To Be a Christian E-Book

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 170

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Catechesis is an ancient practice of Christian disciple making that uses a simple question-and-answer format to instruct new believers and church members in the core beliefs of Christianity. To Be a Christian, by J. I. Packer and a team of other Anglican leaders, was written to renew this oft-forgotten tradition for today's Christians. With over 360 questions and answers, plus Scripture references to support each teaching, this catechism covers the full range of Christian doctrine and life, drawing from the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and other important doctrinal summaries. Clear, concise, and conversational, this resource was written for all believers who seek to be grounded more deeply in the truth of God's Word.

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To Be a Christian

To Be a Christian

An Anglican Catechism

Approved Edition

To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism

Copyright © 2020 by The Anglican Church in North America

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Working edition previously released by Anglican House Publishers, 2014

Cover design: Kevin Lipp

First printing 2020

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-6677-6 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-6680-6 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-6678-3 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-6679-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Packer, J. I. (James Innell), editor. | Scandrett, Joel, editor.

Title: To be a Christian: an Anglican catechism.

Description: Approved edition. | Wheaton: Crossway, 2020. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019025495 (print) | LCCN 2019025496 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433566776 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781433566783 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433566790 (mobi) | ISBN 9781433566806 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Anglican Communion—Catechisms. | Anglican Communion—Doctrines—Miscellanea.

Classification: LCC BX5005 .T6 2020 (print) | LCC BX5005 (ebook) | DDC 238/.3—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019025495

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019025496

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2020-01-17 10:46:33 AM

Table of Contents

Preface

Committees, Writers, and Consultants

Introduction by J. I. Packer

Concerning Scripture References

Part I

Beginning with Christ

Introduction

The Gospel

Salvation

Part II

Believing in Christ

The Apostles’ Creed and the Life of Faith

Concerning the Creeds

Concerning Holy Scripture

The Apostles’ Creed, Article I

The Apostles’ Creed, Article II

The Apostles’ Creed, Article III

Concerning Sacraments

Part III

Belonging to Christ

The Lord’s Prayer and the Christian Life

Concerning Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

A Rule of Prayer: Scripture, Prayer, and Worship

Part IV

Becoming Like Christ

The Ten Commandments

Justification and Sanctification: Living in Forgiveness and Healing

Appendix 1: Prayers for Use with the Catechism

Appendix 2: A Rite for Admission of Catechumens

Appendix 3: The Nicene Creed

Appendix 4: The Creed of Saint Athanasius

Appendix 5: A Note on the Articles of Religion

Appendix 6: Vision Paper for Catechesis

Appendix 7: Guiding Principles for Catechesis

Index of Scripture

Preface

Why an Anglican catechism? Anglicans are heirs of a rich tradition of Christian faith and life. That tradition stretches from today’s worldwide Anglican Communion of millions of believers on six continents back centuries to laymen like William Wilberforce, who led the abolition of the slave trade in England, to the bishops and martyrs of the English Reformation like Thomas Cranmer, and to missionaries like Augustine of Canterbury and Saint Patrick, who spread the Gospel throughout the British Isles.

Throughout these centuries, Anglicans have articulated their faith in reference to classic sources of doctrine and worship. All true doctrine, Anglicans believe, is derived from Holy Scripture, which is the wellspring and ground for testing all that is taught in the Church. Saint Paul instructs the Church, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Further, Article 6 of the Articles of Religion states, “Whatever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of the Faith.”

Classic sources for the explication and elucidation of scriptural doctrine include the following:

The Early Church. Anglicans have always held in high regard “such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the Scriptures,” and which are summarized in the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, and Athanasian Creed.The Articles of Religion (1571). The Articles, also known as the “Thirty-Nine Articles,” summarize the biblical faith recovered at the Reformation and have become the doctrinal norm for Anglicans around the world.The King James Bible (1611). The translation of the Bible into English, begun in the sixteenth century by William Tyndale, achieved its classic form in the 1611 translation under King James I and remains the basis for many modern versions, such as the Revised Standard Version and the English Standard Version. In keeping with the principles of the English Reformation that promote worship in language that the people understand (Articles of Religion, 24), the Bible has since been translated into many languages. Anglican Christianity has now spread to encompass people of many races and languages all over the world.The Book of Common Prayer (1549–1662). The Anglican Prayer Book is known worldwide as one of the finest expressions of Christian prayer and worship. The 1662 Prayer Book is predominantly composed of Scriptures formulated into prayer. It has been the standard for Anglican doctrine, discipline, and worship, and for subsequent revisions in many languages.Music and hymnody. Hymns, from writers like Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, John Mason Neale, and Graham Kendrick, have formed the spirituality of English-speaking Anglicans around the world. Today, composers in many languages continue in this powerful tradition of catechesis through music.The Lambeth Quadrilateral. Resolution 11 of the Lambeth Conference (1888) affirmed four marks of Church identity required for genuine unity and fellowship. These are the Holy Scriptures containing “all things necessary for salvation,” the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds as “the sufficient statement of the Christian faith,” two sacraments ordained by Christ—Baptism and the Eucharist—and “the historic Episcopate, locally adapted.” These serve as a basis of Anglican identity, as well as instruments for ecumenical dialogue with other church traditions.The Jerusalem Declaration (2008). This statement from the Global Anglican Future Conference in 2008 has become the theological basis for the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, of which the Anglican Church in North America is a part.

In keeping with this rich, diverse, and historic tradition of doctrine and worship, we receive this catechism and commend its use for the building up of the Church today.

We envision this catechism being used for courses, shorter or longer, based on groups of questions and answers. The degree to which it is used directly for instruction and the amount of memorization asked of individual catechumens are left to the catechist to determine by context and circumstance. What is more, the resources of modern technology open up multiple possibilities for its use in creative new ways.

A catechism is ideally to be used in the context of a relationship between the catechist (the discipleship instructor) and the catechumen (the one being instructed) to foster the process of catechesis (disciple-making). The catechumen is invited by the catechist to a new identity in Christ and into a new community, to the praise of God’s glory, to the practice of stewardship, and to sharing in the ministry of making disciples of all nations.

Building on the 2014 working edition of the catechism, this edition (approved 2018) has been enriched by feedback from hundreds of laypersons, clergy, bishops, and theologians of the Church. This input helped create a catechism we trust will be useful, especially for those raised with limited exposure to the Christian faith.

We give thanks for the sacrificial work and scholarship of those listed below, who have served the Church in the creation of the two editions of this catechism.

We pray that this book will be an effective instrument to disciple believers in the truth of the Gospel, so that they may serve Jesus Christ throughout the world (2 Timothy 2:15). May this catechism serve to build up the Body of Christ by grounding Christian believers in the Gospel.

On behalf of the College of Bishops

of the Anglican Church in North America

The Most Reverend Foley Beach

Archbishop and Primate

The Most Reverend Robert Duncan

Archbishop and Primate, 2009–2014

Committees, Writers, and Consultants

The Reverend Canon Dr. J. I. Packer Theological Editor

The Reverend Dr. Joel Scandrett Executive Editor

Anglican Church in North America Committee for Catechesis

Mr. Kirk Botula

Mrs. Taryn Bullis

The Reverend Brian Foos

The Reverend Dr. Jack Gabig

The Reverend Canon Arthur Going

Dr. Philip Harrold

The Reverend Dr. Stephen Lake

Mrs. Kristy Leaseburg

The Reverend Lee Nelson

The Reverend Tripp Prince

The Reverend Ben Roberts

The Reverend Dr. Joel Scandrett

Mrs. Bronwyn Short

Dr. Leslie Thyberg

Writers/Consultants

Mr. Timothy Belcher

The Reverend John Boonzaaijer

The Reverend Dr. Susan Bubbers

The Reverend Dr. Charles Erlandson

The Reverend Randall Foster

The Reverend Mark Galli

Dr. Sarah Lebhar Hall

Dr. Gary Holt

The Reverend Dr. Toby Karlowicz

The Very Reverend Dr. Robert Munday

The Very Reverend Dr. Stephen Noll

Dr. Daniel Olson

The Reverend Canon Dr. J. I. Packer

Dr. Ann Paton

Mrs. Amelia Schmotzer

The Very Reverend Dr. Justyn Terry

Dr. William Witt

Anglican Church in North America Bishops Review Committee

The Right Reverend Dr. Bill Atwood

The Most Reverend Dr. Foley Beach

The Right Reverend John Guernsey

The Right Reverend Neil Lebhar

The Right Reverend Dr. Francis Lyons

The Right Reverend Dr. Eric Menees

The Right Reverend Dr. Ray Sutton

The Right Reverend Stephen Wood

Introduction

Two thousand years ago in Israel, the man who is God incarnate and Israel’s Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, led his followers into a life-giving relationship with himself and his divine Father, and was executed by the Roman governor. Risen from the dead, he charged his followers to make disciples throughout the whole world, promising that he would be with them, and equipping them for their mission with his Holy Spirit. Founded upon God’s revelation to Israel in the Old Testament, the New Testament presents the essential witness and teaching of Jesus’ first disciples, the apostles, who proclaimed his truth with his authority. The faith of Christians today, as in every age, is shaped and defined by this apostolic account of Jesus Christ.

Within a century of Jesus’ earthly ministry, Christian congregations could be found throughout the Roman world, from Spain to Persia and from North Africa to Britain. By this time, the catechumenate for those wishing to become Christians had become established Christian practice. From the Greek katēcheō (“instruct”), the catechumenate was a period of one-to-three-years’ instruction (catechesis)leading to Baptism at Easter. This ancient pattern of Christian disciple-making continued for some centuries before falling into disuse as nominal Christianity increasingly became a universal aspect of Western culture.

The Reformation era of the sixteenth century saw a vigorous renewal of catechesis for both adults and children among both Protestants and Catholics. But catechesis has been in serious decline since the eighteenth century, and much of the discipline of discipling has been abandoned altogether in today’s churches.

This catechism (a text used for instruction of Christian disciples) is designed as a resource manual for the renewal of Anglican catechetical practice. It presents the essential building blocks of classic catechetical instruction: the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments (or Decalogue). To these is added an initial section especially intended for those with no prior knowledge of the Gospel. Each section is presented in the question and answer form that became standard in the sixteenth century because of its proven effectiveness. Each question and answer offers essential teaching together with biblical references for group or individual study.

In one respect, this catechism breaks new ground for Anglicans. The historic 1662 Catechism in the English Book of Common Prayer is brief and specifically designed to prepare young people for confirmation and church membership. However, this present work is intended as a more comprehensive catechetical tool for adult (or near-adult) inquirers, and for all Christians seeking deeper grounding in the full reality of Christian faith and life.

As such, this catechism attempts to be a missional means by which God may bring about both conversion to Christ and formation in Christ (or regeneration and sanctification, to use older words). This vision of comprehensive usefulness has been before the minds of the writing team from the beginning.

Our guidelines in drafting have been as follows:

1. Everything taught should be compatible with, and acceptable to, all recognized schools of Anglican thought, so that all may be able confidently to use all the material.

2. Everything taught should be expressed as briefly as possible, in terms that are clear and correspond to today’s use of language. There should be as little repetition as possible, though some overlap is inevitable.

3. All the answers and questions should be as easy to explain and to remember as possible.

We offer this catechism to the Church with the prayer that it may serve to build up the Body of Christ by helping many to come to full Christian faith and faithfulness in today’s increasingly post-Christian world.

On behalf of the Committee for Catechesis

of the Anglican Church in North America

The Reverend Canon J. I. Packer

Concerning Scripture References

This catechism’s Scripture references, which follow each question and answer, support its sound teaching with passages from both the Old and New Testaments. The references generally follow a lectionary-style approach, with passages drawn from the Old Testament, the Psalms, the Gospels, Acts, and the New Testament Epistles. These references are not merely “proof texts” demonstrating that an answer is scriptural. Rather, they are for deeper reflection, study, and exposition of the truth taught by the answer. In addition to the direct commands, clear principles, and explicit teachings of Scripture, they often include important stories, types, and images that reveal or point to Jesus Christ. In this way, the catechism upholds the Anglican belief that the entirety of Scripture professes Jesus Christ as Lord.

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Part I

Beginning with Christ

Introduction

This catechism is designed to teach you what it means to be a Christian. It shows you what is essential for Christian faith and life. It will open for you the door to knowing Jesus Christ and experiencing the wonder of God’s love through him. If you follow its teaching, it will help you to become a citizen of God’s kingdom and fully involved in the life and mission of his Church. And it will anchor you in the reality of God’s unquenchable joy, beginning in this life and ever increasing in the life to come.

However, one can understand these things and still remain apart from them. In order to know God’s love for you, you need to know and love Jesus Christ, and commit yourself to him as his lifelong disciple in his community, the Church. This opening section of the catechism will help you to take that step, if you have not done so already.

Whether or not you were raised in the Church, to be a Christian requires a deliberate, personal commitment to Jesus Christ, much like the commitment a person makes in marriage. Being a Christian is a process of continuing forward in faithfulness to Jesus from that point on. In order to make this commitment to Jesus, you need to know the essentials about who he is and what he has done for you. This is the Gospel (“good news”) of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel

God created the world and made us to be in loving relationship with him. Though created good, human nature became fatally flawed, and we are now all out of step with God. In Bible language, we are sinners, guilty before God and separated from him.

The good news of the Gospel is that God took loving action in Jesus Christ to save us from this dire situation. The key facts of this divine remedy are these: God the Father sent his eternal Son into this world to reconcile us to himself, to free us to love and serve him, and to prepare us to sharehis glory in the life to come. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit, lived a perfect life, died for our sins, and rose bodily from the dead to restore us to God. Given authority by his Father, Jesus now rules in heaven as King over all things, advancing God’s kingdom throughout the world. In the fullness of time, Jesus will return to establish his kingdom in its glory on earth, and all things will be renewed.

Reigning in heaven over all things, Jesus Christ continues to draw sinners to himself. He enables us by his Holy Spirit to turn wholeheartedly from our sinful and self-centered ways (repentance), and to entrust ourselves to him to live in union and communion with him (faith). In spiritual terms, sin is the way of death, and fellowship with Christ is the way of life.

Turning to Christ

Turning to Christ brings us into fellowship with God. Baptism, which is the rite of entry into the Church’s fellowship, marks the beginning of this new life in Christ. The apostle Peter, proclaiming the Gospel, said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

Through faith, repentance, and Baptism we are spiritually united to Jesus and become children of God the Father. Jesus said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). As we come to the Father through Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit enlightens our minds and hearts to know him, and we are born again spiritually to new life. To continue to live faithfully as Christians, we must rely upon the power and gifts which the Holy Spirit gives to God’s people.

When the disciple Thomas encountered the risen Jesus, he acknowledged him by saying, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). To be a Christian you must, like Thomas, wholeheartedly submit to the living Christ as your Lord and God. Knowing the Lord Jesus means personally believing in him, surrendering your life to him through repentance and Baptism, and living as one of his joyful followers.

A clear way to make this commitment of faith and repentance is to offer to God a prayer in which you

confess your sins to God, being as specific as possible, and repent by turning from them;thank God for his mercy and forgiveness given to you in Jesus Christ;promise to follow and obey Jesus as your Lord;ask the Holy Spirit to help you be faithful to Jesus as you grow into spiritual maturity.

One example of such a prayer is the following:

Almighty Father, I confess that I have sinned against you in my thoughts, words, and actions (especially _______________). I am truly sorry and humbly repent. Thank you for forgiving my sins through the death of your Son, Jesus. I turn to you and give you my life. Fill and strengthen me with your Holy Spirit to love you, to follow Jesus as my Lord in the fellowship of his Church, and to become more like him each day. Amen.

Next Steps

To be a Christian is to be included in God’s family, the Church. No one should try to be a Christian alone. If you are making this commitment for the first time—or have not been a practicing Christian for some time—here are some further steps to take:

Share your commitment as soon as possible with one or more Christians and with an ordained minister, so they can pray for you.If you are not connected with a church, join a biblically faithful one. If you are connected but not involved, look for ways to deepen your participation.If you are now becoming a follower of Jesus