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?
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?
Many Christians have the Lord's Prayer memorized, but few take the time to regularly meditate and prayer from it. Our familiarity can so easily become our peril. We cognitively know the prayer's contents, but has it entwined itself into our very DNA? When considering this most excellent of all prayers, we should note three things. …
Now that we have learned how to pray with reverence and confidence. Now comes the question: What should we pray? The answer rightly sets our sights upon the Scriptures: The whole Word of God directs and inspires us in what we should pray. Praying in accordance with God's will ought to be our supreme desire, …
Last year, I had the privilege of being a tutor for my daughter’s Classical Conversations class. Since we are encouraged to write out our whiteboards with God at the center of each subject, I began every class by asking the students where we must always begin our studies. The answer, of course, being God. I …
Continue reading A Catechism for Classical Christian Education
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3fme87cehrvqNGvI78SaP3?si=89a0dedb32024f24 In our previous study, we began the final section of the catechism, which is called Restoration. As we noted back in Question 2, the premise of this section is to know “how I am to lead a thankful life of holiness and sexual purity in conformity to and union with Christ.” Question 27-30 initiated …
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3d9BqJuD0NlppKi3gAkHWH?si=052c81d636aa40e4 As we begin the fourth and final part of this catechism, we should remind ourselves that Questions 1-2 are the introduction to everything. This catechism is aiming to teach us how we can find the comfort of our new identity in Christ. Now that we have seen the goodness of God’s design (Part 1), …
Having previously defined what prayer is, we might expect this question to address the content of our prayers. However, that is the following question: What should we pray? Yet the New City Catechism rightly places this question before that one. We should note this order well. When discussing prayer, it is all too easy to …
Continue reading Question 39: With What Attitude Should We Pray?
https://open.spotify.com/episode/53E0BjtQ56dR3P4xB10ZB0?si=l-5ezlVZQs-FBw4uNvHh0A In our previous lesson, we moved through Part 2 of the New Reformation Catechism on Human Sexuality. Those questions focused upon the effects of humanity’s fall into sin upon our natural desires and the temptations that now arise from within our deceitful hearts. Although their subject matter is far from pleasant, it is essential …
B. C. Newton 