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+Sample version of the Shorter Catechism+
~
Introduction~
Q . WHAT should be the chief concern of man?
A. Man's chief concern should be to seek after the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Matt. 6:33, Matt. 16:26.
Q. How do we obtain righteousness?
A. We obtain righteousness through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we are saved. Acts 16:31.
Q. What is faith?
A. It is a God’s gift or a supernatural quality, infused by God into the soul, by which we firmly believe all those things which he have any way revealed to us.
Q. Is faith necessary to salvation?
A. It is; St. Paul assuring that without faith it is impossible to please God. Heb. xi. 6. and St. Mark, xvi. 16, saying, He that believeth not shall be condemned.
Q. Why must we firmly believe matters of faith?
A. Because God had revealed them, who can neither deceive, nor be deceived.
A second reason is, because not only all points of faith, but also the rule, or necessary and infallible means whereby to know them, to wit, the church's oral and universal tradition, are absolutely certain, and cannot lead us into error in faith; else we can never sufficiently be assured what is faith, or what is not.
Q. If a man should deny, or obstinately doubt of some one point of faith, would he be thereby lose his whole faith?
A. Yes, he would; because true faith must always be entire, and he that fails in one, is made guilty of all, by discrediting the authority of God revealing it.
Q. Is it not enough to believe all that is written in the Bible?
A. No, it is not: For we must also believe all apostolic tradition.
Q. How prove you that?
A. Out of 2 Thess. ii. 15. Therefore brethren (St. Paul) stand and hold ye the traditions which ye have learned, whether by word, or by our Epistle.
Q. What other proof have you?
A. The apostle's Creed, which all are bound to believe, although it be not in Scripture.
Q. Is faith only, as excluding good works, sufficient to salvation?
A. No: it is not: St. James, ii. 24, saying, Do you see how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only?
And St. Paul, saying, 1 Cor. xiii. 2. If I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and not have charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver by body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Q. What faith will suffice to justify?
A. Faith working by charity in Jesus Christ.
Q. What vice is opposite to faith?
A. Heresy.
Q. What is Heresy?
A. Is it an obstinate error in things that are of faith?
Q. Is grace necessary for salvation?
A.Yes. Human beings cannot attain the eternal life of the Fullness (PLEROMA) by powers that are purely natural.
Were this possible all humans would already be redeemed and have returned to their home. Therefore we need to be elevated to a transcendental plane through grace and we constantly need spiritual stimuli which come to us by grace.
Q. So what is the best way to summarize the traditional view of salvation?
A. We confess with the historic Church and Biblical witness that there is salvation in none other than Jesus Christ, who has reconciled us to God through His own incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension. He bids us to come to Him in faith and be washed in the waters of baptism, through which our sins are remitted and the gift of the Holy Spirit is received (Acts 2:38).
We confess with the Apostle Paul that this salvation is initiated by God and accomplished by His grace, but that we must cooperate with His grace in faith and continually work out our salvation as He works within us. (Phil. 2:12-13)
Ch I: Divine Revelation
Q. Whence is the doctrine of the Christian faith derived?
A. From divine revelation.
Q. What is meant by the words divine revelation?
A. That which God himself has revealed to men, in order that they might rightly and savingly believe in him, and worthily honor him.
Q. Has God given such a revelation to all men?
A. He has given it for all, as being necessary for all alike, and capable of bringing salvation to all; but, since not all men are capable of receiving a revelation immediately from God, he has employed special persons as heralds of his revelation, to deliver it to all who are desirous of receiving it.
Q. Why are not all men capable of receiving a revelation immediately from God?
A. Owing to their sinful impurity, and weakness both in soul and body.
Q. Besides through liturgy and Scripture, How does God give such a revelation?
A. Normally, in the operation of the gift of prophecy, the Spirit heavily anoints the believer to speak forth to the body not premeditated words, but words the Spirit supplies spontaneously in order to uplift and encourage, incite to faithful obedience and service, and to bring comfort and consolation.
Q. Who were the heralds of divine revelation?
A. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and other Prophets, received and preached the beginnings of divine revelation; but it was the incarnate Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought it to earth, in its fullness and perfection, and spread it over the entire world by his Disciples and Apostles.
The Apostle Paul says, in the beginning of his Epistle to the Hebrews: God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.
Q. Cannot man, then, have any knowledge of God without a special revelation from him?
A. Man may have some knowledge of God by contemplation of those things which he has created; but this knowledge is imperfect and insufficient, and can serve only as a preparation for faith, or as a help towards the knowledge of God from his revelation.
For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. Rom. i. 20. And he hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth; and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us. For in him we live, and move, and have our being.
Ch II: Creed Expounded
Q. What is the Creed?
A. The Creed is an exposition, in few but precise words, of that doctrine which all Christians are bound to believe.
Q. What are the words, of this exposition?
A. They are as follows:
I believe in one God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Ghost, and of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; And was crucified for us, under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried; And rose again the third day according to the Scripture; And ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; And he shall come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, the Giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spake by the Prophets. I believe one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins.I look for the resurrection of the dead; and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Q. From whom have we this exposition of the faith?
A. The twelve apostles, and the Fathers of the first and second œcumenical Councils.
Q. What is an œcumenical Council?
A. An assembly of the Pastors and Doctors of the Catholic Church of Christ, as far as possible, from the whole world, for the confirmation of true doctrine and holy discipline among Christians.
Q. When was these Councils were held?
A. The first was held in the year 325 from the birth of Christ; the second in 381.
Article One
Q. What is the first article of the creed?
A. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
Q. What signifies I believe?
A. It signifies as much as I most firmly and undoubtedly hold.
Q. What is it to believe in God?
A. To believe in God is to have a lively belief of his being, his attributes, and works; and to receive with all the heart his revealed Word respecting the salvation of men.
Q. What signifies the word Father?
A. It signifies the first person of the most blessed mystery of the Holy Trinity; who is trine in persons--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost—yet nature is the consubstantial and undivided in one substance, known as God .
Q. How does holy Scripture speak of the Blessed Trinity?
The chief texts on this point in the New Testament are the following: Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matt. xxviii. 19. There are three that bear record in heaven--the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. 1 John v. 7.
Q. Is the Holy Trinity mentioned in the Old Testament also?
A. Yes; only not so clearly. For instance: By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the Breath of his mouth. Psalm xxxiii. 6. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah vi. 3.
Q. How is one God in three Persons?
We can not comprehend this inner mystery of the Godhead; but we believe it on the infallible testimony of the Word of God. The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 1 Cor. ii. 11.
Q. What difference is there between the Persons of the Holy Trinity?
A. God the Father is neither begotten, nor proceeds from any other Person: the Son of God is from all eternity begotten of the Father: the Holy Ghost from all eternity proceeds from the Father.
Q. What is the role of each of the three Persons?
A. The Father is creator, the Son is articulated intelligence (LOGOS) and redeemer and the Holy Spirit sanctifier.
Q. Are the three Hypostases or Persons of the Most Holy Trinity all of equal majesty?
A. Yes; all of absolutely equal divine majesty. The Father is true God, the Son equally true God, and the Holy Ghost true God; but yet so that in the three Persons there is only one Tri-personal God.
Q. Why is God called the Almighty ( Παντοκράτορα )?
A. Because he upholds all things by his power and his will.
Q. What idea of the essence and essential attributes of God may be derived from divine revelation?
A. That God is a Spirit, eternal, all-good, omniscient, all-just, almighty, omnipresent, unchangeable, all-sufficing to himself, all-blessed.
Q. What signify the words, Creator of heaven and earth?
A. They signify that God made heaven and earth, and all creatures in them, of nothing, by his sole word, Gen. i.
Q. When did God create the angels?
A. On the first day when he created heaven and earth, Gen. i. where Moses implies the creation of angels in the word heaven, and makes no other mention of it. The Nicene creed, interpreting the Apostles' Creed, says, that the words Creator of heaven and earth, mean all things visible and invisible.
Q. For what end did God create them?
A. To be partakers of his glory, and our guardians
Q. Has each one of us his guardian angels?
A. Without doubt. Of this we may be assured from the following words of Jesus Christ: Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father, which is in heaven. Matt. xviii. 10.
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