A Study Guide to the NEW CITY CATECHISM

1 Westminster Presbyterian Church (Spartanburg, SC) 1 of 153 A Study Guide to the NEW CITY CATECHISM Qs 1-20 by Dr. James Bankhead Qs 21-52 by Rev. Justin Lewis Special thanks to (The Gospel Coalition, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (NYC), and Crossway Publishing) and Permission: Any organization is free to use this information and replicate sections of this document as needed provided proper citation where appropriate. If you see any edits to be made, please email Westminster Presbyterian Church (Spartanburg, SC) 2 of 153 Table of Contents PART 1 God, creation and fall, law.

2 Suggested Leader Guide for Question 1 .. 4 What is our only hope in life and death? .. 5 What is God? .. 10 Excursus on Question 2 .. 13 How many persons are there in God? .. 23 How and why did God create us? .. 26 What else did God create? .. 28 How can we glorify God? .. 31 What does the law of God require? .. 35 What is the law of God stated in the Ten Commandments? .. 39 What does God require in the first, second and third Commandments? .. 42 What does God require in the fourth and fifth Commandments?

3 46 What does God require in the sixth, seventh and eighth Commandments? .. 48 What does God require in the ninth and tenth Commandments?.. 51 Can anyone keep the law of God perfectly? .. 55 Did God create us unable to keep his law? .. 59 Since no one can keep the law, what is its purpose?.. 64 What is sin? .. 67 What is idolatry? .. 70 Will God allow our disobedience and idolatry to go unpunished? .. 75 Is there any way to escape punishment and be brought back into God s favor? .. 80 Who is the redeemer?

4 85 PART 2 Christ, redemption, grace What sort of Redeemer is needed to bring us back to God? .. 89 Why must the Redeemer be truly human? .. 91 Why must the Redeemer be truly God?.. 92 Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die? .. 94 Does Christ s death mean all our sins can be forgiven? .. 96 What else does Christ s death redeem? .. 98 Are all people, just as they were lost through Adam, saved through Christ? .. 100 What happens after death to those not united to Christ by faith?

5 103 How can we be saved? .. 106 Westminster Presbyterian Church (Spartanburg, SC) 3 of 153 What is faith in Jesus Christ? .. 108 What do we believe by true faith?.. 110 What do justification and sanctification mean? .. 112 Should those who have faith in Christ seek their salvation through their own works, or anywhere else? .. 114 Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through Christ alone, must we still do good works and obey God s Word? .. 116 Since we are redeemed by grace alone, through faith alone, where does this faith come from?

6 118 PART 3 Spirit, restoration, growing in grace. What do we believe about the Holy Spirit .. 120 How does the Holy Spirit help us? .. 122 What is prayer? .. 124 With what attitude should we pray? .. 126 What should we pray? .. 128 What is the Lord s Prayer? .. 130 How is the Word of God to be read and heard? .. 132 What are the sacraments or ordinances? .. 134 What is baptism? .. 136 Is baptism with water the washing away of sin itself? .. 138 What is the Lord s Supper? .. 140 Does the Lord s Supper add anything to Christ s atoning work?

7 142 What is the church?.. 144 Where is Christ now? .. 146 What does Christ s resurrection mean for us? .. 148 Of what advantage to us is Christ s ascension? .. 150 What hope does everlasting life hold for us? .. 152 Westminster Presbyterian Church (Spartanburg, SC) 4 of 153 Suggested Leader Guide for Question 1 The Study Guide for Group participants is intended to help the user reflect upon and interact personally with Scripture, with their own inner being and experience and with the issue in the specific CATECHISM Question.

8 The hope is that in this way the CATECHISM answer will become more real in their hearts and in the collective heart of your group. Question 1 asks what our hope is. The dictionary defines hope as a feeling that what is wanted is likely to happen; desire accompanied by expectation. Thus, hope has to do with conviction, confidence, expectations, desires and wants. Interestingly, the word hope does not appear in Scripture in the Old Testament (OT) until Ruth 1:12.

9 The OT begins to say a great deal about hope : Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord, Psalm 31:24. Blessed is the person who trusts in the Lord, whose hope [KJV; confidence, NIV] is in him, Jeremiah 17:7. Peter says in his Acts 2 message on the day of Pentecost, Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will also live in hope, 2:26, as he proclaims Jesus resurrection to those gathered. Romans 4:18 says, Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said, So shall your offspring be.

10 (Abraham set his hope that God would fulfill his promise that he would have s son as his heir and it would not be the son of his servant.) For everything that was written in the past was written to teach is, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scripture we might have hope, Romans 15:4. The truth is that we have the ability to attach our hopes to people, to things and to God in Jesus. This is why it is important to reflect upon and evaluate the object of our hope. It is important to do this because, without realizing it, we can attach our hopes to people, to things, to experiences and to ideas about God that let us down and disappoint us The following are avenues you may choose to follow in facilitating your group s discussions and reflections on Question 1: Avenue 1.