The Larger Catechism

Question 5: What do the Scriptures principally teach?

Answer: The Scriptures principally teach,: What man is to believe concerning God, and: What duty God requires of man.

"Look down on me with love; teach me all your principles".

Psalm 119:135

This question provides us with a short summary statement about the contents of Scripture. It emphasises for us the fact that the Bible concerns itself primarily with two fundamental issues: our doctrine, or knowledge, of God; and our duty, or obedience, to him.

The word 'principally' in the question alerts us to the fact that Scripture teaches many things, and does so in many different ways. It gives us an account of the origins of the world (the doctrine of creation) and the history of the human race. It traces the history of Israel through from the call of Abraham to the settlement in Canaan, and follows through the period of the judges and the kings to the exile in Babylon and the return to Palestine. In the New Testament we are given an account of the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth, together with a collection of early documents spawned by his movement and his teaching.

The Bible does not give us a comprehensive statement on all of these topics. It does not tell us all that there is to be known. Take the life of Jesus for example: we are given minimal information about Jesus' infancy and developmental years. Even the account of his life is curtailed, so that the focus falls heavily on the closing movements of his life, centering ultimately on his death and resurrection.

The Bible, therefore, is not given us so that we will have a comprehensive or exhaustive account of everything. But it does claim to be true in what it does declare to us, and what it teaches has a twofold aim: it aims to reveal God to us, and it aims to elicit a proper and fitting response on our part to what we know God to be.

These two themes also help to structure the Catechism itself. Questions 6-90 deal with doctrine, and the remaining questions, 91 through 196 with duty. These are inseparable, and make for a complete and comprehensive Christianity. Unless we truly know God, we cannot regulate our lives in a fitting manner. But if we do know God and fail to honour him in practice and conduct, then something will be radically amiss in our lives. The Christian faith is not merely a matter of what we believe, although it is not less than that; it is a matter of faith that shows itself in obedience, and obedience that is the fitting response to faith.

The claims of the Bible, therefore, are directed towards our minds and our wills -- they teach us, intellectually, and they draw us in obedience to follow a lifestyle that will honour and glorify God. This takes us to the very opening statement of the Catechism -- which reminds us that our chief and highest end is to glorify God. We cannot do this unless we know him, and we cannot do it unless we obey him. So in the Bible, the principal concern of the God who reveals himself to us is to teach us what he is, and to teach us what he requires of us.