After addressing baptism over the past two questions, we now come to the second ordinance: the Lord's Supper. The catechism's answer begins by grounding the Supper in Christ's command, which again is what makes it an ordinance. Just as baptism is commanded by Christ in the Great Commission, so the Lord's Supper was instituted at …
Each December 31st I write this post, looking back on the previous year and forward to the new. As you may have noticed, 2025 was quite similar to 2024 here: my writing was fairly sparse. There were two main reasons. First, instead of using my free time to write, I have been devoting it to …
I recently finished reading War and Peace (here is a great three-volume edition), which I picked up this year after coming across a full set of The Great Books of the Western World at a bookstore. It was the original 54-volumed edition and in great condition. So, we bought it. I began looking at reading …
It’s time once again to reflect on the past year, and as always, here is my list of my ten favorite books (or, eleven, since I always include an honorable mention). This year was a little unusual for me. I read fewer books than normal, completing only twenty. But at the same time, this ended …
After question 44 answered for us, What is baptism?, question 45 takes up another essential issue: Now, again, we believe that baptism is a sign of Christ’s death and resurrection, His work on our behalf. So when we affirm that baptism does not wash away sin itself, this should not be taken as diminishing baptism …
Continue reading Question 45: Is Baptism with Water the Washing Away of Sin Itself?
Baptism is the washing with water. Of course, different denominations practice different modes of baptism. As a Baptist, we practice baptism by immersion. But whatever denomination one might belong to, baptism always involves water. It is a washing with water that represents the spiritual washing in Christ. The waters of baptism do not literally wash …
Today is the official start of Advent, which we love to celebrate in our home. Now, I have already written a post about whether or not you should observe the liturgical calendar (Advent, Lent, etc.), and I also recently discussed it again in my sermon on Leviticus 23. You can read both of those to …
Continue reading How Our Family Celebrates Advent and Christmas
The catechism now turns from the disciplines of prayer and Scripture to the sacraments or, as we Baptists most commonly call them, the ordinances. These two practices, baptism and the Lord's Supper, were instituted by Christ Himself and given to His church as what Thomas Watson calls visible sermons that proclaim the gospel. They are …
Continue reading Question 43: What Are the Sacraments or Ordinances?
After addressing how we are to speak to God in prayer over the past four questions, the catechism now turns to the other chief spiritual disciplines: the intake of Scripture, hearing and reading the Word of God. Don Whitney rightly calls it Scripture intake because, while we often only think of reading the Bible, hearing …
Continue reading Question 42: How Is the Word of God to Be Read and Heard?
In the Great Commission, our Lord commanded us: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of …
B. C. Newton 