Questions & Answers

#GC289 What is the substance of it? That God does not allow us to fall to evil, or permit us to be overcome by the devil, and the lustful desires of our flesh, which strive against us (Rom 7:23), but He gives us strength to resist, sust...
#GC290 How is this done? When He governs us by His Spirit, to make us love the good, and hate the evil, follow justice, and flee from sin. By the power of His Spirit, we may overcome the devil, sin and the flesh.
#GC291 Do we stand in need of this? Yes, for the devil continually watches for us, like a roaring lion ready to devour us (I Peter 5:8). We are so feeble and frail that he would immediately overcome us, if God did not fortify us, that w...
#GC292 What does the word "temptation" signify The wiles and assaults of the devil, which he uses to attack us, seeing that our natural judgment is prone to be deceived and to deceive us, and our will is always ready to addict itself to evil rathe...
#GC293 But why do you pray God not to lead you into evil, when this is the proper office of Satan the devil? As God by His mercy preserves the faithful, and does not permit the devil to seduce them, or sin to overcome them, so those whom He means to punish He not only abandons, and deprives of His grace, but...
#GC294 What is intended by the addition, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever" To remind us again that our prayers are altogether grounded on the power and goodness of God, and not on ourselves, for we are not worthy to open our mouth in prayer; and also that we may learn to clo...
#GC295 Is it lawful to ask anything else, not mentioned here? Although we are free to use other words, and another form and manner, yet no prayer will ever please God which does not correspond to this as the only rule of right prayer.
#GC296 It is time to come to the fourth part of worship we are to render to God? IV. The Word and sacraments. We said that this consists in acknowledging with the heart and confirming with the mouth that God is the author of all good, that thereby we may glorify Him.
#GC297 Has He given us any rule for this? All the praises and thanksgivings contained in Scripture ought to be our rule and guide.
#GC298 Is there nothing regarding this in the Lord's Prayer? Yes there is, for when we pray that His name may be hallowed, we pray that He may be glorified in all His works, as indeed He is--that He may be praised for His justice when He punishes, for His mercy...
#GC299 What shall we infer from all that we have said? What truth itself tells us, and was stated at the outset, viz. that this is eternal life to know one true God the Father, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John 17:3)--to know Him, I say, in order th...
#GC300 How can we attain to such a blessedness? For this end God has left us His holy Word, which is, as it were, an entry into His heavenly Kingdom.
#GC301 Where do you find this Word? It is comprised for us in the Holy Scriptures.
#GC302 How are we to use it in order to profit by it? By receiving it with the full consent of our conscience, as truth come down from heaven, submitting ourselves to it in right obedience, loving it with a true affection by having it imprinted in our he...
#GC303 Is all this within our own power? None of it; but God works them in us in this way by His Holy Spirit.
#GC304 But are we not to take trouble and be diligent, and zealously strive by hearing and reading its teaching, as it is declared to us? Yes, indeed: first each one of us in particular ought to study it: and above all, we are frequently to attend the sermons in which this Word is expounded in the Assembly of the Christians.
#GC305 Do you mean that it is not enough for people to read it privately at home, without altogether hearing its teaching in common? That is just what I mean, while God provides the way for it.
#GC306 Why do you say that? Because Jesus Christ has established this order in His Church (Eph 4:11), and He has declared this to be the only means of edifying and preserving it. Thus we must keep ourselves to it and not be wise...
#GC307 Is it necessary, then, that there should be pastors? Yes; and that we should hear them, receiving the teaching of the Lord in humility by their mouth. Therefore whoever despises them and refuses to hear them, rejects Jesus Christ, and separates himself...
#GC308 But is it enough to have been instructed by them once, or ought he to continue to do this? It is little to have begun, unless you go on to persevere. We must continue to be disciples of Christ right to the end. But He has ordained the ministers of the Church to teach in His Name.
#GC309 Is there no other means than the Word by which God communicates Himself to us? To the preaching of His Word He has conjoined the sacraments.
#GC310 What is a sacrament? An outward attestation of the grace of God which, by a visible sign, represents spiritual things to imprint the promises of God more firmly in our hearts, and to make us more sure of them.
#GC311 Does a visible and natural sign have this power to assure the conscience? No, not of itself, but in so far as it is ordained of God for this end.
#GC312 Seeing it is the proper office of the Holy Spirit to seal the promises of God in our hearts, how do you attribute this to the sacraments? There is a great difference between the one and the other. The Spirit of God in very truth is the only One who can touch and move our hearts, enlighten our minds, and assure our consciences; so that a...
#GC313 You think, then, that the efficacy of the sacraments does not consist in the outward element, but proceeds entirely from the Spirit of God? Yes; for the Lord is pleased to work by these instruments which He has instituted: without detracting from His own power.
#GC314 And what moves God to do that? For the alleviation of our weaknesses. If we were spiritual by nature, like the angels, we could behold God and His graces. But as we are bound up with our bodies, it is needful for us that God should...
#GC315 Since God has introduced the sacraments to meet our need, it would be arrogance and presumption to think that we could dispense with them? Certainly: hence he who voluntarily abstains from using them thinks that he has no need of them, condemns Jesus Christ, rejects His grace, and quenches His Holy Spirit.
#GC316 But what assurance of grace can the sacraments give, seeing that good and bad both receive them? Although the unbelievers and the wicked make of none effect the grace offered them through the sacraments, yet it does not follow that the proper nature of the sacraments is also made of non effect.
#GC317 How, then, and when do the sacraments produce this effect? When we receive them in faith, seeking Jesus Christ alone and His grace in them.
#GC318 Why do you say that we must seek Jesus Christ in them? I mean that we are not to be taken up with the earthly sign so as to seek our salvation in it, nor are we to imagine that it has a peculiar power enclosed within it. On the contrary, we are to employ...

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