Brief Catechism of Bible Doctrine
Part 3
By James Petigru Boyce (1827 - 1888)

BAPTISM

      1. What duty has God intimately associated with Faith?
      The profession of that faith in the ordinance of Baptism.

      2. What is Baptism?
      It is the immersion of the body in water, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

      3. Why is it done in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost?
      To denote that the person baptized thus professes to believe these three to be God, and to devote himself to His service.

      4. What does the use of water in Baptism represent?
      The washing away of our sins by the cleansing influences of the Holy Spirit.

      5. What does the act of immersion represent?
      The union of the believer with Christ in His death.

      6. Do the Scriptures assign this union as a reason why we are to profess Christ by immersion?
      They do; they tell us that it is on this account that we are buried with Christ by baptism unto death.

      7. Who alone are the fit subjects of Baptism?
      Those who exercise faith; for they only can properly profess to have experienced the things which Baptism represents.

THE LORD’S SUPPER

      1. What other ordinance has Christ established?
      The Lord’s Supper.

      2. In what does this ordinance consist?
      In eating bread and drinking wine in remembrance of Christ.

      3. Who alone are authorized to receive it?
      The members of His churches.

      4. In what way is it to be observed?
      As a church ordinance, and in token of church fellowship.

      5. Is there any established order in which these ordinances are to be observed?
      Yes; the believer must be baptized before he partakes of the Lord’s Supper.

      6. What does the Lord’s Supper represent?
      The death and sufferings ofChrist.

      7. Does the mere partaking, either of Baptism or the Lord’s Supper, confer spiritual blessings?
      No; they are worthless, if not injurious, to those who do not exercise faith.

      8. But how is it when they are partaken of by those who do exercise faith?
      The Spirit of God makes them, to such persons, precious means of grace.

      9. Whom has Christ appointed to administer Baptism and the Lord’s Supper?
      The authorized ministers of His churches.

THE SABBATH

      1. What is the Sabbath?
      It is one day of the week, which God requires to be kept as a day of rest, and holy to Him.

      2. What day of the week did the Jews observe?
      The seventh, which we commonly call Saturday.

      3. What day do Christians keep?
      The first day of the week or Sunday.

      4. Why do Christians keep Sunday as the Sabbath?
      Because it was on that day of the week that Christ rose from the dead.

      5. What name is given to it on this account?
      The Lord’s Day.

      6. Did the Apostles and the Christians of their day observe the first day of the week?
      They did; and that is our authority for observing the first instead of the seventh day.

      7. What truth was the Sabbath appointed to commemorate?
      The completion of God’s work of Creation.

      8. What additional truth does the Christian Sabbath teach?
      The triumphant completion of the still more glorious work of Redemption.

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[Editor: Milburn Cockrell, THE BEREA BAPTIST BANNER, November 5, 1999, p. 208. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]

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