Question 1

Who is the first and chiefest being?

Accepted Answer

God is the first and chiefest being.

Question 2

What is the chief end of man?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 3

How do we know there is a God?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 4

What is the Word of God?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

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 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.

Question 6

May all men make use of the Scriptures?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 7

What do the Scriptures principally teach?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 8

What is God?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 9

Are there more gods than one?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 10

How many persons are there in the Godhead?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 11

What are the decrees of God?

Accepted Answer

The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby for His own glory, He hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.

Question 12

How does God execute His decrees?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 13

What is the work of creation?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 14

How did God create man?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 15

What are God's works of providence?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 16

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

Accepted Answer

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 knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death.

Question 17

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 18

What is sin?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 19

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 20

Did all mankind fall in Adam's first transgression?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 21

Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 22

Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?

Accepted Answer

The sinfulness of that estate 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.

Question 23

What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 24

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

Accepted Answer

God, having out of His mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some 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.

Question 25

Who is the Redeemer of God's elect?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 26

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

Accepted Answer

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 womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.

Question 27

What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?

Accepted Answer

Christ, as our Redeemer, executes the offices of a Prophet, of a Priest, and of a King, both in His estate of humiliation and exaltation.

Question 28

How does Christ execute the office of a Prophet?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 29

How does Christ execute the office of a Priest?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 30

How does Christ execute the office of a King?

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 31

Wherein did Christ's humiliation consist?

Accepted Answer

Christ's humiliation consisted in His being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

Question 32

Wherein consists Christ's exaltation?

Accepted Answer

Christ's exaltation consists in His rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.

Question 33

How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

Accepted Answer

We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit.

Question 34

How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

Accepted Answer

The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.

Question 35

What is effectual calling?

Accepted Answer

Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, He does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the Gospel.

Question 36

What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

Accepted Answer

They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the several benefits which in this life do either accompany or flow from them.

Question 37

What is justification?

Accepted Answer

Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

Question 38

What is adoption?

Accepted Answer

Adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges, of the sons of God.

Question 39

What is sanctification?

Accepted Answer

Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Question 40

What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?

Accepted Answer

The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are, assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

Question 41

What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?

Accepted Answer

The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection.

Question 42

What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

Accepted Answer

At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.

Question 43

What shall be done to the wicked at death?

Accepted Answer

The souls of the wicked shall at their death be cast into the torments of hell, and their bodies lie in their graves till the resurrection and judgment of the great day.

Question 44

What shall be done to the wicked at the day of judgment?

Accepted Answer

At the day of judgment, the bodies of the wicked, being raised out of their graves, shall be sentenced, together with their souls, to unspeakable torments with the devil and his angels forever.

Question 45

What is the duty which God requires of man?

Accepted Answer

The duty which God requires of man is obedience to His revealed will.

Question 46

What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?

Accepted Answer

The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience was the moral law.

Question 47

Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?

Accepted Answer

The moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments.

Question 48

What is the sum of the Ten Commandments?

Accepted Answer

The sum of the Ten Commandments is, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbor as ourselves.

Question 49

What is the preface to the Ten Commandments?

Accepted Answer

The preface to the Ten Commandments is in these words: I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Question 50

What does the preface to the Ten Commandments teach us?

Accepted Answer

The preface to the Ten Commandments teaches us, that because God is the Lord, and our God and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all His commandments.

Question 51

Which is the first commandment?

Accepted Answer

The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Question 52

What is required in the first commandment?

Accepted Answer

The first commandment requires us to know and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify Him accordingly.

Question 53

What is forbidden in the first commandment?

Accepted Answer

The first commandment forbids the denying, or not worshiping and glorifying, the true God, as God and our God; and the giving of that worship and glory to any other which is due to Him alone.

Question 54

What are we especially taught by these words, 'before me,' in the first commandment?

Accepted Answer

These words, 'before me,' in the first commandment, teach us that God, who sees all things, takes notice of, and is much displeased with, the sin of having any other god.

Question 55

Which is the second commandment?

Accepted Answer

The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Question 56

What is required in the second commandment?

Accepted Answer

The second commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God has appointed in His Word.

Question 57

What is forbidden in the second commandment?

Accepted Answer

The second commandment forbids the worshiping of God by images, or any other way not appointed in His Word.

Question 58

What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment?

Accepted Answer

The reasons annexed to the second commandment are, God's sovereignty over us, His propriety in us, and the zeal He has for His own worship.

Question 59

Which is the third commandment?

Accepted Answer

The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

Question 60

What is required in the third commandment?

Accepted Answer

The third commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, and works.

Question 61

What is forbidden in the third commandment?

Accepted Answer

The third commandment forbids all profaning or abusing of any thing whereby God makes Himself known.

Question 62

What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?

Accepted Answer

The reason annexed to the third commandment is, that however the breakers of this commandment may escape punishment from men, yet the Lord our God will not suffer them to escape His righteous judgment.

Question 63

Which is the fourth commandment?

Accepted Answer

The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Question 64

What is required in the fourth commandment?

Accepted Answer

The fourth commandment requires the keeping holy to God such set times as He has appointed in His Word; expressly one whole day in seven, to be a holy Sabbath to Himself.