CATECHISM · 1794 AD · PARTICULAR BAPTIST

Keach's Catechism

WRITTEN

1794 AD

TRADITION

Particular Baptist

QUESTIONS

118

PROOF-TEXTS

479

QUOTED IN THE BEREAN TEXT

18 quotations in this document are given in the Berean Standard Bible. 26 more are left in the document's own older wording, each marked where it stands.

CONTENTS

QUESTION 1

Who is the first and best of beings?

God is the first and best of beings.

Isaiah 44:6

Psalms 8:1

Psalms 97:9

QUESTION 2

What is the chief end of man?

Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

1 Corinthians 10:31

Psalms 73:25–26

QUESTION 3

How do we know there is a God?

The light of nature in man, and the works of God, plainly declare that there is a God; but His Word and Spirit only, do effectually reveal Him unto us for our salvation.

Romans 1:18–20

Psalms 19:1–2

2 Timothy 3:15

1 Corinthians 1:21–24

1 Corinthians 2:9–10

QUESTION 4

What is the Word of God?

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

2 Peter 1:21

2 Timothy 3:16–17

Isaiah 8:20

QUESTION 5

How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?

The Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, its power to convert sinners and to edify saints; but the Spirit of God only, bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in our hearts, is able fully to persuade us that the Bible is the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 2:6–7

1 Corinthians 2:13

Psalms 119:18

Psalms 119:129

Acts 10:43

Acts 26:22

Acts 18:28

Hebrews 4:12

Psalms 19:7–9

Romans 15:4

John 16:13–14

1 John 2:20–27

2 Corinthians 3:14–17

QUESTION 6

May all men make use of the Scriptures?

All men are not only permitted, but commanded and exhorted, to read, hear, and understand the Scriptures.

John 5:39

Luke 16:29

Acts 8:28–30

Acts 17:11

QUESTION 7

What do the Scriptures principally teach?

The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man.

2 Timothy 3:16–17

John 20:31

Acts 24:14

1 Corinthians 10:11

Ecclesiastes 12:13

QUESTION 8

What is God?

God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.

John 4:24

Psalms 147:5

Psalms 90:2

James 1:17

Revelation 4:8

Psalms 89:14

Exodus 34:6–7

1 Timothy 1:17

QUESTION 9

Are there more gods than one?

There is but one only, the living and true God.

Deuteronomy 6:4

Jeremiah 10:10

QUESTION 10

How many persons are there in the Godhead?

There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory.

1 Corinthians 8:6

John 10:30

John 14:9

Acts 5:3–4

Matthew 28:19

2 Corinthians 13:14

QUESTION 11

What are the decrees of God?

The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby for His own glory, He has fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass

Ephesians 1:11

Romans 11:36

Daniel 4:35

QUESTION 12

How does God execute His decrees?

God executes His decrees in the works of creation and providence.

Genesis 1:1

Revelation 4:11

Matthew 6:26

Acts 14:17

QUESTION 13

What is the work of creation?

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 1:1

Hebrews 11:3

Exodus 20:11

Genesis 1:31

QUESTION 14

How did God create man?

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

Genesis 1:27

Colossians 3:10

Ephesians 4:24

Genesis 1:28

QUESTION 15

What are God's works of providence?

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

Nehemiah 9:6

Colossians 1:17

Hebrews 1:3

Psalms 103:19

Matthew 10:29–30

QUESTION 16

What special act of providence did God exercise towards man, in the estate wherein he was created?

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

Genesis 2:16–17

Galatians 3:12

Romans 5:12

QUESTION 17

Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

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

Ecclesiastes 7:29

Romans 5:12

QUESTION 18

What is sin?

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

1 John 3:4

Romans 5:13

QUESTION 19

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

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

Genesis 3:6

Genesis 3:12–13

QUESTION 20

Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?

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

1 Corinthians 15:21–22

Romans 5:12

Romans 5:18–19

QUESTION 21

Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

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

Psalms 51:5

Romans 5:18–19

Isaiah 64:6

QUESTION 22

Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereunto man fell?

The sinfulness of that estate whereunto 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 5:19

Romans 3:10

Ephesians 2:1

Isaiah 53:6

Psalms 51:5

Matthew 15:19

QUESTION 23

What is the misery of that estate whereunto man fell?

All mankind, by their fall lost communion with God, are under His wrath and curse, and 80 made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

Genesis 3:8

Genesis 3:24

Ephesians 2:3

Galatians 3:10

Romans 6:23

Matthew 25:41–46

Psalms 9:17

QUESTION 24

Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

God, out of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, having chosen a people 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 1:3–4

2 Thessalonians 2:13

Romans 5:21

Acts 13:8

Jeremiah 31:33

QUESTION 25

Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

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 continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person, forever.

Galatians 3:13

1 Timothy 2:5

John 1:14

1 Timothy 3:16

Romans 9:5

Colossians 2:9

THIS TEXT AND ITS SOURCES

Berean Standard Bible Public domain

The document's own wording is unchanged apart from the quoted verses described above. Its proof-text references were resolved against this site's own copy of the Berean Standard Bible; the references it does not carry would be shown as references with no verse words.

Rooted in Scripture. Open for discovery.

A place to read slowly, ask deeply, and follow the connections. Scripture, study and the voices of Christian history, brought together for a lifetime of learning.

SPEND TIME IN THE WORD

Open the reader
Books & reading progress
Compare Scripture editions
Find a passage

FOLLOW YOUR QUESTIONS

Study collections
People & places
Faith & apologetics
Stories of faith

A library with a paper trail.

Meet the authors. Explore the collection. Trace each work to its source.

Download the code.

Open source on GitHub.