Man’s Chief Concern?

Just this year, the 1929 edition of our Evangelical Catechism has entered public domain. I only discovered this after a conversation with the Rev. Dr. Andrew Keuer, pastor of New Braunfels’ First Protestant Church. Andrew printed his own revision of the catechism while at Lyons Evangelical. Recently, First Protestant has formally adopted the catechism as their doctrinal statement.

The catechism is made of 128 questions to form a sufficient summary of the Christian faith. If a student learns these questions and answers, he is considered ready for confirmation. It all begins with the big question: “What should be the chief concern of man?” Do you know the answer?

1. Man's chief concern should be the eternal salvation of his soul.

2. Man’s chief concern should be to seek after the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.

3. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

To give away the game, these are all right answers. Answer A is from the 1896 Evangelical Catechism, B is from the 1929 Evangelical Catechism, and C is from the 1646 Westminster Shorter Catechism. If you are drawn to one of these more than another, that might say something about what you think needs emphasizing.

The Westminster option actually responds to a different, impersonal phrasing of the question, “What is the chief end of man?” The question seems to ask, “what is true about us as creatures?” not “what do I need to be concerned with?” The answer resonates with the Reformed emphasis on the sovereignty of God as it alludes to a famous passage from 1 Corinthians 10: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Walter Brugemann comments on the 1896 answer: “The answer expresses a kind of pietistic evangelicalism which is transparently personalistic.” Pietism was a Lutheran movement calling for higher personal devotion and a lower relative emphasis of the doctrines and authority of the church. To a pietist, the big purpose is for you to get right with God, to find salvation of your soul.

The 1929 answer, the edition on our shelves here at Friedens, seems best in my opinion. Brugemann reads this as a move towards the social gospel view vogue at the time. The “social gospel” was a movement in liberal protestantism that, at worst, relocated the “good news” of salvation from sin to the “good news” of salvation from social injustice: racial prejudice, economic inequality, poor schools etc. At best, it recognized the obligation of Christians to seek justice. Even if this revision of the question was motivated by the now-dead social gospel movement, the words themselves can’t be disputed.  They come from the mouth of Jesus himself in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” This has both a personal and a collective application: Jesus’ Greek word there for “you” is plural, so we could paraphrase and say “But y’all seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to y’all.”

I hope you agree with me that these different answers can all teach us something. I think the 1929 is the best for memorization and for use in confirmation, but let me leave you with the comforting answer to  a different “big question”, the Heidelberg Catechism’s Question 1: 

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own,  but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me, that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

You can find both our catechisms and our confession on the church website.