First Catechism (Abigail) Flashcards
- Who made you?
God.
- What else did God make?
God made all things.
- Why did God made you and all things?
For his own glory.
- Why are you to glorify God?
Because he made me and takes care of me.
- Is there more than one true God?
No. There is only one true God.
- In how many persons does this one God exist?
8. Name these persons.
In three persons.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- What is God?
God is a Spirit and does not have a body like men.
- Where is God?
God is everywhere.
- Can you see God.
No. I cannot see God, but he always sees me.
- Does God know all things?
Yes. Nothing can be hidden from God.
- Can God do all things?
Yes. God can do all his holy will.
- Where do you learn how to love and obey God?
In the Bible alone.
- Who wrote the Bible?
Chosen men you were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
- Who were our first parents?
Adam and Eve.
- How did God create man?
God created man, male and female, after his own image.
- Of what were our first parents made?
God made Adam’s body out of the ground, and Eve’s body out of a rib from Adam.
- What else did God give Adam and Eve besides bodies?
He gave them souls that will last forever.
- Do you have a soul as well as a body?
Yes. I my soul is going to last forever.
- How do you know your soul will last forever?
Because the Bible tells me so.
- In what condition did God make Adam and Eve?
What were Adam and Eve like when God made them?
He made them holy and happy.
- What covenant did God make with Adam?
The covenant of life (or of works).
- What is a covenant?
A relationship that God establishes with us and guarantees by his word.
- In the covenant of life, what did God require Adam to do?
To obey God perfectly.
- What did God promise in the covenant of life?
To reward Adam with life if he obeyed God perfectly.
- What did God threaten in the covenant of life?
To punish Adam with death if he disobeyed God.
- Did Adam keep the covenant of life?
No. He sinned against God.
- What is sin?
Sin is any lack of conformity to, or transgression of, the law of God.
- What is meant by lack of conformity?
Not being or doing what God requires.
- What is meant by transgression?
Doing what God forbids.
- What does every sin deserve?
The wrath and curse of God.
- What was the sin of our first parents?
Eating the forbidden fruit.
- Who tempted Adam and Eve to this sin?
Satan tempted Eve first and then he used her to tempt Adam.
- How did Adam and Eve change when they sinned?
Instead of being holy and happy, they became sinful and miserable.
- Did Adam act for himself alone in the covenant of life?
No. He represented the whole human race.
- What effect did the sin of Adam have on you and all people?
We are all born guilty and sinful.
- How sinful are you by nature?
I am corrupt in every part of my being.
- What is the sinful nature that we inherit from Adam called?
Original sin.
- Can anyone go to heaven with this sinful nature?
No. Our hearts must be changed before we can believe in Jesus and go to heaven.
- What is this change of heart called?
The new birth, or regeneration.
- Who can change a sinner’s heart?
The Holy Spirit alone.
- Can anyone be saved through the covenant of life?
44. Why can’t anyone be saved through the covenant of life?
No. No one can be saved through the covenant of life.
Because all have broken it and are condemned by it.
- How did you break the covenant of life?
Adam represented all people, and so I fell with Adam in his first sin.
- How, then, can you be saved?
By the Lord Jesus Christ through the covenant of grace.
- Whom did Christ represent in the covenant of grace?
His elect people.
- How did Christ fulfill the covenant of grace?
Christ obeyed the whole law for his people, and then suffered the punishment due for their sins.
- Did Jesus ever sin?
No. He lived a sinless life.
- How can you glorify God?
By loving him and doing what he commands.
- How could Christ suffer?
Christ, the Son of God, became a man so that he could obey and suffer in our place.
- For whom did Christ obey and suffer?
For all whom God the Father gave to Christ.
- What kind of life did Christ live on earth?
A life of obedience, service, and suffering.
- What kind of death did Jesus die?
The painful and shameful death of the cross.
- What is meant by atonement?
Christ satisfied God’s justice by his suffering and death as a substitute for sinners.
- What does God the Father guarantee in the covenant of grace?
To justify and sanctify all those for whom Christ died.
- How does God justify you?
What is justification?
God forgives all my sins and accepts me as righteous through Christ.
(God forgiving all my sins and declaring me to be righteous.)
- How does God sanctify you?
What is sanctification? What are the two parts of sanctification?
God makes me more and more holy in heart and conduct.
Sanctification is God making me holy in heart and behavior. Dying to sin and living to righteousness.
- What must you do to be saved?
I must repent of my sin and believe in Christ as my Savior.
- How do you repent of your sin?
I must be sorry for my sin, and hate and forsake it.
- Why must you hate and forsake your sin?
Because sin displeases God.
- What does it mean to believe in Christ? (What is this called)
To trust in Christ alone for my salvation. (Faith)
- Can you repent and believe in Christ by your own power?
No. I cannot repent and believe unless the Holy Spirit changed my heart.
- How can you get the help of the Holy Spirit?
God has told us to pray for the Holy Spirit’s help.
- How long ago did Christ die?
About two thousand years ago.
- How were sinners saved before Christ came?
By believing in the promised Messiah.
- Before Christ came, how did believers show their faith?
By offering sacrifices God required.
- What did these sacrifices represent?
Christ, the Lamb of God, would come to die for sinners.
- How many offices does Christ fulfill as Messiah?
69. What are the offices that Christ fulfills?
Christ fulfills three offices.
The offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king.
- How is Christ your prophet?
73. Why do you need Christ as your prophet?
Christ teaches me the will of God.
Because I am ignorant by nature.
- How is Christ your priest?
74. Why do you need Christ as your priest?
Christ died for my sins, and continues to pray for me.
(WSC: in his one offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God and in making continual intercession for us.)
Because I am guilty of breaking God’s law.
- How is Christ your king?
75. Why do you need Christ as your king?
Christ rules over me, the world and Satan, and he defends me.
Because I am weak and helpless.
- How many commandments did God give on Mount Sinai? (And where do we find them?)
Ten commandments. (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5)
- Why should we obey the Ten Commandments?
Because God is our Creator, Savior and King.
- What do the first four commandments teach?
- What do the last six commandments teach?
- Who is your neighbor?
What it means to love and serve God.
What it means to love and serve my neighbor
Everybody is my neighbor.
- What do the Ten Commandments teach?
81. Who is your neighbor?
To love God with all my heart and my neighbor as myself.
Everybody is my neighbor.
- Is God pleased with those who love and obey him?
83. Is God displeased with those who do not love and obey him?
Yes. God says, “I love them that love me.”
Yes. “God is angry with the wicked every day.”
- What is the first commandment?
85. What does the first commandment teach you?
The first commandment is “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
To worship the true God, and him only.
- What is the second commandment?
87. What does the second commandment teach you?
The second commandment is “You shall not make for yourself a carved image…you shall not bow down to them nor serve them… (shortened version)
To worship God only as he commands, and not to worship God by using statues or pictures.
- What is the third commandment?
89. What does the third commandment teach you?
The third commandment is “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
To treat God’s name, word, and works with reverence.
- What is the fourth commandment?
91. What does the fourth commandment teach?
The fourth commandment is “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is that Sabbath of the LORD your GOd. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is within them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
To work six days and keep the Sabbath holy.
- What day of the week is the Christian Sabbath?
93. Why is it called the Lord’s Day?
The first day of the week, called the Lord’s Day.
Because on that day the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
- How should you keep the Lord’s Day?
I should rest from my daily work and faithfully worship God.
- What is the fifth commandment?
96. What does the fifth commandment teach?
The fifth commandment is “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”
To love and obey my parents and all others that God appoints over me.
- What is the sixth commandment?
98. What does the sixth commandment teach you?
The sixth commandment is “You shall not murder.”
Not to take anyone’s life unjustly and not to sin when I am angry.
- What is the seventh commandment?
100. What does the seventh commandment teach you?
The seventh commandment is “You shall not commit adultery.”
To be pure in heart, language, and conduct, and to be faithful in marriage.
- What is the eighth commandment?
102. What does the eighth commandment teach you?
The eighth commandment is “You shall not steal.”
Not to take anything that belongs to someone else.
- What is the ninth commandment?
104. What does the ninth commandment teach you?
The ninth commandment is “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Never to lie, but to tell the truth at all times.
- What is the tenth commandment?
106. What does the tenth commandment teach you.
The tenth commandment is “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
To be content with whatever God chooses to give me.
- Can you keep the Ten Commandments perfectly?
No. Since the fall of Adam, the only One who has been able to do this is Jesus.
- Of what use are the Ten Commandments to you?
They teach me what is pleasing to God, and how much I need a Savior.
- What is prayer?
Prayer is praising God, giving thanks for all his blessings, and asking him for the things he has promised in the Bible.
- In whose name should we pray?
Only the name of Christ.
- What did Christ give us to teach us about prayer?
112. What is the Lord’s Prayer? (And where do you find it?)
The Lord’s Prayer.
The Lord’s prayers is “Our Father, which art in heavent, Hallwed 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 delivers us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13)
- How many petitions are there in the Lord’s prayer?
Six.
- What is the first petition? (Lord’s Prayer)
115. What does it mean to pray…?
The first petition is “Hallowed be the name.”
We are asking God to help us and others to respect and honor him.
- What is the second petition? (Lord’s Prayer)
117. What does it mean to pray…?
The second petition is “They kingdom come.”
We are asking God to bring more and more people to hear, believe and obey his gospel.
- What is the third petition? (Lord’s Prayer)
119. What does it mean to pray…?
The third petition is “Thy will be done in earth, as it is heaven.”
We are asking God to make us able and willing to serve him on earth just as he is served in heaven.
- What is the fourth petition? (Lord’s Prayer)
121. What does it mean to pray…?
The fourth petition is “Give us this day our daily bread.”
We are asking God to provide us with all that we really need.
- What is the fifth petition? (Lord’s Prayer)
123. What does it mean to pray…?
The fifth petition is “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
We are asking God to forgive our sins and for Christ’s sake, and to make us willing to forgive others.
- What is the sixth petition? (Lord’s Prayer)
125. What does it mean to pray…?
The sixth petition is “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
We are asking God to keep us from being tempted and to make us strong enough to resist when we are tempted.
- How many sacraments are there?
127. What are they?
Two.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
- Who appointed these sacraments?
130. Why did Christ appoint these sacraments?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
To distinguish his people from the world, and to comfort and strengthen them.
- What sign is used baptism?
132 What does this washing with water represent?
Washing with water.
That we are united to Christ and cleansed from sin by his blood.
- Into whose name are we baptized?
Into the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
- Who are to be baptized?
134. Why are we baptized even as little infants?
Believers and their children.
Because God includes the children of believers in his covenant and marks them in baptism.
- What did Jesus say about little children?
And where do we find it?
“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)
- What does baptism call you to be?
A true follower of Christ.
- What sign is used in the Lord’s Supper?
Eating bread and drinking wine to remember the suffering and death of Jesus.
- What does the bread represent?
Christ’s body sacrificed for our sins.
- What does the wine represent?
Christ’s blood shed for our sins.
- Who may rightly partake of the Lord’s Supper?
Those who repent of their sins, trust in Christ, live a godly life, and profess their faith before the Church.
- Did Christ remain in the grave after his crucifixion?
No. He rose bodily from the grave on the third day after his death.
- Where is Christ now?
In heaven, ruling his kingdom and interceding for us.
- Will the Lord Jesus come again?
Yes! He will return to judge the world on the last day.
- What happens to believers when they die?
Our bodies will return to the dust and our souls will go to be with the Lord forever.
- What happens to unbelievers when they die?
Their bodies will return to dust also, but their souls will go to hell.
- What is hell?
Hell is an awful place, where unbelievers are separated from God to suffer for their sins.
- Will the bodies of all the dead be raised again?
Yes. At the last day some will be raised to everlasting life and others everlasting death.
- What will God do to unbelievers at the last day?
He will judge them, and condemn them to everlasting punishment in the lake of fire with Satan and his angels.
- What will God do for believers at the last day?
He will give them a home with him in the new heaven and the new earth.
- What will be the new heaven and the new earth be like?
A glorious happy place, where the saved will be with Jesus forever.
