Part 1
LESSONS
in the
Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther.
For the Senior Department of Lutheran Sunday-Schools and for General Use.
By
GEO. MEZGER, Professor at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo.
St. Louis, Mo. CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE. 1923.
LESSON 1.
The Catechism and the Bible.
1. The little book we have before us is called the _Small Catechism._ The word "catechism" means _instruction._ This little book gives us instruction in a brief and simple form, such as even a child can understand. It teaches us what every Christian, as a child of God, should believe, and how every Christian, as a child of God, should live.--This book is called the _Small Catechism_ not only because it is a small book, but mainly because we have also a _Large Catechism_ for older people.
2. The _Small Catechism_ was written by _Dr. Martin Luther, the great Reformer of the Church._ Luther was born at Eisleben, a small town in Germany, November 10, 1483, and died at the same place, February 18, 1546. He published his _Small Catechism in the year 1529,_ for the benefit of the common people and the children, who are most in need of such instruction.
3. Our Catechism is a small book, indeed, but it is a most precious little book. It does not contain Luther's thoughts and doctrines or those of any other wise and learned man; it contains _God's own words_ revealed to us for our salvation. It does not teach us _all_ the doctrines of God's Word, but those that every Christian must know in order _to believe rightly, to lead a godly life, and when his last hour is come to depart in peace._ Our Catechism teaches these doctrines in a short form, in plain and simple words.
4. _Our Catechism teaches God's Word._ How do we prove this? Luther has taken the contents of his Catechism from the Bible, and the Bible is the Word of God.--The Word "Bible" means _book._ We call our Bible "the book" because it really is the Book of books, the book in comparison with which no other book is worthy to be called by that name, the most important and valuable book.--The Bible is also called _the Scriptures,_ or _Scripture,_ which means something written, a written word. The Bible was written by _holy men of God._ These holy men did not write the Bible of their own will. _"Holy men of God spake"_ (and wrote) _"as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."_ 2 Pet. 1,21. God Himself moved His holy men to write the Bible.
5. The Bible contains many _different books,_ written at different times. We divide the books of our Bible into _two chief parts._ The first we call the _Old Testament._ To it belong all the books written by the prophets of God, by Moses, Samuel, David, Isaiah, and others, before our Savior was born.--The second part we call the _New Testament,_ which contains all the books written by the evangelists and apostles, such as Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, and others, after our Savior came into this world. _Both Testaments teach us the same things and doctrines._ In what respect do they differ?
6. The Bible is the written Word of God. It is true, holy men have written the Bible, but they wrote being moved by the Holy Ghost, and moreover, they wrote what God told them to write, they wrote by inspiration of God. _"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God."_ 2 Tim. 3,16. God inspired His prophets and apostles, that is, He taught and told them what to write, He taught and gave them the very words which they were to use. When a teacher dictates to his pupils, the children, indeed, write the words; yet they do not write their own words, but the words of their teacher. In a similar manner, God, as it were, dictated His Word to the holy men; He told them what to write, and how to write it. So the whole Bible is God's Word. Therefore it is wholly _free from every error,_ it is _infallible._ Everything it tells us is the truth. God will not and cannot tell us an untruth.
7. _For what purpose did God give us His Word in the Bible?_ The Holy Scriptures _"are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."_ 2 Tim. 3,15. God's Word is to make us _wise,_ not wise unto the things of this world, unto our daily life and work, but _wise unto salvation._ It teaches us how we who are sinners can be saved from damnation. Nobody can teach us this but God in His Word.--Our salvation is in Christ Jesus. We are saved solely by faith in Him who has taken away the sins of the world. The Scriptures testify of Christ.--The Word of God is _able_ to make us wise unto salvation. In it we find all we must know, all that is necessary to save us, to give us eternal life. _"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."_ Ps. 119,105.
8. _How should we use the Scriptures?_ Our Savior says: _"Search the Scriptures; for in them, ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me."_ 3 John 5,39. We should _search_ the Scriptures, that is, we should read and study them diligently. We hear God's Word preached in our churches, we learn it in our schools, we should read it daily in our homes. We should not only read, but _study_ it _with earnest prayer to God_ that He would open our eyes that we may understand His Word.--We should read it so as _to seek and to find in it Christ,_ our Lord and Savior, and through faith in Him have eternal life. _"Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it,"_ Luke 11,28.
9. From the Word of God our Catechism is taken. Luther took the most important doctrines from the Bible for his Catechism. _It may be called a small Bible._ Gladly should we study this little book. As new-born babes long and cry for their milk and grow thereby to become strong men or women, so children of God, newly born in Holy Baptism, should desire the pure milk of the Word set before them in their Catechism and grow thereby in knowledge and faith unto salvation. 1 Pet. 2,2.
REMEMBER:--
_The Bible is the Word of God, written by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. God gave us His Word to make us wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus._
_We should diligently search the Scriptures to find in them Christ, our Savior, and in Him, everlasting life._
MEMORIZE:--
_And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God._ 2 Tim. 3,15.16.
_Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me._ John 5,39.
_Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it._ Luke 11,28.
QUESTIONS.
1. What does the word "catechism" mean? 2. What does the Catechism teach us? 3. By whom was our Catechism written? 4. Who was Dr. Martin Luther? 5. When was our Catechism published? 6. From what other book are the doctrines of our Catechism taken? 7. What does the word "Bible" mean? 8. Why do we call this book the Bible? 9. How is the Bible also called? 10. By whom was the Bible, or Holy Scripture, written? Whose word is the Bible? 11. How is the Bible God's Word, though it was written by men? 12. What are the chief parts of the Scriptures? 13. Of whom do both parts testify? 14. In what respect do they differ? 15. For what purpose did God give us His Word? 16. Unto what does the Bible make wise? 17. How do we obtain salvation? 18. How should we use the Bible? 19. What does the Psalmist say about God's Word? 20. Why should we also diligently learn our Catechism?
LESSON 2.
The First Commandment.
Which is the First Commandment?
_Thou shalt have no other gods before Me._
What does this mean?
_We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things._
1. We all have been baptized. In Holy Baptism God has received us as His children. _God is our heavenly Father._ A father gives his children his commands. He tells them what they should do and not do, how they should live to please him. So our heavenly Father has given us, His children, His _commandments._ He tells us what, according to His will, we should do and not do, how we should live and walk in His sight. As His obedient children we will gladly hear and learn His will and try, with His gracious help, to lead such lives as will please Him. It should be our pleasure to fulfil His commandments, for they are the will of our Father, who loves us so dearly.--_The Ten Commandments are our heavenly Father's will; they tell us what we should do and not do._
2. _"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,"_ that is the first of the Ten Commandments. That is the will of God, our Lord and Father, that we are to have no other gods before or besides Him. He who is the only true God should be our God. Him alone, and nobody and nothing besides Him, we are to have and regard as our God. _"I am, the Lord, that is My name; and My glory will I not give to another"_ Is. 42,8. When do we regard God as our God? When is He our God indeed? Our Catechism says: _"We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things."_ When we fear God, and love Him, and trust in Him above all things, then He is truly our God.
3. _"We should fear God."_ A dutiful child fears his father. He certainly is not afraid of him, but he honors and respects him. In the same manner we should fear God. He says: _"I am the almighty God."_ Gen. 17,7. He has, through His mighty word, made heaven and earth. Because God is so great and mighty, we should fear Him. We should not be afraid of Him,--the almighty God is our Father,--but we should honor and respect Him above all things.
4. A child shows his fear and filial respect for his father _by not doing anything wrong,_ because his dear father might see it or hear of it. He is afraid he might displease his father by disobeying him, yes, cause him grief. _God is always with us. He sees and hears everything we do or say, yea, He knows the very thoughts of our hearts._ We should always remember that He is present wherever we are, and therefore behave accordingly. We should be afraid to grieve our heavenly Father by doing wrong. _The fear of God will keep us from doing anything against His holy will. "By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil."_ Prov. 16,6. _Think of Joseph, in Egypt!_ When he was tempted by Potiphar's wife, he remembered that God was with him, therefore he told her: _"How, then, can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"_ Gen. 30,9. Remember always: God is with me! and you will not do such great wickedness and sin against your God. _"I am the almighty God; walk before Me and be thou perfect."_ Gen. 17,1.
_We fear God, when we honor and respect Him, when we walk before Him, and for His sake keep away from sin._
5. _"We should love God,"_ We all love our parents. We esteem them highly, our hearts cling to them, because we know how dearly they love us, and that they are doing all they can for us. God ought to be dearer to us than everything in this world, dearer even than our parents. He is our heavenly Father, our greatest Benefactor. From Him we receive all that we have and enjoy. He loves us first, He has so loved us that He gave His dear Son for us. _So we should love Him and cling to Him with our whole heart._
6. _"This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments."_ 1 John 5,3. If we love God, we shall gladly do as He bids us do. Thus our _Lord Jesus_ loved His heavenly Father. He says: _"I will delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy Law is within My heart."_ Ps. 40,8. _Abraham_ loved God, and therefore he was willing to sacrifice his only son for God's sake. Gen. 22,1-12.
_We love God when we cling to Him with our whole heart and from love to Him fulfil His commandments._
7. _"We should trust in God."_ To trust in God means to put our confidence in God and His promises, to be assured that He will give us what we need and what is good for us in this life and in the life to come. We trust in God when we believe that He will not forsake us in the day of trouble, that whatever He sends us, though it seem evil, will be for our good. Our Father can and will give us only good and perfect gifts. Thus _David_ trusted in the Lord when he went forth to conquer Goliath. 1 Sam. 17. Thus, too _those three men _trusted in God who suffered themselves to be cast into the fiery furnace rather than deny their God. Dan. 3.
_We trust in God when we put our confidence in Him and firmly believe that He will give us all we need, that He will never forsake us, and that everything which He sends us will be for our welfare._
8. "We should fear and love God and trust" in Him _"above all things,"_ that is, more than in all other men or things. We may, and we really do, fear and love many things besides God. We fear and love our parents, our teachers, our friends, and we trust in them. God Himself bids us do so. For God's sake we fear and love them. But we must fear and love _God_ more than all other things, more than even our parents, or our dearest friends. _He must be first in our heart and in our life._ If our parents, or friends, or anything else would separate us from God, or prevent us from fearing and loving Him, or from trusting in Him above all things, we must cast them aside. If we fear and love and trust in anything more than in God, we make a creature our god; then we have other gods besides God; then we are worshiping idols (other gods that are no gods), as the heathen do. _"Thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."_ Matt. 4,10.
9. Fear, love, and trust God demands from us. Fear, love, and trust are to be found in the heart. _God claims our hearts in this commandment. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart."_ Prov. 3,5. Together with our hearts God wants our whole lives, all we are and have. _The First Commandment is the greatest of them all._ In this all the others are included. Let us daily pray God to grant us His grace to fear and love Him and trust in Him above all things, in order that we may have no other gods before Him.
REMEMBER:--
_1. We should fear and love God and trust in Him above all things; then we shall have no other gods before Him; then He, the true God, will be our God indeed._
_2. We should fear and love and trust in God above all things. God wants our whole heart and life, all that we are and have._
MEMORIZE:--
_I am the almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect._ Gen. 17,1.
_Trust in the Lord with all thine heart._ Prov. 3,5.
_Thou shalt worship the Lord, thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve._ Matt. 4,10.
QUESTIONS.
1. What does God tell us in His commandments? 2. Why has God a right to give us these commandments? 3. Which is the First Commandment? 4. Who should be our God? 5. When is the only true God our God? 6. What does it mean to fear God? 7. How do we show that we fear God? 8. What does the Lord say Gen. 17,1? 9. What does it mean to love God? 10. What shall we fulfil if we love God? 11. What does it mean to trust in God? 12. What shall we firmly believe if we trust in God? 13. How should we fear and love God and trust in Him? 14. Why should we fear and love God above all things? 15. What sin do we commit if we fear and love any one more than God? 16. What does our Lord say Matt. 4,10? 17. What does God demand of us in the First Commandment? 18. Why is the First Commandment the greatest of all?
LESSON 3.
The Second Commandment.
Which is the Second Commandment?
_Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain._
What does this mean?
_We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks._
1. We learned in the first Commandment that we should _fear and love our God above all things._ That is the will of our Father in heaven. If we fear and love God, we shall gladly fulfil His commandments and do His will. And it is only if we fear and love God that we shall do so. All our obedience to God and His commandments must come from a heart that fears and loves God. In every commandment our God demands again that we fear and love Him. Therefore our Catechism begins the explanation of every commandment with these words: _"We should fear and love God."_
2. _"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain."_ Because we fear and love God, we must not take His name in vain. God has a name, just as you and everybody has a name by which he is known and called; indeed, God has many names. You already learned several of His names. _(God, Lord, Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Ghost, the Almighty, Creator, Savior,_ etc.) These names God has given Himself in His Word. Through His names He shows us who and what He is, what He has done and still is doing for His children. God is called Savior, and He really is the Savior; He is called Creator because He has created heaven and earth; He is called the Almighty, for with Him nothing is impossible. _God's name is God Himself as He has revealed Himself to us._
3. _We are not to take God's name in vain._ To take God's name in vain means to use His holy name _thoughtlessly_ and _without any need._ Many persons, it is sad to say, very often use the name of God, and especially that of Jesus Christ, in their speech without thinking of their Savior, without even knowing that they do so. They use it even when they talk of vile things. They take God's name in vain and mock God. _"Be not deceived; God is not mocked."_ Gal. 6,7.
4. Our Catechism shows us more plainly how God's name is taken in vain: _"We should fear and love God that we may not curse, swear, use witchcraft, lie, or deceive by His name."_ We should not _curse._ To curse by God's name means _to call down upon oneself or another God's punishment. Peter_ cursed. Matt. 26,74. He said God should punish him if he knew "the man" Jesus. Christians should never curse. They bless and praise God, their Father; how, then, can they curse their fellow-men and wish them God's punishment? Blessing and cursing should not come out of the same mouth. Jas. 3,9.10.
5. _We should not swear by God's name._ We swear when we use God's name to affirm the truth of what we say, as we hear it done so often in daily life. Our Lord says to His disciples: _"I say unto you, Swear not at all. ... But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."_ Matt. 5,34,37.
6. _We should not use witchcraft by God's name._ We use witchcraft when we try to perform things which by natural means we cannot do, such as _fortune-telling, calling and asking the dead_ (as the Spiritualists claim to do), etc. Such works are in themselves grievous sins, works of the devil. But such sins are much greater when God's holy name is used in performing them. Christians should have nothing to do with these works of darkness, these works of the devil. (Read Deut. 18,10-12.)
7. _We should not lie or deceive by God's name._ Lying by God's name means telling a lie and using God's name and Word in order to make the lie seem to be the truth. So the _false prophets_ use God's name and Word in order to hide their false doctrines and make them appear as God's truth. _"Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, He saith." _Jer. 23,31, The hypocrites deceive by God's name. They use God's name, they talk about God and His Word in order to hide their evil life. _"Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven."_ Matt. 7,21. Think of Ananias and Sapphira. Acts 5.
8. To take God's name in vain is a _grievous sin._ God is greatly displeased with it. How can we, who fear and love God, grieve Him by taking His holy name in vain? _And God has threatened to punish all that misuse His name. "The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."_ Ex. 20,7.4
9. God has revealed His name to us in order to _bless and save us._ He wants us to use His holy name _in the right way. "We should call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks."_ That is the right use of our Lord's name.--He wants us to _call_ on Him, to beg for His help, especially in all our troubles; for He alone can help us in all our needs. God says: _"Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me."_ Ps. 50,15.--We should _pray_ in His name; for in every true prayer we use His name aright. He wants us to come to Him daily and speak with Him, as a child speaks to his father.--We should use His name in _praising_ and _thanking_ Him for His manifold goodness, for all His benefits, all the great things He does for us. If He has delivered or helped us, we should glorify Him. _"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name."_ Ps. 103,1. _"O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; because His mercy endureth forever."_ Ps. 118,1. If we rightly use the name of our God, we shall be blessed by it. _"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe."_ Prov. 18,10.
REMEMBER:--
_1. God has given us His holy name that we may be blessed and saved by it._
_2. He forbids us to take in vain and misuse His sacred name by cursing, swearing, using witchcraft, lying, or deceiving, or by thoughtlessly speaking it._
_3. He commands us to use it aright by calling upon it in all our needs, by praying, praising, and giving of thanks. We should fear and love God and so use His blessed name._
MEMORIZE:--
_I say unto you, Swear not at all, but let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."_ [tr. note: sic on quotation mark] Matt. 5,34.37.
_Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, He saith._ Jer. 23,31.
_Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me._ Ps. 50, 15.
_Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me bless His holy name._ Ps. 103,1.
QUESTIONS.
1. How does our Catechism begin the explanation of every commandment after the First Commandment? 2. When only can and will we fulfil all the commandments? 3. What, therefore, does God demand of us in every commandment? 4. Enumerate some of God's holy names. 5. For what purpose has God revealed His name to us? 6. What does it mean to take God's name in vain? 7. What does it mean to curse by God's name? 8. When do we swear by God's name? 9. Whose work is witchcraft? 10. What people lie by God's name? 11. What does God say about the false prophets? (Jer. 3,31.) 12. What does it mean to deceive by God's name? 13. What has God threatened those who take His name in vain? 14. What is the will of God with respect to His name? 15. How should we use God's name? 16. What does it mean to call upon God? 17. When especially should we do so? 18. Recite Ps. 50,15. 19. Why should we praise the Lord and give thanks unto His name? 20. Recite Ps. 103,1.
LESSON 4.
The Third Commandment.
Which is the Third Commandment?
_Thou shalt sanctify the holy-day._
What does this mean?
_We should fear and love God that we may not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it._