QUESTION 3: What is the purpose of a catechism?
ANSWER: The purpose for the use of a catechism is at least nine–fold:
1. To instruct in the essentials of the Christian faith. The issue is truth—
Divine truth! We must do everything we can to impress this truth
upon the mind and heart of both the saved and unsaved, and
especially our children. There are two issues: first, every child and
new convert must be instructed in the basics or essentials of the
Christian faith as thoroughly as possible (3 Jn. 4). Second, every
Christian must seek to become both a Bible student and a theologian
(2 Tim. 3:16–17; Heb. 5:11–14; 2 Pet. 3:18).
2. To impress Divine truth upon the heart and mind. The conciseness of
the catechism as a series of clear doctrinal statements derived from
Scripture, is calculated to instill the truth into the thinking process
and impress it upon the mind and into the heart. Unless doctrinal truth
is carefully and scripturally contemplated, it is never truly and fully
grasped, adequately embraced or practically implemented in the life
(Psa. 119:11).
3. To evangelize the unconverted. Christian parents catechizing their
children is the very best means of truly evangelizing them in a
consistent and balanced way. Their minds must deal with truth and
their consciences may be probed in the context of the whole counsel
of God. In later years the truth may be brought home to the
conscience through the remembrance of such instruction (Eph. 6:1–4;
2 Tim. 3:15).
4. To prepare for the public ministry of the Word. The public preaching
of the Word of God must touch upon a variety of issues—the truth of
the Gospel, a Christian world–and–life view, the whole range of
Christian doctrine and its application to the life of the church and the
individual, the Christian family, the Christian’s relation to the
unregenerate society in which he lives and the varieties of Christian
experience. Catechizing necessarily prepares parents, children and
young converts for the ministry of the Word by instilling in them a
God–consciousness, enabling them to begin to think consistently
from the Scriptures, giving them a basic understanding of scriptural
and doctrinal truths, and acquainting them with doctrinal and
theological terminology (2 Tim. 1:13; 2:2)
5. To act as a preventative from error and heresy. The best preventative
from error and heresy is the Word of God rightly [correctly or
consistently] understood. The catechism is a concise and exact
statement of the Word of God in its doctrinal expression (Eph. 4:11–
16; 2 Tim. 4:1–5; 2 Pet. 3:16–18).
256. To act as a preventative from spiritual decay. The true knowledge of
the Scriptures is necessarily a consistent [and therefore non–
contradictory] knowledge of its doctrinal teaching. The use of a
catechism as a concise, logical, systematic approach to Divine truth
should refresh the mind and heart and quicken one’s zeal. There is a
necessary and immediate relation between truth and the conscience
and between truth and zeal—if the Spirit and grace of God are present
(Heb. 5:10–14; 2 Pet. 3:16–18).
7. To edify believers of all ages and levels of spiritual maturity.
Everyone without exception will profit from the use of a catechism.
Little children and new converts will be consistently instructed in the
faith, mature believers should be refreshed and quickened by the
reiteration of truth and aged believers should be sustained and
enlivened by the immutable truth set forth from the Scriptures.
8. To review the essence of Christian doctrine. The scope of its teaching
and the conciseness of its answers make a catechism a primary source
for a review of any aspect of doctrinal truth simply, concisely and
scripturally stated.
9. To provide a great and necessary help in defending the faith. The
conciseness of the catechism in expressing doctrinal truth, and the
memorization of the proof–texts, provide the essentials necessary for
defending the faith or explaining it to others clearly and scripturally
(2 Cor. 10:3–5; 1 Pet. 3:15; Jude 3).
