This week we begin with Question 44 of the New City Catechism, found in Part 3 (questions 36-52), which focuses on the Spirit, restoration, and growing in grace. NOTE: I have modified some of the language in the answer to this question in alignment with my own Baptist convictions. Question 44: What is baptism? Answer: Baptism is immersion in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; it signifies our death and resurrection with Christ, our cleansing from s

Question 32: What do justification and sanctification mean? Answer: Justification means our declared righteousness before God, made possible by Christ’s death and resurrection for us. Sanctification means our gradual, growing righteousness, made possible by the Spirit’s work in us. The catechism links our justification to Christ’s death and resurrection for us. What is the connection between these things? By his death on the cross, Jesus Christ took our sins upon himself, so

Question 24: Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die? Answer: Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God. By his substitutionary atoning death, he alone redeems us from hell and gains for us forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and everlasting life. All of history is moving toward a final judgment, the moment when God’s righteousness will be fully revealed as he

This week we begin with Question 24 of the New City Catechism, found in Part 2 (questions 21-35), which focuses on Christ, redemption, and grace. Question 24: Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die? Answer: Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God. By his substitutionary atoning death, he alone redeems us from hell and gains for us forgiveness of sin, right

Question 22: Why must the Redeemer be truly human? Answer: That in human nature he might on our behalf perfectly obey the whole law and suffer the punishment for human sin; and also that he might sympathize with our weaknesses. It was specifically through his human nature that Jesus Christ “suffered the punishment for human sin.” By going to the cross as a sinless man, he offered up his own life in the place of his covenant people, bearing in himself the punishment that our s

Question 16: What is sin? Answer: Sin is rejecting or ignoring God in the world he created, rebelling against him by living without reference to him, not being or doing what he requires in his law—resulting in our death and the disintegration of all creation. What is the result of our sin? The catechism identifies “death and the disintegration of all creation.” God made us as his image to rule over his world so that it would flourish. But when humanity fell into sin, leading

Question 14: Did God create us unable to keep his law? Answer: No, but because of the disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, all of creation is fallen; we are born in sin and guilt, corrupt in our nature and unable to keep God’s law. Theologians speak of the biblical doctrine of “total depravity,” which describes the effect of Adam and Eve’s sin on us. Total depravity does not mean that we are as bad as we can possibly be. What it means is that sin has corrupted eve

Question 5: What else did God create? Answer: God created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule. What do we mean when we say something is “good”? “That was a good movie.” “That was a good burger.” “My son is a good baseball player.” “She is a good friend.” In all of these examples (and many more we could add), the word “good” means “well-suited to purpose.” A good movie fulfills the purpose of a movie:

Why do most Baptists insist that baptism be done by immersion in water? There are basically three arguments.

Our justification is a sharing in Christ's death and resurrection as the final judgment brought forward into history.

The final judgment is necessary to Christian teaching. How does Jesus' death relate to it? What does it mean for us?

Death is physical, spiritual, and eternal. The Bible's teaching on death must inform our understanding of Christ's death for us.

Through his human nature, Jesus Christ died to take the punishment for our sins. The word "substitute" matters in our atonement doctrine.

What is the connection between our sin and redemption and the creation itself? What does God have planned for the earth?

What are the effects of Adam's fall on us? Is there some remnant of spiritual life left in us, or have we been totaled?

What does it mean to become "partakers of the divine nature"?

What does it mean that God created the world "very good"? What has gone wrong, and how is it made right?