Sinclair Ferguson

But blank that out.

Where do you actually begin?

And when you ask that kind of question, you realize

that that was a period when men who had great theological and pastoral experience were wrestling with the question, what is the best way to teach someone the basics of the Christian faith?

And that's why I think even today in the 21st century,

We often look back to the middle of the 17th century, and especially the Westminster Shorter Catechism, as being a kind of supreme example of catechetical teaching in a catechism written by men who were masters of the catechetical art.

And some of them, I'm sorry, this is a long answer to a short question, which is not what the Westminster Shorter Catechism does.

Some of them, fascinatingly, trace this practice back to Luke chapter 2.

And you think, well, what's in Luke chapter 2?

What's in Luke chapter 2 is Jesus being in the temple.

and answering and asking questions.

And some of them looked back to that incident when the Lord Jesus was 12 years old and drew the implication that what Jesus was actually sitting at was a kind of catechism class where already

There was teaching by way of question and answer.

Otherwise, what would a 12-year-old be doing?

Giving answers and asking questions.

Now, I don't think you can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that that's exactly what was happening.

But actually, you don't find that in the modern commentaries.

And probably one of the reasons is because the modern commentators are not very familiar

with catechisms.

So I've always found that really a very stimulating and interesting thought that that kind of instruction actually goes right back into the days of the Lord Jesus himself.