The confession consists of 33 chapters stating the sole doctrinal authority of Scripture, and it agrees with and restates the doctrines of the Trinity and of Christ from the creeds of the early church.
The Larger Catechism was prepared for the use of ministers and is too detailed for memorizing. It is divided into two parts that discuss the doctrines and duties that Christians are to believe and follow.
The Shorter Catechism was prepared primarily for instructing children in the faith. It is composed of a brief introduction on the end, rule, and essence of religion and of 107 questions and answers.
Question 1: What is the chief end of man?
[b]. Ps. 16:5-11; 144:15; Isa. 12:2; Luke 2:10; Phil. 4:4; Rev. 21:3-4
Question 2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
[b]. Deut. 4:2; Ps. 19:7-11; Isa. 8:20; John 15:11; 20:30-31; Acts 17:11; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; 1 John 1:4
Question 3: What do the Scriptures principally teach?
[b]. Deut. 10:12-13; Josh. 1:8; Ps. 119:105; Mic. 6:8; 2 Tim. 3:16-17
Question 4: What is God?
[b]. 1 Kings 8:27; Ps. 139:7-10; 145:3; 147:5; Jer. 23:24; Rom. 11:33-36
[c]. Deut. 33:27; Ps. 90:2; 102:12, 24-27; Rev. 1:4,8
[d]. Ps. 33:11; Mal. 3:6; Heb. 1:12; 6:17-18; 13:8; Jas. 1:17
[e]. Ex. 3:14; Ps. 115:2-3; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:15-16
[f]. Ps. 104:24; Rom. 11:33-34; Heb. 4:13; 1 John 3:20
[g]. Gen. 17:1; Ps. 62:11; Jer. 32:17; Mat. 19:26; Rev. 1:8
[h]. Heb. 1:13; I Pet. 1:15-16; 1 John 3:3, 5; Rev. 15:4
[i]. Gen. 18:25; Ex. 34:6-7; Deut. 32:4; Ps. 96:13; Rom. 3:5, 26
[j]. Ps. 103:5; 107:8; Matt. 19:17; Rom. 2:4
[k]. Ex. 34:6; Deut. 32:4; Ps. 86:15; 117:2; Heb. 6:18
Question 5: Are there more Gods than one?
[b]. Jer. 10:10; John 17:3; 1 Thess. 1:9; 1 John 5:20
Question 6: How many persons are there in the Godhead?
[b]. Ps. 45:6; John 1:1; 17:5; Acts 5:3-4; Rom. 9:5; Col. 2:9; Jude 24-25
Question 7: What are the decrees of God?
Question 8: How doth God execute his decrees?
Question 9: What is the work of creation?
Question 10: How did God create man?
[b]. Col. 3:10
[c]. Eph. 4:24
[d]. Gen. 1:28; see Ps. 8
Question 11: What are God’s works of providence?
[b]. Ps. 104:24
[c]. Heb. 1:3
[d]. Neh. 9:6
[e]. Eph. 1:19-22
[f]. Ps. 36:6; Prov. 16:33; Matt. 10:30
Question 12: What special act of providence did God exercise toward man in the estate wherein he was created?
Question 13: Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?
Question 14: What is sin?
Question 15: What was the sin whereby our first parents fell from the estate wherein they were created?
Question 16: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression?
[b]. Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:22
Question 17: Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
Question 18: What is the chief end of man?
[b]. Rom. 3:10; Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24
[c]. Ps. 51:5; John 3:6; Rom. 3:18; 8:7-8; Eph. 2:3
[d]. Gen. 6:5; Ps. 53:1-3; Matt. 15:19; Rom. 3:10-18, 23; Gal. 5:19-21; Jas. 1:14-15
Question 19: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
[b]. John 3:36; Rom. 1:18; Eph. 2:3; 5:6
[c]. Gal. 3:10; Rev. 22:3
[d]. Gen. 3:16-19; Job 5:7; Ecc. 2:22-23; Rom. 8:18-23
[e]. Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 5:12; 6:23
[f]. Matt. 25:41, 46; 2 Thess. 1:9; Rev. 14:9-11
Question 20: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
[b]. Gen. 3:15; 17:7; Ex. 19:5-6; Jer. 31:31-34; Matt. 20:28; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 9:15
Question 21: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
[b]. Ps. 2:7; Matt. 3:17; 17:5; John 1:18
[c]. Isa. 9:6; Matt. 1:23; John 1:14; Gal. 4:4
[d]. Acts 1:11; Heb. 7:24-25
Question 22: How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
[b]. Luke 1:27, 31, 35
[c]. 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 John 3:5
Question 23: What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?
[b]. Heb. 4:14-15; 5:5-6
[c]. Isa. 9:6-7; Luke 1:32-33; John 18:37; 1 Cor. 15:25
Question 24: How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
[b]. John 15:26-27; Acts 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:11
[c]. John 4:41-42; 20:30-31
Question 25: How doth Christ execute the office of a priest?
[b]. Rom. 5:10-11; 2 Cor. 5:18; Col. 1:21-22
[c]. Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25; 9:24
Question 26: How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
[b]. Ps. 2:6-9; 110:1-2; Matt. 12:28; 1 Cor. 15:24-26; Col. 2:15
Question 27: Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist?
[b]. Gal. 4:4
[c]. Isa. 53:3; Luke 9:58; John 4:6; 11:35; Heb. 2:18
[d]. Ps. 22:1 (Matt. 27:46); Isa. 53:10; 1 John 2:2
[e]. Gal. 3:13; Phil. 2:8
[f]. Matt. 12:40; 1 Cor. 15:3-4
Question 28: Wherein consisteth Christ’s exaltation?
[b]. Ps. 68:18; Acts 1:11; Eph. 4:8
[c]. Ps. 110:1; Acts 2:33-34; Heb. 1:3
[d]. Matt. 16:27; Acts 17:31
Question 29: How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
Question 30: How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
[b]. John 15:5; 1 Cor. 1:9; Eph. 3:17
Question 31: What is effectual calling?
[b]. Deut. 30:6; Ezk. 36:26-27; John 3:5; Titus 3:5
[c]. John 6:44-45; Acts 16:14
[d]. Isa. 45:22; Matt. 11:28-30; Rev. 22:17
Question 32: What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?
Question 33: What is justification?
[b]. Rom. 4:6-8; 2 Cor. 5:19
[c]. 2 Cor. 5:21
[d]. Rom. 4:6, 11; 5:19
[e]. Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9
Question 34: What is adoption?
[b]. John 1:12; Rom. 8:17
Question 35: What is sanctification?
[b]. 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:23-24; 1 Thess. 5:23
[c]. Ezek. 36:25-27; Rom. 6:4, 6, 12-14; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Pet. 2:24
Question 36: What are the benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification?
[b]. Rom. 5:1
[c]. Rom. 14:17
[d]. 2 Pet. 3:18
[e]. Phil. 1:6; 1 Pet. 1:5
Question 37: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
[b]. Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 5:6, 8; Phil. 1:23
[c]. 1 Thess. 4:14
[d]. Dan. 12:2; John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15
Question 38: What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
[b]. Matt. 25:33-34, 46
[c]. Rom. 8:29; 1 John 3:2
[d]. Ps. 16:11; 1 Thess. 4:17
Question 39: What is the duty which God requireth of man?
Question 40: What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience?
Question 41: Wherein is the moral law summarily comprehended?
Question 42: What is the sum of the ten commandments?
Question 43: What is the preface to the ten commandments?
Question 44: What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us?
Question 45: Which is the first commandment?
Question 46: What is required in the first commandment?
Question 47: What is forbidden in the first commandment?
[b]. Rom. 1:20-21
[c]. Ps. 81:10-11
[d]. Ezek. 8:16-18; Rom. 1:25
Question 48: What are we specially taught by these words, “before me,” in the first commandment?
Question 49: Which is the second commandment?
Question 50: What is required in the second commandment?
Question 51: What is forbidden in the second commandment?
[b]. Lev. 10:1-2; Jer. 19:4-5; Col. 2:18-23
Question 52: What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment?
[b]. Ex. 19:5; Ps. 45:11; Isa. 54:5
[c]. Ex. 34:14; ICor. 10:22
Question 53: Which is the third commandment?
Question 54: What is required in the third commandment?
[b]. 1 Chron. 29:10-13; Rev. 15:3-4
[c]. Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 11:27-28
[d]. Ps. 138:2; Rev. 22:18-19
[e]. Ps. 107:21-22; Rev. 4:11
Question 55: What is forbidden in the third commandment?
Question 56: What is the reason annexed to the third commandment?
Question 57: Which is the fourth commandment?
Question 58: What is required in the fourth commandment?
Question 59: Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly sabbath?
[b]. Mark 2:27-28; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10
Question 60: How is the sabbath to be sanctified?
[b]. Ex. 20:8; Lev. 23:3; Luke 4:16; Acts 20:7
[c]. Matt. 12:1-13
Question 61: What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
Question 62: What are the reasons annexed to the fourth commandment?
Question 63: Which is the fifth commandment?
Question 64: What is required in the fifth commandment?
Question 65: What is forbidden in the fifth commandment?
Question 66: What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?
Question 67: Which is the sixth commandment?
Question 68: What is required in the sixth commandment?
Question 69: What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?
Question 70: Which is the seventh commandment?
Question 71: What is required in the seventh commandment?
Question 72: What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?
Question 73: Which is the eighth commandment?
Question 74: What is required in the eighth commandment?
Question 75: What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?
Question 76: Which is the ninth commandment?
Question 77: What is required in the ninth commandment?
[b]. Prov. 14:5, 25
Question 78: What is forbidden in the ninth commandment?
Question 79: Which is the tenth commandment?
Question 80: What is required in the tenth commandment?
[b]. Luke 15:6, 9, 11-32; Rom. 12:15; Phil. 2:4
Question 81: What is forbidden in the tenth commandment?
[b]. Gal. 5:26; Col. 3:5
Question 82: Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
Question 83: Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
Question 84: What doth every sin deserve?
Question 85: What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse, due to us for sin?
[b]: Acts 2:38; 1 Cor. 11:24-25; Col. 3:16
Question 86: What is faith in Jesus Christ?
[b]. John 20:30-31; Gal. 2:15-16; Phil. 3:3-11
Question 87: What is repentance unto life?
[b]. Ps. 51:1-4; Joel 2:13; Luke 15:7, 10; Acts 2:37
[c]. Jer. 31:18-19; Luke 1:16-17; 1 Thess. 1:9
[d]. 2 Chron. 7:14; Ps. 119:57-64; Matt. 3:8; 2 Cor. 7:10
Question 88: What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?
Question 89: How is the Word made effectual to salvation?
Question 90: How is the Word to be read and heard, that it may become effectual to salvation?
[b]. Ps. 119:11; 2 Thess. 2:10; Heb. 4:2; Jas. 1:22-25
Question 91: How do the sacraments become effectual means of salvation?
Question 92: What is a sacrament?
[b]. Gal. 3:27; 1 Cor. 10:16-17
Question 93: Which are the sacraments of the New Testament?
[b]. 1 Cor 11:23-26
Question 94: What is Baptism?
[b]. Acts 2:38-42; 22:16; Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:21
Question 95: To whom is Baptism to be administered?
[b]. Gen. 17:7, 9-11; Acts 2:38-39; 16:32-33; Col. 2:11-12
Question 96: What is the Lord’s Supper?
[b]. 1 Cor. 10:16-17
Question 97: What is required for the worthy receiving of the Lord’s Supper?
Question 98: What is prayer?
[b]. 1 John 5:14
[c]. John 16:23-24
[d]. Ps. 32:5-6; Dan. 9:4-19; 1 John 1:9
[e]. Ps. 103:1-5; 136; Phil. 4:6
Question 99: What rule hath God given for our direction in prayer?
[b]. Matt. 6:9-13
Question 100: What doth the preface of the Lord’s Prayer teach us?
[b]. Eph. 3:12
[c]. Matt. 7:9-11, cf. Luke 11:11-13; Rom. 8:15
[d]. Eph. 3:20
[e]. Eph. 6:18; 1 Tim. 2:1-2
Question 101: What do we pray for in the first petition?
[b]. Rom. 11:33-36; Rev. 4:11
Question 102: What do we pray for in the second petition?
[b]. Ps. 72:8-11; Matt. 24:14; 1 Cor. 15:24-25
[c]. Ps. 119:5; Luke 22:32; 2 Thess. 3:1-5
[d]. Rev. 22:20
Question 103: What do we pray for in the third petition?
[b]. Ps. 103:20-21; Heb. 1:14
Question 104: What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
Question 105: What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
[b]. Matt. 18:21-35; Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13
Question 106: What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
[b]. Luke 22:31-32; I Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 12:7-9; Heb. 2:18
Question 107: What doth the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer teach us?
[b]. 1 Chron. 29:10-13; 1 Tim. 1:17; Rev. 5:11-13
[c]. 1 Cor. 14:16; Rev. 22:20