CATECHISM · 1855 AD · PARTICULAR BAPTIST

Puritan Catechism

WRITTEN

1855 AD

TRADITION

Particular Baptist

QUESTIONS

82

PROOF-TEXTS

255

QUOTED IN THE BEREAN TEXT

2 quotations in this document are given in the Berean Standard Bible. 20 more are left in the document's own older wording, each marked where it stands.

CONTENTS

QUESTION 1

What is the chief end of man?

Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever

1 Corinthians 10:31

Psalms 73:25–26

QUESTION 2

What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify him?

The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy him.

Ephesians 2:20

2 Timothy 3:16

1 John 1:3

QUESTION 3

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 1:13

Ecclesiastes 12:13

QUESTION 4

What is God?

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

John 4:24

Job 11:7

Psalms 90:2

1 Timothy 1:17

James 1:17

Exodus 3:14

Psalms 147:5

Revelation 4:8

Exodus 34:6–7

QUESTION 5

Are there more Gods than one?

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

Deuteronomy 6:4

Jeremiah 10:10

QUESTION 6

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 John 5:7

Matthew 28:19

QUESTION 7

What are the decrees of God?

The decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his own will, whereby for his own glory he has foreordained whatever comes to pass.

Ephesians 1:11–12

QUESTION 8

How does God execute his decrees?

God executes his decrees in the works of creation, and providence.

Revelation 4:11

Daniel 4:35

QUESTION 9

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 six normal consecutive days, and all very good.

Genesis 1:1

Hebrews 11:3

Exodus 20:11

Genesis 1:31

QUESTION 10

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 11

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.

Psalms 145:17

Isaiah 28:29

Hebrews 1:3

Psalms 103:19

Matthew 10:29

QUESTION 12

What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the state wherein he was created?

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 the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.

Galatians 3:12

Genesis 2:17

QUESTION 13

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

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

Ecclesiastes 7:29

Genesis 3:6–8

QUESTION 14

What is sin?

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

1 John 3:4

QUESTION 15

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 15:22

Romans 5:12

QUESTION 16

Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery.

Romans 5:18

QUESTION 17

Wherein consists the sinfulness of that state whereinto man fell?

The sinfulness of that state 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 5:19

Romans 3:10

Ephesians 2:1

Psalms 51:5

Matthew 15:19

QUESTION 18

What is the misery of that state whereinto man fell?

All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.

Genesis 3:8

Genesis 3:24

Ephesians 2:3

Galatians 3:10

Romans 6:23

Matthew 25:41

QUESTION 19

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

God having, out of his good pleasure from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer.

2 Thessalonians 2:13

Romans 5:21

QUESTION 20

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 for ever.

1 Timothy 2:5

John 1:14

1 Timothy 3:16

Colossians 2:9

QUESTION 21

How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?

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 Virgin Mary, and born of her yet without sin.

Hebrews 2:14

Matthew 26:38

Hebrews 4:15

Luke 1:31

Luke 1:35

Hebrews 7:26

QUESTION 22

What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?

Christ as our Redeemer executes the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his state of humiliation and exaltation.

Acts 3:22

Hebrews 5:6

Psalms 2:6

QUESTION 23

How does Christ execute the office of a prophet?

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

John 1:18

John 20:31

John 14:26

QUESTION 24

How does Christ execute the office of a priest?

Christ executes the office of a priest, in his once offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and to reconcile us to God and in making continual intercession for us.

Hebrews 9:28

Hebrews 2:17

Hebrews 7:25

QUESTION 25

How does Christ execute the office of a king?

Christ executes 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.

Psalms 110:3

Matthew 2:6

1 Corinthians 15:25

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.

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