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The Shorter Catechism: Questions 39-107
The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Shorter Catechism are unrivaled as faithful and concise expressions of God's revelation in Scripture. For decades G. I. Williamson's study manuals on the Confession and Shorter Catechism have served as invaluable tools for instruction in the system of doctrine summarized in the Westminster Standards.
This comprehensive study manual explains clearly and fully the meaning of the Confession. Williamson shows the biblical support for what the Confession teaches and is careful to distinguish the truth from conflicting opinions. Each section is followed by study questions, which are answered in full at the back of the volume. Lucid enough for individual use or adult study groups—thorough enough for the classroom or leadership training.
In two volumes G. I. Williamson offers clear and helpful exposition of each question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Each lesson includes questions for review or discussion, making this a valuable aid for individual or group study.
Volume 1: Questions 1-38
0-87552-539-3
Volume 2: Questions 39-107
0-87552-540-7
This comprehensive study manual explains clearly and fully the meaning of the Confession. Williamson shows the biblical support for what the Confession teaches and is careful to distinguish the truth from conflicting opinions. Each section is followed by study questions, which are answered in full at the back of the volume. Lucid enough for individual use or adult study groups—thorough enough for the classroom or leadership training.
In two volumes G. I. Williamson offers clear and helpful exposition of each question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Each lesson includes questions for review or discussion, making this a valuable aid for individual or group study.
Volume 1: Questions 1-38
0-87552-539-3
Volume 2: Questions 39-107
0-87552-540-7
160 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 1970
2 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
G.I. Williamson
27 books7 followersG. I. Williamson was a Christian minister for fifty years.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 5, 2020
Helpful explanations of questions 39-107 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, with analogies and simple illustrations. Volume 1 covers questions 1-38. I skimmed some parts, but read straight through most of it.
Notes
Q 39
Q1-38 tell "what man is to believe concerning God." Q39-107 tell "what duty God requires of man."
Q 40-41
The moral law Adam had was essentially the same as the 10 Commandments, and the 2 great commandments of Christ (Matt 22:37-40).
10 Commandments were given to all God's people. They weren't given to Israel to earn their salvation by keeping them (Gal 3:19).
Christians must keep 10 Commandments (1 Cor 9:21; John 14:21; Matt 5:17; 1 John 5:2-3).
Q 42
We may not break one part of the law to keep another (Matt 5:17, 19, 48). Jesus perfectly loved His neighbor yet never sinned to be loving.
Q 47
God hasn't given us a long list of every possible thing He would forbid in His worship. If He had, the Bible would be so big no one could read it all.
Q 51-52
Images of Jesus break 2nd Commandment. There is 1 God in 3 persons, and Bible says not to make images of God (Acts 17:29; Isa 40:18).
We don't know what Jesus looked like, so any picture is false.
Jesus' humanity can't be separated from His divinity (John 5:23).
We don't need to supplement Bible with pictures of Jesus (2 Tim 3:15).
Q 54
To take God's name in vain means to profess faith in Him insincerely, as well as to use any of His names without sincerity and reverence.
Q 58-59
4th Commandment is moral, and thus perpetually binding
• Sabbath is creation ordinance (Gen 2:2-3; Ex 20:11).
• God Himself wrote all 10 Commandments on stone (Ex 31:18).
• NT never abrogates Sabbath (Matt 5:17; Rom 3:3); NT church kept a day holy (1st day) (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2).
4th Commandment doesn't say last day of week is Sabbath; it only says 1 in 7 is God's.
Col 2:16-17; Gal 4:10-11; Rom 14:5 told Christians they didn't need to observe Jewish Sabbath (Saturday).
Heb 4:9 says a sabbath remains in NT.
Q 60-62
Entire Sabbath is to be used in worshipping God (publicly and privately), other than:
• Works of piety (Matt 12:5) (e.g., minister preaching, someone removing snow from church grounds).
• Works of necessity (Matt 12:1-4) (e.g., washing dishes after meal at home).
• Works of mercy (Matt 12:11-12) (e.g., doctor or firefighter working).
Q 66
5th Commandment promise of long life and prosperity isn't primarily referring to individuals, but to God's people (in family, church, nation).
Q 67-69
That capital punishment for murder is right is seen from God commanding it in Gen 9:6.
6th Commandment forbids abuse (overindulgence) of any material thing, because that would tend to the destruction of life. However, no material thing is inherently evil (Rom 14:4).
Q 70-72
8th Commandment proves right of private property.
Bible doesn't support socialism or communism. NT church held things in common voluntarily, not because they were required to give up private property (Acts 2:44-45; 5:1-11).
Q 76-78
No lie is in accord with God who is truth (Ps 31:5; Titus 1:2; Matt 5:48; 1 John 2:21; 8:44).
9th Commandment forbids "white lies" and lies of convenience (1 John 2:21; Ps 12:3).
9th Commandment forbids "lies of necessity" to avoid future evil (Rom 3:8).
"God permits us, in dire circumstances, to conceal (or withhold) part of the truth from those who are our enemies." (See 1 Sam 16:1-5.)
Bible teaches evil men may not have a right to know all the truth we could tell, but doesn't teach that we have right to lie to them.
Q 91-93
God gave baptism and Lord's Supper to be our visuals, not pictures of any person of Trinity.
Q 94-95
Mode of baptism
• Baptism can be done with any amount of water; immersion isn't necessary.
• It can't be proved that any baptism in Bible was by immersion.
• Bible contains baptisms that weren't by immersion (1 Cor 10:1-2; cf. Ex 14:22, 28).
• Baptism of Holy Spirit was by pouring (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:17ff), and baptism with water is compared to this (Matt 3:11).
Infant baptism
• God's covenant is same in NT as OT (Gen 17:7; Heb 13:20; Gal 3:16, 17), though differently administered. Both circumcision (en 17:1-14) and baptism (Acts 2:39; Gal 3:29) were administered once to believers and their children to picture cleansing from sin. We don't need a NT command to include children in covenant because they continue to be included since OT.
• 1 Cor 7:14 says children with at least 1 Christian parent are "holy," using same word for professing adults (often translated "saints").
• In Eph 1:1 Paul says he's writing to saints, and in Eph 6:1-4 he speaks to children.
Q 103
We should not seek guidance from our life situation (deciding based on events in life), but must seek guidance only from the Bible (God's revealed will) for our situation (2 Cor 6:14-18).
Q 106
"Lead us not into temptation" doesn't mean God directly tempts; it refers to God bringing us into situations in which Satan or our own sinful inclination can tempt us.
Q 107
Though "for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever" isn't found in most manuscripts, and we shouldn't regard it as original, we may still pray it because it's biblical truth.
"The one all-encompassing principle of Calvinism is the supremacy of God. It is from this fountainhead that all other truths ultimately derive."
Appendix One
Notes
Q 39
Q1-38 tell "what man is to believe concerning God." Q39-107 tell "what duty God requires of man."
Q 40-41
The moral law Adam had was essentially the same as the 10 Commandments, and the 2 great commandments of Christ (Matt 22:37-40).
10 Commandments were given to all God's people. They weren't given to Israel to earn their salvation by keeping them (Gal 3:19).
Christians must keep 10 Commandments (1 Cor 9:21; John 14:21; Matt 5:17; 1 John 5:2-3).
Q 42
We may not break one part of the law to keep another (Matt 5:17, 19, 48). Jesus perfectly loved His neighbor yet never sinned to be loving.
Q 47
Every person has (and ought to have) a civil liberty to choose whatever religion he will. No government should ever force people to accept the true religion. Christians should even be willing to defend members of a false religion if they are persecuted or coerced. But no man has a right before God—a religious right—to choose any religion but that of the Bible.Q 50
God hasn't given us a long list of every possible thing He would forbid in His worship. If He had, the Bible would be so big no one could read it all.
Q 51-52
Images of Jesus break 2nd Commandment. There is 1 God in 3 persons, and Bible says not to make images of God (Acts 17:29; Isa 40:18).
We don't know what Jesus looked like, so any picture is false.
Jesus' humanity can't be separated from His divinity (John 5:23).
We don't need to supplement Bible with pictures of Jesus (2 Tim 3:15).
Q 54
To take God's name in vain means to profess faith in Him insincerely, as well as to use any of His names without sincerity and reverence.
Q 58-59
4th Commandment is moral, and thus perpetually binding
• Sabbath is creation ordinance (Gen 2:2-3; Ex 20:11).
• God Himself wrote all 10 Commandments on stone (Ex 31:18).
• NT never abrogates Sabbath (Matt 5:17; Rom 3:3); NT church kept a day holy (1st day) (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 16:2).
4th Commandment doesn't say last day of week is Sabbath; it only says 1 in 7 is God's.
Col 2:16-17; Gal 4:10-11; Rom 14:5 told Christians they didn't need to observe Jewish Sabbath (Saturday).
Heb 4:9 says a sabbath remains in NT.
Q 60-62
Entire Sabbath is to be used in worshipping God (publicly and privately), other than:
• Works of piety (Matt 12:5) (e.g., minister preaching, someone removing snow from church grounds).
• Works of necessity (Matt 12:1-4) (e.g., washing dishes after meal at home).
• Works of mercy (Matt 12:11-12) (e.g., doctor or firefighter working).
Q 66
5th Commandment promise of long life and prosperity isn't primarily referring to individuals, but to God's people (in family, church, nation).
Q 67-69
That capital punishment for murder is right is seen from God commanding it in Gen 9:6.
6th Commandment forbids abuse (overindulgence) of any material thing, because that would tend to the destruction of life. However, no material thing is inherently evil (Rom 14:4).
Q 70-72
Only when the unbeliever is guilty of (a) adultery, or (b) desertion which cannot be remedied, can the Christian go free and marry another in the Lord [1 Cor 7:10-12; Matt 19:8]Q 73-75
8th Commandment proves right of private property.
Bible doesn't support socialism or communism. NT church held things in common voluntarily, not because they were required to give up private property (Acts 2:44-45; 5:1-11).
Q 76-78
No lie is in accord with God who is truth (Ps 31:5; Titus 1:2; Matt 5:48; 1 John 2:21; 8:44).
9th Commandment forbids "white lies" and lies of convenience (1 John 2:21; Ps 12:3).
9th Commandment forbids "lies of necessity" to avoid future evil (Rom 3:8).
"God permits us, in dire circumstances, to conceal (or withhold) part of the truth from those who are our enemies." (See 1 Sam 16:1-5.)
Bible teaches evil men may not have a right to know all the truth we could tell, but doesn't teach that we have right to lie to them.
Q 91-93
God gave baptism and Lord's Supper to be our visuals, not pictures of any person of Trinity.
Q 94-95
Mode of baptism
• Baptism can be done with any amount of water; immersion isn't necessary.
• It can't be proved that any baptism in Bible was by immersion.
• Bible contains baptisms that weren't by immersion (1 Cor 10:1-2; cf. Ex 14:22, 28).
• Baptism of Holy Spirit was by pouring (Acts 1:5, 8; 2:17ff), and baptism with water is compared to this (Matt 3:11).
Infant baptism
• God's covenant is same in NT as OT (Gen 17:7; Heb 13:20; Gal 3:16, 17), though differently administered. Both circumcision (en 17:1-14) and baptism (Acts 2:39; Gal 3:29) were administered once to believers and their children to picture cleansing from sin. We don't need a NT command to include children in covenant because they continue to be included since OT.
• 1 Cor 7:14 says children with at least 1 Christian parent are "holy," using same word for professing adults (often translated "saints").
• In Eph 1:1 Paul says he's writing to saints, and in Eph 6:1-4 he speaks to children.
Q 103
We should not seek guidance from our life situation (deciding based on events in life), but must seek guidance only from the Bible (God's revealed will) for our situation (2 Cor 6:14-18).
Q 106
"Lead us not into temptation" doesn't mean God directly tempts; it refers to God bringing us into situations in which Satan or our own sinful inclination can tempt us.
Q 107
Though "for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever" isn't found in most manuscripts, and we shouldn't regard it as original, we may still pray it because it's biblical truth.
"The one all-encompassing principle of Calvinism is the supremacy of God. It is from this fountainhead that all other truths ultimately derive."
Appendix One
Thou shalt not have more gods than me
Before no image bow the knee
Take not the name of God in vain
Nor dare the Sabbath to profane
Give both thy parents honor due
Take heed that you no murder do
Abstain from words and deeds unclean
Nor steal though thou art poor and mean
Nor make a willful lie nor love it
What is thy neighbor's do not covet
May 29, 2009
The Shorter Catechism: Questions 39-107 by G. I. Williamson (1970)
June 13, 2014
Great resource for family devotion and bible study
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