Lessons in the Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther For the Senior Department of Lutheran Sunday-Schools and for General Use · George Mezger
LESSON 13.
Our Creed. 1. You have already learned by heart the Three Articles of the Creed. These articles, together with their explanation, form the _Second Chief Part of our Small Catechism._ The Three Articles are called the _Creed,_ that is, the _Christian faith._ In these articles is contained all that we Christians _believe_ in our hearts, and _confess_ with our mouths, _regarding God and His works,_ all that He has done and will do for us, His children. Through Baptism you have become God's children; you must therefore also believe and confess what our Church confesses in these Three Articles. Consequently it is necessary for us to study them, in order that we may understand them. 2. No man knows of himself who God is and what He has done for us. _God alone_ can tell us about these things. And God has revealed Himself to us; He has told us in His holy _Word_ who He is and what He has done for us. From Holy Scriptures alone do we learn what we, as Christians, are to know and believe regarding God and His works. And what God tells us in His Word we verily may believe. It must be true, since God cannot and will not lie.--All the doctrines in Holy Scriptures which teach us who God is and what He has done and will do for us to save us, we call the _Gospel._ The word Gospel means _glad tidings, good news._
3. In the first part of our Small Catechism we also studied a word of God, and we have called it the _holy will of God,_ or the _Law._ So you see that there are _two chief doctrines in our Bible;_ one we call the Law; the other, the Gospel. Both are revealed to us by our heavenly Father, both are the Word of God. _But they differ greatly from each other._ The _Law_ tells us how, according to the will of God, we ought to be and what we must do and not do to please our God. From it we learn that we all are sinners, having not kept His commandments, and that God threatens to punish all who hate Him and break His commandments; that, therefore, as transgressors of His Law, we deserve His punishment, death and damnation. The Law does not bring us glad tidings.--The _Gospel_ has quite another message for us. It brings a message of joy to sinners, to those who have broken the commandments. It tells us that God loves even us sinners. _"God so loved the world,"_ that is, all sinful men, _"that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."_ John 3,16. It teaches us what and how much God, moved by His love and grace toward us sinners, has done and will do to save us from the deserved punishment of the Law, from sin, death, and hell. These are indeed good tidings, tidings of great joy for all men, to know that we have a Savior who can and will save us and give us eternal happiness in heaven. This Gospel of great joy we hear and learn in the Three Articles of our Christian faith.
4. We call the Three Articles the Creed, or the _Apostles' Creed._ This Creed contains what the apostles of the Lord believed and what they taught in all the world, as the Lord Himself had commanded them: _"Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature."_ Mark 16,15. Let us give thanks to our dear Lord for having graciously sent His Gospel also to us that we may be saved thereby. 5. We have three articles of faith, because God has done three great saving works for us. We call these _Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification._ In our next lesson we shall begin our study of the first of the Three Articles, which treats of Creation.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.