Christian Doctrine Study Guide Introduction This study guide is meant to give you a closer acquaintance with Christian doctrine, particularly as Lutherans have been traditionally confessed and taught it. When used with the assigned resources, it will help you learn some of the basic terms, contents, and formulations of Christian teaching, and it will introduce you to some of the issues related to and implications of this teaching. This study guide has been composed especially to help those preparing to enter programs of theological education in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, including the Master of Divinity and certificate programs of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis and Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne. Resources Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1991). The Large Catechism (Any edition will do. A convenient edition is Luther’s Large Catechism: A Contemporary Translation with Study Questions, trans. F. Samuel Janzow [St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1978]. All quotations of the Large Catechism and the rest of the Lutheran Confessions in this study guide are from The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert [Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2000].) Robert Kolb, The Christian Faith: A Lutheran Exposition (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1993). Approach This study guide directs in two directions. First, you are directed to the Small and Large Catechisms. They are fundamental and authoritative presentations of Christian teaching. There are different ways to approach this study, but the approach Luther outlines in the preface to the Small Catechism is sound and is recommended especially for those whose knowledge of the Catechism may be spotty or faded (see pp. 243-248 of Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation). First, commit to memory the chief parts. Second, become thoroughly acquainted with the brief explanations of these parts in the Small Catechism. You should also study the sections on daily prayer, table of duties, and Christian questions and answers. Third, “take up the Large Catechism and use it to [gain] a broader and richer understanding” (246). For your study of the Large Catechism, some questions are included in this study guide. The edition translated by Janzow (mentioned in the “Resources” section) includes many more study questions and may be also helpful in your study. However you study the Catechisms, it is important that you are well acquainted with their teaching. Second, you are directed to the Lutheran teaching on many traditional topics. This study guide works with two basic resources on Christian doctrine: the “Explanation to the Small Catechism” in Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, and The Christian Faith by Robert Kolb. They deal with both the terms and the contents of traditionally recognized topics in Christian doctrine (e.g., God, the person of Christ, justification). Although the questions and answers from “An Explanation of the Small Catechism” are arranged loosely according to the six chief parts, many of them address basic theological concepts and issues. For this reason, they lend themselves to an introductory study of Christian doctrinal topics. The question-and-answer format of the “Explanation” may frustrate some learners. It requires some effort on the part of the learner to study the topics in a way that goes beyond rote memorization. The answers lack supporting argument and explanation, so when an answer seems debatable, there is nowhere in the text to go for clarification. And occasionally the Scriptural citations may appear to have little relevance. But the “Explanation” does address important questions and provide simple and characteristically Lutheran responses. Apart from giving you straightforward answers to basic questions, these questions and answers can assure you that your grasp of a certain topic or issue is sound and indicate where you need further study. Since the goal of your study is a basic knowledge of Christian doctrine, it may be helpful to go through these questions and answers along with another treatment of Christian doctrine. This study guide identifies many of these questions and answers by doctrinal topic (rather than by part of the Catechism) so that you can take them up along with your study of The Christian Faith (see below). In your study of the “Explanation,” you should strive to be able to answer the questions yourself in a way that is consistent with the answers given in the text. You should also seek to be able to explain how the cited Bible passages support your answers. The Christian Faith by Dr. Robert Kolb is a basic presentation of Christian doctrine. It is arranged according to traditional doctrinal topics, but throughout it accents Lutheran themes and views. Kolb engages both traditional issues and contemporary concerns as he strives to give a coherent account of the teaching of the Christian church. Many readers will find the book straightforward and illuminating. But because the book seeks to discuss Christian teaching as a whole and to engage related issues and concerns, study questions and lists of terms and names have been provided to focus attention on the most important terms, concepts, themes, persons, and issues. 2 The Large Catechism The Prefaces NB Lutherans have used the word “catechism” in different senses. Two are important for reading these prefaces. In a narrow sense, the word “catechism” refers to the basic parts of Christian teaching: the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer, along with the basic scriptural teachings on Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Confession and Absolution. Luther uses “catechism” in this sense in the shorter preface to the Large Catechism. In a broad sense, the “catechism” refers to these parts and also to explanations of these parts. This is the sense used in the titles “Small Catechism” and “Large Catechism.” 1. Summarize Luther’s judgment on the state of Christian knowledge when he was writing the Large Catechism (LC). 2. What are the benefits of occupying oneself with the Catechism and other parts of Christian doctrine? 3. What is the significance of Dt 6:7-8 for daily reading of the Catechism? The Ten Commandments First Commandment 1. What is it to have a god? 2. Explain: “[I]t is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol” (I.2). 3. What is the purpose of the First Commandment? 4. How do money and possessions function as a god? 5. What should we expect from God? Appendix to the First Commandment 1. What is this “appendix”? 2. Why is it especially appropriate that these threats and promises be attached to the First Commandment? 3. What is the intended consequence of promising such terrible threats and great blessings? 3 Second Commandment 1. What is the relationship between the First and Second Commandments? 2. What does it mean to misuse God’s name? 3. What are some everyday misuses of God’s name? 4. What does the LC regard as the greatest abuse of God’s name? 5. What are right uses of God’s name? Third Commandment 1. What was the “holy day” for the Old Testament people of God? 2. Why does the literal or external sense of the commandment no longer concern Christians? 3. How does the Word of God sanctify? 4. What are some “finer” or less obvious violations of this commandment? 5. Why is it always necessary to occupy ourselves with God’s Word? Fourth Commandment 1. What is different about this commandment than the other commandments concerning our relations with our neighbors? 2. How is honor a greater thing than love? 3. Why should parents be honored? 4. What does it mean to say that all other earthly authority derives from parental authority? 5. Why and how should we honor civil authorities? 6. Why and how should we honor “spiritual fathers”? 7. What does this commandment require of parents and others in authority? 4 Fifth Commandment 1. What does it mean that this commandment applies to private individuals but not to governments? 2. In what ways is this commandment violated? 3. What does this commandment require? Sixth Commandment 1. What is the concern of this commandment? 2. How is marriage to be regarded? 3. How can vows of chastity defy or lead others to defy this commandment? 4. In what ways can we keep this commandment toward young people? Seventh Commandment 1. What is “stealing”? 2. What is the purpose of enumerating so many instances of stealing? 3. What does this commandment require of us? Eighth Commandment 1. What is the first application of this commandment? 2. What is the next application of this commandment? 3. What is the third and broadest application of this commandment? 4. For whom are there exceptions to this commandment? Why? 5. What is the “sum and substance” of this commandment? Ninth and Tenth Commandments 1. How do these commandments differ from the Seventh Commandment? 2. Why would we say that this commandment applies to the most upright people, not those regarded as rogues? 3. What are we to do for our neighbor according to these commandments? 5 Conclusion of the Ten Commandments How does the First Commandment operate as the chief commandment? The Creed First Article 1. What is the most basic answer to the question, “What does God do?” 2. What does it mean for God to be “my Creator”? 3. How is the explanation of God in the First Article like the description of God in the explanation of the First Commandment? 4. What do we owe God as creator? Second Article 1. What does it mean for Jesus Christ to become “my Lord”? 2. From what did Jesus Christ redeem us? 3.