Adapted from the Catechism for Young Children: An Introduction to the Shorter Catechism.
Questions 1–10
1. Who made you?
God.
2. What else did God make?
God made everything.
3. Why did God make you and everything else?
For His own glory.
4. How can you glorify God?
By loving Him and doing what He commands.
5. Why should you glorify God?
Because He made me and takes care of me.
6. Is there more than one God?
There is only one God.
7. How many persons are in the one God?
Three persons.
8. Who are they?
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
9. What is God?
God is a spirit and does not have a body.
10. Where is God?
God is everywhere.
Questions 11–20
11. Can you see God?
No. I cannot see God, but He always sees me.
12. Does God know everything?
Yes. Nothing can be hidden from God.
13. Can God do everything?
Yes. God can do anything He wants.
14. Where do you learn how to love and obey God?
Only in the Bible.
15. Who wrote the Bible?
Men who were guided by the Holy Spirit.
16. Who were our first parents?
Adam and Eve.
17. What were our first parents made of?
God made Adam’s body out of the earth, and He made Eve from Adam’s body.
18. What did God give Adam and Eve besides bodies?
He gave them souls that would never die.
19. Do you have a soul as well as a body?
Yes, I have a soul that will never die.
20. How do you know that you have a soul?
Because God tells me so in the Bible
Questions 21–30
21. When God first made Adam and Eve, what were they like?
They were holy and happy with God.
22. What is a covenant?
A solemn bond between two or more persons.
23. What covenant did God make with Adam?
The covenant of works.
24. What did Adam have to do in the covenant of works?
To obey God perfectly.
25. What did God promise in the covenant of works?
To give Adam life, if he obeyed God.
26. What if Adam disobeyed God?
He would die.
27. Did Adam keep the covenant of works?
No. He sinned against God.
28. What is sin?
Sin is disobeying or not keeping God’s law in any way.
29. What is disobeying God’s law?
Doing what God says not to do.
30. What is not keeping God’s law?
Not being or not doing what God requires.
Questions 31–40
31. How did Adam and Eve sin?
By eating the fruit God said not to eat.
32. Who tempted them to sin?
The devil tempted Eve, and she gave the fruit to Adam.
33. What happened to Adam and Eve when they sinned?
They became sinful and were separated from God.
34. Did Adam act for himself alone in the covenant of works?
No. He also acted for all his descendants.
35. How have Adam’s descendants been affected by his sin?
Every human being is born with a sinful nature.
36. What do we call the sinful nature we get from Adam?
Original sin.
37. What does every sin deserve?
God’s anger and punishment.
38. Can anyone go to heaven with this sinful nature?
No. Our hearts must be changed before we can go to heaven.
39. What is this change of heart?
Regeneration or being born again.
40. Who can change a sinner’s heart?
Only the Holy Spirit.
Questions 41–50
41. Can anyone be saved through the covenant of works?
No one can be saved by works.
42. Why can no one be saved through the covenant of works?
Because we have all broken it and are condemned by it.
43. With whom did God the Father make the covenant of grace?
With Christ, His eternal Son.
44. Did Christ act for Himself alone in the covenant of grace?
No. He acted for all God’s chosen people.
45. What did Christ have to do in the covenant of grace?
He had to obey the whole law for His people and suffer the punishment for their sins.
46. Did Jesus ever commit any sin?
No. He perfectly obeyed God all the time.
47. How did the Son of God suffer?
By becoming human and making atonement for our sins.
48. What is the atonement?
By suffering and dying for His people, Christ took the punishment we deserve.
49. What did God promise to do in the covenant of grace?
To justify and sanctify those for whom Christ died.
50. What happens in justification?
God forgives sinners and accepts them as if they had never sinned.
Questions 51–60
51. What happens in sanctification?
God makes the hearts and actions of believers holy.
52. For whom did Christ obey and suffer?
For those the Father has given Him.
53. How did Christ live on earth?
He was poor and suffered.
54. How did Christ die?
In pain and disgrace on the cross.
55. Who will be saved?
Only those who truly repent of their sins and believe in Christ.
56. What happens when you repent?
You become sorry for your sins. You hate them and stop doing them, because they anger God.
57. What happens when you believe in Christ?
You trust Christ alone to save you.
58. Can you repent and believe in Christ on your own?
No. I must have the Holy Spirit’s help.
59. How can you get the Holy Spirit’s help?
God has told us to pray to Him for the Holy Spirit.
60. When did Christ die?
Almost two thousand years ago.
Questions 61–70
61. How were people saved who lived before Christ?
They believed in the Savior that God would send.
62. How did those people show their faith?
By obeying God and sacrificing to Him in the way He commanded.
63. Why did God command these sacrifices?
To teach them about Christ, the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice for sin.
64. What are the basic works of Christ?
The works of prophet, priest, and king.
65. How is Christ a prophet?
By teaching us the will of God.
66. How is Christ a priest?
By dying for the sins of His people and pleading with God for them.
67. How is Christ a king?
By ruling over the world and defending His people.
68. Why do you need Christ as a prophet?
Because I need to know the will of God.
69. Why do you need Christ as a priest?
Because I am guilty of sin.
70. Why do you need Christ as a king?
Because I am weak and helpless.
Questions 71–80
71. How many commandments did God give on Mount Sinai?
Ten commandments.
72. What are the ten commandments called?
The Decalogue.
73. What do the first four commandments tell us?
How to love God.
74. What do the last six commandments tell us?
How to love ourselves and other people.
75. What do the ten commandments basically tell us to do?
To love God with all our heart and our neighbors as we love ourselves.
76. Who is your neighbor?
Everyone else.
77. Is God pleased with those who love and obey Him?
Yes. He says, I love those who love me.
78. Is God pleased with those who do not love and obey Him?
No. God is angry with the wicked every day.
79. What is the first commandment?
The first commandment is: You shall have no other gods before Me.
80. What does the first commandment tell us to do?
To worship only God.
Questions 81–90
81. What is the second commandment?
The second commandment is: You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
82. What does the second commandment tell us to do?
To worship God in the way He tells us and not with images or idols.
83. What is the third commandment?
The third commandment is: You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
84. What does the third commandment tell us to do?
To honor God’s name, His word, and His works.
85. What is the fourth commandment?
The forth commandment is: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
86. What does the forth commandment tell us to do?
To keep the Sabbath holy.
87. How do we keep the Sabbath holy?
By worshiping God with His people, praising and thanking Him, singing and praying to Him, reading and listening to the Bible, and doing good to others.
88. What day of the week is the Christian Sabbath?
Sunday, the first day of the week, called the Lord’s Day.
89. Why is it called the Lord’s Day?
Because on that day Christ rose from the dead.
90. What is the fifth commandment?
The fifth commandment is: Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
Questions 91–100
91. What does the fifth commandment tell us to do?
To love and obey our parents and everyone in authority over us.
92. What is the sixth commandment?
The sixth commandment is: You shall not murder.
93. What does the sixth commandment tell us to do?
Not to get mad at, hate, or hurt anyone.
94. What is the seventh commandment?
The seventh commandment is: You shall not commit adultery.
95. What does the seventh commandment tell us to do?
To keep ourselves sexually pure in what we think, say, and do, and to help others be the same way.
96. What is the eighth commandment?
The eighth commandment is: You shall not steal.
97. What does the eighth commandment tell us to do?
To be honest and hardworking and to respect what belongs to others.
98. What is the ninth commandment?
The ninth commandment is: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
99. What does the ninth commandment tell us to do?
To always tell the truth.
100. What is the tenth commandment?
The tenth commandment is: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Questions 101–110
101. What does the tenth commandment tell us to do?
To be satisfied with who we are and what we have.
102. Can anyone perfectly obey the ten commandments?
Since Adam’s fall, no one except Christ has ever perfectly obeyed the ten commandments or ever can.
103. What are the ten commandments for?
They tell us how to live and show us that we need a savior.
104. What is prayer?
Prayer is asking God for what He has promised to give us.
105. In whose name should we pray?
Only in the name of Christ.
106. What has Christ given us to teach us how to pray?
The Lord’s Prayer.
107. Repeat the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
108. How many requests are there in the Lord’s Prayer?
Six.
109. What is the first request?
Hallowed be thy name.
110. What do we pray for in the first request?
That we and everyone else might glorify God’s name.
Questions 111–120
111. What is the second request?
Thy kingdom come.
112. What do we pray for in the second request?
That Satan’s power may be destroyed and that Christ may be everywhere honored as King over all.
113. What is the third request?
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
114. What do we pray for in the third request?
That we on earth may serve God as the angels do in heaven.
115. What is the fourth request?
Give us this day our daily bread.
116. What do we pray for in the fourth request?
That God would give us everything we need to live.
117. What is the fifth request?
Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
118. What do we pray for in the fifth request?
That God would pardon all our sins for Christ’s sake, as we also have forgiven others.
119. What is the sixth request?
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
120. What do we pray for in the sixth request?
That God would keep us from sin.
Questions 121–130
121. How many sacraments are there?
Two.
122. What are they?
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
123. Who established these sacraments?
The Lord Jesus Christ.
124. Why did Christ establish these sacraments?
To identify, comfort, and strengthen His covenant people.
125. What sign is used in baptism?
Washing with water.
126. What does this washing mean?
That we belong to God and that by faith we are cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ.
127. In whose name are we baptized?
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
128. How is baptism rightly administered?
A pastor rightly administers the waters of baptism, whether by pouring, sprinkling, or immersion.
129. What does your baptism mean you must do?
Be a true follower of Christ.
130. Who should be baptized? — Paedobaptist form
Those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and their (infant) children.
130. Who should be baptized? — Credobaptist form
Only those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Questions 131–140
131. Why should the (infant) children of believers be baptized? — Paedobaptist form
To testify they are heirs of the blessing promised to believers’ children.
131. Why should only believers be baptized? — Credobaptist form
Because Scripture nowhere commands the baptism of believers’ (infant) children.
132. Does Christ care for little children?
Yes, because He says, Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
133. What is the Lord’s Supper?
Eating bread and drinking wine to remember Christ’s suffering and death.
134. What does the bread stand for?
Christ’s body, given for us.
135. What does the wine stand for?
Christ’s blood, poured out for the forgiveness of our sins.
136. Who should receive the Lord’s Supper?
Only those who are truly sorry for their sins and who trust Christ to save them.
137. After being crucified, did Christ stay in the grave?
No. He rose from the dead on the third day.
138. Where is Christ now?
In heaven, representing us before God.
139. Will He come again?
Yes. At the end of time Christ will come to judge the world.
140. What happens to human beings when they die?
Our bodies decay and turn back into earth; our souls live on, in heaven or hell.
Questions 141–145
141. Will the bodies of the dead be raised to life again?
Yes, when Christ returns, the bodies of the dead will be raised and joined to their souls forever.
142. What happens to the wicked?
They are thrown into hell.
143. What is hell?
A place of terrible and endless punishment.
144. What happens to the righteous?
They go to heaven.
145. What is heaven?
A glorious, happy place, where believers will be with God forever.