Below you will find a revised version of the Heidelberg catechism for use with young children. It is a valuable tool to help them begin to learn God’s Word at a young age!

QUESTION 1. Who made you?
ANSWER. God made me.

QUESTION 2. What else did God make?
ANSWER. God made all things.

QUESTION 3. Why did God make you and all things ?
ANSWER. For his own glory.

QUESTION 4. How can you glorify God?
ANSWER. By loving him and doing what he commands.

QUESTION 5. Why ought you to glorify God?
ANSWER. Because he made me and takes care of me.

QUESTION 6. Are there more gods than one?
ANSWER. There is only one God.

QUESTION 7. In how many persons does this one God exist?
ANSWER. In three persons.

QUESTION 8. What are they?
ANSWER. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

QUESTION 9. What is God?
ANSWER. God is a Spirit, and has not a body like men.

QUESTION 10. Where is God?
ANSWER. God is everywhere.

QUESTION 11. Can you see God?
ANSWER. No; I cannot see God, but he always sees me.

QUESTION 12. Does God know all things?
ANSWER. Yes; nothing can be hid from God.

QUESTION 13. Can God do all things?
ANSWER. Yes; God can do all his holy will.

QUESTION 14. Where do you learn how to love and obey God?
ANSWER. In the Bible alone.

QUESTION 15. Who wrote the Bible?
ANSWER. Holy men who were taught by the Holy Spirit.

QUESTION 16. Who were our first parents?
ANSWER. Adam and Eve.

QUESTION 17. Of what were our first parents made?
ANSWER. God made the body of Adam out of the ground, and formed Eve from the body of Adam.

QUESTION 18. What did God give Adam and Eve besides bodies?
ANSWER. He gave them souls that could never die.

QUESTION 19. Have you a soul as well as a body?
ANSWER. Yes; I have a soul that can never die.

QUESTION 20. How do you know that you have a soul?
ANSWER. Because the Bible tells me so.

QUESTION 21. In what condition did God make Adam and Eve?
ANSWER. He made them holy and happy.

QUESTION 22. What is a covenant?
ANSWER. A covenant is a relationship between two or more persons.

QUESTION 23. What was Adam’s relationship with God when he was created?
ANSWER. Adam was created in the covenant of God’s favor.

QUESTION 24. In this covenant, what did God require of Adam?
ANSWER. God required Adam to believe him, and to obey his commands.

QUESTION 25. What did God give to Adam?
ANSWER. God gave Adam life and favor.

QUESTION 26. Did Adam earn life and favor?
ANSWER. No, Adam could not earn anything, but he could continue in God’s love by faith.

QUESTION 27. Did Adam continue in God’s love?
ANSWER. No; he sinned against God.

QUESTION 28. What is Sin?
ANSWER. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of the law of God.

QUESTION 29. What is meant by want of conformity?
ANSWER. Not being or doing what God requires.

QUESTION 30. What is meant by transgression?
ANSWER. Doing what God forbids.

QUESTION 31. What was the sin of our first parents?
ANSWER. Eating the forbidden fruit.

QUESTION 32. Who tempted them to this sin?
ANSWER. The devil tempted Eve, and she gave the fruit to Adam.

QUESTION 33. What befell our first parents when they had sinned?
ANSWER. Instead of being holy and happy, they became sinful and miserable.

QUESTION 34. Did Adam act for himself alone when he fell into sin?
ANSWER. No; he represented all his posterity.

QUESTION 35. What effect had the sin of Adam on all mankind?
ANSWER. All mankind are born in a state of sin and misery.

QUESTION 36. What is that sinful nature which we inherit from Adam called?
ANSWER. Original sin.

QUESTION 37. What does every sin deserve?
ANSWER. The wrath and curse of God.

QUESTION 38. Can any one go to heaven with this sinful nature?
ANSWER. No; our hearts must be changed before we can be fit for heaven.

QUESTION 39. What is a change of heart called?
ANSWER. Regeneration.

QUESTION 40. Who can change a sinner’s heart?
ANSWER. The Holy Spirit alone.

QUESTION 41. With whom did God the Father make the covenant of redemption?
ANSWER. With Christ, his eternal Son.

QUESTION 42. Whom did Christ represent in the covenant of redemption?
ANSWER. His elect people.

QUESTION 43. What did Christ undertake in the covenant of redemption?
ANSWER. To redeem his elect people by his sufferings and death, and to restore Man to relationship with God.

QUESTION 44. Did our Lord Jesus Christ ever commit the least sin?
ANSWER. No; he was holy, harmless, and undefiled.

QUESTION 45. Why was it necessary that Christ be completely without sin?
ANSWER. Because a sinner could not redeem others.

QUESTION 46. How could the Son of God suffer and die?
ANSWER. Christ, the Son of God, became man that he might suffer and die in our nature.

QUESTION 47. Why was it necessary that Christ become a man?
ANSWER. Because only a true man could pay for man’s sins.

QUESTION 48. What is meant by the Atonement?
ANSWER. Christ’s satisfying divine justice, by his sufferings and death, in the place of sinners.

QUESTION 49. What did God the Father undertake in the covenant of redemption?
ANSWER. To justify and sanctify those for whom Christ should die.

QUESTION 50. What is justification?
ANSWER. It is God’s forgiving sinners, and treating them as if they had never sinned.

QUESTION 51. What is sanctification?
ANSWER. It is God’s making sinners holy in heart and conduct.

QUESTION 52. For whom did Christ obey and suffer?
ANSWER. For those whom the Father had given him.

QUESTION 53. What kind of life did Christ live on earth?
ANSWER. A life of poverty and suffering.

QUESTION 54. What kind of death did Christ die?
ANSWER. The painful and shameful death of the cross.

QUESTION 55. Who will be saved?
ANSWER. Only those who repent of sin, believe in Christ, and lead holy lives.

QUESTION 56. What is it to repent?
ANSWER. To be sorry for sin, and to hate and forsake it because it is displeasing to God.

QUESTION 57. What is it to believe or have faith in Christ?
ANSWER. To trust in Christ alone for salvation.

QUESTION 58. Can you repent and believe in Christ by your own power?
ANSWER. No; I can do nothing good without the help of God’s Holy Spirit.

QUESTION 59. How can you get the help of the Holy Spirit?
ANSWER. God has told us that we must pray to him for the Holy Spirit.

QUESTION 60. How long ago is it since Christ died?
ANSWER. More than nineteen hundred years.

QUESTION 61. How were pious persons saved before the coming of Christ?
ANSWER. By believing in a the same Christ, before he became a man.

QUESTION 62. How did they show their faith?
ANSWER. By offering sacrifices on God’s altar.

QUESTION 63. What did these sacrifices represent?
ANSWER. Christ, the Lamb of God, who was to die for sinners.

QUESTION 64. What offices has Christ?
ANSWER. Christ has three offices.

QUESTION 65. What are they?
ANSWER. The offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king.

QUESTION 66. How is Christ a prophet?
ANSWER. Because he teaches us the will of God.

QUESTION 67. How is Christ a priest?
ANSWER. Because he died for our sins and pleads with God for us.

QUESTION 68. How is Christ a king?
ANSWER. Because he rules over us and defends us.

QUESTION 69. Why do you need Christ as a prophet?
ANSWER. Because I do not know the will of God.

QUESTION 70. Why do you need Christ as a priest?
ANSWER. Because I am guilty.

QUESTION 71. Why do you need Christ as a king?
ANSWER. Because I am weak and helpless.

QUESTION 72. How many commandments did God give on Mount Sinai?
ANSWER. Ten commandments.

QUESTION 73. What are the ten commandments sometimes called?
ANSWER. The Decalogue.

QUESTION 74. What do the first four commandments teach?
ANSWER. Our duty to God.

QUESTION 75. What do the last six commandments teach?
ANSWER. Our duty to our fellow men.

QUESTION 76. What is the sum of the ten commandments?
ANSWER. To love God with all my heart, and my neighbor as myself.

QUESTION 77. Who is your neighbor?
ANSWER. All my fellow men are my neighbors.

QUESTION 78. Is God pleased with those who love and obey him?
ANSWER. Yes; he says, “I love them that love me.”

QUESTION 79. Is God displeased with those who do not love and obey him?
ANSWER. Yes; “God is angry with the wicked every day.”

QUESTION 80. What is the first commandment?
ANSWER. The first commandment is, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

QUESTION 81. What does the first commandment teach us?
ANSWER. To worship God alone.

QUESTION 82. What is the second commandment?
ANSWER. The second commandment is, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any things that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

QUESTION 83. What does the second commandment teach us?
ANSWER. To worship God in a proper manner, and to avoid idolatry.

QUESTION 84. What is the third commandment?
ANSWER. The third commandment is, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

QUESTION 85. What does the third commandment teach me?
ANSWER. To reverence God’s name, word, and works.

QUESTION 86. What is the fourth commandment?
ANSWER. The fourth commandment is, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day, and hallowed it.

QUESTION 87. What does the fourth commandment teach us?
ANSWER. To keep the Sabbath holy.

QUESTION 88. What day of the week is the Christian Sabbath?
ANSWER. The first day of the week, called the Lord’s day.

QUESTION 89. Why is it called the Lord’s day?
ANSWER. Because on that day Christ rose from the dead.

QUESTION 90. How should the Sabbath be spent?
ANSWER. In prayer and praise, in hearing and reading God’s Word, and in doing good to our fellow men.

QUESTION 91. What is the fifth commandment?
ANSWER. The fifth commandment is, Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

QUESTION 92. What does the fifth commandment teach me?
ANSWER. To love and obey our parents and teachers.

QUESTION 93. What is the sixth commandment?
ANSWER. The sixth commandment is, Thou shalt not kill.

QUESTION 94. What does the sixth commandment teach us?
ANSWER. To avoid angry passions.

QUESTION 95. What is the seventh commandment?
ANSWER. The seventh commandment is, Thou shalt not commit adultery.

QUESTION 96. What does the seventh commandment teach us?
ANSWER. To be pure in heart, language, and conduct.

QUESTION 97. What is the eighth commandment?
ANSWER. The eighth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal.

QUESTION 98. What does the eighth commandment teach us?
ANSWER. To be honest and industrious.

QUESTION 99. What is the ninth commandment?
ANSWER. The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

QUESTION 100. What does the ninth commandment teach us?
ANSWER. To tell the truth.

QUESTION 101. What is the tenth commandment?
ANSWER. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.

QUESTION 102. What does the tenth commandment teach us?
ANSWER. To be content with with what we have.

QUESTION 103. Can any man keep these ten commandments perfectly?
ANSWER. No mere man, since the fall of Adam, ever did or can keep the ten commandments perfectly.

QUESTION 104. Of what use are the ten commandments to us?
ANSWER. They teach us our duty, and show our need of a Savior.

QUESTION 105. What is prayer?
ANSWER. Prayer is asking God for things which he has promised to give, thanking Him for what He has given, and confessing our sins to Him.

QUESTION 106. In whose name should we pray?
ANSWER. Only in the name of Christ.

QUESTION 107. What has Christ given us to teach us how to pray?
ANSWER. The Lord’s Prayer.

QUESTION 108. Repeat the Lord’s Prayer.
ANSWER. Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

QUESTION 109. How many petitions are there in The Lord’s Prayer?
ANSWER. Six.

QUESTION 110. What is the first petition?
ANSWER. “Hallowed be thy name.”

QUESTION 111. What do we pray for in the first petition?
ANSWER. That God’s name may be honored by us and all men.

QUESTION 112. What is the second petition?
ANSWER. “Thy kingdom come.”

QUESTION 113. What do we pray for in the second petition?
ANSWER. That the gospel may be preached in all the world, and believed and obeyed by us and all men.

QUESTION 114. What is the third petition?
ANSWER. “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

QUESTION 115. What do we pray for in the third petition?
ANSWER. That men on earth may serve God as the angels do in heaven.

QUESTION 116. What is the fourth petition?
ANSWER. “Give us this day our daily bread.”

QUESTION 117. What do we pray for in the fourth petition?
ANSWER. That God would give us all things needful for our bodies and souls.

QUESTION 118. What is the fifth petition?
ANSWER. “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

QUESTION 119. What do we pray for in the fifth petition?
ANSWER. That God would pardon our sins for Christ’s sake, and enable us to forgive those who have injured us.

QUESTION 120. What is the sixth petition?
ANSWER. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

QUESTION 121. What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
ANSWER. That God would keep us from sin.

QUESTION 122. How many sacraments are there?
ANSWER. There are two sacraments.

QUESTION 123. What are they?
ANSWER. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

QUESTION 124. Who appointed these sacraments?
ANSWER. The Lord Jesus Christ.

QUESTION 125. Why did Christ appoint these sacraments?
ANSWER. To distinguish his disciples from the world, and to comfort and strengthen them.

QUESTION 126. What sign is used in baptism?
ANSWER. The washing with water.

QUESTION 127. What does this signify?
ANSWER. That we are God’s people, cleansed from sin by the blood of Christ.

QUESTION 128. In whose name are we baptized?
ANSWER. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

QUESTION 129. Who are to be baptized?
ANSWER. Believers and their children.

QUESTION 130. Why should infants be baptized?
ANSWER. Because they belong to parents who belong to God, so they belong to God too.

QUESTION 131. Does Christ care for little children?
ANSWER. Yes; for he says, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”

QUESTION 132. To what does your baptism bind you?
ANSWER. To be a true follower of Christ.

QUESTION 133. What is the Lord’s Supper?
ANSWER. The eating of bread and drinking of wine in remembrance of the sufferings and death of Christ.

QUESTION 134. What does the bread represent?
ANSWER. The body of Christ, broken for our sins, and his members who are gathered together like wheat to make one loaf, the people of God.

QUESTION 135. What does the wine represent?
ANSWER. The blood of Christ, shed for our salvation.

QUESTION 136. Who should partake of the Lord’s Supper?
ANSWER. Only those who belong to Christ, and have not been cut off because of unbelief.

QUESTION 137. Did Christ remain in the tomb after his crucifixion?
ANSWER. No; he rose from the tomb on the third day after his death.

QUESTION 138. Where is Christ now?
ANSWER. In heaven, interceding for sinners.

QUESTION 139. Will he come again?
ANSWER. Yes; at the last day Christ will come to judge the world.

QUESTION 140. What becomes of men at death?
ANSWER. The body returns to dust, and the soul goes into the world of spirits.

QUESTION 141. Will the bodies of the dead be raised to life again?
ANSWER. Yes; “The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised.”

QUESTION 142. What will become of the wicked in the day of judgment?
ANSWER. They shall be cast into hell.

QUESTION 143. What is hell?
ANSWER. A place of dreadful and endless torment.

QUESTION 144. What will become of the righteous?
ANSWER. They shall be taken to heaven.

QUESTION 145. What is heaven?
ANSWER. A glorious and happy place, where the righteous shall be forever with the Lord.

Revised Catechism for Young Children - From: http://home.fuse.net/mac47/revisedcatechism.html