[Fifteenth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]
“It is not good,” God said, “that man be alone. I will make a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18) Formed from the rib of Adam, God presented Eve to man. “At last, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” replied Adam. … “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh,” Moses concludes his account of the first marriage. (Genesis 2:23-24)
God’s gift was very good. Marriage is the closest picture we have of the nature of God. In it, there are two persons, yet one flesh. It reflects the relationship between Christ and his bride, the church. It is the foundation on which God builds families, where children can be raised in love and security. It is sealed with God’s gift of sexual intimacy. God thinks so highly of marriage that he makes it a part of the Ten Commandments. That is why he limits sexual activity to marriage.
In our culture, which makes sexual freedom into a god, it can be more challenging than ever to keep this commandment. Everywhere are sexual images, pornography, and temptation to all manner of sexual encounters. Jesus makes it no easier when he tells us that even to look at someone who is not your spouse with a desire for her is to break this commandment. (Matthew 5:27-28)
Thank God, we have resources to help us resist these temptations. Marriage itself helps by providing a place for these feelings to be expressed. We also have each other. All of us have these temptations, and we can urge each other to be faithful. When we see a friend tempted, we can plead with him and remind him of the consequences of such sin. And when we fall into sin, we know Jesus died to forgive our sins and is with us always to help us resist it.
[Fourteenth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]
On the surface, “you will not murder” seems easy enough to keep. In spite of what the TV and the Internet like to make us believe, very few people outside the military ever actually kill another person. Most police officers on the job never draw their weapons. It should be easy to check this one off, we are tempted to think.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us there is a lot more to this command than that. Murder begins in our hearts when we become angry with someone and wish harm to them. (Matthew 5:21-26) Hatred has a way of spilling over into action when we give it room to fester.
Martin Luther sees in this command every place God forbids us to harm our neighbors in any way. It also calls on us to help anyone who is hurting, in danger, weak, hungry, or ill. God, the Author of Life, wants us to be for life, too. When we do not come to the aid of others, we kill them, even if it is only in a small way. Jesus even promises to remember on the last day when we do not care for them. What we do or do not do to the least important of our neighbors, he will count as having been done to him. (Matthew 25:31-46)
In our modern culture, it is ever more challenging to defend life, protect the weak, and care for those who suffer. Mothers are taught it is their right to kill babies in the womb if they do not want to raise them. Doctors urge patients and their families to put to death those who suffer greatly. Sometimes, governments take these decisions out of the hands of families and kill patients they find too expensive to treat. Rightly so, Christians come to the defense of the weak and defenseless.
Because God in Christ died so that we might rise again, we seek not to harm others, but to help them as he helped us.
[Thirteenth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]
The Fourth Commandment is different. This commandment is positive. It urges us to honor our father and mother rather than the “nots” of most of the commandments. It comes with a promise — that you will live a long life. It is the first commandment that even non-believers can keep, and their lives will be better in this world. It is the first of the Words to explain what it means to love your neighbor — to do to others what you want them to do to you.
So, why is honoring our father and mother the first commandment about loving our neighbors? Of all the vocations(callings) that God gives to us, parenting is the most basic. We are not all blessed with children, professions, businesses, or crafts, but every one of us has one father and one mother. For us, a parent is a mask God wears to care for us in this world. When the evil of this world deprives us of a loving father and mother, adoptive father and mother, a stepfather or mother, or a foster father and mother, life is profoundly more difficult and troubled. When a father and mother serve God by caring for their children, providing for their needs, disciplining them, and loving them, their children have the best chance of living happy, productive lives. When we love them, thank them, care for them in old age and illness, we encourage them to serve faithfully. Most of all, we set an example for those we care for.
Martin Luther also saw in fathers and mothers a model for all people God calls to care for us. Employers, rulers, pastors, teachers, first responders, husbands, and others are called to lay down their lives for those in their care. We benefit from their leadership and protection. When we honor them, we honor God, who called them. We, in our turn, then serve those in our care, as Christ loved us and gave his life so we can live. When we honor all our leaders, we live longer, simpler, and happier lives in balance.
[twelfth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]
The Sabbath rest is ancient. God himself rested on the seventh day, just after he created the world in six days. When God gave his law to his people, the command to rest on the seventh day made the top ten. God knew that working without rest would damage his creatures. So he built it — rested every night, and on the seventh day. It provided time for his people to worship and to meditate on his word.
Yet for Christians, the day they worship — and rest — is a matter of freedom. It belongs to the civil law, the law for the nation of Israel. It is not part of the moral law, the law for all people. We know this because Jesus called himself “the Lord of the Sabbath” and St. Paul describes that freedom in Romans and Colossians. Still, the church chose from the beginning to rest every Sunday, the first day of the week, to remember the Resurrection of Jesus.
While Christians should worship God every day, resting on Sunday offers the opportunity to hear God’s word preached, to receive his gifts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to meet with each other and pray for each other, and to study the Word of God. It is not so much that we have to go to church as that we get to go to church. At many times and in many places, that freedom does not exist.
So we honor Sundays and holy days. We used the opportunity to receive forgiveness of sins and bread for our daily lives. We rejoice to honor our Lord Jesus, who died for us, rested in the tomb three days, and rose again, so that we might rest with him forever.
[Sixth post in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]
Because God loved us before he made the world (Ephesians 1:3-4), we love God and want to keep his commandments. But where do we start? The rabbis count 613 commandments in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible, written by Moses) alone! While they kept track of each one in great detail and invented traditions to be sure and keep them, they found it helpful to ask each rabbi for his opinion. “Which commandment is the greatest of them all?” became a common question disciples asked their teacher. So it is not a surprise that people discussed this question with Jesus several times. (Matthew 22:36, Mark 12:28, Luke 10:25-28)
Jesus taught that two commandments summarize the whole of God’s Law — “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:45 ESV) and “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) In a sense, the second of the two commandments is contained in the first. Every command in the whole of the Scripture will be kept if you love God with your whole heart.
As sinners, we cannot do this perfectly, of course. But we can do some good works because God loved us first, sending Jesus to die so that we might be forgiven. By His Holy Spirit, God has created faith in our hearts, so that we can truly love Him. So, then, because God loves us, we also love our neighbor as ourselves and in the same way that we have been loved by God. (1 John 4:7-12)
[Forth is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]Â
When a young confirmation student first gets his copy of the Small Catechism, his first thought is that it doesn’t look all that small! His shiny new book is hundreds of pages long, with hundreds of questions in it. He panics at the thought of memorizing it all — until he realizes that he only has to memorize the first two dozen pages. It still seems impossible — but a little less so!
So, what is in the Catechism? When Luther began his work, just three pieces: the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. These three main parts are still the heart of the catechism. The Ten Commandments, or Ten Words, tell us what we should do to be like God. God intended it exactly backwards from the way we learn it. It is at its base a guidebook — the third use of the Law. When original sin comes into the picture, the first and second uses that come into play. The Apostles’ Creed tells us what God did to make us, redeem us, and make us holy so that we can keep God’s law. The Lord’s Prayer tells us about our life of fellowship with God. Luther wrote simple explanations of these in everyday German.
Soon, questions about baptism and the Lord’s Supper were added, along with simple answers to them and the main Scriptures that teach them. These helped the students come to understand the treasures awaiting them in the divine service. A brief form of confession was also added to prepare students for a private confession and absolution before a pastor. After Luther’s death, information about the Office of the Keys was included among the six main parts of the catechism.
In Luther’s day, when you bought a book, you bought just the pages — like you copied an entire book on a photocopier. You would go to a bookbinder, who would put a cover on it. The book was still so small that people added small tracts to fill it out. Several have remained in most editions — Luther’s chart of duties, scriptures that address people with different roles in life, what they should do, a marriage service, a baptism service, and Christian questions and answers.
Over the centuries, the catechism became so popular that teachers sought more questions and answers addressing the theological issues of the day. Thus, many catechisms include explanation sections with Bible stories, supporting scriptures for the points of these questions, and other materials. That is how the book grew to what we know it as today.
“Mercy! Good God! What manifold misery I beheld! The common people, especially in the villages, have no knowledge whatever of Christian doctrine, and, alas! Many pastors are altogether incapable to teach … Yet they [do not understand and] cannot [even] recite either the Lord’s Prayer, or the Creed, or the Ten Commandments”
[Third is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]
Luther was shocked and dismayed. His prince had sent him and his friends on a mission to go throughout Saxony and see what needed to be done to reform the church. There was no bishop who came over to the Reformation to provide care for the people, so the prince had to act. Luther knew the everyday people were poorly educated — but he didn’t know how badly. He had instructed his friends to write catechisms to help fathers and priests teach the people. He was not at all satisfied with their work, and it clearly was not working. So he produced two Catechisms — the Large Catechism for pastors and fathers to learn how to teach children, and the Small Catechism for the children to memorize.
Luther produced two classics. The Small Catechism revolutionized the Christian education of children, even beyond Lutheranism, leading to basic catechisms for children appearing in all denominations. Wherever the Lutheran Church and its missions went in the world, the Small Catechism soon followed. As soon as the Bible appeared in a new language, the Catechism and the liturgy were sure to follow. It is among the most translated works in Western civilization. When the first Missouri Synod Lutherans emigrated to America, among the essential books packed in the trunks were the Bible, the Catechism, a prayer book, a hymnal, and a book of sermons. Wherever the Missouri Synod organized congregations, they would immediately set up schools — sometimes multiple schools — where at first the pastors would teach, you guessed it, the Catechism, the Bible, and then other subjects. As soon as a congregation could afford it, they would also call a schoolteacher.
The Small Catechism was so popular because it was so basic. It taught the bedrock doctrines needed to live a Christian life — the Ten Commandments and with it God’s law in its three uses; the Creed and with it the Gospel, which saves us and gives us the power to live the Christian life, and the Lord’s Prayer, and with it the building of a life centered on Jesus. Luther also translated these treasures into the child’s native language, so they could comprehend them. He then explained them carefully and sweetly, in easily memorizable terms. He did all this without using combative language. The result is that even non-Lutherans cherish the Small Catechism.
Encore Post: [Second is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism]
The Catechism contains the chief parts of the faith. At the heart of it are the big three pieces: the 10 Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer. Dr. Luther also attached Confession, the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, and the Sacrament of the Altar. Luther wanted his students to know the catechism by heart.
The Catechism ought to be learned out loud for memory’s sake. It should be memorized by the hearers as it is used in the divine service. Four pieces of the catechism are mainstays within the liturgy (Apostles Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Confession, and Sacrament of the Altar). The Ten Commandments are effectively understood to be in play when we confess our sins to God. Luther gives us that instruction in his explanation when asking, “What sins should we confess?” The Sacrament of Baptism still occurs within the confines of the Divine Service as well, but unfortunately, baptisms appear to be fewer and farther between. However, we should not downplay baptisms, as at every moment of the Divine Service, we are reminded of the gifts He gives us through our baptisms into Christ Jesus.
We memorize the catechism because it is, in fact, nothing other than the Words of Christ. The Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer are taken directly from Scripture. The Creed is effectively the entire story of the Bible distilled into 3 articles of faith: the confession of Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification in and through the work of the blessed Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are granted faith as we hear the word of God revealed to us in the Catechism. The Catechism, then, is perhaps the greatest place to begin when teaching the faith to the littlest among us, as well as the young in the faith.
The Word of God is important, and we ought to be in the Word as often as possible. The Catechism ought to be memorized and used by the faithful so that it becomes embedded in our hearts. If it is not used in our daily devotional life, the words of the catechism will quickly leave us. But if the words of the catechism are memorized or learned by heart, the vocabulary of the catechism informs our faith and entire life. It is after the words of our Lord for the instruction in the faith.
Encore Post: The cornerstone of Lutheran doctrine is Luther’s Small Catechism. In it, the reformer summarized the teachings of Holy Scripture in simple terms, designed to help fathers and pastors teach their children. So successful was this work and its companion, the Large Catechism, that it became the foundation of instruction in the faith for all Christians. For the last few years, What Does this Mean? has run this series just before each Lent and into the Easter season. We’re getting a head start on it this year.Â
[First is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism.]
Martin Luther was troubled. On a formal visit to the churches in Saxony, he discovered that Christian education in the faith was almost non-existent. Even the pastors could not recall the Lord’s Prayer or the Creed. For this reason, he wrote his Large Catechism and Small Catechism. A catechism is a book that explains the basic truths of the Scripture, typically by asking and answering questions. In the preface to his Large Catechism, Luther answered the common objections to memorizing and meditating on the catechism in this way:
“I am also a doctor and preacher … yet I do as a child who is being taught the Catechism, and ever morning, and whenever I have time, I read and say, word for word, the Ten Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Psalms, etc. And I must still read and study daily, and yet I cannot master it as I wish, but must remain a child and pupil of the Catechism, and am glad so to remain.” — Martin Luther, Large Catechism, Preface 7
If an athlete hopes to compete at the highest level and perform at the top of his game, he needs to work out daily. Most of his routines are basic skills performed over and over again. It is not that he has forgotten them or never learned them, but that they must be second nature to him and done in perfect form. Only then can he execute the most complicated of his moves well. The same thing is true for a musician. She will run through scales and warm-up exercises to ensure she can produce the notes perfectly when she attempts the most beautiful and complex pieces.
For Luther and for us, daily meditation on the catechism works the same way. As we review the basics of the faith, we can better understand what God wants us to believe and how he wants us to live. Building on these things helps us face whatever challenges come our way each day and enjoy the blessings he gives us.
Encore Post: The data is out there. The trends are known. We know before we go about our duties. We know who is likely to remain in the church. We know who is likely to return to the church. We already know.
Will the married couple remain in the church after their wedding in our building? Will the family bring their baptized child into the Lord’s house regularly? Will the catechumens remain in the church after they’re admitted to the altar? Will the new visitors become a permanent fixture here after transfer or conversion? Will the family, newly invigorated by the death of a closely related blessed saint of the Lord, lose their zeal or keep it? Will the children keep coming when the duties, passions, and hormones of adolescence drag them around wildly in their own minds?
Your pastors pray that the data is more dire than reality.
In each case, it boils down to habits and patterns.
Newlyweds: What is their family background? Was the couple from a similar upbringing? LCMS, regularly attending as a child and adolescent, and both parents bringing them to church? It’s the same way that similar ideas about money, number of children, and, chiefly, whether moms and dads were married and remain married, improve the chances of a successful marriage. The commonality of faith also improves the chances that these kids will be and remain in the church.
Your pastor will coach you on the difficulties you will face in the future when the odds are not stacked in your favor. Only in scarce circumstances will he refuse marriage. Success is always possible. But, for that to blossom, we have to be honest about the poor odds. Your pastor prays the Lord will deliver you from misfortune and strife, even the foreseeable kind.
Baptized child: What’s the deal with Mom and Dad? If they are or become regular attenders, the kids will probably follow suit. If they are not, their kids will still likely follow suit. Your pastor will often baptize a child whose future in the church is uncertain. He prays that foreseeable apostasy does not befall your house.
Catechumens, again, what’s the deal with Mom and Dad? Here, there’s more data readily available. Did y’all attend regularly before confirmation was on the horizon? If not, there’s a mighty high chance the catechumens will peter out quickly following confirmation.
Your pastors will desperately attempt to instill new habits in the kids. He’ll impose strict attendance standards or require seemingly endless piles of sermon reports. He’s seen parents drop children off for required church attendance, while driving off themselves. He’s grieved to know the child may be lost already. He prays he’s wrong, keeps up with his efforts, and prays the Holy Spirit defeats those odds. Rarely would he withhold confirmation.
Transfers/Converts/Those motivated by a close death: Where were you before? Are you returning to lifelong patterns of attendance at the Lord’s house? Or are these attempts to develop a new pattern? Those who attended before are more likely to attend again. Those who did not are not.
Adolescents: This group gets the most attention, the most ink spilled over them, and even individualistic ministerial attention. How often have you heard of a church with a minister of newlywed Christianization, baptismal life, catechetical instruction, or newly returned Christian life instruction? Prob’ly never. But, we’ve all seen churches with a youth minister or a youth ministry team.
Sadly, that’s also an example of the poor return on those efforts. Again, data indicates that strong youth programs don’t predict strong Christian adults from within them. Worse, when those programs look distinctively different from the churches from which they spring, they serve as an offramp directly out of the church. By the time the youth are at that age, the patterns are well-established. It will take an earth-moving effort by their father, dragging to the entire family to church, consistently to develop a new pattern. That effort has a chance. The youth group or activities are woefully unlikely to move the needle.
Can’t we beat the odds? Yes, we can. Your pastor prays you do. He preaches, teaches, and conducts himself towards you, assuming the data is wrong in your case.
As a body of believers, we have data to help direct our efforts. Children follow the patterns established by their fathers regarding church. As we discussed before, the data is stark in this regard. If we want baptized babies in church, children in church following along and learning, catechumens attending to the Lord’s house, youth who remain in or return to church, newlyweds who attend regularly and bring their babies to the font, we must have fathers to build those patterns into their children.
Your pastors already know. We pray every day that the data is wrong in your case.
