First
Catechism & Westminster Catechism
Biblical
Truth for God’s Children
Kindergarten Questions 1-34
1.
Q. Who made you?
A.
God.
2.
Q. What else did God make?
A.
God made all things.
3.
Q. Why did God make you and all
things?
A.
For his own glory.
4.
Q. How can you glorify God?
A.
By loving him and doing what he
commands.
5.
Q. Why are you to glorify God?
A.
Because he made me and takes care
of me.
6.
Q. Are there more gods than one?
A.
There is only one true God.
7.
Q. How many persons is this one
true God?
A.
Three.
8.
Q. Name
these three persons.
A.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit.
9.
Q. What is God?
A.
God is a Spirit and has no body as
we do.
10.
Q. Where is God?
A.
God is everywhere.
11.
Q. Can you see God?
A.
No – I cannot see God, but he
can always see me.
12.
Q. Does God know all things?
A.
Yes – nothing can be hid from
God.
13.
Q. Can God do all things?
A.
Yes – God can do all his holy
will.
14.
Q. Where
do you learn how to love and obey God?
A.
In the Bible alone.
15.
Q. Who wrote the Bible?
A.
Chosen men who wrote by the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
16.
Q. Who were our first parents?
A.
Adam and Eve.
17.
Q. How
did God make our first parents?
A.
God made Adam’s body out of the
ground, and Eve’s body out of a rib from Adam.
18.
Q. What
did God give Adam and Eve besides bodies?
A.
He gave them spirits that will
last forever.
19.
Q. Do you have a spirit as well as
a body?
A.
Yes – and my spirit is going to
last forever.
20.
Q. How
do you know your spirit will last forever?
A.
Because the Bible tells me so.
21.
Q. In
what condition did God make Adam and Eve?
A.
He made them holy and happy.
22.
Q. What
is a sacred covenant?
A.
A relationship that God sets up
with us and guarantees by his word.
23.
Q. What covenant did God make with
Adam?
A.
The covenant of life.
24.
Q. What
did God require Adam to do in the covenant of life?
A.
To obey him perfectly.
25.
Q. What
did God promise in the covenant of life?
A.
To reward Adam with life if he
obeyed him.
26.
Q. What did God threaten in the
covenant of life?
A.
To punish Adam with death if he
disobeyed him.
27.
Q. Did Adam keep the covenant of
life?
A.
No – he sinned against God.
28.
Q. What
is sin?
A.
Any thought, word or deed that
breaks God’s law by omission or commission.
29.
Q. What is a sin of omission?
A.
Not being or doing what God
requires.
30.
Q. What is a sin of commission?
A.
doing
what God forbids.
31.
Q. What does every sin deserve?
A.
The wrath and curse of God.
32.
Q. What was the sin of our first
parents?
A.
Eating the forbidden fruit.
33.
Q. Who
tempted them to this sin?
A.
Satan tempted Eve first, and then
he used her to tempt Adam.
34.
Q. How
did Adam and Eve change when they sinned?
A.
Instead of being holy and happy,
they became sinful and miserable.
First
Grade Questions 34-72
35.
Q. Did
Adam act for himself alone in the covenant of life?
A.
No – he represented the whole
human race.
36.
Q. What did Adam’s sin do to you?
A.
It made me guilty and sinful.
37.
Q. How sinful are you by nature?
A.
I am corrupt in every part of my
being.
38.
Q. Can you go to heaven with this
sinful nature?
A.
No – my heart must be changed
before I can be fit for heaven.
39.
Q. What is the changing of your
heart called?
A.
The new birth, or regeneration.
40.
Q. Who is able to change your
heart?
A.
The Holy Spirit alone.
41.
Q. Can
you be saved through the covenant of life?
A.
No – because I broke it and am
condemned by it.
42.
Q. How did you break the covenant
of life?
A.
Adam represented me, and so I fell
with him in his first sin.
43.
Q. How, then, can you be saved?
A.
By the Lord Jesus Christ in the
covenant of grace.
44.
Q. Who
was represented by Jesus in the covenant of grace?
A.
His elect people.
45.
Q. How
did Jesus fulfill the covenant of grace?
A.
He kept the whole law for his
people, and then was punished for all their sins.
46.
Q. Did Jesus ever sin?
A.
No – he lived a sinless life.
47.
Q. How could the Son of God suffer?
A.
The Son of God became a man so
that he could obey and suffer.
48.
Q. For whom did Christ obey and
suffer?
A.
For all who were given to him by
the Father.
49.
Q. What kind of life did Christ
live on earth?
A.
A life of poverty and suffering.
50.
Q. What kind of death did Jesus
die?
A.
The painful and shameful death of
the cross.
51.
Q. What is meant by the atonement?
A.
Christ satisfied God’s justice
by his suffering and death in the place of sinners.
52.
Q. What
did God the Father guarantee in the covenant of grace?
A.
To justify and sanctify all those
for whom Christ died.
53.
Q. How can God justify you?
A.
By forgiving all my sins and
declaring me righteous.
54.
Q. How can God sanctify you?
A.
By making me holy in heart and
conduct.
55.
Q. What must you do to be saved?
A.
I must repent of my sins, believe
in Christ and live a new life.
56.
Q. How do you repent of your sins?
A.
By being sorry enough for my sin
to hate it and forsake it.
57.
Q. Why must you hate and forsake
your sin?
A.
Because it displeases God.
58.
Q. What does it mean to believe in
Christ?
A.
To trust in him alone for my
salvation.
59.
Q. Can
you repent and believe by your own power?
A.
No – I cannot do anything good
unless the Holy Spirit enables me.
60.
Q. How can you get the help of the
Holy Spirit?
A.
God will give the Holy Spirit to
those who ask him.
61.
Q. How
long ago did Christ die?
A.
About two thousand years.
62.
Q. How were sinners saved before
Christ came?
A.
By believing in a messiah to come.
63.
Q. How did they show their faith?
A.
By offering the sacrifices God
required.
64.
Q. What did these sacrifices
represent?
A.
Christ, the Lamb of God, who would
come to die for sinners.
65.
Q. How
many offices did the Lord Jesus fulfill as the promised Messiah?
A.
He fulfilled three offices.
66.
Q. What are they?
A.
The offices of prophet, priest,
and king.
67.
Q. How is Christ your prophet?
A.
He teaches me the will of God.
68.
Q. How is Christ your priest?
A.
He died for my sins, and prays for
me.
69.
Q. How is Christ your king?
A.
He rules over me and defends me.
70.
Q. Why do you need Christ as your
prophet?
A.
Because I am ignorant by nature.
71.
Q. Why do you need Christ as your
priest?
A.
Because I am guilty of breaking
God’s law.
72.
Q. Why do you need Christ as your
king?
A.
Because I am weak and helpless.
Second
Grade Questions 73-104
73.
Q. How
many commandments did God write down on the stone tablets?
A.
Ten commandments.
74.
Q. What
do the first four commandments teach you?
A.
What it means to love and serve
God.
75.
Q. What
do the last six commandments teach you?
A.
What it means to love and serve my
neighbor.
76.
Q. What is the sum of the Ten
Commandments?
A.
To love God with all my heart, and
my neighbor as myself.
77.
Q. Who is your neighbor?
A.
Everybody is my neighbor.
78.
Q. Is God pleased if you love and
obey him?
A.
Yes – he loves those who love
him.
79.
Q. Is
God displeased with those who refuse to love and obey him?
A.
Yes – God is angry with the
wicked every day.
80.
Q. What
is the first commandment?
A.
“You shall have no other gods
before me.”
81.
Q. What
does the first commandment teach you?
A.
To worship the true God, and him
alone.
82.
Q. What is the second commandment?
A.
“You shall not make for yourself
any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that
is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not
bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing
mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.”
83.
Q. What
does the second commandment teach you?
A.
To worship God only as he commands
– without any statues or pictures.
84.
Q. What is the third commandment?
A.
“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.”
85.
Q. What
does the third commandment teach you?
A.
To reverence God’s name,
especially in keeping my vows.
86.
Q. What is the fourth commandment?
A.
“Remember the Sabbath day by
keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh
day is a Sabbath to the Lord your
God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son nor daughter,
nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your
gates. For in six days the Lord
made the havens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested
on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord
blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
87.
Q. What
does the fourth commandment teach you?
A.
To work six days and to keep a
holy Sabbath.
88.
Q. What
day of the week is the Christian Sabbath?
A.
The first day of the week, which
is the Lord’s Day.
89.
Q. Why is it called the Lord’s
Day?
A.
Because on that day our Lord rose
from the dead.
90.
Q. How should you keep the Lord’s
Day?
A.
I should rest from my daily work
and faithfully worship God.
91.
Q. What is the fifth commandment?
A.
“Honor your father and your
mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord
your God is giving you.
92.
Q. What
does the fifth commandment teach you?
A.
To love and obey my parents and
all others that God appoints to teach and govern me.
93.
Q. What is the sixth commandment?
A.
“You shall not murder.”
94.
Q. What
does the sixth commandment teach you?
A.
Not to take anyone’s life
unjustly.
95.
Q. What is the seventh commandment?
A.
“You shall not commit
adultery.”
96.
Q. What
does the seventh commandment teach you?
A.
To be pure in heart, language, and
conduct.
97.
Q. What is the eighth commandment?
A.
“You shall not steal.”
98.
Q. What does the eighth commandment
teach you?
A.
Not to take anything owned by
another person.
99.
Q. What is the ninth commandment?
A.
“You shall not give false
testimony against your neighbor.”
100.
Q. What
does the ninth commandment teach you?
A.
To tell the truth at all times.
101.
Q. What is the tenth commandment?
A.
“You shall not covet your
neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his
manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your
neighbor.”
102.
Q. What
does the tenth commandment teach you?
A.
To be content with whatever God
chooses to give me.
103.
Q. Can
you keep the Ten Commandments perfectly?
A.
No – since the fall of Adam, the
only one who has been able to do this is Jesus.
104.
Q. Of
what use are the Ten Commandments to you?
A.
They teach me what is pleasing to
God, and how much I need a savior.
Third
Grade Questions 105-145
105.
Q. What is prayer?
A.
Prayer is asking God for the
things he has promised in the Bible – and giving thanks for what he has given.
106.
Q. In whose name are we to pray?
A.
In the name of Christ only.
107.
Q. What
did Christ give us to teach us about prayer?
A.
The Lord’s Prayer.
108.
Q. What is the Lord’s Prayer?
A.
“Our father in heaven, hallowed
be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven
our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
109.
Q. How
many things do we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer?
A.
Six.
110.
Q. What do we pray first?
A.
“Hallowed be your name.”
111.
Q. What
does it mean to pray, “Hollowed be your name”?
A.
We are asking God to enable us and
all creation to honor his name.
112.
Q. What do we pray second?
A.
“Your kingdom come.”
113.
Q. What
does it mean to pray, “Your kingdom come”?
A.
We are asking God to bring more
and more people to believe and obey his gospel.
114.
Q. What do we pray third?
A.
“Your will be done on earth as
it is in heaven.”
115.
Q. What
does it mean to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?
A.
We are asking God to make us able
and willing to serve him as the angels do in heaven.
116.
Q. What do we pray fourth?
A.
“Give us today our daily
bread.”