Q2: An Orthodox Catechism

Question and Answer

Q. 2. How many things are necessary for you to know that, enjoying this comfort, you may live and die happily?

A. Three. The first, what is the greatness of my sin and misery (a). The second, how I am delivered from all sin and misery (b). The third, what thanks I owe to God for this delivery (c).

(a) Luke 24:47; Rom. 3:23.

(b) Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor.6:11; Titus 3:3-8.

(c) Matt. 5:16; Rom. 6:11-13; Eph. 5:10; Titus 2:11-12; 1 Pet. 2:9; 3:10-12.

You must Know the Greatness of Your Sin and Misery

What is the greatness of your sin and misery?

You need to repent of sin: Luke 24:47

You have fallen short of God’s Glory: Romans 3:23

You are dead in sin, a follower of satan, the world, and the flesh, and a child of wrath: Ephesians 2:1-3

Why must you know the greatness of your sin and misery?

Knowledge of your sin and misery doesn’t provide comfort in and of itself.

It moves you to desire deliverance

Only a person who knows they have cancer seek treatment for cancer. Only those who know their condition as miserable sinners seek deliverance in Christ.

Only those who seek salvation will find it: Matt. 7:6; 5:6; 11:28. Isaiah 57:15.

It moves you to be thankful for your deliverance

It prepares us to hear the gospel profitably.

You Must Know that in Christ You are Delivered from All Sin and Misery

What is the nature of your deliverance?

You were delivered from bondage to sin and to adoption as God’s child: Romans 8:15

You were were washed of you sins, sanctified, and justified in Christ by the Holy Spirit: 1 Corinthians 6:11

You were brought from foolishness and hopelessness to wisdom and hope: Titus 3:3-8

Why must you know of your deliverance?

It enables you to not be in despair as if there were no deliverance provided.

It moves you to desire this deliverance.

It provides you with comfort.

It keeps us from coming up with our own way for deliverance.

It beckons us to receive it by faith.

It leads us to gratitude to God.

You Must Know What Thanks You Owe to God

What is the thanks you owe to God?

It consists of good works: Matthew 5:16

It consists of reckoning yourself dead to sin: Romans 6:11-13

It consists of discerning what pleases God: Ephesians 5:10

It consists of renouncing ungodliness and embracing godliness: Titus 2:11-12

It consists of being who God has called you to be: 1 Peter 2:9; 3:10-12

Why must you know of this thanks you owe?

For God only grants deliverance to the thankful: 1 John 3:8; Ephesians 1:1-6

So you may return the gratitude He desires and not that of our own invention.

That you may know what duties we perform do no earn your deliverance, but a declaration and evidence of our gratitude for it.

That your faith and comfort may be increased because your life evidences God’s deliverance.

Question and Answer Restated

Q. 2. How many things are necessary for you to know that, enjoying this comfort, you may live and die happily?

A. Three. The first, what is the greatness of my sin and misery (a). The second, how I am delivered from all sin and misery (b). The third, what thanks I owe to God for this delivery (c).

(a) Luke 24:47; Rom. 3:23.

(b) Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor.6:11; Titus 3:3-8.

(c) Matt. 5:16; Rom. 6:11-13; Eph. 5:10; Titus 2:11-12; 1 Pet. 2:9; 3:10-12.