Westminster Shorter Catechism #86

Q: What is faith in Jesus Christ? 
A: Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel. 
Ephesians 2:8–9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

What I really appreciate about this week's catechism is, it shows us (along with the Scripture passage in Ephesians), how God is the one who provides everything needed to save men. We discussed last week what God requires of us to escape his wrath and curse due to us for sin. The answer is, God requires faith in Christ and repentance. And over the next few weeks, we'll see how God gives his people what is required. It's amazing that God doesn't just require something, but also provides it (for a little more insight on these things, re-read our blog on the catechism's 30th and 31s questions concerning redemption and effectual calling).

But what IS faith? "Faith" seems to be a word that we, even as Christians, can find confusing. The catechism reminds us of a few things. First, it's a saving grace. What does that mean? Well, if we remember what grace is-God blessing us with something that we don't deserve-then we see that faith is a gift from God! God provides us with something that we, ourselves lack, and what we, ourselves, do not deserve; namely, faith in Jesus Christ. This is what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 2:8-9 when he says, "And this is not your own doing; it (faith) is the gift of God". 

Okay great. Faith is a gift, a saving grace, from God himself. But what, exactly, is faith? What is this gift God gives us? Some people think that "faith" simply means believing. They equate "faith in Christ" with "belief in Christ". There's a problem with that, though. As James reminds us, even the demons believe! Believing, then, that Jesus Christ is real, that he is who he said he is, that he did what the gospels declare he did, that doesn't do us any good. Belief is not the same as faith, unless anyone wants to translate James 2 to say, "Even the demons have faith..." The joke in our youth group at Proclamation, as we constantly seek to remind the students of the definition of faith, is that "believing in Jesus qualifies you to be a demon!" There has to be more than simply, "belief". 

The catechism shows us how faith moves beyond simply believing the truth about Jesus Christ. Notice, "we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation". The saving grace of faith that God gives us is not mere believe in facts, but rather, a full trust and reliance upon Jesus Christ for our salvation. The faith God gives us is a trust in the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. It's a faith that declares, "I can do nothing to save myself from the wrath and curse of sin that I deserve! I can only look to, trust in, and place my hope upon Jesus Christ". This is the saving grace of faith! This faith is a declaration that, as Jonathan Edwards said, "You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary", and it is a faith that relies solely on and trusts fully in the finished work of Jesus Christ. 

Westminster Shorter Catechism #84 & 85

84) Q: What does every sin deserve?
A: Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.
James 2:10  For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 

85) Q: What does God require of us that we may escape his wrath and curse due to us for sin?
A: To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requires of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with diligent use of all outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption.
Mark 1:15 ...and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." 

Playing catch-up again because of not being able to get the blog done last week, but it works out well because here, in these two catechism questions, we're presented with both a problem and a solution. The problem is this. We know from examining the 10 commandments, from realizing that no one keeps the commandments perfectly, that we are all guilty before God. And we know that the wages of sin, the penalty for our guilt, is death. Not just physical death, but also spiritual death. That is the curse that the catechism talks about. But not only do we deserve death, the cathecism also says we deserve God's wrath, both in this life and in the life to come. We deserve nothing less than God's anger in this life, and, if we get what we deserve, will receive nothing less than the full wrath of God poured out upon us in the next life. 

So what is a sinner's hope? We know we're infinitely guilty before an infinitely holy God. We know we deserve his anger for all of eternity. We know we deserve death in every sense of the word. Where is the hope in all of this? Thank God that the story didn't end in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve rebelled against God! Thank God there's a Genesis 3:15 where God promises that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent! Thank God that the writers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism didn't have to stop with question 84, that they got to go on and write question 85! Thank God that he is not only a God of holy wrath, but he is also a God of holy mercy and holy grace! Question 85 tells of our hope. It speaks of God's mercy. It speaks of his willingness to forgive sinners. BUT, it is conditional, isn't it? God requires something from us in order to be forgiven, in order to be shown mercy and grace. And what does God require? He requires faith in his Son Jesus Christ, and repentance. Faith, as we'll see in the following weeks, is nothing less than a trusting in the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. It means that we recognize that while we have failed to keep the law of God, Jesus kept it perfectly. And not only did he keep the law perfectly, he then went to the cross, to the altar, to offer himself up as a once-for-all-time perfect sacrifice. He substituted himself for us. Just like in the Old Testament, the animal sacrifices were substitutionary deaths for the sins of God's people (although it's important to note, those sacrifices saved nobody, they were intended to point towards Christ's sacrifice), just as symbolically, the sins of the people of God were laid upon those animal sacrifices, Jesus Christ gave himself as the spotless Lamb of God. He bore the punishment we deserved, both in his body and soul, both by suffering physical and spiritual death. He bore the full weight of God's anger and wrath, not for any sin of his own, but for the sins of his people. Our sins were laid upon him so that we could be declared righteous and spotless. And faith means that we trust in THIS sacrifice alone! Faith means that we trust in what Christ has done for us, because we know we could not satisfy God's righteous demands on our own.

But faith is not all that is required of us. The catechism also talks of repentance. And again, just like we'll be exploring faith over the next several weeks, we'll also be exploring repentance. But for now, let's see that repentance is not merely the recognition that we have sinned, repentance is the turning away from our sinful thoughts, actions, and attitudes. In other words, repentance is a call to stop loving our sin, to turn away from it, and turn our love, our affections, towards God himself. Repentance is the posture of a person who truly has faith in Jesus Christ.
The thing about this is, even faith and repentance is too much for us to do as fallen sinners! But as we'll see over the next few weeks, even faith and repentance are gifts from God. They're workings of the Holy Spirit. They're a grace that God gives us. 

One final note on question 85. You have probably noticed that the catechism also mentions that we must make use of "all outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption." What the authors of the catechism have in mind here are what we call the "ordinary means of grace". Again, we'll explore this in more detail in coming weeks, but I do want us to see what these means of grace are, and why they're important. When we talk about the "ordinary means of grace", we're speaking of ways that God ordinarily communicates his grace to us, his people. These are ways that God feeds the faith of his people, and aids us in our lives of repentance. In other words, these means of grace are how God disciples his people. They include the word read and preached, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and prayer. And the catechism this week is right. These things are not optional for God's people. While making use of the means of grace does not merit or earn our salvation (they aren't works that we contribute to salvation), they're signs of a repentant life and they are the means by which God intends for us, his people, to grow in faith, knowledge, and love. We absolutely need them! We need to have our souls fed and nurtured by these means of grace if we are to truly live lives of faith and repentance. But, more on that in weeks to come!

Westminster Shorter Catechism #83

Q: Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous? 
A: Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. 
1 John 5:16-17 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life-to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. 

It's important to remember, as we look at this week's question, that all sin is worthy of God's anger, wrath, and judgment. All sin is rebellion against God and is a severe offense to his holiness. The point of this question is not to deny this reality. Rather, it is to show that while all sins are equally offensive to God and carry with it the same ultimate punishment (death) apart from God's grace and mercy, God does view some sins as being more "evil" than others. 

What sins are more heinous than others? First, sins that are deliberately against God. Now it is true, all sins are really an offense and sin against God, but some are intentionally so. 1 Samuel 2 gives us the account of Eli's sons, who were deliberately offensive to God. They deliberately defiled sacrifices, and 1 Sam. 2:17 states, "Thu the sin of the young men was very great in the sign of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt."

Secondly, sins may be considered more "evil" in the sight of God based upon the harm they cause to others. For example, murdering someone does more harm to them than harming their marriage. Harming their marriage does more harm than stealing physical possessions. Stealing does more harm than coveting. 

Thirdly, the position a person holds adds weight to the sin. James 3:1, for example, states that those who are teachers will be held to a higher standard, "judged with greater strictness" than those who are not teachers. 

Fourthly, and perhaps most difficult for us to swallow, the sins of God's people are eviler in the eyes of the Lord than the sins of those outside of the family of God. When we as Christians sin, we do it as people who know the Lord. We know his commands. We are in personal relationship to him. It is a greater hypocrisy when we as the people of God sin. We, unlike the non-believer, have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. We have help in our fight against sin, and when we give into temptation and sin, we quench the Spirit and we bring shame to the name of Jesus Christ. It's as Paul says in Romans 2:23-24, "You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For as it is written, 'The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.'"

For this reason, we as Christians should grief over our sins more than anyone. We should see our own sins as the most severe. And yet, we also should take comfort and rejoice, because we know that while our sins may be more "evil", while our sins can bring shame to the name of Jesus Christ and quench the Spirit of God, we know that God's grace far exceeds our sinfulness. We know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus(Romans 1:1), and we know that nothing, not even our own sin, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 1:38). 

Westminster Shorter Catechism #82

Q: Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
A: No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but does daily break them in thought, word and deed.
Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

We've picked apart the 10 commandments pretty extensively over the last several months. I think it's pretty clear to us now that no one is able to keep the law of God perfectly. This should not be a surprise to us. And it is definitely not a surprise to God. God always knew his people could not and would not keep the law. And God did not give us the law so that we could earn merit with him. It was not given as another path to salvation (keep that in mind! The law was given in the Old Testament AFTER God already saved his people through the exodus). Rather, it was given to show us his character and nature, it was given to us to show us our sin and our need for a redeemer, and it was given to us so that we can, as God's redeemed people, know how to strive to live for our own good, for the good of our neighbor, and for the glory of God. When we think about and examine the 10 commandments, we should be reminded deeply of our dependency upon Jesus Christ and his life of perfect obedience, and we should rejoice in knowing that the infinite Holy God has made his character known to us so that we, as finite beings, can know how we can live in a way that glorifies and enjoys God! 

Westminster Shorter Catechism #81

Q: What is forbidden in the tenth commandment? 
A: The tenth commandment forbids all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and all inordinate motions and affections to anything that is his. 
James 3:14–16 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 

I think it's important to note this commandment doesn't just forbid dissatisfaction with what we've been given, but also envying and grieving at the good of our neighbor. To me, "grieving" is a strange word to use here. We usually think of grief as a proper response to great loss and sadness in our lives. We grieve when loved ones die, or when someone falls into deep, unrepentant sin, or when we or someone we know and love suffers some kind of tragedy. These are all right expressions of grief. But as the catechism points out, there's another kind of grief, a sinful kind of grief that actually flows out of our failure to keep the tenth commandment. We can actually be overtaken, overwhelmed with sadness and grief because we covet what our neighbor has. For anyone who has experienced the "right" kind of grief, that seems like a remarkable statement. It's hard to imagine that envy could lead us to feel the kind of deep and encompassing sadness we have felt when grieving in the "right way". 

Does the catechism go too far in using the word, "grieving"? Perhaps not. There are many cases throughout the Bible where envy has actually led someone to commit a violent act against another person (Ahab in 1 Kings 21, for example). We can look at our own world and see tremendous acts of violence committed against each other because of envy. Perhaps this is why Shakespeare referred to jealousy as "the green eyed monster". As the people of God, it's a monster we have to constantly fight and guard against, or else we risk finding ourselves being taken down a road that is truly grievous to ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors, and to God himself.