Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
Practice:
What does 'chief end' mean? 'Chief end' means main purpose. The main
purpose of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
Why does the catechism say 'man'? What about women? The word 'man'
in the catechism is talking about all humans—men, women, and children. The
main purpose of all people is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
The Catechism summarizes the Bible in a way that is easy to understand and
remember.
Let's find out where the Bible says that our main purpose is to glorify God.
I Corinthians 10:31: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for
the glory of God.
This verse tells us that whatever we do, we should always do it for the glory of
God.
Let's find out where the Bible says that our other main purpose is to enjoy God
forever.
Psalm 73:25-26: Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I
desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of
my heart and my portion forever.
The songwriter says in this psalm that even if he is weak or afraid, he knows that
God is with him always. We can see how much he loves and enjoys God
because he says that the whole earth has nothing that he wants as much as he
wants God.
Can you think of any other Bible verse that talks about glorifying or enjoying
God?
Practice:
Draw a picture:
Practice:
Some people think that the main purpose of life is to get a lot of money or other
fun things. Why are they wrong?
Let's look at a story that Jesus told about this (Luke 12: 16-21):
The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself,
'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what
I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all
my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things
laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." But God said to
him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will
get what you have prepared for yourself?' This is how it will be with anyone who
stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.
Was it wrong for the rich man to build a bigger barn? __________
Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
Westminster Shorter Catechism Lesson #2
Question #2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and
enjoy Him?
Answer: The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.
Practice:
Question #2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and
enjoy Him?
Who wrote the Bible? Holy men who were taught by the Holy Spirit.
Why does the catechism say 'hath'? 'Hath' is an old-fashioned way of saying
'has'. The question could be said like this, “What rule has God given to direct
and teach us in how to glorify and enjoy Him?”
What did God give us to teach us how to glorify and enjoy Him? ____________
We call the Bible the Word of God. What else do we call it? _______________
Practice:
Question #2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and
enjoy Him?
Let's find out where the Bible says that Scripture is our guide to glorifying and
enjoying God.
Ephesians 2:20: built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with
Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
The apostles and the prophets are the holy men who were taught by the Holy
Spirit. They wrote the Bible for us as God commanded them. We read it to
learn how to glorify and enjoy God. This verse compares it to a house, where
the foundation is words of the apostles and prophets, and we are added on later
built on the foundation that is firm and headed up by God Himself—Christ Jesus,
the cornerstone.
This verse tells us that all Scripture (both the Old Testament and New
Testament) is from God, so much so that it is like He breathed it out on us. And
it is useful for teaching people, training them to do right, and correcting them
when they go the wrong way or don't obey God like they should.
I John 1:3: We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also
may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son, Jesus Christ.
John was one of the apostles, the holy men who wrote the Scriptures by the
teaching of the Holy Spirit. Here he tells us that the things that he wrote were
things that he saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears. He had
known Jesus when Jesus walked the earth, and he saw the miracles that Jesus
did and heard His teaching.
Practice:
Question #2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and
enjoy Him?
the ________ and ________ Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we
Let's study them! We are going to memorize this poem. It is long, but don't
worry. We don't have to memorize it all at once. We will work on it a little at a
time. The books of the Bible are underlined, and the poem helps you
understand what each book is about.
Old Testament
In Deuteronomy again,
We’re urged to keep God’s law alone;
And these five Books of Moses make
The oldest holy writing known.
******
Brave Joshua to Canaan leads;
In Judges, oft the Jews rebel;
We read of David’s name in Ruth
And First and Second Samuel.
*****
******
New Testament
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
Tell what Christ did in every place;
The Acts tell what the Apostles did,
And Romans how we’re saved by grace.
Question #2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and
enjoy Him?
Answer: The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.
Westminster Shorter Catechism Lesson #3
Practice:
Answer:
What does 'principally' mean? Principally means 'mostly'. The Bible teaches
a lot of things, but mostly it focuses on what people should believe about God
and how we should obey God.
The Scriptures mostly teach what we should ______________ about God and
of man.
Think back to some of the Bible stories. Do you remember the Ten
Commandments? What is an example of a duty that God requires in the Ten
Commandments?
Draw a picture:
Practice:
Practice:
But this Catechism question can be a little difficult to understand. So let's take it
one piece at a time.
What does 'infinite' mean? 'Infinite' means that something is so big that there
is no end to it.
What does 'eternal' mean? 'Eternal' means that something always existed and
always will exist.
__________________________________________________
In the Garden of Eden, the serpant told Eve that she should not believe what
God said about the fruit of the tree. What should Eve have remembered about
God?
Sometimes people do bad things and they think God will not do anything about
it. What should they remember about God?
Practice:
Let's look at some of the Bible verses that talk about the attributes of God. After
each verse, fill in the attribute to which it is referring.
John 4:24: God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
Job 11:7: Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the
Almighty?
Psalm 90:2: Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and
the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
James 1:17: Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Psalm 147:5: Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no
limit.
Exodus 34: 5-7: Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with
him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses,
proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow
to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and
forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty
unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers
to the third and fourth generation."
Answer: There is but one only, the living and true God.
Practice:
I Kings 18 tells a wonderful story about the people of Israel. They were not
convinced whether God was the one true God or whether Baal was God. They
kept worshipping Baal, because the people who lived around them worshipped
Baal. So Elijah, the prophet of God, called the people to meet with him.
Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two
opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.
Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but
Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose
one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not
set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to
it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the
LORD. The god who answers by fire—he is God."
Then all the people said, "What you say is good."
Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first,
since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light
the fire." So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer
us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they
danced around the altar they had made.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god!
Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and
must be awakened." So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with
swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday
passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the
evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid
attention.
Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he
repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones,
one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the
LORD had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." With the stones he built
an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to
hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid
it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it
on the offering and on the wood."
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O
LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are
God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your
command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that
you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."
Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones
and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is
God! The LORD -he is God!"
Do you think the prophets of Baal really thought Baal was a god? Why or why
not?
Why did Elijah pour water on the altar?
How easy was it for God to send fire from heaven? Did Elijah have to do
anything crazy?
Sometimes people think that if they jump around and shout enough, that will
make God do something. Are they right? Did Elijah do that?
Let's look at some of the Bible verses that tell us that there is only one God.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your strength.
In Hebrew (the original language of the Old Testament Scriptures), this is called
the Sh'ma, and it is very famous. It looks like this (remember that Hebrew reads
from right to left):
We will practice saying this until you remember it easily. But don't worry if you
don't get it right away. Hebrew is hard!
Here is another Bible verse about God being the one living and true God:
Jeremiah 10:10: But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God, the eternal
King. When He is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure His
wrath.
What is 'wrath'? 'Wrath' is an old word that means 'anger'. This verse is saying
that God is so powerful that whole nations of people cannot stand up to Him.
He is sovereign; He rules over everyone and everything.
Practice:
Answer: There is but one only, the living and true God.
Westminster Shorter Catechism Lesson #6
Answer: There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power
and glory.
Practice:
In the early days of the church, many people were confused about theTrinity.
Some people thought that Jesus was not God or that He had not always existed.
Finally, the church held a council at Nicaea in 325 AD to try to understand this
better. The main views were held by Arius and Athanaseus. Arius argued that
Jesus had not always existed but that God had created Him out of nothing and
that He was of a different substance than God. Athanaseus was the hero of
orthodoxy. He explained that Jesus is the same substance as God the Father
and the Holy Spirit and that He is eternal and equal in power and glory with the
Father and Holy Spirit. And why did Athanaseus believe this? Because Jesus
said so (John 8:58), and if Jesus was not what He said He was, then He could
not have saved us all from our sins. Athanaseus believed God's Word, and he
knew that even if he didn't quite understand everything about the Trinity, he still
could always trust God.
The Nicene Council discussed each of the views and finally concluded that
Athanaseus was correct. They wrote a creed that explains the doctrine of the
Trinity and condemns Arius's views (you don't have to memorize this creed, but
it is good to read it so you know what it says):
There is another Nicene Creed written later, but this one was written and signed
specifically by and for the council held in 325 AD. Notice that it specifically
condemns Arius and those who held his view, and it states that Jesus is the
same substance as the Father and that He is God.
Questions:
The doctrine that teaches that God is one but three persons is called the
_______________________.
At the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, the proper view of the Trinity was
represented by __________________________.
Practice:
the Father, the Son, and the ____________ ___________; and these three are
Matthew 28:19: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
In this verse, we are told how we are to be baptized. Do you remember your
baptism? What were the words that your pastor spoke when he sprinkled the
water on your head? (If you don't remember, check your baptism certificate).
Answer: There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power
and glory.
Westminster Catechism Lesson #7
Answer: The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel
of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes
to pass.
Practice:
This is another very important Catechism question with a lot of big words!
Do you remember what 'eternal' means? If not, look back at Lesson #4:
This means that the decrees of God are purposes that last forever and ever.
He always determines what will happen.
What does 'counsel' mean? The word 'counsel' means 'opinion' or 'advice' or
'plan'.
What does 'will' mean? Will means 'desire' or 'choice'.
The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His
will.
This means that the decrees of God are purposes that last forever and ever,
and He decides these things according to what He wants. God does not go
around asking people what they think about His decisions or whether something
is a good idea. He makes all of the decisions Himself. Remember that God is
infinitely wise, so all of His decisions are good decisions.
What does 'whereby' mean? 'Whereby' is an old word that means that this is
how something happens.
What does 'fore-ordained' mean? 'Fore' is short for 'before', and 'ordained'
means something is decided by God. So 'fore-ordained' means that God
decides things before they happen.
Okay, now we know what all the words mean, so let's put the whole sentence
together.
The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His
will, whereby, for His own glory, He hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to
pass.
This means that the decrees of God are purposes that last forever and ever,
and He decides these things according to what He wants, and this is how (for
His glory) He has decided everything before it happens.
We often refer to this as the sovereignty of God. God is king over all the
universe and beyond. He rules over everything, and He decides everything
before it happens. Everything happens because God already decreed that it
will happen.
Questions:
Who does God ask for advice about His decisions? ______________________
How many things does God decide before they happen? __________________
purpose, according to the ____________ of His will, whereby, for His own
comes to pass.
Let's look at a Bible verse that talk about the decrees of God.
This verse tells us that we were chosen by God and given salvation in Christ,
because God decided it, according to His own plan and purpose, so that we
would glorify God.
According to Ephesians 1:11-12, what has God done so that we might be for the
praise of His glory?
Those that God chose for salvation in Christ are called His elect.
Ephesians 1:13: And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him
with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
The apostle Peter wrote a letter to the elect as he was taught by the Holy Spirit.
He sent his letter specifically to believers in certain places called Pontus,
Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Here is how he began the letter:
According to this Bible verse, what should the elect do because they are chosen
by God? ______________________________________________________
God chose you and forgave your sins through the blood of Christ, so what
should you do?
Question #7: What are the decrees of God?
The book of Genesis tells a story of a young man named Joseph. The story
begins when Joseph was seventeen years old and lived with his eleven brothers
and his father Jacob (also called Israel) in the land of Canaan.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to
him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers
saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not
speak a kind word to him.
Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He
said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the
field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered
around mine and bowed down to it."
His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?"
And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had
another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to
me."
When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is
this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow
down to the ground before you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept
the matter in mind.
Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to
Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am
going to send you to them."
"Very well," he replied.
So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and
bring word back to me." Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around in the fields and
asked him, "What are you looking for?"
He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their
flocks?"
"They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to
Dothan.' "
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the
distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
"Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. "Come now, let's kill him and
throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then
we'll see what comes of his dreams."
When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his
life," he said. "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but
don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to
his father.
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly
ornamented robe he was wearing- and they took him and threw him into the cistern.
Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites
coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they
were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his
blood? Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he
is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.
So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the
cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to
Egypt.
When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his
clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn
now?"
Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They
took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see
whether it is your son's robe."
He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured
him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."
Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. All his
sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said,
"in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him.
Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials,
the captain of the guard.
The book of Genesis tells us many things that happened to Joseph after he was
taken to Egypt. He was a slave for a while, and then he was falsely accused of
a crime, and he went to prison for a long time. But God was with Joseph
through everything, and eventually, the Pharoah released Joseph from prison
and made him a great man in Egypt, second only to the Pharoah himself.
Later Joseph's brothers traveled to Egypt because there was no food in Canaan.
When they realized that Joseph was a powerful man in Egypt, they were afraid
that he was going to take revenge on them for selling him as a slave. Joseph
said that he forgave them, and he took care of them and their families and gave
them food, but his brothers were still worried that maybe he was only waiting
until their father died before he showed how angry he was.
When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph holds
a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" So they sent
word to Joseph, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died: 'This is what
you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they
committed in treating you so badly.' Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the
God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept. His brothers then
came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said.
But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to
harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving
of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And
he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.
Do you think it hurt Joseph to be put in prison for a long time for something that
Romans 8:28: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those
who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.
This verse tells us that no matter what happens, God is working things out for
the good of His elect … and that includes you!
We are going to practice this verse until you can easily remember it. It is very
important to always remember that God works everything for good. Even if we
do not understand His plan, we can always trust that He will do what is right.
Question #7: What are the decrees of God?
When we talk about the will of God, we are talking about what God wants to
happen. Do thing always happen the way God wants them to happen?
There are two way that we talk about the will of God.
Let consider an example. Have you ever sinned? Of course you have. Did you
ever tell a lie or yell at your sister or disobey your mom or dad? Everybody has
done these things sometimes.
God tells us what He wants us to do in the Bible, and so this is called God's
revealed will, because God has revealed to us (this means that He showed us)
how He wants us to live.
But do we always do what God tells us to do?
____________
But now let's think of what our Catechism says about God's decrees.
Does this mean that God plans even when people do bad things? __________
(If you aren't sure, think about Joseph's brothers selling him as a slave. Did
Joseph believe that God planned for his brothers to do that?)
This concept of the will of God is called God's decretal will, because it is
referring to God's decrees.
The decretal will of God is always done. When people do not obey the
revealed will of God, this is STILL part of the decretal will of God. This
means that everything that happens is part of God's overall plan, including good
things and bad things and things that aren't necessarily either good or bad.
Are there things that are NOT in the revealed will of God?_________________
Next to each of the sentences below, write whether it is referring to the decretal
will of God or the revealed will of God.
______________ 1. God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from a tree in
the Garden of Eden.
______________ 6. The Bible tells you to love God with all your heart, soul,
mind, and strength.
Write an example of something that the Bible tells you that you should do.
This is (circle one) the revealed will of God the decretal will of God
If you obey this commandment, are you in the decretal will of God? ________
If you DON'T obey this commandment, are you in the decretal will of God?
___________
Sometimes people think that if they sin, they have messed up God's plan for
their life. Is this true? Why or why not?
Remember:
The commandments that God gives us in the Bible are the _______________
will of God,
BUT
Answer: The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel
of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes
to pass.
Westminster Catechism Lesson #8
Answer: God executeth His decrees in the works of creation and providence.
Practice:
Why does the catechism say 'doth'? 'Doth' is an old word that means 'does'.
It could read 'How does God execute His decrees?'
Why does the catechism say 'execute'? In old language, 'execute' means
'work'. Today, the word 'execute' means 'kill', so don't get that confused! This
question could read, 'How does God work his decrees?' In other words, how
does He put His plans into action?
The answer tells us that God puts His plans into action through the works of
What is creation? Creation is making things. God works out His plan by
making things.
What is providence? Providence is providing for things, giving them what they
need to live and do well.
God not only makes us, but He gives us everything that we need.
Question #8: How doth God execute His decrees?
___________________ .
Let's look at some Bible verses about God's works of creation and providence.
Revelation 4:11: You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor
and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and
have their being.
Jesus gives two examples of ways that God provides for His creatures. What
are these examples?
Practice:
Answer: God executeth His decrees in the works of creation and providence.
Westminster Catechism Lesson #9
Answer: The work of creation is, God's making all things of nothing, by the word
of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.
Practice:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was
formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of
God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there
was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the
darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And
there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water
from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the
expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky."
And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry
ground appear." And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the
gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees
on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it
was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their
kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God
saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third
day.
And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day
from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and
years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the
earth." And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the
day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set
them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and
the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.
And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above
the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of
the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according
to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it
was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and
fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was
evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds:
livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each
according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to
their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move
along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them
rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all
the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the
earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and
over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole
earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures
that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give
every green plant for food." And it was so.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening,
and there was morning—the sixth day.
This is a beautiful, beautiful story, so lovely and simple that there is very little
that your Mom can think to say about it. The language in Hebrew is almost like
a lovely poem that paints a picture. If you close your eyes while you listen to the
words, you can almost see it.
In the beginning, the eternal God was already there. And there was nothing but
darkness and deep water, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the
water. And then (hold your breath and think of it), God said:
ְהי אוֹר
ִי
(Pronounced 'ye-hi or': Let there be light).
Day 1: __________________________________________
Day 2: __________________________________________
Day 3: __________________________________________
Day 4: __________________________________________
Day 5: __________________________________________
Day 6: __________________________________________
______________ ______________.
What is a heresy?
A heretic is a person who teaches heresy (wrong ideas about God). We have
talked about one heretic already. Do you remember Arius from Lesson #5?
What was Arius's heresy?
Gnostic heresy
Another wrong idea that some people taught about God was called gnosticism.
These people believed that matter (stuff that you can see and touch) was all bad
and evil, and that only invisible things (spirits) are good. They believed that we
become saved by learning higher knowledge about the universe, so that we can
sort of 'rise above' our bodies and the other material things of the world to find
new spiritual levels.
How do we know that this is a wrong idea? Let's look at Genesis 1.
When God made the world, what did He say about it?
Did God say that spirits and invisible things were better?
Answer: The work of creation is, God's making all things of nothing, by the word
of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.
Westminster Shorter Catechism Lesson #10
Answer: God created man male and female, after His own image, in
knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.
Practice:
In this catechism question, you can see clearly that the word 'men' in older
English refers to both men and women. It says that God created 'man' both
male and female, both men and women.
Why the catechism say that God created man 'after His own image'? This
means that God created men and women in some ways like Himself. We are
not God, but we are made to be like Him in some ways. Notice that we are the
only things God made like Himself. The plants are not like Him and the animals
are not like Him and the stars are not like Him. But we are created to be like
Him.
How did God make man like Himself? God created men and women to be
like Him in knowledge (what they know), righteousness (doing the right things),
holiness (not sinning), and with dominion over the creatures (ruling over the
other things that God had made).
We will talk about these things more in the next part of this lesson.
Practice:
Answer:
Let's find out what the Bible says about God making us in His image.
Genesis 1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he
created him; male and female he created them.
(Psssst … Kaylee, the first chapter of Genesis is one of your mom's favorite
Scriptures ever. It is breathtakingly beautiful!)
Notice something about this text. Vayivra Elohim (And created God) et-ha
(roughly translated 'the') what? Adam (man). Where have you heard that word
before? That's right! The first man was named 'man'. Bible names often have
important meanings in Hebrew.
Thought Question: Some people think that God only created men in His image,
but not women. They say that this shows that men are more important than
women.
Another beautiful chapter in the Bible about God's creation of man is Psalm 8.
The psalms were songs that people sang in worship, much like the hymns that
we sing in church today. In fact, many of our hymns are based on psalms. This
particular one was written by King David (yes, that's right, King David—the one
who started as a shepherd boy, fought the giant Goliath, and in the end, became
king of Israel). Here is David's song about creation:
Now that we are finished with the books of the Bible poem (and good work on
that!), we are going to practice this psalm until you remember it. Don't worry
about learning it all at once. We will practice it every day until you can say it
easily.
Practice:
What does it mean to say that man (meaning all humans--men and women
and children) is made in the image of God in knowledge, righteousness,
and holiness, with dominion over the creatures?
Let's consider something that one of our best theologians named John Calvin
says about this:
But our definition of the image seems not to be complete until it appears more
clearly what the faculties are in which man excels, and in which he is to be
regarded as a mirror of the divine glory... It cannot be doubted that when Adam
lost his first estate he became alienated from God. Wherefore, although we
grant that the image of God was not utterly effaced and destroyed in him, it was,
however, so corrupted, that any thing which remains is fearful deformity; and,
therefore, our deliverance begins with that renovation which we obtain from
Christ, who is, therefore, called the second Adam, because he restores us to
true and substantial integrity.
Calvin is saying that man was created with special abilities. Our catechism tells
us what some of these are:
(1) Knowledge. God gave man very complex minds that can do
extraordinary things. Compare what you can do to the animals. Do you
ever think our cat Sarah is going to sit at the computer and type up a
catechism lesson for you? No way! Some people will say that their dog is
very smart because it can roll over or bark when they tell it to. But no
one's dog can learn the catechism. You are WAY smarter than any
animal, even though you are only ten years old. Even your baby sister is
smarter than any animal, and she is only three years old!
(2) Righteousness. God gave man the ability to do right things and obey
Him. Animals and plants do not have the Word of God. They do things
because they are hungry or playful or angry … but never because they are
obeying God. This is special.
(3) Holiness. God gave man the ability to keep from sin and to worship God.
This is special also.
(4) Dominion over the creatures. God made man to be ruler over the other
creatures. We can farm, grow crops, raise animals, and so on. I think it is
interesting how children are born with a natural tendency to want to care
for living things. Even tiny children want to water flowers and feed the
kitty. We keep pet fish and cats in our house and we mow our lawn and
plant flowers because God gave us dominion over the creatures.
These are the ways in which God made humans in His image.
So our Calvin quote says: But our definition of the image seems not to be
complete until it appears more clearly what the faculties are in which man
excels, and in which he is to be regarded as a mirror of the divine glory.
Calvin is saying that God made man with these special abilities, and in these
things, man is seen as a mirror of God's glory.
God created the first man and woman in perfect righteousness and holiness,
with godly knowledge, and with dominion over the creatures.
But sadly, the first man and woman did not last in this state of perfection. We
will talk about this in the next section.
Practice:
In yesterday's part of this lesson, we talked about how God created man as
mirrors of His glory.
But do we reflect God's glory the way that we should? Do we do foolish things?
Do we sin? Do we always rule over animals and plants the way that we want
to?
We will be talking more about this in Lesson #13, but you already know that
Adam and Eve did not obey God, even though God gave them that ability in
righteousness and holiness. Now, we are fallen. This means that we have lost
our perfect image of God.
It cannot be doubted that when Adam lost his first estate he became alienated
from God. Wherefore, although we grant that the image of God was not utterly
effaced and destroyed in him, it was, however, so corrupted, that any thing
which remains is fearful deformity; and, therefore, our deliverance begins with
that renovation which we obtain from Christ, who is, therefore, called the second
Adam, because he restores us to true and substantial integrity.
Calvin is saying that Adam became alienated from God (this means that he
became like a stranger far away from God). And when that happened, the
image of God was not entirely lost, but it was twisted and broken.
Have you ever looked into a broken mirror? You can still sort of see your
reflection in the pieces, but it is smashed and broken. That is how man is now.
Humans still have a lot of knowledge and some understanding of right and
wrong and some dominion over creatures. But there is a lot of damage. Now
animals bite us sometimes and some plants are poisonous. Now we sin even
when we know that we should not. And some people have become so foolish
that they don't even understand that God exists!
But Calvin goes on to say that we obtain a 'renovation' from Christ. This means
that Christ remakes us into His image, so that we are made new.
If you are remade in the image of Jesus Christ, are you in the image of God?
Why?
_____________________________ _______________________
Answer: God created man male and female, after His own image, in
knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures.
Westminster Shorter Catechism Lesson #11
Answer: God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful
preserving and governing all His creatures, and all their actions.
Practice:
This catechism lesson tells us that God not only creates things, but also
preserves and governs them. This mean that He provides for them and rules
over them. In fact, the word 'providence' indicates that God provides. For
example, when God made Adam and Eve, he did not put them in an empty
desert. He put them in the beautiful Garden of Eden that had everything they
needed to be comfortable and happy.
and ________________________.
Hebrews 1:3: The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact
representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He
had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in
heaven.
The word 'sustaining' means that 'perserving'. God provides for all things
according to His plan and gives them all they need. 'Purification' means
'washing' or 'making clean (pure)'.
We usually think about God providing us with food and clothes and homes and
friends, but there is one thing that He provides that is more important than all of
that. What does this verse say that the Son of God (Jesus Christ) provides for
us?
Psalm 23 is the most famous psalms in the Bible. It talks about how God
provides for and rules over His creatures. It is full of symbolism and metaphor.
This means that it is not supposed to be taken literally, but it paints a picture that
shows us some of the attributes of God in a story. We will be talking about
these concepts more when we read Pilgrim's Progress in the spring. But for
now, let's look at the symbolism and metaphor in Psalm 23.
Let's read it:
___________________________.
What does it mean when it talks about the Lord making us to lie down in
green pastures and leading us beside quiet waters?
The psalm says that God leads his 'sheep' in certain paths. Which paths?
Sometimes these paths that God guides us along go through scary places (the
'valley of the shadow of death', the psalm says). But why should we not be
afraid?
What do shepherds carry in their hands to guide the sheep? Which part of
the psalm mentions this?
The psalm goes on to say that the Lord prepares a table for us even when our
enemies are all around.
The Lord is said to anoint our heads with oil. In those days, oil was used as
medicine to heal wounds. It also symbolized the Holy Spirit. This is saying that
God provides for us, heals us, and gives His Holy Spirit to us.
We will be learning a song for Psalm 23! We will sing it during our evening Bible
reading time. It is a lovely song.
Practice:
Question #11: What are God's works of providence?
Draw a picture:
Practice:
Question #11: What are God's works of providence?
Answer: God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful
preserving and governing all His creatures, and all their actions.