“I just got a Bible but I don’t know where to start reading.”
This is a question I’ve heard dozens of times over the years when talking with people who are new to the Christian faith. Often I might point someone to one of the Gospels just to get them more familiar with the life and teaching of Jesus. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this approach, I have found that for newbies it can feel like being dropped into the middle of the ocean without a life jacket or raft. The Bible is a big book, or more accurately, a big collection of books, all filled with terminology that is often foreign to non-church going people. At first it can be intimidating and overwhelming.
Looking back into church history we find that the church had tools that they used to train people in the Christian faith. One of those tools is called a “catechism.”
A catechism is summary of biblical teaching usually arranged in a question-and-answer format. The word comes from the Greek word katecheo, which means “to teach.” The Greek word is used various times in the New Testament itself (Luke 1:4; Acts 18:25; Acts 21:21, 24; Romans 2:18; 1 Corinthians 14:19; Galatians 6:6). Catechisms have been used effectively for centuries to teach people the Christian faith. One famous example is the Heidelberg Catechism, produced in 1563 in Heidelberg, Germany, from where the catechism takes it’s name. The first question and answer are:
Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
Much earlier in church history, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments formed the heart of Christian catechesis, which is one of the reasons many of the later catechisms focus on that same material. For some good examples, see Luther’s Small Catechism, the Heidelberg Catechism, or the Westminster Shorter or Larger Catechisms. Even more recent catechisms like the New City Catechism take the same approach.
The goal of the great creeds and catechisms is not to replace Scripture but rather to summarize and systematically teach what the Scriptures themselves teach. This is why the great catechisms have Scripture “proofs” to corroborate what they teach. Moreover, the Scriptures themselves encourage catechesis. In the words of Bryon Hollon, “Catechesis has the sense of handing on something that has been received, so it is not instruction in new truths but the faithful teaching of wisdom long preserved (see 1 Cor. 15:3).”[1] The New Testament frequently speaks of the responsibility of the church and her leaders to teach and train believers in the faith (Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 4:11-12; Colossians 1:28-29; 2 Timothy 2:2). Of course, the raw materials of Christian training are the Scripture themselves (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
What about Sola Scriptura?
But what Sola Scriptura? Isn’t the Bible supposed to be our only authority? Many evangelicals are suspicious of any authority outside of Scripture and might cite the Reformation doctrine Sola Scriptura to defend that suspicion. While I resonate with that general impulse, Sola Scriptura does not teach that Christians should reject all other authorities outside of Scripture itself. D. Blair Smith explains:
These subordinate authorities are well-established in the history of the church and have withstood the test of time. They are themselves the products of interpreting Scriptures. In turn, they teach us faithful ways to interpret Scripture. Thus, creeds, confessions and catechisms not only help summarize the contents of Scripture but also help Christians read and interpret Scripture. In other words, confessional Christians and churches don’t think in terms of “just me, Jesus, and my Bible” They seek to read and believe in union with Christians past and present throughout the world. In fact, to go “straight to the Bible” for Christian teaching is an impossibility, and that general posture undercuts biblical faith. John Calvin once said that he’d be very happy simply to confess Scripture. However, he acknowledged, since many false teachers have Scripture on their lips, we need the careful theological language of confessional statements to draw out the meaning of Scripture and protect us from heresy.[2]
Needed More than Ever
I agree with many other contemporary theologians and writers that the ancient practice of catechesis is needed now more than ever. J. I. Packer and Gary Parrett argue that “deepest root of the immaturity that is so widespread in evangelical circles,” is the failure of churches to catechize their people.[3] Because of the many competing worldviews and religions all around them, the early church required a process of catechesis and learning before one could even be baptized. We live in such a time. Biblical ignorance abounds, misunderstanding and confusion are the norm, and hostility towards Christian faith only seem to increase day by day.
As we’ve already argued above, catechesis, far from being an irrelevant or outdated practice, is a biblically rooted practice that has been used throughout the church’s history to strengthen the church and to combat false teaching.
Soon I hope to begin doing this very important work of catechesis at Red Door Church.
[1] See https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/catechesis-and-christian-discipleship/ [Accessed August 8, 2026].
[2] D. Blair Smith, Reformed Confessionalism (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2025), 17.
[3] J. I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2010), 9.
