Baptist Catechism (1693)
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Work through what the church teaches, with the Scripture behind it close at hand. Tap a reference to read it right where you are. The creeds, confessions and catechisms here are historic and faithful, and good to read, but they are not all part of what this church professes.
To learn what we profess, see Our Beliefs.
71. What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment?
The reason annexed to the fifth commandment is a promise of long life and prosperity (as far as it shall serve for God’s glory, and their own good) to all such as keep this commandment.
Deuteronomy 5:16 KJV Read in context
16Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Ephesians 6:2–3 KJV Read in context
2Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) 3That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
72. What is the sixth commandment?
The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.
Exodus 20:13 KJV Read in context
13Thou shalt not kill.
73. What is required in the sixth commandment?
The sixth commandment requireth all lawful endeavours to preserve our own life and the life of others.
Ephesians 5:28–29 KJV Read in context
28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
1 Kings 18:4 KJV Read in context
4For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
74. What is forbidden in the sixth commandment?
The sixth commandment absolutely forbiddeth the taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbour unjustly, or whatsoever tendeth thereunto.
Acts 26:28 KJV Read in context
28Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
Genesis 9:9 KJV Read in context
9And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
75. Which is the seventh commandment?
The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Exodus 20:14 KJV Read in context
14Thou shalt not commit adultery.
76. What is required in the seventh commandment?
The seventh commandment requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbour’s chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior.
1 Corinthians 7:2–3, 5, 34, 36 KJV Read in context
2Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. 3Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. 5Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. 34There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 36But if any man think that he behaveth himself uncomely toward his virgin, if she pass the flower of her age, and need so require, let him do what he will, he sinneth not: let them marry.
Colossians 4:6 KJV Read in context
6Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
1 Peter 3:2 KJV Read in context
2While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
77. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?
The seventh commandment forbiddeth all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.
Matthew 15:19 KJV Read in context
19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Matthew 5:28 KJV Read in context
28But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Ephesians 5:3–4 KJV Read in context
3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.
78. Which is the eighth commandment?
The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.
Exodus 20:15 KJV Read in context
15Thou shalt not steal.
79. What is required in the eighth commandment?
The eighth commandment requireth the lawful procuring and furthering the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.
Genesis 30:30 KJV Read in context
30For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?
1 Timothy 5:8 KJV Read in context
8But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Leviticus 25:35 KJV Read in context
35And if thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee.
Deuteronomy 22:1–5 KJV Read in context
1Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. 2And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. 3In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself. 4Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again. 5The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.
Exodus 23:4–5 KJV Read in context
4If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. 5If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.
Genesis 47:14, 20 KJV Read in context
14And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 20And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s.
80. What is forbidden in the eighth commandment?
The eighth commandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth or may unjustly hinder our own or our neighbour’s wealth or outward estate.
1 Timothy 5:8 KJV Read in context
8But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
Proverbs 28:19 KJV Read in context
19He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
Proverbs 21:17, 23:20–21 KJV Read in context
17He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. 23:20Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: 23:21For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Ephesians 4:28 KJV Read in context
28Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
King James Version (1769 text), public domain. Text from eBible.org and the CrossWire Bible Society.