Christian Faith
1. What Is Real?
1. Who made you?
God.
2. What else did God make?
He made all things.
3. Why did God make you?
To glorify him and enjoy him forever.
4. How can you glorify and enjoy God?
By loving him and obeying him as my God.
5. Why should you love and obey God as your God?
Because he made me and takes care of me.
6. Where do you learn how to love and obey God?
From the Bible.
7. What is the Bible?
The Bible is God’s Word.
8. Who is God?
God is a spirit who is great and good.
9. Who made God?
No one made God. He always was and always will be.
10. How many gods are there?
There is only one God, the living and true God.
11. In how many persons does this one God exist?
The one God exists in three persons.
12. Who are the three persons of the one God?
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
13. Where is God?
God is everywhere.
14. Can you see God?
No. I cannot see God, but he always sees me.
15. Does God know all things?
Nothing can be hidden from God.
16. Can God do all things?
God can do anything he wants to do.
17. What does God want to do?
God is holy and he only wants to do good.
18. Does God ever change?
Never! God will never fail me. I can count on him to stay great and good forever and ever.
2. Our Beautiful World
19. Who were our first parents?
Adam and Eve.
20. What were Adam and Eve like when God first made them?
They were holy and happy.
21. How does God govern human beings?
He makes covenants with them.
22. What is a covenant?
A solemn, binding agreement between two or more parties.
23. What covenant did God make with human beings in Adam?
The covenant of works.
24. What did God tell us to do in the covenant of works?
To fill the world and rule it as his helpers.
25. How did God make us so we could fill the world?
He made us for marriage, male and female.
26. What is marriage?
A total union of one man and one woman that joins them in body and soul.
27. How does marriage glorify God?
The love of the husband and wife is a living picture of the covenant love of God and his people.
28. How did God make us so we could rule the world as his helpers?
He made us in his own image.
29. What does it mean that we are made in the image of God?
God made us like him, to show what he is like by how we live, work, and worship.
30. How should we behave because we are made in God’s image?
We should take good care of ourselves and everything God gives us.
31. Is everyone made in the image of God?
Yes! Every human being in the whole world is made in God’s beautiful image.
32. How should we treat other people because God has made them in his own image?
We should treat everyone with respect and work together with them in love.
3. Our Horrible Problem
33. What did God require Adam to do in the covenant of works?
To obey him perfectly.
34. What did God promise in the covenant of works?
To reward Adam with life if he obeyed God perfectly.
35. What did God threaten in the covenant of works?
To punish Adam with death if he disobeyed God.
36. Did Adam keep the covenant of works?
No. Adam broke the covenant of works by sinning against God.
37. What is sin?
Sin is anything that breaks or falls short of God’s law.
38. What is breaking God’s law?
Being or doing anything that God forbids.
39. What is falling short of God’s law?
Not being or doing anything that God requires.
40. What was Adam and Eve’s sin?
Eating the fruit God told them not to eat.
41. Who tempted them to this sin?
The devil tempted Eve, and she gave the fruit to Adam.
42. What were Adam and Eve like after they had sinned?
They became guilty and sinful, and they began to suffer.
43. Was Adam acting only for himself in the covenant of works?
No. Adam represented the whole human race.
44. What effect did Adam’s sin have on all people?
Because of Adam’s sin, everyone is born guilty and sinful, suffers, and must die.
45. How sinful are you?
Sin makes every part of me dirty, and it makes God’s beautiful image ugly.
46. What does each and every sin deserve?
Each and every sin deserves the anger and curse of God.
4. God’s Wonderful Solution
47. Is there any escape from the anger and curse of God?
Yes!
48. Where can you find an escape from the anger and curse of God?
Only God himself can save me.
49. Can you be saved through the covenant of works?
No. Everyone has broken the covenant of works, so it shows that we are bad.
50. How then can you be saved?
Only by the Lord Jesus Christ in the covenant of grace.
51. Who is saved by the Lord Jesus in the covenant of grace?
Jesus saves only those whom God has chosen to be his people.
52. What does God the Father promise in the covenant of grace?
To forgive the sins of his people and adopt them as his children.
53. What does God the Son promise in the covenant of grace?
To save his people by keeping God’s law for them and taking all their guilt and punishment on himself.
54. What does God the Holy Spirit promise in the covenant of grace?
To give his people new hearts that love God and hate sin.
55. How could Jesus obey God’s law for us and take our guilt and punishment?
He became one of us, fully God and also fully human.
56. What kind of life did Jesus live on earth?
He lived a life of love, obedience, and suffering.
57. Did our Lord Jesus Christ commit any sin, even a tiny one?
No. “In him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5).
58. What kind of death did Jesus die?
He died the painful and shameful death of the cross as the atonement for sin.
59. What is the atonement for sin?
Jesus satisfied God’s justice by suffering and dying in our place.
60. Did Jesus stay dead?
No! On the third day after his death, Jesus rose again.
61. Where is Jesus now?
Jesus is now in heaven at the right hand of God, but he is also with us by his Holy Spirit.
62. What is Jesus doing now?
Working as our prophet, priest, and king.
63. How does Jesus work as our prophet?
As our prophet, Jesus teaches us the will of God.
64. Why do you need Jesus as a prophet?
I need Jesus as my Prophet because I cannot know God by myself.
65. How does Jesus work as our priest?
As our priest, Jesus speaks to God for us and shows God that he died for our sins.
66. Why do you need Jesus as a priest?
I need Jesus as my Priest because I have broken God’s law.
67. How does Jesus work as our king?
As our king, Jesus orders all things for us, and he rules us and defends us.
68. Why do you need Jesus as a king?
I need Jesus as my King because without him I am weak and helpless.
5. What Must I Do Be Saved?
69. Who will be saved and go to heaven?
Only those who follow Jesus by repenting from sin and believing in him.
70. What does it mean to repent?
To repent is to be sorry for sin because it displeases God, and to hate sin and turn away from it.
71. What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
To trust Jesus alone for salvation.
72. What happens if you do not repent and trust Jesus?
God says, “whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn 3:36).
73. Can people repent and believe and go to heaven with a sinful nature?
Before anyone can repent and believe in Jesus and go to heaven, God himself must change that person’s heart.
74. What is this change of heart called?
The new birth or regeneration.
75. What happens if you do repent and trust Jesus?
If I repent and trust Jesus, God will freely give me the gifts of justification, adoption, sanctification, and eternal life.
76. What is justification?
God’s freely forgiving all my sins, and saying that I am perfectly good in his sight.
77. What is adoption?
God’s freely giving himself to be my devoted Father and taking me to be his dearly loved child.
78. What is sanctification?
God’s freely making me more and more like Jesus by helping me to say “no” to sin and “yes” to him.
79. Do you say “no” to sin and “yes” to God in order to earn his favour?
No! It’s the other way around; I love God because he first loved me.
Christian Life
1. God Is with Us
80. Can you repent and trust Jesus without help?
No. I cannot repent and trust Jesus without the powerful help of God’s Holy Spirit.
81. How can you get the powerful help of the Holy Spirit?
God has told me to seek the Holy Spirit by regularly using the means of grace.
82. What are means of grace?
God-given ways through which the Holy Spirit works in my life and I come to Jesus in faith.
83. What are the means of grace that the Holy Spirit especially uses?
The Holy Spirit especially uses the Bible, the sacraments, and prayer as means of grace.
84. How does the Holy Spirit use the Bible to work in your life?
The Holy Spirit uses the Bible to create and strengthen faith, especially when I hear it read and preached.
85. Why is it important for you regularly to hear faithful Bible preaching?
Because God says that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).
86. Why is it important for you to study the Bible for yourself?
Because the Bible is God’s Word by which the Holy Spirit speaks to me.
87. What are the sacraments?
Jesus gave us two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
88. How does the Holy Spirit use these sacraments to work in your life?
To mark me as God’s own, comfort me, and strengthen my faith.
89. What sign is used in baptism?
Washing with water.
90. What does this washing with water mean?
It means that God claims me as his own, confirms that he will wash away my sin if I trust Jesus, and calls on me to trust him.
91. Into whose Name are you baptised?
I am baptised into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
92. Who are to be baptised?
Believers and their households are to be baptised.
93. Why do we baptise children, even little infants?
Because in his covenant of grace God claims them, and by their baptism he marks them as his own.
94. What does God say to you by your baptism?
“My child, you belong to me. Give me your heart.”
95. What sign is used in the Lord’s Supper?
Giving and receiving bread and wine in worship.
96. What does this giving and receiving bread and wine mean?
That Jesus offered his body and shed his blood for our sins.
97. Who may eat and drink in the Lord’s Supper?
Only those who follow Jesus in repentance and faith, and profess their faith before the church.
98. What does God say to you by the Lord’s Supper?
“Just as surely as you can taste and touch the bread and wine, so surely God forgives and adopts everyone who follows Jesus.”
2. We Rely on God
99. What is prayer?
Prayer is talking to God by faith in the name of Jesus Christ, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
100. How does God use prayer to work in your life?
When I draw near to God in faith by praying, God draws near to me in grace.
101. What did Jesus give us to teach us how to pray?
Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer to teach us how to pray.
102. What is the Lord’s Prayer?
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”
103. How many requests are there in The Lord’s Prayer?
There are six requests in the Lord’s Prayer.
104. What do you pray for in the first request?
When I pray, “Hallowed be your name,” I ask God to help me and everyone else to honour him.
105. What do you pray for in the second request?
When I pray, “Your Kingdom come,” I ask God to help all the world to trust and obey him.
106. What do you pray for in the third request?
When I pray, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” I ask God to help people on earth to serve him as the angels do in heaven.
107. What do you pray for in the fourth request?
When I pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” I ask God to provide me and everyone else with all that we really need.
108. What do you pray for in the fifth request?
When I pray, “And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors,” I ask God to forgive my sins for Jesus’ sake, and to help me to forgive others.
109. What do you pray for in the sixth request?
When I pray, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” I ask God to keep me and everyone else from sin.
110. What happens if you don’t use God’s means of grace?
My faith gets weaker and I become an easier target for the world, the flesh, and the devil.
3. We Are With Each Other
111. Where does God especially use his means of grace?
God especially uses his means of grace in the special shared life of his people in his church.
112. What is the church?
The church is the family of God.
113. Who are the members of the church?
All people everywhere who believe in Jesus, and their children.
114. Who runs the church?
Jesus runs the church as our King.
115. How does King Jesus run the church?
By his Holy Spirit he speaks through his Word, and gives us pastors and elders to shepherd us in our churches.
116. What do our churches do?
They worship God together, build up believers to live new lives, and spread the good news about Jesus to the world.
117. How important is the church?
God clearly tells us to love one another and not to neglect the church meetings, as some do.
118. How do we live out the special shared life of believers?
By using our different gifts and resources to serve each other and to build each other up.
4. God Teaches Us How to Live
119. Where can you learn how to obey God?
God tells me how to obey him in his law.
120. If you are saved by Jesus only because of God’s grace, do you still need God’s law?
Yes! It shows me when I’m sinning and how to obey him.
121. How does Jesus sum up God’s law?
Jesus says, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “you shall love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mark 12:30–31)
122. Who is your neighbour?
Everyone God brings into my life is my neighbour.
123. Can anyone keep God’s law perfectly?
Since the fall of Adam, only one person has been able to keep God’s law perfectly — Jesus.
124. How do believers fit into the world?
We are in the world but not of it.
125. What does it mean that we are in the world?
God’s people live as members of their human societies, honouring those societies and their leaders.
126. How should we live to be “in the world”?
We should work to be good neighbours and citizens.
127. What does it mean that we are not of the world?
We are different from others because the Holy Spirit is teaching us to love God and to say “no” to sin and “yes” to him.
128. How should believers live to be “not of the world”?
We should love and obey God above all else, and live in a way that shows how Jesus is changing us.
5. The Ten Commandments
129. What does Jesus say about God’s law?
Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).
130. What is the first commandment?
The first commandment is, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
131. What does God tell you in the first commandment?
I should love God more than anything, and I should worship and serve only him.
132. What is the second commandment?
The second commandment is, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image … You shall not bow down to them or serve them …”
133. What does God tell you in the second commandment?
I should know and worship God only according to his Word, never according to human imagination.
134. What is the third commandment?
The third commandment is, “You shall not take the name of The LORD your God in vain …”
135. What does God tell you in the third commandment?
I should treat God’s name, Word, and works with respect because I worship him.
136. What is the fourth commandment?
The fourth commandment is, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work…”
137. What does God tell you in the fourth commandment?
I should spend the Lord’s Day in worship and fellowship with the Lord and his people. Then I should honour him with my work the other six days.
138. What is the fifth commandment?
The fifth commandment is, “Honour your father and your mother…”
139. What does God tell you in the fifth commandment?
I should respect and obey my parents and anyone else who is in charge, for God’s sake.
140. What is the sixth commandment?
The sixth commandment is, “You shall not murder.”
141. What does God tell you in the sixth commandment?
I should not hate or hurt anyone, even when I am angry, but rather I should love everyone in all that I think, feel, say, and do.
142. What is the seventh commandment?
The seventh commandment is, “You shall not commit adultery.”
143. What does God tell you in the seventh commandment?
I should honour and respect marriage and be pure in all I think, feel, say, and do.
144. What is the eighth commandment?
The eighth commandment is, “You shall not steal.”
145. What does God tell you in the eighth commandment?
I should not take anything that belongs to someone else.
146. What is the ninth commandment?
The ninth commandment is, “You shall not bear false witness…”
147. What does God tell you in the ninth commandment?
I should always tell the truth, and never lie.
148. What is the tenth commandment?
The tenth commandment is, “You shall not covet …”
149. What does God tell you in the tenth commandment?
I should always be content with whatever God chooses to give me.
6. God Gives Himself to Us Forever
150. What will happen to you when you die?
When I die my body will return to dust, and my spirit will return to God who gave it.
151. Will Jesus come again?
Jesus will come again to judge the world on the Last Day.
152. What will happen on the Last Day?
The bodies of the dead will be raised to life again—some to eternal death and others to eternal life.
153. What is eternal death?
On the Last Day, God will cast unbelievers into hell.
154. What is hell?
Hell is an awful place, where the lost will suffer for their sins forever. The Bible calls it a “second death.”
155. Does God enjoy sending people to hell?
Not at all! He wants people to love him and be saved. God says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezekiel 33:11).
156. What is eternal life?
On the Last Day, God will take believers to glory forever and ever.
157. What is glory?
Glory is a wonderful new heaven and earth where God’s people will be with him, will be like him, will rule the world as his helpers, and will be holy and happy forever and ever.
158. Who has the hope of glory?
Everyone who follows Jesus by repenting from sin and trusting him has the hope of glory.
159. What do you do when you have the hope of glory?
I want Jesus to come again, I tell others about him, I live in a way that shows him to others, I trust God when I’m hurting or unhappy, and I have joy because of God’s love.
160. What will you do in glory?
I will perfectly glorify God and enjoy him forever and ever.