Learning the Faith – St Andrew’s Catechism
A Catechism is a tool to help learn basic truth. It is a question and answer format. It is “a pattern of teaching” that has claimed our allegiance (Romans 6:17). People can help one another to learn, through repetition in one way or another.
A Catechism provides a summary of what the Bible teaches. It is not a substitute for reading the Bible, but an aid. We will add some Bible passages over time to help see where the particular teachings arise from within the Scriptures.
This Catechism is something produced locally, though draws from other catechisms, old and new.
Q 1: What is my only hope in life and in death?
A: That I am not my own, but belong, body and soul, to Jesus Christ.
Romans 14:8
Q 2: Who is God?
A: God is the Creator and Sustainer of everyone and everything.
Acts 17:24
Q 3: What is God like?
A: God is eternal, infinite and unchangeable. He is perfect in love, goodness and holiness.
1 Timothy 6:15,16
Q 4: How many Persons are there in God?
A: There are three Persons in one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14
Q 5: Why did God create us?
A: God created us male and female, in his image, to know him, love him, and glorify him forever.
Genesis 1:26,27; Psalm 139:13,14; Ephesians 2:10
Q 6: What is sin?
A: Sin is rebelling against or ignoring God and his love for us. It is a power that brings evil into God’s good creation.
Romans 3:23
Q 7: Did God create us as sinners?
A: No, but because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, we are all born in sin and are unable to fully keep God’s law.
Genesis 3:1-7
Q 8: What has God done to provide a Saviour for us?
A: In God’s mercy, He called Abraham and his descendants, through whose line He has sent Jesus, born of Mary, to be our Saviour.
Q 9: Who is this Saviour?
A: Our only Saviour is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is fully human and fully God.
Q 10: Why must our Saviour Jesus be fully human?
A: So that he might truly share our nature, sympathise with our weaknesses, fully obey the commands of God, and die in our place.
Q 11: Why must Jesus be fully God?
A: Because only God alone could truly atone for all our sin.
Q 12: Why was it necessary for Christ to die?
A: Since the wages of sin is death, He died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God.
Q 13: How do we know that Christ’s death on the cross achieved this?
A: The victory of Christ is displayed in his resurrection from the dead on the third day. Death could not hold him.
Q 14: What does the resurrection of Christ mean for our future?
A: That we, and all who come to him in repentance and faith, will one day share in the resurrection of the body and dwell with our God forever.
Q 15: What does the resurrection of Christ mean for the world?
A: That we hope for a new heavens and new earth when one day all things will be renewed. Hence, we care for all that God has made.
Q 16: How are we saved?
A: We are saved by grace through faith.
Q 17: When are we saved?
A: When we turn to Christ in repentance and faith we receive the gift of eternal life.
Q 18: What are the two great commandments God has given us?
A: To love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And to love our neighbor as ourselves.