose name are we baptized?
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Q129
Who are to be baptized?
Believers and their children.
Q130
Why should infants be baptized?
Because they have a sinful nature and need a Saviour.
Q131
Does Christ care for little children?
Yes; for he says, SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME, AND FORBID THEM NOT, FOR OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.
Q132
To what does your baptism bind you?
To be a true follower of Christ.
Q133
What is the Lord's Supper?
The eating of bread and drinking of wine in remembrance of the sufferings and death of Christ.
Q134
What does the bread represent?
The body of Christ, broken for our sins.
Q135
What does the wine represent?
The blood of Christ, shed for our salvation.
Q136
Who should partake of the Lord's Supper?
Only those who repent of their sins, believe in Christ for salvation, and love their fellow-men.
Q137
Did Christ remain in the tomb after his crucifixion?
No; he rose from the tomb on the third day after his death.
Q138
Where is Christ now?
In heaven, interceding for sinners.
Q139
Will he come again?
Yes; at the last day Christ will come to judge the world.
Q140
What becomes of men at death?
The body returns to dust, and the soul goes into the world of spirits.
Q141
Will the bodies of the dead be raised to life again?
Yes; 'the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised.'
Q142
What will become of the wicked in the day of judgment?
They shall be cast into hell.
Q143
What is hell?
A place of dreadful and endless torment.
Q144
What will become of the righteous?
They shall be taken to heaven.
Q145
What is heaven?
A glorious and happy place, where the righteous shall be for ever with the LORD.