A Puritan Catechism — Charles H. Spurgeon
Topic No. 05901
Question 1. What is the chief end of man?
A Man’s chief end is to glorify God, [1Co 10:31] and to enjoy him for ever. [Ps 73:25,26]
Topic No. 05902
Question 2. What rule has God given to direct us how we may glorify him?
A The Word of God which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments [Eph 2:20 2Ti 3:16] is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify God and enjoy him. [1Jo 1:3]
Topic No. 05903
Question 3. What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. [2Ti 1:13 Ec 12:13]
Topic No. 05904
Question 4. What is God?
A God is Spirit, [Joh 4:24] infinite, [Job 11:7] eternal, [Ps 90:2 1Ti 1:17] and unchangeable [Jas 1:17] in his being, [Ex 3:14] wisdom, power, [Ps 147:5] holiness, [Re 4:8] justice, goodness and truth. [Ex 34:6,7]
Topic No. 05905
Question 5. Are there more Gods than one?
A There is but one only, [De 6:4] the living and true God. [Jer 10:10]
Topic No. 05906
Question 6. How many persons are there in the Godhead?
A There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory. [1Jo 5:7 Mt 28:19]
Topic No. 05907
Question 7. What are the decrees of God?
A The decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his own will, whereby for his own glory he has foreordained whatever comes to pass. [Eph 1:11,12]
Topic No. 05908
Question 8. How does God execute his decrees?
A God executes his decrees in the works of creation, [Re 4:11] and providence. [Da 4:35]
Topic No. 05909
Question 9. What is the work of creation?
A The work of creation is God’s making all things [Ge 1:1] of nothing, by the Word of his power, [Heb 11:3] in six normal consecutive days, [Ex 20:11] and all very good. [Ge 1:31]
Topic No. 05910
Question 10. How did God create man?
A God created man, male and female, after his own image, [Ge 1:27] in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness [Col 3:10 Eph 4:24] with dominion over the creatures. [Ge 1:28]
Topic No. 05911
Question 11. What are God’s works of providence?
A God’s works of providence are his most holy, [Ps 145:17] wise, [Isa 28:29] and powerful, [Heb 1:3] preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions. [Ps 103:19 Mt 10:29]
Topic No. 05912
Question 12. What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the state wherein he was created?
A When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him, upon condition of perfect obedience; [Ga 3:12] forbidding him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, upon pain of death. [Ge 2:17]
Topic No. 05913
Question 13. Did our first parents continue in the state wherein they were created?
A Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the state wherein they were created, by sinning against God, [Ec 7:29] by eating the forbidden fruit. [Ge 3:6-8]
Topic No. 05914
Question 14. What is sin?
A Sin is any want of conformity to, or transgression of the law of God. [1Jo 3:4]
Topic No. 05915
Question 15. Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
A The covenant being made with Adam, not only for himself but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression. [1Co 15:22 Ro 5:12]
Topic No. 05916
Question 16. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
A The fall brought mankind into a state of sin and misery. [Ro 5:18]
Topic No. 05917
Question 17. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that state whereinto man fell?
A The sinfulness of that state whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, [Ro 5:19] the want of original righteousness, [Ro 3:10] and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, [Eph 2:1 Ps 51:5] together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it. [Mt 15:19]
Topic No. 05918
Question 18. What is the misery of that state whereinto man fell?
A All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, [Ge 3:8,24] are under his wrath and curse, [Eph 2:3 Ga 3:10] and so made liable to all the miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever. [Ro 6:23 Mt 25:41]
Topic No. 05919
Question 19. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery?
A God having, out of his good pleasure from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, [2Th 2:13] did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Redeemer. [Ro 5:21]