Catechism Instruction

Read — Front matter and “How to Use This Book”; skim the Six Chief Parts, pp. 13–29; Introduction, pp. 43–47

Memory work due — Nothing due today.

Memorize for next week — The First, Second, and Third Commandments (the commandment texts only), Small Catechism p. 13.

From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.2 Timothy 3:15–17

A catechism is not a rulebook and it is not a textbook about religion. It is a handbook of the Christian faith, built out of the words God has already given us in Scripture, arranged so that an ordinary Christian can learn them, remember them, and pray them. Luther wrote it for fathers to teach their households. This year we will learn the same six parts he taught.

1. What are the Six Chief Parts of Christian Doctrine, in order?
2. Who did Luther originally write the Small Catechism for?
3. What does the word ’catechism’ mean?
4. According to 2 Timothy 3:15–17, what is Scripture able to do?
5. What does it mean to say Scripture is ’inspired’ or ’breathed out by God’?
6. Name the two Testaments and roughly how many books are in each.

• Why would Luther put the Commandments first and the Lord’s Prayer third instead of the other way around?
• Where have you already heard parts of the catechism without knowing it – in a service, a hymn, or a prayer at home?
• What is one question about God you hope gets answered this year? Write it down; we will come back to it in May.

• Catechism — A book of Christian instruction learned by heart and repeated aloud.
• Doctrine — Teaching; what Scripture actually says about a subject.
• Inspiration — God the Holy Spirit’s work of giving His Word through human writers.
• Canon — The collection of books the Church receives as Holy Scripture.

Read — SC pp. 13–15; Introduction, pp. 47–51

Memory work due — First, Second, and Third Commandments (texts).

Memorize for next week — The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Commandments (texts), Small Catechism p. 13–14; and Romans 3:23–24.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.Romans 3:23–24

God speaks two words in Scripture, and telling them apart is the single most useful skill a Christian can learn. The Law tells us what God demands and shows us our sin. The Gospel tells us what God has done and gives us Christ. Both are true, both are God’s, and mixing them up wrecks either your conscience or your faith.

1. What does the Law do? Give the three uses (curb, mirror, guide).
2. What does the Gospel do?
3. Which one saves us, Law or Gospel?
4. Define original sin.
5. Define actual sin.
6. What is the wage of sin, and what is the free gift of God? (Romans 6:23)

• A friend says, ’I’m basically a good person.’ Which word does that person need to hear first – Law or Gospel? Why?
• A friend says, ’I’ve done something God could never forgive.’ Which word now?
• Why is it cruel to preach only Law? Why is it dishonest to preach only Gospel?

• Law — God’s Word that commands, threatens, and shows us our sin.
• Gospel — God’s Word that promises and gives forgiveness for Christ’s sake.
• Original sin — The sinful condition every person inherits from Adam.
• Justify — To declare righteous – God’s verdict of ’not guilty’ for Christ’s sake.

Read — SC p. 13; Expl. pp. 52–66

Memory work due — Fourth through Seventh Commandments (texts); Romans 3:23–24.

Memorize for next week — The Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Commandments (texts), p. 14; and the meaning of the First Commandment.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.Matthew 22:37–40

The First Commandment is the door into all the others. Whatever you fear most, love most, and trust most is your god. Every other commandment is broken first at this one: we do not sin because we forget the rules, we sin because at that moment we trusted something else more than God.

1. How does Luther’s meaning of the First Commandment begin?
2. What three words describe the right relationship to God?
3. What is the difference between the First Table and the Second Table of the Law?
4. What is an idol?
5. Name three idols people actually serve today.
6. Who is the true God?

• Luther said whatever your heart clings to is your god. What does your calendar or your phone say your heart clings to?
• Can a good thing become an idol? Give an example.
• Why does the First Commandment come first?

• Idolatry — Fearing, loving, or trusting anything more than the true God.
• First Table — Commandments 1–3, concerning love toward God.
• Second Table — Commandments 4–10, concerning love toward the neighbor.
• Trinity — One God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Read — SC p. 13; Expl. pp. 67–73

Memory work due — Eighth, Ninth, Tenth Commandments (texts); meaning of the First Commandment.

Memorize for next week — The Second Commandment with its meaning; and Psalm 50:15.

Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.Psalm 50:15

God’s name is not a word we protect for His sake – He gave it to us to use. The Second Commandment forbids abusing the name and commands using it: calling on it, praying, praising, and giving thanks. A Christian who never uses God’s name is breaking this commandment just as truly as one who curses.

1. State the meaning of the Second Commandment.
2. What is cursing, in the sense of this commandment?
3. When is swearing an oath right, and when is it wrong?
4. What are ’satanic arts’?
5. Name the four things this commandment positively commands.
6. How has God given us His name?

• ’OMG’ shows up a hundred times a day in group chats. Is that a Second Commandment problem? Argue both sides, then decide.
• Why does using God’s name to tell a lie do more damage than an ordinary lie?
• What is one trouble in your life right now that you could actually call on God’s name about this week?

• Blaspheme — To speak against God or attribute to Him what is false.
• Oath — Calling on God to witness that what you say is true.
• Invocation — Calling on God’s name, as at the beginning of the service.
• Doxology — A short spoken or sung word of praise to God.

Read — SC p. 13; Expl. pp. 74–80

Memory work due — Second Commandment with meaning; Psalm 50:15.

Memorize for next week — The Third Commandment with its meaning; and Hebrews 10:24–25.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.Hebrews 10:24–25

This commandment is not mainly about a day. It is about the Word. Luther’s meaning never mentions Sunday; it says we should not despise preaching and God’s Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Worship is where God serves us with His gifts – and only then where we respond.

1. State the meaning of the Third Commandment.
2. Why are Christians not bound to the Old Testament Sabbath law?
3. How can a person despise God’s Word without ever mocking it?
4. What does ’hold it sacred’ mean in practice?
5. Why do Christians gather on Sunday?
6. What does God do for us in the Divine Service?

• What is the difference between ’I have to go to church’ and ’I get to go to church’? Which one do you actually feel?
• If worship is God serving us, what does that change about how we judge a service we didn’t ’get much out of’?
• Name one concrete way you could hear or read God’s Word on a weekday this month.

• Sabbath — Hebrew for ’rest’; the Old Testament day of rest fulfilled in Christ.
• Divine Service — Worship, understood first as God serving us with His gifts.
• Liturgy — The Church’s ordered pattern of worship, largely made of Scripture.
• Means of Grace — The Gospel in Word and Sacrament, by which the Spirit gives faith.

Read — SC p. 13; also skim the Table of Duties, pp. 33–36; Expl. pp. 81–84

Memory work due — Third Commandment with meaning; Hebrews 10:24–25.

Memorize for next week — The Fourth Commandment with its meaning; and Ephesians 6:1–3.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”Ephesians 6:1–3

God governs the world through people He puts over us: parents, pastors, teachers, employers, government. Honoring them is not about whether they deserve it; it is about who put them there. This is the first commandment with a promise attached.

1. State the meaning of the Fourth Commandment.
2. List the five verbs in the positive half of the meaning.
3. Besides parents, who else does this commandment cover?
4. What promise is attached to this commandment?
5. Is there ever a time not to obey an authority?
6. What duties does this commandment lay on those in authority?

• What is the difference between honoring a parent and agreeing with a parent?
• How does honoring change as you get older? What does it look like at 13? At 30? At 50?
• Where is the line between respectful disagreement and dishonor?

• Vocation — The station or calling in which God places you to serve your neighbor.
• Table of Duties — Luther’s collection of Bible passages for each station in life.
• Honor — To regard as weighty and valuable because of the office God gave.
• Estates — The three arenas God governs: church, household, and civil government.

Read — SC p. 13; Expl. pp. 85–92

Memory work due — Fourth Commandment with meaning; Ephesians 6:1–3.

Memorize for next week — The Fifth Commandment with its meaning; and Psalm 139:13–14.

For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Psalm 139:13–14

The Fifth Commandment protects life from conception to natural death – and it does more than forbid killing. It commands us to help and support our neighbor in every physical need. Jesus takes it all the way down to the heart: anger and contempt are already murder there.

1. State the meaning of the Fifth Commandment.
2. How does Jesus expand this commandment in Matthew 5:21–22?
3. Why does the Church oppose abortion?
4. Why does the Church oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide?
5. Does this commandment forbid all taking of life?
6. What does this commandment require me to do for my neighbor?

• How do words kill? Give a real example from school, not a hypothetical.
• If you knew a classmate was thinking about harming themselves, what would this commandment require of you?
• What does ’help and support him in every physical need’ cost you in a normal week?

• Sanctity of life — The truth that human life is holy because God gives and redeems it.
• Abortion — The intentional ending of an unborn child’s life.
• Euthanasia — Intentionally causing death to end suffering.
• Neighbor — Anyone God places near you who needs you.

Read — SC p. 14; Expl. pp. 93–104

Memory work due — Fifth Commandment with meaning; Psalm 139:13–14.

Memorize for next week — The Sixth Commandment with its meaning; and 1 Corinthians 6:19–20.

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.1 Corinthians 6:19–20

God made us male and female and gave marriage as the one place for sexual union – not to withhold something good, but to protect it. This is the commandment your culture will argue with you about most, so learn what Scripture actually says and why it is good news, not just a rule.

1. State the meaning of the Sixth Commandment.
2. What is marriage, according to Scripture?
3. What does ’in what we say and do’ add to this commandment?
4. What does Jesus say about lust in Matthew 5:27–28?
5. Why is pornography a sin against this commandment?
6. What hope does the Gospel give someone who has broken this commandment?

• Why does God attach so much weight to sex? What does that say about how valuable He thinks it is?
• How would you answer a friend who says, ’If two people love each other, why does it matter?’
• This is a commandment nearly everyone breaks in thought. Why is it important that we talk about forgiveness in the same breath?

• Chastity — Sexual purity appropriate to your station – single or married.
• Adultery — Sexual unfaithfulness by a married person.
• Lust — Sinful desire that uses another person for one’s own gratification.
• Marriage — God’s lifelong union of one man and one woman.

Read — SC p. 14; Expl. pp. 105–109

Memory work due — Sixth Commandment with meaning; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20.

Memorize for next week — The Seventh Commandment with its meaning; and Ephesians 4:28.

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.Ephesians 4:28

Stealing is bigger than shoplifting. It includes cheating, laziness on the job, dishonest business, and refusing to return what you borrowed. And the positive command goes further than “don’t take”: help your neighbor improve and protect his possessions and income.

1. State the meaning of the Seventh Commandment.
2. Name four ways of stealing that are not shoplifting.
3. What does Ephesians 4:28 say a thief should do instead?
4. What does ’help him to improve and protect’ require of me?
5. What is stewardship?
6. Is it a sin to be wealthy?

• Is downloading a movie you didn’t pay for stealing? Work through it using the meaning of the commandment.
• Where does ’helping my neighbor improve and protect his possessions’ show up in a teenager’s actual life?
• How does the First Commandment stand behind this one?

• Stewardship — Managing God’s gifts as a trustee, not an owner.
• Restitution — Returning or repaying what was wrongly taken.
• Usury — Exploiting a neighbor’s need through unjust lending.
• Vocation — The daily work through which God provides for others through you.

Read — SC p. 14; Expl. pp. 110–114

Memory work due — Seventh Commandment with meaning; Ephesians 4:28.

Memorize for next week — The Eighth Commandment with its meaning; and James 3:5–6 (first sentence).

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire…James 3:5–6

This is the commandment about what you say when the person is not in the room. Luther’s meaning contains the single most demanding sentence in the catechism: defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way. That is not the same as being nice. It is a discipline.

1. State the meaning of the Eighth Commandment.
2. What is the difference between slander and gossip?
3. What does ’explain everything in the kindest way’ mean?
4. Is telling a hard truth about someone always a sin against this commandment?
5. What does Matthew 18:15 tell you to do first when a brother sins against you?
6. Name three ways this commandment gets broken online.

• Is a screenshot ever a sin? When?
• ’Explain everything in the kindest way’ – can you think of a time someone did that for you?
• What would your group chat look like if this commandment governed it?

• Slander — Speaking falsehood that damages another’s reputation.
• Gossip — Passing along private matters that are not ours to spread.
• Reputation — A neighbor’s good name – which God treats as his property.
• Best construction — Interpreting another’s words and deeds as charitably as the facts allow.

Read — SC p. 14; Expl. pp. 115–119

Memory work due — Eighth Commandment with meaning; James 3:5–6.

Memorize for next week — The Ninth and Tenth Commandments with their meanings; and Hebrews 13:5.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”Hebrews 13:5

These two commandments reach where no human court can go: the desire itself. You can keep the other eight outwardly and still stand condemned here. That is exactly the point – the Law was never meant to leave you thinking you had managed it.

1. State the meaning of the Ninth Commandment.
2. State the meaning of the Tenth Commandment.
3. What is coveting?
4. How is coveting different from the sins in Commandments 5–8?
5. What phrase in the Ninth Commandment’s meaning describes technically legal but wrong dealing?
6. What is contentment, and where does it come from?

• Advertising is a professional industry built on making you covet. How do you live in it without being formed by it?
• Why does God bother forbidding a desire nobody else can see?
• What does it do to a friendship when one person covets the other’s life?

• Covet — To desire sinfully what belongs to the neighbor.
• Concupiscence — The disordered desire that remains in us even after Baptism.
• Contentment — Satisfaction in what God has given, grounded in His promise.
• Inheritance — Property passed to heirs, protected by the Ninth Commandment.

Read — SC pp. 14–15; Expl. pp. 120–127

Memory work due — Ninth and Tenth Commandments with meanings; Hebrews 13:5.

Memorize for next week — The Close of the Commandments (text and meaning). Then review ALL Ten Commandments with meanings for Exam 1 on December 5.

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.Galatians 3:24

God closes the Commandments with both a threat and a promise. The threat is real: He is a jealous God. But the last word is mercy “to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” The Law brings us to the end of ourselves, which is exactly where Christ meets us.

1. State the Close of the Commandments and its meaning.
2. What two things does God do in the Close?
3. What does it mean that God is ’jealous’?
4. Has anyone except Christ kept the Commandments?
5. According to Galatians 3:24, what is the Law’s job?
6. Why do Christians still study the Commandments after they are forgiven?

• After ten weeks in the Commandments, which one convicts you most? You do not have to answer out loud.
• If we can’t keep them, why did God give them?
• How does the Close prepare us for the Creed, which starts next month?

• Jealous — God’s rightful refusal to share our worship with idols.
• Wrath — God’s settled opposition to sin.
• Grace — God’s undeserved favor for Christ’s sake.
• Guardian — Paul’s picture of the Law escorting us to Christ.

Read — SC pp. 13–15; Expl. pp. 43–127

Memory work due — All Ten Commandments with meanings, and the Close of the Commandments. Written and oral.

Memorize for next week — The Apostles’ Creed – all three articles, text only (Small Catechism, p. 16).

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.Galatians 3:24

Exam 1 covers Sessions 1–12: the foundations (Scripture, Law and Gospel, sin and grace), all Ten Commandments with their meanings, and the Close of the Commandments. Bring a pen. The oral memory portion is done one-on-one with the pastor while the rest of the class works.

Read — SC p. 16; Expl. pp. 128–132

Memory work due — The Apostles’ Creed, all three articles (text).

Memorize for next week — The First Article with its meaning (Small Catechism, p. 16).

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.Matthew 28:19

’Creed’ just means ’I believe.’ The Apostles’ Creed is not a list of things to agree with – it is the confession the Church has said at the font since the beginning. Three articles, because there are three persons; one Creed, because there is one God.

1. What does the word ’creed’ mean?
2. Name the three ecumenical creeds.
3. How is the Apostles’ Creed divided, and what is each article about?
4. State the doctrine of the Trinity in one sentence.
5. Where in the New Testament does the Triune name appear plainly?
6. Why is the Creed said at Baptism and in the Divine Service?

• The Creed says ’I believe,’ not ’we believe’ – but we say it together. Why both?
• Which article do you find hardest to say honestly?
• How would you explain the Trinity to a younger sibling in thirty seconds?

• Creed — A confession of the faith; from credo, ’I believe.’
• Trinity — One God in three persons.
• Ecumenical — Held by the whole Church, everywhere.
• Confess — To say back what God has said.

Read — SC p. 16; Expl. pp. 133–145

Memory work due — The First Article with its meaning.

Memorize for next week — Review the First Article meaning. Over the Christmas break, read Luke 2:1–20 with your family and be ready to say what the First Article has to do with the manger.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.Genesis 1:1

Luther’s meaning of the First Article is the most personal sentence in the catechism: “I believe that God has made me and all creatures.” Not the world in general – me. Body and soul, eyes and ears, and every good thing I have.

1. How does the meaning of the First Article begin?
2. What does it mean that God created ’out of nothing’?
3. What is the difference between creation and providence?
4. What was unique about the creation of man?
5. What was the image of God, and what happened to it?
6. Why does the meaning say God does all this ’without any merit or worthiness in me’?

• “God has made me” – what does that change about how you talk about your own body?
• This is the week before Christmas. What does it mean that the Maker of heaven and earth was born as a creature?
• Where do you see God’s providence in a completely ordinary week?

• Creation — God’s making of all things out of nothing by His Word.
• Providence — God’s ongoing preserving and governing of what He made.
• Image of God — The true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness man had before the fall.
• Ex nihilo — Latin: ’out of nothing.’

Read — SC p. 16; Expl. pp. 146–163

Memory work due — The First Article with its meaning (full, including the last two lines).

Memorize for next week — The Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed with its meaning, first half (through “…with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death”).

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” … your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.Matthew 6:31–33

The First Article does not stop at “God made everything.” It says He still gives clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, and defends me against all danger – daily, and only out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy. That is the answer to anxiety.

1. List the daily gifts named in the meaning of the First Article.
2. How does God usually give these gifts?
3. Why does God do all this, according to the meaning?
4. What is our response, according to the last line?
5. Who are the angels, and what do they do?
6. Where did evil come from, if God made everything good?

• Luther says God defends me against all danger. What do you say to someone who prayed and the danger came anyway?
• If God gives food through farmers and truck drivers, what does that say about ordinary jobs?
• ’It is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.’ Does duty sound cold to you? Should it?

• Preservation — God’s keeping of creation in existence.
• Means — The ordinary channels through which God gives His gifts.
• Angel — A created spirit who serves God and His people.
• Fatherly goodness — The only reason given in the Creed for why God provides.

Read — SC p. 16; Expl. pp. 164–175

Memory work due — The Second Article with the first half of its meaning.

Memorize for next week — The Second Article with its meaning, second half (“…that I may be His own and live under Him…” to the end); and John 1:14.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.John 1:14

Everything depends on Jesus being both. If He were only God, He could not die for us. If He were only man, His death could not save anyone. He is one person, true God and true man, and the Creed confesses both in a single breath.

1. How does the meaning of the Second Article begin?
2. Give two proofs from Scripture that Jesus is true God.
3. Give two proofs that Jesus is true man.
4. What does ’incarnation’ mean?
5. What do the names ’Jesus’ and ’Christ’ mean?
6. Name Christ’s three offices.

• Why is it not enough to call Jesus a great teacher?
• Which of Christ’s three offices means the most to you right now, and why?
• The Creed says ’my Lord.’ What does the word ’my’ do there?

• Incarnation — The Son of God taking on human flesh.
• Messiah — Hebrew for ’Anointed One’; Greek, Christos.
• Personal union — The union of the divine and human natures in the one person of Christ.
• Prophet, Priest, King — Christ’s three offices: He teaches, He sacrifices and intercedes, He rules.

Read — SC pp. 16–17; Expl. pp. 176–187

Memory work due — The Second Article with its full meaning; John 1:14.

Memorize for next week — 1 Peter 1:18–19 and Romans 5:8. Review the Second Article meaning.

You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.1 Peter 1:18–19

“Redeem” means to buy back. Luther’s meaning names the price and the purpose in one sentence: not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death – so that I may be His own. You were bought, and you know exactly what you cost.

1. State the redemption portion of the Second Article’s meaning.
2. What three enemies did Christ redeem us from?
3. What does ’a lost and condemned person’ say about me?
4. What is the difference between Christ’s active and passive obedience?
5. What does ’vicarious atonement’ mean?
6. What does ’He descended into hell’ mean?

• Why does the Creed name a price? What would be lost if it just said ’God forgave us’?
• ’Lost and condemned’ is strong language. Is it fair? Is it good news?
• Christ died for everyone. Why does that not mean everyone is saved?

• Redeem — To buy back at a price.
• Atonement — The reconciling of God and sinners through Christ’s death.
• Vicarious — In the place of another.
• Justification — God declaring the sinner righteous for Christ’s sake, through faith.

Read — SC p. 17; Expl. pp. 188–194

Memory work due — 1 Peter 1:18–19 and Romans 5:8.

Memorize for next week — The Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed with its meaning, first half (through “…and kept it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith”).

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.1 Corinthians 15:20–22

The Creed does not end at the grave. He rose, He ascended, He reigns, and He is coming back. The purpose clause in Luther’s meaning tells you what it was all for: that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom – and this is most certainly true.

1. State the closing portion of the Second Article’s meaning.
2. Why does the resurrection matter for us and not only for Jesus?
3. What does the ascension mean?
4. What does ’sits at the right hand of God’ mean?
5. What will happen when Christ returns?
6. Should a Christian fear the Last Day? Why or why not?

• If the resurrection did not happen, what changes? Be specific.
• ’Live under Him in His kingdom’ – what does living under a king look like in a country with no king?
• Does the Last Day frighten you? What in the Creed speaks to that?

• Resurrection — Christ’s bodily rising on the third day.
• Ascension — Christ’s visible return to the Father’s right hand.
• Right hand of God — The position of full divine power and rule.
• Second Coming — Christ’s visible return to judge the living and the dead.

Read — SC p. 17; Expl. pp. 195–204

Memory work due — The Third Article with the first half of its meaning.

Memorize for next week — The Third Article with its full meaning; and 1 Corinthians 12:3b.

No one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.1 Corinthians 12:3

This is the sentence that undoes the idea that you got yourself here: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.” Faith is not your contribution. It is the Spirit’s work, through the Gospel.

1. State the first half of the Third Article’s meaning.
2. List the four verbs describing the Spirit’s work in me.
3. What are the Means of Grace?
4. Is faith a decision you make?
5. What is conversion?
6. What is sanctification, in the broad and narrow senses?

• If faith is God’s gift, what is left for you to do?
• How does knowing you can’t believe on your own change how you pray for a friend who doesn’t believe?
• Why does the Spirit work through means – words, water, bread and wine – rather than directly?

• Sanctify — To make holy.
• Conversion — The Spirit’s turning of an unbelieving heart to faith.
• Means of Grace — The Gospel in Word and Sacrament.
• Regeneration — New birth, worked by the Spirit through the Gospel.

Read — SC p. 17; Expl. pp. 205–221

Memory work due — The Third Article with its full meaning; 1 Corinthians 12:3b.

Memorize for next week — Ephesians 2:8–9. Review the whole Creed with all three meanings for Exam 2 on February 27.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.Ephesians 2:8–9

The Church is not a building and not primarily an organization. It is the whole number of believers in Christ, gathered by the Spirit around the Gospel. And Luther’s meaning says what she is for: “in which He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.”

1. State the second half of the Third Article’s meaning.
2. What is the holy Christian Church?
3. What is the difference between the invisible and the visible Church?
4. What are the marks of the Church?
5. What does ’communion of saints’ mean?
6. How does God forgive ’daily and richly’?

• Why can’t a person be a Christian entirely on their own?
• ’Daily and richly’ – why do we need forgiveness again if we already have it?
• What is the difference between a church and a club with religious content?

• Church — The whole number of believers in Christ; the communion of saints.
• Marks of the Church — The pure Gospel and the rightly administered Sacraments.
• Communion of saints — The fellowship of all believers in Christ.
• Absolution — The spoken forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name.

Read — SC p. 17; Expl. pp. 222–230

Memory work due — Ephesians 2:8–9; whole Creed with all three meanings (spot check).

Memorize for next week — Final review of the entire Creed with meanings for Exam 2 next week. Also learn John 11:25–26.

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.John 11:25–26

The Creed ends where the story ends: bodies out of graves and life without end. Christians do not hope to escape their bodies. We confess the resurrection of the body – this body, raised and glorified – and the life everlasting.

1. State the closing of the Third Article’s meaning.
2. What happens to a Christian at death?
3. What do we confess about the body on the Last Day?
4. What is eternal life?
5. What is hell, and why do we teach it?
6. What does ’Amen’ at the end of the Creed mean?

• Why does it matter that we confess the resurrection of the body and not just ’life after death’?
• How would you comfort a friend at a funeral using this article?
• What in the life everlasting are you most curious about?

• Resurrection of the body — God’s raising of our actual bodies on the Last Day.
• Eternal life — Unending life with God, begun now by faith.
• Last Day — The day of Christ’s return and the general resurrection.
• Amen — ’Yes, it shall be so.’

Read — SC pp. 16–17; Expl. pp. 128–230

Memory work due — The entire Apostles’ Creed with all three meanings. Written and oral.

Memorize for next week — The Lord’s Prayer (text only), Small Catechism p. 19.

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.John 11:25–26

Exam 2 covers Sessions 14–22: the nature of a creed, the Trinity, and all three articles with their meanings – creation and providence, the person and work of Christ, and the Holy Spirit, the Church, and the life everlasting. The oral memory portion is done one-on-one with the pastor.

Read — SC p. 19; Expl. pp. 231–241

Memory work due — The Lord’s Prayer (text).

Memorize for next week — The Introduction with its meaning; and the First Petition with its meaning.

You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”Romans 8:15

Jesus did not say “you may pray.” He said “pray then like this.” The first two words are the whole argument: we call God Father because He has made us His children, and children ask their father for things without checking whether they have earned it.

1. What is prayer?
2. State the meaning of the Introduction.
3. What two things give us the right to pray?
4. Why may we call God ’Father’?
5. Why do we say ’our’ and not ’my’?
6. How many petitions are in the Lord’s Prayer, and how do they divide?

• ’With all boldness and confidence’ – does your praying sound bold? Should it?
• What does it change to pray ’our Father’ when you are angry with someone in the room?
• Is it still prayer if you don’t feel anything?

• Petition — A request made in prayer.
• Abba — Aramaic for ’Father’ – the family word Jesus used.
• Adoption — God’s making us His children through Christ.
• Hallowed — Made holy; treated as holy.

Read — SC pp. 19–20; Expl. pp. 242–257

Memory work due — The Introduction and First Petition with their meanings.

Memorize for next week — The Second and Third Petitions with their meanings.

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.Matthew 6:33

The first three petitions ask for things that are already true – God’s name is holy, His kingdom comes, His will is done, whether we pray or not. So what are we asking? That these things happen among us. We are praying ourselves into what God is already doing.

1. State the meaning of the First Petition.
2. State the meaning of the Second Petition.
3. State the meaning of the Third Petition.
4. How is God’s name profaned among us?
5. What three kingdoms does God rule?
6. Name the three enemies opposed in the Third Petition.

• How does an ordinary Christian teenager either hallow or profane God’s name at school?
• Which of the three enemies gives you the most trouble – the devil, the world, or yourself?
• ’Thy will be done’ is easy to say and hard to mean. When has it been hard?

• Hallow — To keep holy.
• Kingdom of grace — God’s rule in the Church through Word and Sacrament.
• Profane — To treat what is holy as common.
• Flesh — Our sinful nature, still at war with the Spirit.

Read — SC pp. 20–21; Expl. pp. 258–268

Memory work due — The Second and Third Petitions with their meanings.

Memorize for next week — The Fourth and Fifth Petitions with their meanings. (No class March 27 or April 3 – Holy Week and Easter.)

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.Matthew 6:14–15

The Fourth Petition is the one place Jesus tells us to ask for ordinary things – bread, and everything that goes with it. The Fifth is the one petition with a condition attached, and it is not because our forgiving earns God’s. It is because a hand clenched shut cannot receive anything.

1. State the meaning of the Fourth Petition.
2. What is included in ’daily bread’?
3. State the meaning of the Fifth Petition.
4. Does my forgiving others earn God’s forgiveness?
5. What does ’trespasses’ mean?
6. Why pray for bread if God gives it to everyone anyway?

• Luther’s list of ’daily bread’ includes good government and good weather. Why so wide?
• Is there someone you would have trouble praying the Fifth Petition about? You do not have to say who.
• What is the difference between forgiving someone and pretending it didn’t happen?

• Daily bread — Everything needed for the support of this body and life.
• Trespass — A sin; a debt owed to God or neighbor.
• Grace — God’s undeserved favor for Christ’s sake.
• Providence — God’s provision for all creatures, believers and unbelievers alike.

Read — SC pp. 21–22; Daily Prayers, pp. 30–32; Expl. pp. 269–280; Daily Prayers, pp. 346–348

Memory work due — The Fourth and Fifth Petitions with their meanings.

Memorize for next week — The Sixth and Seventh Petitions and the Conclusion, with their meanings; and Luther’s Morning Prayer.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape.1 Corinthians 10:13

The prayer ends by naming what is actually out to get us and asking to be pulled out. Then it ends with Amen – not a period, but a confession: this prayer is heard, and it is certainly true. Luther then hands us the Morning and Evening Prayers so the whole day is bracketed by it.

1. State the meaning of the Sixth Petition.
2. State the meaning of the Seventh Petition.
3. Does God tempt anyone?
4. State the meaning of the Conclusion.
5. What does the Morning Prayer ask for?
6. How does Luther say we should begin and end the day?

• What is the difference between being tempted and sinning?
• ’Deliver us from evil’ includes ’give us a blessed end.’ Is it strange to pray about dying? Should we?
• What would it take to actually pray morning and evening for a month?

• Temptation — Enticement to sin, from the devil, the world, or our flesh.
• Trial — A testing God permits to strengthen faith.
• Doxology — The closing praise: ’For Thine is the kingdom…’
• Invocation — Calling on the Triune name, as at the start of prayer.

Read — SC pp. 23–24; Expl. pp. 281–305

Memory work due — The Sixth and Seventh Petitions and the Conclusion with meanings; Morning Prayer.

Memorize for next week — All four parts of Holy Baptism with their meanings (Small Catechism, pp. 23–24); and Titus 3:5.

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.Titus 3:5

A sacrament is a sacred act instituted by Christ, using an earthly element with God’s Word, giving forgiveness of sins. Baptism is not something you did for God. It is something God did to you, with a date and a place and witnesses – and it is still doing it.

1. Define ’sacrament.’
2. What is Baptism?
3. What benefits does Baptism give?
4. How can water do such great things?
5. What does baptizing with water indicate?
6. Why do we baptize infants?

• If you were baptized as a baby, what does that mean you contributed?
• Luther told people to say ’I am baptized’ when tempted. Why present tense?
• How do you ’return to your Baptism’ on a bad day?

• Sacrament — A sacred act instituted by Christ, joining God’s Word to an earthly element, giving forgiveness.
• Regeneration — New birth by water and the Spirit.
• Old Adam — The sinful nature, drowned daily in repentance.
• Contrition — Sorrow over sin worked by the Law.

Read — SC pp. 25–27; Expl. pp. 306–321

Memory work due — All four parts of Holy Baptism with meanings; Titus 3:5.

Memorize for next week — What is the Office of the Keys? and What is Confession? (Small Catechism, pp. 25–26); and John 20:23.

Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.John 20:22–23

Christ handed His Church the authority to forgive sins in His name – and that forgiveness, spoken by a pastor, is as valid and certain in heaven as if Christ dealt with us Himself. The point of confession is not the confessing. It is the absolution.

1. What is the Office of the Keys?
2. Where is this written?
3. What are the two parts of Confession?
4. Which sins should we confess?
5. Is the pastor’s forgiveness really God’s forgiveness?
6. Is private confession required? Is it useful?

• Why is hearing ’I forgive you all your sins’ out loud different from telling yourself you’re forgiven?
• What makes confession scary? What makes it a relief?
• Why must a pastor keep what he hears in confession absolutely secret?

• Office of the Keys — Christ’s authority given to the Church to forgive and withhold forgiveness.
• Absolution — The spoken forgiveness of sins in Christ’s name.
• Repentance — Sorrow over sin and faith in Christ’s forgiveness.
• Seal of the confessional — The pastor’s absolute obligation never to reveal what is confessed.

Read — SC pp. 28–29; Christian Questions with Their Answers, pp. 37–42; Expl. pp. 322–345

Memory work due — Office of the Keys and What is Confession; John 20:23.

Memorize for next week — All four parts of the Sacrament of the Altar with their meanings; and 1 Corinthians 11:28–29.

The Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”1 Corinthians 11:23–25

“Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Those last three words – for the forgiveness of sins – are the whole reason the Sacrament exists. Not a memorial, not a symbol: the true body and blood of Christ, under the bread and wine, put into your mouth for you.

1. What is the Sacrament of the Altar?
2. What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?
3. How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?
4. Who receives this sacrament worthily?
5. What is the Real Presence?
6. What does 1 Corinthians 11:28–29 warn about?

• Why do the words ’for you’ matter more than any explanation of how the Sacrament works?
• Read through the Christian Questions (pp. 37–42). Which one hits hardest?
• What would you say to someone who says, ’It’s just a symbol’?

• Real Presence — Christ’s true body and blood present in, with, and under the bread and wine.
• Institution — Christ’s own words that make the Sacrament what it is.
• Communion — The fellowship of the Sacrament, with Christ and with one another.
• Self-examination — Examining one’s sin, faith, and intent to amend before communing.

Read — SC pp. 13–42; Expl. pp. 43–350

Memory work due — The Lord’s Prayer with all meanings; Baptism, Confession, and the Sacrament of the Altar, all parts. Written and oral.

Memorize for next week — The Rite of Confirmation vows, and any memory work still outstanding.

Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do so with gentleness and respect.1 Peter 3:15

Exam 3 covers the Lord’s Prayer, the Sacraments, and a comprehensive section drawing on the whole year. It is the longest of the three, and it is the one that stands behind your public examination. Study with someone, out loud.

Read — SC Daily Prayers pp. 30–32; Table of Duties, pp. 33–36; Expl. pp. 346–350; and the Appendix, pp. 351–422

Memory work due — The Rite of Confirmation vows.

Memorize for next week — Your confirmation verse.

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.Revelation 2:10

Confirmation is not graduation from the catechism. It is the point at which you take up for yourself the faith into which you were baptized, and are admitted to the Lord’s Table. The Table of Duties shows you where you will live that out: in your home, your work, your congregation, your community.

1. What is the Table of Duties?
2. What are the three estates?
3. What is Confirmation?
4. Does Confirmation save you?
5. What do you promise in the rite?
6. What happens if you fail to keep those vows?

• Which station in the Table of Duties will you be living in five years from now? What does it require?
• ’Suffering all, even death, rather than fall away’ – do you mean that?
• In September we wrote down a question we hoped to have answered. Get it out. Did we answer it?

• Confirmation — The public confession of the baptismal faith and admission to the Lord’s Supper.
• Estates — Church, household, and civil government – the three arenas of Christian life.
• Vow — A solemn promise made before God and the congregation.
• Steadfast — Remaining firm in the confession, by God’s grace.