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THE VALUE OF CATECHISM   By Massimo Lorenzini     What is a catechism? In 1 Corinthians 14:19 Paul says, “In the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”[1] In Galatians 6:6 he says, “Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches.” Acts 18:25 says that Apollos “had been instructed in the way of the Lord.”   In each of these verses the original Greek word for “instruct” or “taught” or “teach” is katecheo (literally, “to make hear,” hence “to instruct”). From this word we get our English word “catechize.” It simply means to teach biblical truth in an orderly way. A “catechism” is a popular manual of basic Christian doctrine, usually in the form of question and answer accompanied by biblical support and explanation.   What is the history of catechism? It was the practice of the early church, before Constantine and the legalization of Christianity, to catechize converts before they were baptized. This could take a year to three years. The catechumen was usually baptized at Easter after having been examined as to the soundness of his or her faith. Today, we may find this practice extreme, but we must remember that there were many threats facing the early church in the form of persecution and false teaching. The purity of the church was diligently protected.   After Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, so many people were added to the church (no doubt the majority were only nominal Christians) and the practice of infant baptism became so prevalent, that the practice of catechism diminished greatly. During the medieval period, catechism had virtually disappeared.   In 1489, the Waldensians (early Protestants) published their catechism. Martin Luther published his “Large Catechism” in 1529 as an aid to pastors as a response to the deplorable ignorance he encountered and then summarized it in his “Small Catechism” to teach children. John Calvin published his catechism in French in 1537 (and soon after published a Latin version). The most popular of all the reformation catechisms was the Heidelberg Catechism published in 1563 at the request of the German ruler at the time. This catechism incorporated the thought of Luther and Calvin and was divided into 52 sections so that one section could be studied each Lord’s Day of the year. The Synod of Dordt in 1618-1619 approved the Heidelberg Catechism and it became the most widely used and most warmly praised of all the reformation catechisms and confessions.   These early Protestant catechisms typically included teaching on basic Christian beliefs and practice such as the Apostles’ Creed, the sacraments, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord ’s Prayer.   In 1647-1648 the Westminster Standards were written and published which contained the Westminster Confession and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms. These documents were written by puritan ministers and theologians who met at Westminster in London to make preparations for a common church and faith for the whole kingdom. The Shorter Catechism consists of 107 questions and answers. Of these, the first three are introductory, the next 33 teach basic Christian doctrine (what we are to believe), and the next 69 teach basic Christian practice (what we are to do).   In 1693, the Particular Baptists in England published a revision of the Westminster Shorter Catechism which came to be known as The Baptist Catechism or Keach’s Catechism (after Benjamin Keach, the principal editor). It was adopted by the Philadelphia Baptist Association in 1742 and Charles Spurgeon adapted it for use in his Metropolitan Tabernacle in the 19th Century.   The catechism which follows this introduction is a significant revision of The Baptist Catechism (which, again, is patterned after the Westminster Shorter Catechism). Some changes are from John Piper’s version of The Baptist Catechism, especially in some of the “comments.” A couple of revisions are from the version of the Philadelphia Baptist Association. Most of the revisions are my own.   Why should we use a catechism? 1. There is a biblical pattern of doctrine. Several texts teach that there is a system of doctrinal truth. Paul gives thanks that “you obeyed from the heart that form [or pattern or standard] of doctrine to which you were delivered” (Romans 6:17).  “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13). “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42).  “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).  “Contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (And Jude 3).   So we see that there is a body of authoritative instruction that was given by the apostles to the early church.   2. Biblical doctrine is under constant attack. We are required to “continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and . . . not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard” (Colossians 1:23). We are urged to “come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.” (Ephesians 4:13-14). There are “those who try to deceive you” (1 John 2:26). There are difficult doctrines “which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). The future leader must meet the biblical standard of “holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.” (Titus 1:9).   3. The church is the guardian of biblical doctrine. In the church’s first manual of pastoral practice, the apostle Paul described the church as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). The supreme test of a true church is how it handles the truth of God’s Word. Does it give God’s Word a preeminent place in all its worship and ministry? Does it defend the truth at any cost? Does it call its people to know God’s Word so as to live faithfully in accordance with it?   In each generation, the church’s central task is to faithfully uphold and proclaim the truth of the gospel. But do the people in our churches know the truth well enough to articulate it and defend it? All that we hold dear as Christians depends on the once for all delivered faith being passed on to the next generation. We have an obligation to provide clear and accurate Bible doctrine to our children and to those who have not been previously taught.   Wise and godly men of another day understood the need for doctrinal standards. They understood the value of summarizing and systematizing biblical truth to strengthen believers and protect the flock of God. Pastors expected parents to teach their children to memorize the answers to the catechism and then visited in the home to see how well the children were learning. Families would discuss the meaning of the questions and answers and seek to live out the truth of what they were learning. In this way, catechisms served to aid Christians in understanding and passing on biblical teaching.   Someone may say, “But memorizing the catechism will not guarantee our children will know and love God?” Yes, this is true. But neither will doing anything else provide a guarantee. Think of it this way, catechism (along with Scripture memory) gives one a foundation to build a Christian life upon. As Dr. Tom Nettles, professor of historical theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote:   The first level of scholastic education, the trivium, involved the study of three disciplines: grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Grammar supplied the basics laws of language—vocabulary, precise diction, declensions, conjugations, and syntax. Logic involved the arrangement of these well constructed sentences composed clearly of defined terms into arguments which were free of fallacies in reason. Rhetoric consists in the art of presenting well reasoned position in an attractive and compelling style. The “grammar” of Christian witness and world-view is Scripture memory and catechism. The “logic” is more catechism and systematic theology. The “rhetoric” is preaching (Acts 18:5), persuasion (Acts 18:4), public debate (Acts 18:28), purposive extended argumentation (Acts 19:8), tactical apologetics, and world-view confrontation (Acts 17:22-23).[2]   Catechism provides a “pattern of sound words” that becomes a standard for discerning truth from error. As Zacharias Ursinus (1534-1583), one of the primary authors of the Heidelberg Catechism, wrote, “A neglect of the catechism is, therefore, one of the chief causes why there are so many at the present day tossed about by every wind of doctrine, and why so many fall from Christ to Anti-christ.” Martin Luther said that he cared if only two of his books survived him—his classic treatise Bondage of the Will and his Small Catechism, so great was his esteem for the value of the catechism.   Someone else might say, “Yes, but it would take much time and effort to do this?” You are right! It will. But, like any worthwhile endeavor, it is worth the time and effort. If you are married, it took time and effort to find, pursue, and marry your spouse. If you have a career, that too took time and effort. If you pursue any field of knowledge or skill, or even a hobby or recreation, it will take time and effort. Learning reading, writing, and arithmetic takes a lot of time and effort. All of these things and more that we do in life take time and effort, yet we value them so much we hardly even stop to consider the time and effort we expend on them. Do we not think that attaining the knowledge of our Christian faith is worth our time and effort? Should it not occupy our greatest concern so that we are happy to expend our energy, and even, if need be, pains in attaining a proficiency in it? Do we love our children and our Lord enough to count it a joy and privilege to spend time and energy talking in our homes about the truths of God’s Word? May a resounding YES! issue from the heart of every child of God reading these words.   Benjamin B. Warfield, the esteemed theologian of Princeton Seminary, recounted the following anecdote about Dwight L. Moody’s visit to a Scottish friend in London.   'A young man had come to speak to Mr. Moody about religious things. He was in difficulty about a number of points, among the rest about prayer and natural laws. 'What is prayer?,' he said, 'I can't tell what you mean by it!' They were in the hall of a large London house. Before Moody could answer, a child's voice was heard singing on the stairs. It was that of a little girl of nine or ten, the daughter of their host. She came running down the stairs and paused as she saw strangers sitting in the hall. 'Come here, Jenny,' her father said, 'and tell this gentleman 'What is prayer.' ' Jenny did not know what had been going on, but she quite understood that she was now called upon to say her Catechism. So she drew herself up, and folded her hands in front of her, like a good little girl who was going to 'say her questions,' and she said in her clear childish voice: 'Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.' 'Ah! That's the Catechism!' Moody said, 'thank God for that Catechism.' ' How many have had occasion to 'thank God for that Catechism!' Did anyone ever know a really devout man who regretted having been taught the Shorter Catechism — even with tears — in his youth? How its forms of sound words come reverberating back into the memory, in moments of trial and suffering, of doubt and temptation, giving direction to religious aspirations, firmness to hesitating thought, guidance to stumbling feet: and adding to our religious meditations an ever-increasing richness and depth. 'The older I grow,' said Thomas Carlyle in his old age, 'and now I stand on the brink of eternity, the more comes back to me the first sentence in the Catechism, which I learned when a child, and the fuller and deeper its meaning becomes: 'What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.'[3]   I cannot help but to include one more anecdote from Warfield:   What is 'the indelible mark of the Shorter Catechism'? We have the following bit of personal experience from a general officer of the United States army. He was in a great western city at a time of intense excitement and violent rioting. The streets were over-run daily by a dangerous crowd. One day he observed approaching him a man of singularly combined calmness and firmness of mien, whose very demeanor inspired confidence. So impressed was he with his bearing amid the surrounding uproar that when he had passed he turned to look back at him, only to find that the stranger had done the same. On observing his turning the stranger at once came back to him, and touching his chest with his forefinger, demanded without preface: 'What is the chief end of man?' On receiving the countersign, 'Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever' — 'Ah!' said he, 'I knew you were a Shorter Catechism boy by your looks!' 'Why, that was just what I was thinking of you,' was the rejoinder. It is worth while to be a Shorter Catechism boy. They grow to be men. And better than that, they are exceedingly apt to grow to be men of God. So apt, that we cannot afford to have them miss the chance of it. 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it.'[4]   How is the catechism to be used? Anyone can read it and use it. Start by familiarizing yourself with it first. Read through it and look up some of the Scripture proofs and prayerfully reflect on a particular doctrine.   My primary hope is that husbands and fathers would take the lead and use it in family devotions. God has ordained that men are to be the head of the home and if a man gets passionate about the things of God in a humble and loving way, there’s a much greater chance that the entire family will also. The catechism is a very simple tool and while the goal is rote memorization, it can also be a great opening to meaningful discussions about spiritual truths. Take time to explain each doctrine and its importance as you go through it. Men, if you struggle with this think of it as a great opportunity to lean on God and model faith and dependency as you seek to understand and pass on your faith to your family.   I should also point out that God holds parents, and fathers in particular, accountable for instructing their children in the faith. I will just cite two Scriptures, though many more could be added:   And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).   And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).   So how about it? Will you commit yourself to personally instruct your children in the basic truths of the faith? If so, consider using the catechism as one way to do it.   The catechism can also be used as a basis for study in a small group or Sunday school class. Included after the questions are some important Scriptures for memorization, the Apostles’ Creed, and some helps for sharing the gospel.   This edition of The Baptist Catechism is sent forth with the prayer that God would use it to establish contemporary Christians in the foundational doctrines of biblical faith and practice that biblical truth contained herein would be passed on to future generations.   Order a print version of the catechism here. Find the online version of the catechism here.   For additional resources to help you use the catechism (like study guides and devotionals based on the Shorter or Baptist Catechism) see the books we have in our bookstore here.     [1] All Scripture taken from the New King James Version. [2] Tom J. Nettles, Teaching Truth, Training Hearts: The Study of Catechisms in Baptist Life (Amityville, NY: Calvary Press, 1998), 39. [3] B.B. Warfield, Is the Shorter Catechism Worth While? in The Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield, Vol. 1 (Nutley, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed), 1970). 381ff. [4] Ibid.

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