I vividly recall driving up to the children’s hospital in Washington D.C to visit a couple from the congregation I pastored and seeing their little baby suffering from an undiagnosed illness. After we talked for a bit, they produced a little card that I had inserted into the church bulletins months earlier with Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1 printed on it:
What is your only comfort in life and death? That I am not my own, but belong-body and soul, in life and in death-to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
It was a powerful testimony for me to hear how these believers were cheered in a deadly situation by gospel comfort, how when they saw their daughter’s hair falling out, they remembered the line of the catechism: “He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven.” God’s sovereignty, expressed so artfully in the catechism, brought peace.
Thankfully, the doctors were able to treat their daughter and she made a full recovery.
So what is a catechism? A catechism is a teaching tool that summarizes what the Bible teaches, usually in a question-and-answer format. For some, “catechism” brings back painful memories of “rote memorization” and tearful frustration. To others, catechisms may be a foreign concept, something strange, stiff, and unfamiliar.
But there are Christians throughout the centuries who have found catechisms to be life-giving, for they reflect the hope of God’s Word. In fact, Christians in history have cherished faithful catechisms for numerous reasons. Let’s consider some of them.
Faithful Catechisms Protect Believers
Faithful catechisms reflect God’s Word and provide a kind of map to help us navigate the Bible itself. The primary author of the Heidelberg Catechism question on our life’s only comfort, Zacharias Ursinus (1534–1586) wrote, “For as the doctrine of the catechism…are taken out of the Scriptures, and are directed by them as their rule, so they lead us, as it were, by the hand to the Scriptures.”
Catechisms can be used alongside the Bible, then, in evangelism, combating our society’s widespread biblical illiteracy. They build up and protect believers by identifying what is most important in the Bible. Early in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, for example, we are directed to what “the Scriptures principally teach” (Q&A 3). Another way of saying this is that the catechism helps us identify important questions for Christians, and asking the right questions is critical to learning.
We see this in an ancient example of “catechism,” Exodus 12:26–27: “And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.' And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.” Here teaching by catechisms not only brought understanding but led to worship. Faithful catechisms guard believers from false gospels by laying a foundation of biblical teaching.
Faithful Catechisms Equip Believers
The catechisms of the church also guide us in how to live out our faith. The Westminster Larger Catechism, for example, goes into detail about what each of the Ten Commandments means. One great way to utilize this catechism in your Christian walk is to study what it says about each of the Ten Commandments, and how your life can better reflect God’s standards. Kevin Vanhoozer explains, “to catechize believers is to teach them what they need to know to become not simply hearers but also competent doers, active participants in the life of the church, actors who can fittingly improvise the scenes God has given them to play in the drama of redemption.”
Not only are catechisms helpful in learning about God and his Word, they equip us to give an explanation of our hope when asked by others (1 Pet. 3:15). The pithy doctrinal statements of the Shorter Catechism, which can be memorized even by children, give quick answers to important questions like “What is Justification?” and “What is Adoption?” While the biblical truths in these questions must be truly believed in the heart and not used mechanically, these small memorizable chunks make it easier for the Word to become a part of the believer.
Faithful Catechisms Unite Believers
Because catechisms usually focus on the main truths of the Bible, they help us walk hand in hand with other believers. Christians for centuries have found catechisms and confessions of faith to be good foundations for unity for this very reason. We may not agree on every minor interpretation of doctrine, but we can agree on many of the main points expressed in the catechisms. The catechisms that have stood the test of time are not local guides; they bring together believers who share the same convictions about those things that are “of primary importance” (1 Cor. 15:3). In other words, not only do faithful catechisms equip us to walk rightly before God, they also unite us to other believers who share our faith.
Catechisms drive us to Scripture, warm the heart towards praise of God and discipleship, and unite Christians in their core convictions. It would benefit the saints to recover this tried and true method of growing faithful believers. As Dwight L. Moody declared when a child explained to him “What is prayer” using the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Thank God for that Catechism!”
Footnotes
For example, B. B. Warfield, “Is the Shorter Catechism Worthwhile?,” in Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield, ed. John E. Meeter (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R, 1980), 1:383–84.
Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, trans. G.W. Williard (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1954), 10.
According to John Milton Gregory, there is great importance in teaching to “prepare beforehand thought-provoking questions.”John Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989), 49.
See Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity (Carlisle: Banner of Truth, 1890, reprint 2021), 5.
Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Hearers & Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2019), 190.
Warfield, “Is the Shorter Catechism Worthwhile?,” 384.
