Recently, on the Young Emerging SBC Leader’s blog, Steve McCoy raised the issue of “Truth: Knowing and Teaching.” He asked:

There’s a lot of fuss in the EC as it reacts against modernism on the topic of truth. A part of the problem, says the EC, is that traditional churches see truth as essentially propositional where we see it as primarily relational (or something like that). That changes the way truth is known, believed, and taught.

How do we know and teach truth? How should we? Is something wrong with propositional truth? Is propositional truth good? What are the ramifications of how we view truth?

I believe we can find steps toward this answer in Paul’s letter to young Timothy. He mentions all three of Steve’s keywords in 2 Timothy 2:24-25. “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.”

Breaking this admonition down, Paul instructs Timothy that “the Lord’s servant,” that would be us, must:

1. not be quarrelsome
2. but kind to everyone,
3. able to teach,
4. patiently enduring evil,
5. correcting his opponents
6. with gentleness.

Instead of buying into a supposed relational/propositional dichotomy, Paul gives us a both/and picture of how we ought to live if our journey intends to lead to a “knowledge of the truth.” Notice that four of the six characteristics seem to focus on the relational and two on the propositional. Promoting one without the other falls short of the Biblical ideal.

On the relational side of things, Paul warns against being quarrelsome. Instead, our life conversation should be characterized by kindness, patience, and gentleness. God never instructs us to argue people into the kingdom with mean spirited methods of manipulation and bruit force. Even when we do encounter adversarial hostility we should endure the evil opposition with patience and gentleness.

On the other hand, we must not avoid the propositional aspect of our journey. If we only avoid quarrelsomeness and exhibit kindness, patience, and gentleness, we build a bridge that only spans two thirds of the river. Paul also insists that the Lord’s servant must be able to teach and correct his opponents. If we focus on the relational to the detriment of the propositional, we simply win people to ourselves, but not to Christ.

Whether or not a person comes to a knowledge of the truth ultimately anchors in God. After setting forth the six fold description of how we ought to share propositional truth through relationships, Paul assures Timothy that God grants repentance. In other words, God turns the heart and mind of people. Our relationships can’t do it. Our setting forth propositional truth can’t do it. Only God can cause blind eyes to see” the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:4-6) Some will turn and some will not. The difference rests in God, not our cunning ability to strike a right balance between the relational and propositional.

As God’s agents, we patiently build meaningful relationships, gently share the truth of Christ’s surpassing goodness without compromise, refrain from quarrelsomeness, show kindness to everyone, take our lumps, and trust in the sovereign grace of God to turn hearts to a knowledge of the truth – a truth firmly planted in the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

For years I’ve believed that every church should have a web site. I know that many churches do not have the financial or technical resources to maintain an elaborate extensive dynamic web presence, but a simple site with basic information ought to be posted online. I could go into along rant about the advantages and essentials, but I’ll save that for another day. I just wanted to an ounce that I have just created a simple page for a friends church. Check out Natural Steps Baptist Church in Roland Arkansas. My friend, Pastor Jeff Thomas, asked me to put together a simple site containing the church name, staff, contact information, location, and a blurb he wrote. Google and other search engines should pick up on the site and index it soon. Then, folks looking for a church in the Roland Arkansas area or anyone needing directions, service times etc, will be able to easily find this info online.

Brian McLaren takes a whirlwind tour through the blogosphere this week stopping off at five influential blogs to discuss his new book, “The Last Word and the Word After That.” Join the conversation:

• Tall Skinny Kiwi
• Jordon Cooper’s Blog
• Jen Lemen’s Blog
• Dwight Friesen’s Blog
• paradoxology
• pomomusings

For more on Hell check out “Hell-the Furnace of Fire” by John MacArthur, Dorothy Sayers on Why Hell Is a Non-Negotiable, and monergism.com’s links to articles on Hell, Judgement & God’s Wrath.

I’m looking forward to the film adaptation of the C. S. Lewis classic “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” scheduled for theaters December 9. The teaser trailer hit the internet following its network premier Saturday night. It looks fantastic! If I remember right, I first read the seven volume Chronicles of Narnia in third grade. Thirty years later I still hold vivid mental images of Narnia. I probably missed much of the symbolism as an elementary school student, but when the story makes it to the big screen it should provide numerous opportunities for us to point to the Biblical truths of human depravity, the bondage of sin, the supremacy of Christ our King, and the salvation accomplished through His death and resurrection.

The story begins….

ONCE there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids. They were sent to the house of an old Professor who lived in the heart of the country, ten miles from the nearest railway station and two miles from the nearest post office. He had no wife and he lived in a very large house with a housekeeper called Mrs Macready and three servants. (Their names were Ivy, Margaret and Betty, but they do not come into the story much.) He himself was a very old man with shaggy white hair which grew over most of his face as well as on his head, and they liked him almost at once; but on the first evening when he came out to meet them at the front door he was so odd-looking that Lucy (who was the youngest) was a little afraid of him, and Edmund (who was the next youngest) wanted to laugh and had to keep on pretending he was blowing his nose to hide it.

As soon as they had said good night to the Professor and gone upstairs on the first night, the boys came into the girls’ room and they all talked it over.

“We’ve fallen on our feet and no mistake,” said Peter. “This is going to be perfectly splendid. That old chap will let us do anything we like.”

“I think he’s an old dear,” said Susan.

“Oh, come off it!” said Edmund, who was tired and pretending not to be tired, which always made him bad-tempered. “Don’t go on talking like that.”

“Like what?” said Susan; “and anyway, it’s time you were in bed.”

“Trying to talk like Mother,” said Edmund. “And who are you to say when I’m to go to bed? Go to bed yourself.”

“Hadn’t we all better go to bed?” said Lucy. “There’s sure to be a row if we’re heard talking here.”

“No there won’t,” said Peter. “I tell you this is the sort of house where no one’s going to mind what we do. Anyway, they won’t hear us. It’s about ten minutes’ walk from here down to that dining-room, and any amount of stairs and passages in between.”

“What’s that noise?” said Lucy suddenly. It was a far larger house than she had ever been in before and the thought of all those long passages and rows of doors leading into empty rooms was beginning to make her feel a little creepy.

“It’s only a bird, silly,” said Edmund.

“It’s an owl,” said Peter. “This is going to be a wonderful place for birds. I shall go to bed now. I say, let’s go and explore tomorrow. You might find anything in a place like this.

What various hindrances we meet
In coming to a mercy seat!
Yet who that knows the worth of prayer,
But wishes to be often there?

Prayer makes the darken’d cloud withdraw,
Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw,
Gives exercise to faith and love,
Brings every blessing from above.

Restraining prayer, we cease to fight;
Prayer makes the Christian’s armour bright;
And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.

While Moses stood with arms spread wide,
Success was found on Israel’s side;
But when through weariness they fail’d,
That moment Amalek prevail’d.

Have you no words? Ah, think again,
Words flow apace when you complain,
And fill your fellow-creature’s ear
With the sad tale of all your care.

Were half the breath thus vainly spent
To heaven in supplication sent,
Your cheerful song would oftener be,
“Hear what the Lord has done for me.”

– William Cowper (1773)

One hundred and fifty years ago Charles Spurgeon published “A Puritan Catechism” for use in the education of children. Relying heavily on the Westminster Shorter Catechism of the Presbyterians, Spergeon tweaked it for Baptist use. I have begun going through it with my own teenagers. Instead of having them memorize the answers, in the traditional fashion of catechetical instruction, we discuss each of the questions-answer pairs and study the corresponding scripture passages. The document can be found at the Spurgeon archive as well as numerous places across the internet. I’m going to copy it here so that my scripturizer plug-in will pick up the references and link them to the ESV web site.

1. Q. What is the chief end of man?

   A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31), and to enjoy him for ever (Ps. 73:25-26).

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

   A. The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (Eph. 2:20; 2 Tim. 3:16) is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy him (1 Jn. 1:3).

3. Q. What do the Scriptures principally teach?

   A. The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man (2 Tim. 1:13; Eccl. 12:13).

4. Q. What is God?

   A. God is Spirit (Jn. 4:24), infinite (Job 11:7), eternal (Ps. 90:2; 1 Tim. 1:17), and unchangeable (Jam. 1:17) in his being (Ex. 3:14), wisdom, power (Ps. 147:5), holiness (Rev. 4:8), justice, goodness and truth (Ex. 34:6-7).

5. Q. Are there more Gods than one?

   A. There is but one only (Deut. 6:4), the living and true God (Jer. 10:10).

6. Q. How many persons are there in the Godhead?

   A. 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 Jn. 5:7; Mat. 28:19).

7. Q. What are the decrees of God?

   A. 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 (Eph. 1:11-12).

8. Q. How does God execute his decrees?

   A. God executes his decrees in the works of creation (Rev. 4:11), and providence (Dan. 4:35).

9. Q. What is the work of creation?

   A. The work of creation is God’s making all things (Gen. 1:1) of nothing, by the Word of his power (Heb. 11:3), in six normal consecutive days (Ex. 20:11), and all very good (Gen. 1:31).

10. Q. How did God create man?

    A. God created man, male and female, after his own image (Gen. 1:27), in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Col 3:10; Eph. 4:24) with dominion over the creatures (Gen. 1:28).

11. Q. What are God’s works of providence?

    A. God’s works of providence are his most holy (Ps. 145:17), wise, (Isa. 28:29) and powerful (Heb. 1:3), preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions (Ps. 103:19; Mat. 10:29).

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

    A. When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; (Gal. 3:12) forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death. (Gen. 2:17)

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

    A. Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the state wherein they were created, by sinning against God, (Eccl. 7:29) by eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6-8).

14. Q. What is sin?

    A. Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God (1 Jn. 3:4).

15. Q. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?

    A. 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 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12).

16. Q. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?

    A. The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery (Rom. 5:18).

17. Q. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that state whereinto man fell?

    A. The sinfulness of that state whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin (Rom. 5:19), the want of original righteousness, (Rom. 3:10) and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin (Eph. 2:1; Ps. 51:5), together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it (Mat. 15:19).

18. Q. What is the misery of that state whereinto man fell?

    A. All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God (Gen. 3:8, 24), are under his wrath and curse (Eph. 2:3; Gal. 3:10), and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever (Rom. 6:23; Mat. 25:41).

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

    A. God having, out of his good pleasure from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life (2 Thess. 2:13), 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 (Rom. 5:21).

20. Q. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?

    A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5), who being the eternal Son of God, became man (Jn. 1:14), and so was and continues to be God and man, in two distinct natures and one person for ever (1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 2:9).

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

    A. Christ, the son of God, became man by taking to himself a true body (Heb. 2:14), and a reasonable soul (Mat. 26:38; Heb. 4:15), being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary, and born of her (Lk. 1:31, 35), yet without sin (Heb. 7:26).

22. Q. What offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?

    A. Christ as our Redeemer executes the offices of a prophet (Acts 3:22), of a priest (Heb. 5:6), and of a king (Ps. 2:6), both in his state of humiliation and exaltation.

23. Q. How does Christ execute the office of a prophet?

    A. Christ executes the office of a prophet, in revealing to us (Jn. 1:18), by his Word (Jn. 20:31), and Spirit (Jn. 14:26), the will of God for our salvation.

24. Q. How does Christ execute the office of a priest?

    A. Christ executes the office of a priest, in his once offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice (Heb. 9:28), and to reconcile us to God (Heb. 2:17), and in making continual intercession for us (Heb. 7:25).

25. Q. How does Christ execute the office of a king?

    A. Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to himself, (Ps. 110:3) in ruling and defending us (Mat. 2:6; 1 Cor. 15:25), and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.

26. Q. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?

    A. Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition (Lk. 2:7), made under the law (Gal. 4:4), undergoing the miseries of this life (Isa. 53:3), the wrath of God (Mat. 27:46), and the cursed death of the cross; (Phil. 2:8) in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time (Mat. 12:40).

27. Q. Wherein consists Christ’s exaltation?

    A. Christ’s exaltation consists in his rising again from the dead on the third day (1 Cor. 15:4), in ascending up into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God the Father (Mk. 16:19), and in coming to judge the world at the last day (Acts 17:31).

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

    A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us (Jn. 1:12) by his Holy Spirit. (Tit. 3:5-6)

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

    A. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us (Eph. 2:8), and by it uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling (Eph. 3:17).

30. Q. What is effectual calling?

    A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit (2 Tim. 1:9) whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery (Acts 2:37), enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ (Acts 26:18), and renewing our wills (Ez. 36:26), he does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the gospel (Jn. 6:44-45).

31. Q. What benefits do they who are effectually called, partake of in this life?

    A. They who are effectually called, do in this life partake of justification (Rom. 8:30), adoption (Eph. 1:5), sanctification, and the various benefits which in this life do either accompany, or flow from them (1 Cor. 1:30).

32. Q. What is justification?

    A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins (Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:7), and accepts us as righteous in his sight (2 Cor. 5:21) only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us (Rom. 5:19), and received by faith alone (Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).

33. Q. What is adoption?

    A. Adoption is an act of God’s free grace (1 Jn. 3:1), whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God (Jn. 1:12; Rom. 8:17).

34. Q. What is sanctification?

    A. Sanctification is the work of God’s Spirit (2 Thess. 2:13), whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God (Eph. 4:24), and are enabled more and more to die to sin, and live to righteousness (Rom. 6:11).

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

    A. The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification (Rom. 5:1-2, 5), are assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17), increase of grace, perseverance in it to the end (Prov. 4:18; 1 Jn. 5:13; 1 Pet. 1:5).

36. Q. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death?

    A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness (Heb. 12:23 and do immediately pass into glory, (Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:8; Lk. 23:43), and their bodies, being still united to Christ (1 Thess. 4:14), do rest in their graves (Isa. 57:2) till the resurrection (Job 19:26).

37. Q. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?

    A. At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory (1 Cor. 15:43), shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment (Mat. 10:32), and made perfectly blessed both in soul and body in the full enjoying of God (1 Jn. 3:2) to all eternity (1 Thess. 4:17).

38. Q. What shall be done to the wicked at their death?

    A. The souls of the wicked shall at their death be cast into the torments of hell (Lk. 16:22-24), and their bodies lie in their graves till the resurrection, and judgement of the great day (Ps. 49:14).

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

    A. 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 for ever (Dan. 12:2; Jn. 5:28-29; 2 Thess. 1:9; Mat. 25:41).

40. Q. What did God reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?

    A. The rule which God first revealed to man for his obedience, is the moral law (Deut. 10:4; Mat. 19:17), which is summarised in the ten commandments.

41. Q. What is the sum of the ten commandments?

    A. 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 neighbour as ourselves (Mat. 22:37-40).

42. Q. Which is the first commandment?

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

43. Q. What is required in the first commandment?

    A. The first commandment requires us to know (1 Chron. 28:9) and acknowledge God to be the only true God, and our God (Deut. 26:17), and to worship and glorify him accordingly (Mat. 4:10).

44. Q. Which is the second commandment?

    A. 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 shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”

45. Q. What is required in the second commandment?

    A. The second commandment requires the receiving, observing (Deut. 32:46; Mat. 28:20), and keeping pure and entire all such religious worship and ordinances as God has appointed in his Word (Deut. 12:32).

46. Q. What is forbidden in the second commandment?

    A. The second commandment forbids the worshipping of God by images, (Deut. 4:15-16) or any other way not appointed in his Word (Col. 2:18).

47. Q. Which is the third commandment?

    A. 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 takes his name in vain.”

48. Q. What is required in the third commandment?

    A. The third commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God’s names (Ps. 29:2), titles, attributes (Rev. 15:3-4), ordinances (Eccl. 5:1), Word (Ps. 138:2), and works (Job 36:24; Deut. 28:58-59).

49. Q. Which is the fourth commandment?

    A. The fourth commandment is, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, 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 they 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.”

50. Q. What is required in the fourth commandment?

    A. 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 (Lev. 19:30; Deut. 5:12).

51. Q. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?

    A. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days (Lev. 23:3), and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship (Ps. 92:1-2; Isa. 58:13-14), except so much as is taken up in the works of necessity and mercy (Mat. 12:11-12).

52. Q. Which is the fifth commandment?

    A. The fifth commandment is, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

53. Q. What is required in the fifth commandment?

    A. The fifth commandment requires the preserving the honour, and performing the duties belonging to every one in their various positions and relationships as superiors (Eph. 5:21-22; Eph. 6:1, 5; Rom. 13:1), inferiors (Eph. 6:9), or equals (Rom. 12:10).

54. Q. What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?

    A. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is, a promise of long life and prosperity — as far as it shall serve for God’s glory, and their own good — to all such as keep this commandment (Eph. 6:2-3).

55. Q. Which is the sixth commandment?

    A. The sixth commandment is, “Thou shalt not kill.”

56. Q. What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?

    A. The sixth commandment forbids the taking away of our own life (Acts 16:28), or the life of our neighbour unjustly (Gen. 9:6), or whatever tends to it (Prov. 24:11-12).

57. Q. Which is the seventh commandment?

    A. The seventh commandment is, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

58. Q. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?

    A. The seventh commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts (Mat. 5:28; Col. 4:6), words (Eph. 5:4; 2 Tim. 2:22), and actions (Eph. 5:3).

59. Q. Which is the eighth commandment?

    A. The eighth commandment is, “Thou shalt not steal.”

60. Q. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?

    A. The eighth commandment forbids whatever does or may unjustly hinder our own (1 Tim. 5:8; Prov. 28:19; Prov. 21:6), or our neighbour’s wealth, or outward estate (Eph. 4:28).

61. Q. Which is the ninth commandment?

    A. The ninth commandment is, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

62. Q. What is required in the ninth commandment?

    A. The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man (Zech. 8:16), and of our own (1 Pet. 3:16; Acts 25:10), and our neighbour’s good name (3 Jn. 1:12), especially in witness-bearing (Prov. 14:5, 25).

63. Q. What is the tenth commandment?

    A. The tenth commandment is, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, or his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s.”

64. Q. What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?

    A. The tenth commandment forbids all discontentment with our own estate (1 Cor. 10:10), envying or grieving at the good of our neighbour, (Gal. 5:26) and all inordinate emotions and affections to anything that is his (Col. 3:5).

65. Q. Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?

    A. No mere man, since the fall, is able in his life perfectly to keep the commandments of God (Eccl. 7:20), but does daily break them in thought, (Gen. 8:21) word (Jam. 3:8), and deed (Jam. 3:2).

66. Q. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?

    A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of various aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others (Jn. 19:11; 1 Jn. 5:15).

67. Q. What does every sin deserve?

    A. Every sin deserves God’s wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come (Eph. 5:6; Ps. 11:6).

68. Q. How may we escape his wrath and curse due to us for sin?

    A. To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, we must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:16), trusting alone to his blood and righteousness. This faith is attended by repentance for the past (Acts 20:21) and leads to holiness in the future.

69. Q. What is faith in Jesus Christ?

    A. Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace (Heb. 10:39), whereby we receive (Jn. 1:12), and rest upon him alone for salvation (Phil. 3:9), as he is set forth in the gospel (Isa. 33:22).

70. Q. What is repentance to life?

    A. Repentance to life is a saving grace (Acts 11:18), whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sins (Acts 2:37), and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ (Joel 2:13), does with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it to God (Jer. 31:18-19), with full purpose to strive after new obedience (Ps. 119:59).

71. Q. What are the outward means whereby the Holy Spirit communicates to us the benefits of redemption?

    A. The outward and ordinary means whereby the Holy Spirit communicates to us the benefits of Christ’s redemption, are the Word, by which souls are begotten to spiritual life; Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, Prayer, and Meditation, by all which believers are further edified in their most holy faith (Acts 2:41-42; Jam. 1:18).

72. Q. How is the Word made effectual to salvation?

    A. The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of convicting and converting sinners, (Ps. 19:7) and of building them up in holiness and comfort (1 Thess. 1:6), through faith to salvation (Rom. 1:16).

73. Q. How is the Word to be read and heard that it may become effectual to salvation?

    A. That the Word may become effectual to salvation, we must attend to it with diligence (Prov. 8:34), preparation (1 Pet. 2:1-2), and prayer (Ps 119:18), receive it with faith (Heb. 4:2), and love (2 Thess. 2:10), lay it up into our hearts (Ps. 119:11), and practise it in our lives (Jam. 1:25).

74. Q. How do Baptism and the Lord’s Supper become spiritually helpful?

    A. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper become spiritually helpful, not from any virtue in them, or in him who does administer them (1 Cor. 3:7; 1 Pet. 3:21), but only by the blessing of Christ (1 Cor. 3:6), and the working of the Spirit in those who by faith receive them (1 Cor. 12:13).

75. Q. What is Baptism?

    A. Baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ (Mat. 28:19), to be to the person baptised a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death, and burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3; Col. 2:12), of his being ingrafted into him (Gal. 3:27), of remission of sins (Mk. 1:4; Acts 22:16), and of his giving up himself to God through Jesus Christ, to live and walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4-5).

76. Q. To whom is Baptism to be administered?

    A. Baptism is to be administered to all those who actually profess repentance towards God (Acts 2:38; Mat. 3:6; Mk. 16:16; Acts 8:12, 36-37; Acts 10:47-48), and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and to none other.

77. Q. Are the infants of such as are professing to be baptised?

    A. The infants of such as are professing believers are not to be baptised, because there is neither command nor example in the Holy Scriptures for their baptism (Ex. 23:13; Prov. 30:6).

78. Q. How is baptism rightly administered?

    A. Baptism is rightly administered by immersion, or dipping the whole body of the person in water (Mat. 3:16; Jn. 3:23), in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, according to Christ’s institution, and the practice of the apostles (Mat. 28:19-20), and not by sprinkling or pouring of water, or dipping some part of the body, after the tradition of men (Jn. 4:1-2; Acts 8:38-39).

79. Q. What is the duty of such as are rightly baptized?

    A. It is the duty of such as are rightly baptized, to give up themselves to some particular and orderly Church of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:47; 9:26; 1 Pet. 2:5), that they may walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (Lk. 1:6).

80. Q. What is the Lord’s Supper?

    A. The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of the New Testament, instituted by Jesus Christ; wherein, by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to his appointment, his death is shown forth (1 Cor. 11:23-26), and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporeal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment, and growth in grace (1 Cor. 10:16).

81. Q. What is required to the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper?

    A. It is required of them who would worthily partake of the Lord’s Supper, that they examine themselves of their knowledge to discern the Lord’s body (1 Cor. 11:28-29), of their faith to feed upon him (2 Cor. 13:5), of their repentance (1 Cor. 11:31), love (1 Cor. 11:18-20), and new obedience, (1 Cor. 5:8) lest coming unworthily, they eat and drink judgment to themselves (1 Cor. 11:27-29).

82. Q. What is meant by the words, “until he come,” which are used by the apostle Paul in reference to the Lord’s Supper?

    A. They plainly teach us that our Lord Jesus Christ will come a second time; which is the joy and hope of all believers (Acts 1:11 1 Thess. 4:16).