Theology Matters

Proverbs - Lesson 05 - Discipline in the Home: Parents, Children, and Formation

Proverbs - Lesson 06 - Words that Build or Destroy - Speech, Counsel, and Correction

Proverbs - Lesson 07 - Work, Wealth, and Wisdom in the World

Proverbs - Lesson 08 - Kingship, Justice, and the Politics of Righteousness

Proverbs - Lesson 09 - Sexual Ethics

Proverbs - Lesson 10 - Anger, Restraint, and the Rule of the Spirit

Proverbs - Lesson 11 - The Excellent Wife - Wisdom Embodied

Proverbs - Lesson 12 - Christ the King and the Way of Righteousness

Proverbs - Lesson 13 - Remembering the Path

Christmas 2025: The Incarnation

A study of the Incarnation to answer the following questions:
Why did Christ have to become a man? 
How did He become a man? 
What does this mean for our salvation and for our life as Faithful Israel in Fallen Babylon?

Psalm 78: Building Beyond Our Timeline

Baptist Catechism - Lesson 01 - Introduction to Catechism

Lesson 1: Introduction to Catechism 
This year, Lord willing, we are going to walk together through The Baptist Catechism, a late-17th-century summary of Christian doctrine that stands alongside, and grows out of, the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.
Before we start memorizing and explaining individual questions and answers, we need to slow down and address some introductory issues:
What is a catechism?
Why would we use one today?
Who is it for?
How does it relate to a confession of faith and to Scripture itself?
What Is a Catechism?
A catechism is a biblically-shaped, historically-tested tool for teaching the core doctrines of the Christian faith, especially to children and new believers, as a concise summary of what we believe.
 
It is biblically-shaped in both content and method. In terms of content, a catechism is not trying to introduce new ideas; it is simply gathering and arranging what Scripture already teaches about God, man, sin, Christ, salvation, the church, and the Christian life. In terms of method, it follows a pattern we see in the New Testament itself. Luke tells Theophilus that he has written his Gospel “that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught” (Luke 1:4), literally, “the things in which you have been catechized”. The apostles assume that believers will receive clear, ordered instruction in the faith, and that this “pattern of the sound words” (2 Timothy 1:13) will be handed down and entrusted to others (2 Timothy 2:2). A catechism is simply one way the church has obeyed that instinct.
It is also historically-tested. From the early church, where new converts (catechumens) were instructed before baptism, through the Reformation, where Luther’s Small Catechism, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism were written to teach ordinary Christians, the people of God have used concise summaries of core doctrine to pass on the faith. This Baptist Catechism stands in that stream. Seventeenth-century Particular Baptists took the same concern for careful instruction and produced a catechism that reflected their confession of faith. In other words, whatever else you may think about a document from 1695, it is not cutting-edge or experimental; it is a well-worn tool the church has been using in one form or another for a very long time.
The form of a catechism is intentionally simple: question and answer. The question raises the issue; the answer gives a clear, memorizable summary. This format is built for the ear and for the memory. It invites parents to ask and children to respond. It gives children and new believers short sentences they can carry with them even before they have many passages memorized. Each answer is meant to be unpacked and supported by multiple Scripture texts, but the catechism itself provides the “bones” of Christian truth in a form that can actually be remembered.
Finally, a catechism is a tool, not a rival authority. Scripture alone is inspired, inerrant, and finally binding on the conscience. As the London Baptist Confession of Faith puts it in its first sentence:
The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. (1689 LBCF Chapter 1 § 1; emphasis mine)
The catechism (or creed or confession) only has value as it faithfully echoes what Scripture teaches. 
A helpful picture is this: the Bible is the landscape of God’s revelation; a confession is a carefully drawn map of that landscape; a catechism is the legend and trail guide that helps us read the map and find our way. The map and trail guide can never replace the land, but they can help us see the main features and how they fit together so that we can walk the land more wisely. As we study this catechism, our constant concern will be to trace each answer back into the text of Scripture, not to be devoted to a book from 1695, but so that we will be more firmly grounded in God’s Word.
Who It’s For; What It’s For
A catechism is written for the whole people of God, but it has a special eye toward those who most need clarity and simplicity. Historically, catechisms have been used first of all for children. Fathers are commanded to bring their children up “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), but many Christian parents feel the weight of that calling without any structure for how to do it. A catechism gives fathers and mothers a concrete way to obey that command: they can ask the questions, hear the answers, and then open the Bible together to see why those answers are true. In that sense, a catechism belongs in the living room and around the dinner table every bit as much as it belongs in the classroom.
Catechisms are also for new believers. Someone who has recently come to faith often knows the basics—that Christ died and rose again—but may not yet see how the doctrines of God, man, sin, grace, and the church fit together. A catechism does not replace regular Bible reading, but it gives a new Christian a “framework” for reading: the big categories are already in place, and as they read the Scriptures those categories begin to fill out. It is much easier to recognize the shape of biblical teaching when you have already learned a simple outline of that teaching in question-and-answer form.
At the same time, catechisms are not just for beginners. Seasoned believers, elders, and teachers also need the discipline of stating the truth clearly. The longer we are Christians, the more tempted we can be to live on vague impressions of Bible truth instead of sharp, well-defined convictions. Working through a catechism forces us to ask, “How would I say this? What, exactly, do I believe about God’s providence, or about justification, or about the church?” It exposes places where our thinking has grown fuzzy and helps bring our minds back into alignment with Scripture.
So what is a catechism for? At the most basic level, it is for clarity and memory. The questions and answers give us short sentences that can be learned by heart. Those sentences are not meant to sit there as bare formulas; they are meant to become hooks on which we hang many passages of Scripture and many hours of preaching and teaching. Over time, the catechism becomes a kind of mental filing cabinet: when you hear a sermon on God’s attributes or on repentance or on the Lord’s Supper, you have a place to file it.
A catechism is also for discipleship and unity in the church. When parents, children, new believers, and long-time members are all learning the same questions and answers, we gain a shared vocabulary for talking about the things of God. It becomes easier to counsel, to correct, and to encourage one another when we already agree on the basic categories. Instead of each household inventing its own private way of “doing doctrine,” the church can walk together in a pattern of sound words that has been tested and proved.
Finally, a catechism is for stability and protection. We live in a time when doctrinal confusion is normal and error spreads quickly. A well-used catechism functions like a set of guardrails: it keeps us from drifting off into vague spirituality on one side or into novel speculations on the other. It reminds us, again and again, of the central things: 
 
Who God is
What the gospel is
What the church is
What God requires of us for belief and practice
 
Used this way, a catechism is not simply an academic exercise, but a means God uses to root Christians more deeply in the truth so that they are not “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:14)
If you come all year, pay attention, and do a little bit of work at home during the week, by the end of the year, you will have a better systematic theology than most seminary graduates. That said, the catechism does not cover every topic or every question of interest.
Catechism and Confession
A catechism and a confession of faith are closely related, but they are not the same thing. Both are human summaries of what Scripture teaches, and both are meant to serve the church, but they serve in different ways. A confession (like the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith) is a church’s formal, public statement of doctrine. It is written article by article, in continuous prose, and it is meant to say, “This is what we, as a church, believe the Bible teaches.” A catechism takes that same doctrinal content and rearranges it into short, memorizable questions and answers for teaching and discipleship.
You can think of the confession as the church’s constitution, and the catechism as the teaching manual that grows out of that constitution. The confession gives fuller, more detailed treatments of each doctrine, often with careful distinctions that matter for ordination, church membership, and unity among elders and churches. The catechism takes the same truths and puts them on the bottom shelf: brief, clear answers that a child can memorize and a new believer can grasp. If you read the confession and the catechism side by side, you will find the same topics: God and his decrees, creation and providence, the fall and sin, the person and work of Christ, effectual calling, justification, sanctification, the church, the ordinances, and so on. The content is the same; the presentation is different.
Because of that, it is important to say that neither a confession nor a catechism stands above Scripture. Scripture alone is inspired, inerrant, and finally authoritative. Our confessions and catechisms are “subordinate standards”: they have a kind of derivative authority only insofar as they faithfully echo what the Bible says. In our own congregation, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (BFM2000) is the formal doctrinal statement our elders have adopted and under which the ministries of the church operate. The Baptist Catechism that we are studying in this class is being used as a teaching tool, a way of organizing and expressing core doctrines clearly, in continuity with historic Baptist theology, while everything it says is tested by Scripture.
So when we study the Baptist Catechism, we are not studying something instead of the BFM2000, nor are we trying to smuggle in a new confession by the back door. Historically, this catechism reflects the theology of the 1689 London Baptist Confession, and I will occasionally point out those connections for those who are interested, but our main aim is much simpler: to learn to speak the truths of Scripture in a clear, ordered way that has served many Baptists well. My hope is that this catechism will give us language and categories that help us read our Bibles with greater clarity and also deepen our appreciation for the biblical truths summarized in the statement of faith our church has actually adopted (the BFM2000).
Common Concerns
Any time you mention a “catechism”, certain questions and worries tend to surface, especially for those of us who did not grow up with this kind of instruction. It’s better to bring those concerns out into the open and address them directly than to leave them buzzing in the background all year.
“Isn’t this a Roman Catholic thing?”
For some, the word catechism immediately calls to mind the Roman Catholic Catechism or childhood memories from a very different church context. It’s important to remember that the word itself is simply biblical language for orderly instruction in the faith. Long before Rome produced its modern catechism, Christians across the centuries—Augustine, the Reformers, the Puritans, and many Baptists—were catechizing believers, especially children, with short summaries of doctrine drawn from Scripture. So we are not borrowing a Roman practice and baptizing it; we are returning to a broader and older Christian practice that Protestants and Baptists have used gladly. This is just a common method for teaching any topic, whether religious or secular. This is also how we teach math.
“Doesn’t memorization just produce dead formalism?”
Memorization by itself does not produce faith; neither does ignorance. Scripture itself gives us short, repeatable summaries of truth (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 1 Timothy 3:16) and expects those to be taught and repeated. The problem is not knowing words by heart; the problem is knowing words without the heart (or not knowing the words at all). Our goal in using a catechism is not to train people to parrot answers they do not believe, but to put clear, biblical truth into our minds so that the Spirit can press it into our hearts. As we memorize, we will also explain, question, and apply what we are learning. The aim is warm, informed devotion to Christ, not cold recitation.
“Will this replace reading and teaching the Bible?”
No. If a catechism ever becomes a substitute for Scripture, it has been badly misused. In this class, the catechism is a servant of the Word, not a competitor. Each answer is meant to drive us toward specific passages and patterns in the Bible. We will constantly be asking, “Where do we see this in Scripture?” and we will open our Bibles together to find it. The catechism gives us sentences to hold in our heads; the Bible gives us the full, living voice of God speaking those truths into our lives. In this sense, the catechism is teaching the Bible, just using a different method. This is similar to how a sermon teaches what the Bible says without replacing the Bible itself as the authority.
“Isn’t this just for kids?”
Catechisms have often been written with children in mind, and rightly so. Children need clear, simple, orderly teaching. But that doesn’t mean adults are done with catechesis. Many of us have been in church for years and have never been required to state basic doctrines clearly. Walking through a catechism as adults exposes fuzzy spots in our thinking and helps bring our beliefs into sharper focus. The same questions and answers that help a child begin can help a mature believer deepen and clarify what they already confess. In that sense, catechism is child-friendly, but not child-only.
“What if I disagree with something in the catechism?”
This is a fair question, and in a church context like ours it needs to be asked. As we have already said, Scripture alone is our final authority. We saw earlier in this lesson that the 1689 LBCF begins with this assertion. The BFM2000 makes a similar assertion in Section 1, The Scriptures:
[The Holy Bible / Scripture] reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.
Our congregation has adopted the BFM2000 as its doctrinal statement. This catechism is being used as a teaching tool, not as a new or replacement confession. If you come to a question where you’re not sure you agree with the wording or the emphasis, that is an opportunity, not a threat. Bring your Bible. Ask questions. Compare what the catechism says with what you see in Scripture and with what our own statement of faith says. Where there are differences of conviction at a finer level, we can talk about them openly and charitably. The goal of this class is not to pressure anyone into a particular historical confession, but to help all of us think more carefully and biblically about the faith we profess.
Conclusion
Taken together, the concerns above actually highlight why a catechism can be so valuable. It forces us to be explicit about what we believe and why, to distinguish between Scripture and human summaries, and to pursue unity in truth rather than unity in vagueness. If we keep the Bible open, keep our consciences bound to the Word of God, and use this catechism as a humble tool for teaching and remembering, it can greatly strengthen both our confidence in the gospel and our ability to pass it on.

Baptist Catechism - Lesson 02 - Catechism Use and Structure

Lesson 2: Catechism Use and Structure 
This week I want to turn from the “what” and the “why” to the “how.” If a catechism is a biblically-shaped, historically-tested tool for teaching the core doctrines of the faith, then how do we actually use that tool in real life? What might it look like for you, for your family, and for our church to put this catechism to work over the coming year? And as we do that, where are we going? How is this particular Baptist Catechism put together, and what kind of roadmap does its structure give us for the truths we’ll be walking through?
Very Brief Review: What a Catechism Is (and Isn’t)
Last week we said that a catechism is a biblically-shaped, historically-tested tool for teaching the core doctrines of the Christian faith, especially to children and new believers, as a concise summary of what we believe. In other words, it gathers and arranges what Scripture already teaches about:
God
Man
Sin
Christ
Salvation
The Church
The Christian life
It presents those truths in short questions and answers that ordinary Christians can actually remember.
We also stressed what a catechism is not. It is not a second Bible, and it is not a replacement for regular Bible reading and preaching. Scripture alone is inspired, inerrant, and finally authoritative; the catechism only has value as it faithfully echoes what Scripture says. As we saw from the 1689 LBCF and the BFM2000:
The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. (1689 LBCF Chapter 1 § 1)
[The Holy Bible / Scripture] reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. (BFM 2000, 1. The Scriptures, emphasis mine)
This is important because some people get the wrong impression that when we cite a confession or catechism, we are supplanting the Scriptures. This is not so. Those lesser standards organize and systematize the Scriptures in a summary way (confession) that is easy to memorize (catechism).
Nor is our goal to produce people who can recite words they do not believe. Memorization by itself does not create faith, but it does give the mind clear, biblical truth for the Spirit to press into the heart.
So as we come into this second week, the picture to keep in mind is still the same: the Bible is the landscape of God’s revelation; the confession is the map that lays out its contours; the catechism is the legend and trail guide that teaches us how to read that map. Used rightly, it helps us see the main features and how they fit together, so that we can walk the land (live in the Scriptures) more wisely.
How to Use a Catechism: Basic Principles
Before we talk about where to use a catechism (in our own lives, in our homes, and in the church), we need to be clear on the basic posture with which we approach it. If we get the how wrong at this level, we can turn a very good tool into something cold and unhelpful. Used rightly, though, a catechism can become a steady means of grace in the Christian life.
First, we must always use a catechism under Scripture. The questions and answers are never the last word; they are a way of summarizing the Word. That means we should keep our Bibles open. When we read or recite an answer, the instinct we want to develop is, “Where do we see this in Scripture?” Each of you should have received a copy of the catechism. This particular copy includes both scriptural references that are original to the 1695 version as well as other references that the editors added for the same purpose. Over time, each question should become a doorway into particular texts and passages. If we ever find ourselves trusting the catechism more than the Bible, or quoting it instead of the Bible as our final authority, we have lost our way. The catechism serves us well only as it keeps sending us back into the text of Scripture itself.
Second, we should use a catechism with an eye to head, heart, and life together. The questions and answers certainly aim at the mind: they clarify definitions, draw necessary distinctions, and give us sentences we can remember. But the goal is not bare information. Sound doctrine is meant to lead to love for God and obedience to God (1 Timothy 1:5; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). As we memorize and review, we should be asking, “What does this teach me about who God is? How should this shape my affections? What should change in my life if this answer is true?” If we stop at mere mental agreement, we are using the catechism as a mere textbook instead of as a means of discipleship.
Third, we should use a catechism in dependence on the Holy Spirit and in fellowship with the church. The same Spirit who inspired Scripture must illumine our minds and warm our hearts as we study it, whether directly from the text or through the lens of a catechism. That is why our use of the catechism ought to be covered in prayer: praying before we read, praying as we teach our children, praying that God would press these truths into us and not let them sit on the surface. And we do this together, not in isolation. As members of one body, we help one another grasp and apply these doctrines, through conversation, questions, encouragement, and correction, so that we “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).
Finally, we should use a catechism with patience and repetition. By design, it is not something you master in a week and then set aside. It is meant to be returned to again and again, the way you might slowly walk the same well-loved path many times. Some questions will come easily; others will feel dense and difficult. That is normal. The task is simply to keep going, to review what we have learned, to add a little more, and to trust that steady exposure to clear, biblical truth will bear fruit over time. Our aim this year is not perfection, but faithfulness: to handle this tool in a way that honors Scripture and helps us grow.
Where to Use a Catechism: Personal, Family, and Church
If the catechism is a tool, the next question is simply: where do we keep it in use? The answer is: everywhere the Christian life is actually lived: in private, in the home, and in the gathered church. Each of those settings gives the catechism a slightly different role, but the same goal: to help the Word of Christ “dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16).
In private, a catechism can become part of your ordinary walk with the Lord. It is not meant to replace Bible reading or prayer, but to sit alongside them. In practice, that might mean slowly working through a handful of questions during the week—reading the question and answer, looking up the main Scripture references, and then turning those truths into prayer. It might mean choosing one question to memorize and reflect on, repeating it to yourself throughout the day. Over time, the catechism becomes a kind of mental framework for your private devotions. When you read a psalm about God’s attributes, or a passage about justification by faith, you already have a place to “file” what you are seeing. The catechism starts to give you words when you are at a loss for words, and it steadies your thoughts when your own feelings are foggy or confused.
In the home, a catechism is crafted to help parents, especially fathers, obey the command to bring their children up “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) You do not have to reinvent Christian teaching from scratch for your household; you can receive and use a pattern of sound words that has already been tested. Family use does not need to be complicated. 
It could be as simple as picking a regular time, perhaps after a meal or at bedtime, asking one or two questions, hearing the answers together, and briefly explaining or illustrating what they mean. As children grow, they can begin to read the questions aloud, to find the Scripture references, and to ask their own questions about the meaning. Even if your home is busy and noisy and inconsistent (which is most homes), a simple habit of catechizing a few times a week will, over the years, put a remarkable amount of truth into young hearts and minds. And for families without children at home, the same pattern can still serve a husband and wife, or even a single believer and a roommate or friend, as a simple form of shared discipleship. Even mature believers will benefit from use of the catechism!
In the gathered church, a catechism helps us teach and guard the faith together. That is what we are doing in this class, but the usefulness does not stop here. When a congregation has at least a basic acquaintance with the same questions and answers, it gives us a shared vocabulary for ministry. A teacher can assume certain categories are already familiar. An elder or small-group leader can draw on the catechism while explaining the gospel, or God’s attributes, or repentance. It can be used in membership interviews, in one-on-one discipleship, and even in counseling, as we remind one another of who God is and what He has promised. The goal is not that everyone becomes a walking index of question numbers, but that we all grow more fluent in speaking biblical truth in clear, careful ways. Again, this is a conduit for us to know the Scriptures and, through them, the God of Scripture.
When these three settings begin to reinforce one another, the effect is powerful. What you are memorizing and meditating on personally can be rehearsed and discussed in the family; what families are learning at home can be reinforced and clarified in the life of the church; what is taught publicly in the church can be carried back into private devotions and household worship. The same questions and answers echo in the study, around the dinner table, and in the classroom. That kind of overlap is not accidental; it is by design. A catechism is meant to be lived with, not tucked away.
Overview of the Baptist Catechism’s Structure
The Baptist Catechism is not a grab bag of disconnected questions. It has a deliberate front porch, a clearly stated framework, and then two large main sections that follow that framework. If you understand how the early questions are arranged, you can always tell where you are in the catechism and why a particular question is being asked.
The opening questions (1-6) are like the front porch. They introduce us to God Himself, to our purpose, and to our ultimate authority. The first questions ask who God is and why God made us. Very quickly, the catechism then turns to the question of how we can know any of this with certainty. It points us to the Holy Scriptures as our rule for all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. In other words, the catechism first sets God before us, then asks why we exist, and then settles the issue of where we go for an answer: we go to the Bible.
That brings us to question 6, which quietly gives you the outline of almost the entire catechism:
 
Q. What things are chiefly contained in the Holy Scriptures?
A. The Holy Scriptures chiefly contain:
what man ought to believe concerning God (questions 7–43), and 
what duty God requireth of man (questions 44–114).
 
From there on, the catechism simply follows the logic of question 6. The first major section (questions 7-43) answers, “What are we to believe concerning God?” It begins with who God is (His being, attributes, and decrees) and His works of creation and providence. It traces our fall into sin and misery, then unfolds the covenant of grace, the person and work of Christ, and the way salvation is applied to sinners: calling, faith, repentance, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and our hope in death and at the resurrection. In other words, in this first stretch, the catechism walks us through the whole story of God, creation, fall, Christ, and salvation applied. In other words, everything we “ought to believe concerning God”.  (Don’t sweat these details; we’ll get there.)
The second major section (questions 44–114) answers, “What duty does God require of man?” Here the catechism gathers up God’s moral law, especially as summarized in the Ten Commandments. It explains the law in general and then moves commandment by commandment, opening up what each one requires and forbids. Later questions in this same stream take up the outward and ordinary means of grace—baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Word, and prayer—as the concrete ways God both commands us to respond and nourishes our obedience. All of that falls under the heading of “what duty God requireth of man”: how we are to live before Him in faith, repentance, worship, and daily obedience.
So, structurally, the catechism is doing exactly what question 6 says the Bible itself does. 
 
First, it teaches us what to believe about God and His saving work.
Then, it teaches us how those who believe are to live. 
 
As we work through it this year, it will help to keep that simple pattern in your mind: the early questions introduce the Scriptures and then give you the outline; the bulk of the catechism then fills in that outline, first with doctrine to be believed, and then with duty to be obeyed, all drawn from the same Word of God.
Our Use of the Catechism (Expectations & Rhythm)
In terms of our weekly rhythm in class, the pattern will be simple and (Lord willing) consistent. Each week we will begin with a brief review of the previous lesson. Then, we will turn to that week’s new question(s). I will read the questions and answers, and then we will work through them together, opening Scripture, explaining key words and phrases, and thinking about how these truths actually touch our lives. Most weeks we will cover several questions; some weeks we may slow down for one or two that are especially dense or foundational. I will try to keep lessons logically grouped. 
Alongside what we do in class, I want to encourage some realistic expectations for memorization and review. I recognize that different people and households will be able to do different things. But I want to urge you to aim at something beyond only hearing the questions once a week. For some, that may mean trying to memorize one question and answer each week. For others, it may mean rehearsing the wording out loud a few times, even if you never get it word-perfect. For families with children, you might choose a question of the week and work on it together at meals or bedtime. (Listening to Jim Orrick’s musical versions is easy and promotes memorization.) The goal is not to impress anyone; the goal is to let these sentences take root through steady, ordinary repetition.
You will not be “in trouble” if you fall behind, forget what you intended to memorize, or have a stretch where life is chaotic and you can barely find your shoes, much less memorize a catechism. Part of my job is to keep reminding you that even small, halting efforts matter over time. It is better to do a little with a willing heart than to do nothing because you cannot do everything.
Finally, I hope this class will encourage you to carry the catechism beyond this room. What we do together on Sundays is meant to support, not replace, your own use of it personally and in your home. When you hear a sermon that touches on God’s attributes, or repentance, or baptism, listen for the connections to questions we have studied. When you read your Bible and run across a passage that clearly supports one of the answers, make a note of it. When questions come up in conversation with your children, with other believers, or with someone who is not a Christian, consider how the simple, careful wording of the catechism might help you answer more clearly.
Each week we will review a little, learn a little more, look together at Scripture, and then send you back into your week with a few concrete questions and answers to hold onto. If we persevere in that simple pattern, my confidence is that by the end of the year you will not only know this catechism better, but you will also know your Bible better, speak about your faith more clearly, and be better equipped to teach others.