Sinclair Ferguson

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1,761 appearances 29 recordings 2 series first heard Feb 2025 last heard 13 Mar

Sinclair Ferguson’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Renewing Your Mind · A Tool for Today: The Westminster Shorter Catechism · 12 Dec 2025 podcast

because the right question actually depends on the right answer, not the other way around.

So unless you know what is absolutely central, you can't actually ask the central question.

But then the next question is, how does the answer lead on to the next question?

And I think that's the genius of the question and answer.

Number one, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

And there, they are partly resting on a tradition of theological thinking that, for example, you get in the opening chapter of Calvin's Institutes.

So what is life all about?

Well, life is about the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves, and these two things belong together.

And that's what the catechism is saying, in some ways, in an even more wonderful form,

by saying what our life is about is about God.

And what God's purpose for us is, is that we should actually enjoy Him.

And when you think back to the fact that this catechism was written by the people we nowadays call the Puritans, and most people have a very fixed idea of what Puritan is, you know, tall heart, dark clothes,

stony face, very severe, certainly doesn't want to enjoy life.

But they wrote, our chief end, that is, this is what we are for, is actually enjoyment and supremely the enjoyment of God.

And then also the notion that we can't actually fully enjoy this world, even in its fallen condition, unless we first of all enjoy God.

But then when we enjoy God,

we are able to enjoy the world that he has made and enjoy each other.

Yeah, I think that's a great question, Nathan, because actually the shorter catechism was written

for younger people.

The larger catechism was written for people like ministers to learn.

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