Basic Facts Every Christian Should Know

One of our young people and his friend from another church interviewed a number of pastors in the Kokomo (IN) area. To their surprise, a number of them could not recite the Ten Commandments.

Another one of our young people participated in an after-school Christian ministry where the leader asked if anyone could recite the Ten Commandments. She was the only one who could do so (the leader was surprised, because on other occasions, no one was able to perform that feat). You would think the leader would have changed his lesson plan and taught the kids the commandments then and there (I wonder if he knew them), but his question was merely a jumping point for a lesson about the loss of absolute truth.

We live in a day and age where speakers complain about believers not knowing the basic facts, yet these leaders do nothing to remedy the problem. Complaining about the problem, or revealing it, is not enough: we should, instead, fix the problem. And we should not move on until we have done so.

In the past, I’ve taught the Ten Commandments and Persons of the Trinity during our morning service, conducted a combined Sunday school for grades 1-8 to teach these basics and more, and offered similar material during our Sunday evening service. I have taught much of this material during AWANA or, in recent years, to our summer youth group.

As I was studying 2 Peter (1:12-13) in preparation for one of my sermons, I realized that I had not properly “reinforced” these teachings in recent years. Peter wrote:

Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder.

All Christians need to know and review the basic “facts.” Most of us agree that, by and large, learning concepts is better than mere memorization of information. But not always. Rote memory has gotten a bum wrap: Learning by rote is an excellent way to lay a foundation—especially if you contemplate what you have learned!

I do not want to place the bar too high; instead, I will list what I consider the bare essentials for every Christian to know by rote—basic Christian facts that correspond to learning multiplication tables in math. You might use this information as a list for your own personal achievement, and for instructing your children at home, teaching Sunday school or other classes for children, teens, and yes—adults!

The temptation is to get too deep in analyzing these very important subjects. A superficial rote memorization, though, lays a foundation that can be expanded upon later. Detail-constrained people and the TMI crowd are not the best at teaching these basics!

1. The order of the books of the Bible

Like learning the alphabet before reading, knowing the order of the books of the Bible is foundational to deep Bible study. If you are fortunate enough to have children who have been taught the New Testament and the Old Testament songs, you have an “easy way” to learn the arrangement. Breaking the task into manageable “chunks” is helpful.

Let’s begin with the New Testament. You want to be able to think through the order, so here is a list you might use.

New Testament

  • The Historical Books (Matthew-Acts)
  • Paul’s Epistles (Romans-Philemon)
  • Hebrews
  • General Epistles (James-Jude)
  • Revelation (Remember, it is not Revelations.)

The list of Paul’s epistles can be the most difficult. Remember, all the “T’s” are together (1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus); an acrostic for Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians is “Gentiles Eat Pork Chops.”

Learn each section before moving on to the next. Always review from the beginning. (“Matthew, Mark….”)

Old Testament

We again have some useful divisions

  • The Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy)
  • The Historical Books (Joshua-Esther)
  • The Poetical Books (Job-Song of Solomon)
  • The Major Prophets (Isaiah-Daniel; note that Lamentations is an appendix to the book of Jeremiah.)
  • The Twelve Minor Prophets (Hosea-Malachi)

You can create an acrostic for the twelve Minor Prophets, or you might compromise and look them up in the index if you cannot seem to conquer this challenge. If you know the order of the Old Testament books except for the Minor Prophets, you can get by. Here is an acrostic I use:

Howard Johnson Ate Olives (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah)

January May Need Heat (Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk)

Zoos Have Zebra Mammals (Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).

The book most people cannot locate is Nahum. Odds are if you can locate Nahum without consulting an index, you know your Bible order!

2. The Ten Commandments

These are found in Exodus 20, but they are not numbered. I reduce them down to bare bones paraphrases for easy memory. I am more concerned that people still know their commandments at age seventy-three than I am about perfection of wording at age twelve. The secret is to think through them in three sections:

Four commands relating to God:

  1. No other gods
  2. No images
  3. Do not misuse God’s name.
  4. Remember the Sabbath Day.

Then the authority we recognize first in life, our parents:

  1. Honor your parents

Then we think of five sins, from worst to least:

  1. Do not murder.
  2. Do not commit adultery.
  3. Do not steal.
  4. Do not lie.
  5. Do not covet.

Thinking through the commandments really helps. When explaining meanings to children, they will often ask about adultery. A kid-friendly way to explain this is, “If you are married, do not look for anybody else.” With coveting, I’ll explain it is wanting something too much—so much that you make yourself unhappy or you are willing to do something wrong to get it.

3. The Three Points of the Gospel

These are derived from I Corinthians 15:1-6. When memorizing this, I encourage folks to emphasize, “for our sins.” The fact that Christ died is history, but the fact that He died for our sins is theology and salvation!

  1. Christ died for our sins.
  2. He was buried.
  3. He rose again on the third day.

4. The Three Points of the Great Commission

These are derived from Matthew 28:19-20. I summarize “teaching all things” as “discipleship.” The points, then, are these:

  1. Evangelism
  2. Baptism
  3. Discipleship

5. The storyline of the major events in the entire Bible

These include Creation, the Fall, the Flood, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Judges, King David, Solomon, divided kingdom, Babylonian Captivity, return to Jerusalem under Ezra, birth of John the Baptist, life of Jesus, Pentecost, inclusion of the Gentiles. The best way to get this is by reading through the Bible. Attending Sunday school and attentiveness during sermons over the years helps to refresh these, too. Children’s story Bibles help rehearse the main narratives.

6. Persons Who make up the one Triune God

  1. Father
  2. Son
  3. Holy Spirit

Please do not teach “God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit” as the Trinity. This is not quite accurate. By calling only the Father “God,” you are implying that the Son and Spirit are something less than God. By naming Jesus as part of the Trinity, you are including His human nature, which had a beginning (remember, God has been triune eternally). God the Son has always existed, but the human nature of Jesus began in Mary’s womb.

7. The importance of the nation of Israel

This is a topic of controversy. Although all Christians would acknowledge the importance of Israel in the past (the nation producing the Messiah, the Bible, and the Apostles), most of Christendom believes that God is done with Israel forever. We disagree and assert that this is an important issue.

At present the existence of the nation of Israel is an indication of God’s faithfulness and thus an evidence of the truth of the Bible. The only thing that makes sense of Israel’s existence is God’s end-time plans for Israel (her future conversion and exaltation during the Kingdom Age). See Romans 11.

(Note: I recognize that many SI readers do not believe in an exalted Israel in the future. Please feel free to nix this one if your views differ from mine.)

8. The Solas

These are the five Biblical “alones” reclaimed during the Reformation. I prefer to condense them to two statements:

Scripture Alone. We are not saying that the Bible is the only authority, but rather, the Bible is the only infallible and thus the final authority. (Other authorities—like governments, parents, or church leaders—are fallible but to generally be respected; clear Scripture, however, can trump these authorities.)

Salvation by God’s grace alone through Christ alone by faith alone to God’s glory alone.

9. Minimal verses every Christians should understand and have memorized

John 3:16, I John 1:9 and the “Romans Road” verses (Romans 3:10, 3:23, 5:8, 6:23 and 10:9). It might be good to also include Ephesians 2:8-9.

John 3:16 is a simple salvation verse. I John 1:9 is a verse every Christian needs to know—confessing our sins to God and dealing with guilt is an important part of a godly walk. The Romans Road verses can be used for personal assurance but are especially well suited to lead someone to faith in Christ. The Ephesians verses are, in a sense, a clarification of what Romans 6:23 means—salvation is a gift. A gift really is a gift!

We are never done learning as Christians, so please do not stop with the above! This is meant to be a starting point, not an ending one. Just as we learn our multiplication tables and then move on to division, fractions, and decimals, so the basic Christian “facts” are a foundation upon which to build.

For SI readers, an addendum: Those of us in leadership (whether lay leaders or clergy) must repeatedly re-lay this foundation. We should never assume our folks have this foundation. I would challenge skeptics (optimists who believe their people know all these facts) to give an anonymous test to their Sunday school class, youth group—or attenders at a morning service. But be prepared for disappointment! I believe the overwhelming majority of Christians do not know their basic Christian facts by rote. They might pick up the Ten Commandments if given a multiple-choice quiz, but can they list them? Not many can.


Ed Vasicek was raised as a Roman Catholic in in Cicero, Illinois. During his senior year in high school (in 1974), Cicero Bible Church reached out to him, and he received Jesus Christ as his Savior by faith alone. Ed later felt a call to ministry and enrolled at Moody Bible Institute (B.A., Pastoral Studies/Greek). After graduating, he served as pastor of Victory Bible Church of Chicago (a branch work of Cicero Bible Church) and married Marylu Troppito. In 1983, the couple moved to Kokomo where Ed began pastoring Highland Park Church, where he still serves. Ed and Marylu have two adult children, Hannah and Luke. Ed loves to write. He has written over 500 weekly columns for the opinion page of the Kokomo Tribune, published articles in Pulpit Helps magazine, and populated his church’s website with an endless barrage of papers. You can access them at www.highlandpc.com.

Discussion

In the old time Sunday School I referred to in my earlier post, the lessons taught were structured for the whole family. Each individual, regardless of age, was expected to know the “Bible Basics” I mentioned. In addition each class was dealing with the same Bible passage each week, adjusted for age of course. In addition, the pastor would usually preach at least one message on Sunday from the same passage.

It required a tremendous amount of prep time. The pastor prepared all the lessons and met with the teachers each week to help them prepare the next week’s lesson. Homework was assigned and checked the following week. Oh for the good old days!

Could it be done today?

"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan

“Why” parents do not feel compelled to view the command from God to teach His principles to their children as THEIR primary task, not the church’s.
I could talk about this forever. Consider how many families are:

1. Single parent

2. One parent a believer, one not.

3. Kids who come from unsaved homes

4. Messed up families (drugs, abuse, little relational skill, etc.)

5. Overly stressed families (perhaps because of materialism and debt).

6. Families barely keeping together

7. Passive “herd instinct” families, perhaps without real male leadership

We HAVE played the game of chicken (parents should teach this to kids, the church is not going to do this) and parents are not and kids are not getting it. We have lost the game and need to adjust. Guilt trips, shame, etc., are not going to motivate lackluster professors of faith. Many people are a certain way, and we have to deal with what is, not what should be. It is our idealism that makes us aspire, but it is our idealism that causes us to refuse to adjust to what IS. Refusing to accept reality does not inhibit reality. We, ourselves, can choose to be different, but the Lord has to get ahold of people for them to choose to be different.

I suppose if you could explain why parents cannot recite the 10 commandments themselves, the answer would be the same as to why they do not teach their kids. If you could explain why most families in our churches rarely pray together at home, the answer would be the same.

It really is true that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

I would suggest that church would be a great place to break the cycle. We need to take up the slack and do some old-fashioned education. We also need to create STRUCTURE to help families and individuals.

I have tried to do this over the years in the realm of prayer, as you can see on my prayer page: http://www.highlandpc.com/prayers/

This is a horrible blind-spot in churches like ours (fundamental/evangelical and non-liturgical). It goes back generations. We have not placed a premium on memorizing the basic facts, and we have not helped people with structure.

"The Midrash Detective"

I won’t speak to the other of the points on the list. However, I will comment on the “Books of the Bible.” For the most part, the preachers I know expect their listeners to follow along in their personal Bibles or as is the case at Hamilton Square the Bible in the hymnal rack. Looking up the initial passage is no problem. However, for subsequent verses, knowing where 2 John in relation to Ephesians gets to be important.

Hoping to shed more light than heat..

Bro. Ed- you addressed one part of my post, and I think maybe you missed this part-
I’m not arguing for the eradication of Sunday Schools or anything along those lines, but that we concentrate on teaching parents with fervor that matches and surpasses our efforts aimed at children.
Part of breaking the cycle is to redouble our efforts when it comes to mentoring parents and holding them accountable for what God has commanded of them for the family. We cannot ignore that commands about teaching children are nearly all aimed specifically at parents. The church must adjust to what IS- absolutely- but IMO that effort should not leave parents in the dust of children’s programs. The fact that you could in truth say this:
Those of us in leadership (whether lay leaders or clergy) must repeatedly re-lay this foundation. We should never assume our folks have this foundation. I would challenge skeptics (optimists who believe their people know all these facts) to give an anonymous test to their Sunday school class, youth group—or attenders at a morning service. But be prepared for disappointment! I believe the overwhelming majority of Christians do not know their basic Christian facts by rote. They might pick up the Ten Commandments if given a multiple-choice quiz, but can they list them? Not many can.
is a big whop upside the head, and we need to hear it and feel it.

There was [URL=http://sharperiron.org/forum/thread-qualifications-for-teachers-ss-and-…] a thread I started[/URL] awhile back about the qualifications of SS teachers and youth workers. I wonder if there isn’t a double standard, that churches feel they MUST have classes for kids but in reality are little more than glorified babysitting… but the teachers themselves don’t have a good grasp of the basics, they engage in questionable and even objectionable behavior in their private lives, and in class the kids play games and have snacks and fill in sticker charts because they actually brought their Bibles to church. Oy vey.

It isn’t as simple as just getting back to the basics of what is foundational information, even though that is incredibly important, but IMO should involve the revamping of SS to be a serious time of study led by people who are actually qualified to teach the Bible not only in the areas of Scriptural knowledge but also in personal conduct.

I will never forget when I was speaking in a church one day — but not for Sunday School, where I was seated in the back row behind an elderly long-term deacon with a big black large-print KJV Bible (you know, the kind with the flexible plasticy cover).

The teacher had us turn to Ecclesiastes. The deacon in front of me turned to the page index in the front of his big Bible to find the page number…

(And then we wonder why deacons and pulpit committee members don’t understand the value of seminary or the type of discussion we are having here. They themselves may belong back in kiddie church! :) )

Church Ministries Representative, serving in the Midwest, for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry

Just to reinforce the point of book order being a convenient tool for study in a (paper, bound) Bible, but not foundational, I’d like to smash the alphabet analogy for you. I taught all five of my children to read without learning “their ABCs”. They learned each letter’s formation and sound, but not in the traditional order, since that wasn’t needed until dictionary studies.

I mention the paper Bibles, because as searchable electronics become more common, the book order will become even less important.

Aud

I can see that, Audrey- more Kindles are appearing in church… and I’m trying to resist the temptation… :D

It is our idealism that makes us aspire, but it is our idealism that causes us to refuse to adjust to what IS
Ed, you reminded me that I’ve got a whole article stewing (on one of about 20 “back burners”) on this topic. You’re so right.

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.

Idealism makes us aspire, and laziness causes us to refuse to adjust to what IS. ;) It’s the same as watching exercise videos without ever getting off the couch.

I think Susan brings up an excellent point in regard to teaching qualifications. If teachers don’t know or practice the basics why would we expect the students to know and practice the basics. I just recently had a discussion with a 12 year old girl encouraging her to be faithful in church and reading her Bible. Her response was “my Sunday School teacher only comes to church on Sunday mornings and someone who was elected as a church officer does the same.” I’m certainly not trying to justify her response; we are responsible for our actions regardless of the example we have to follow. However, I think she has a point.

In my experience, it’s not the children who lack the basic knowledge, it’s the parents. The children tend to learn these basics in Sunday School and Wednesday night programs. For some reason the church tends to forget that adults need to be taught the basics, and in my opinion this is where the teaching should be begin as parents have the ultimate responsibility for teaching their children. I don’t have a problem with parents enlisting the help of others in this, but we must be very careful not to bypass the parents thereby enabling them to be lazy in teaching their children.

After listening to the SS teacher’s lesson, pointed at the picture and said, “But Goliath fell on his face, not on his back!”

"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan

[TBurkhart] I think Susan brings up an excellent point in regard to teaching qualifications. If teachers don’t know or practice the basics why would we expect the students to know and practice the basics. I just recently had a discussion with a 12 year old girl encouraging her to be faithful in church and reading her Bible. Her response was “my Sunday School teacher only comes to church on Sunday mornings and someone who was elected as a church officer does the same.” I’m certainly not trying to justify her response; we are responsible for our actions regardless of the example we have to follow. However, I think she has a point.

In my experience, it’s not the children who lack the basic knowledge, it’s the parents. The children tend to learn these basics in Sunday School and Wednesday night programs. For some reason the church tends to forget that adults need to be taught the basics, and in my opinion this is where the teaching should be begin as parents have the ultimate responsibility for teaching their children. I don’t have a problem with parents enlisting the help of others in this, but we must be very careful not to bypass the parents thereby enabling them to be lazy in teaching their children.
I think Susan does indeed have a good point, and so do others. But this is still not addressing the issue. You can have the best teachers, but IF THE CURRICULUM THEY USE EXPLAINS THE 10 COMMANDMENTS BUT DOES NOT INSIST THAT THE KIDS LEARN THEM BY ROTE IN CLASS, THEY WILL NOT BE LEARNED. I have yet to see a curriculum that does.

Susan said:
Part of breaking the cycle is to redouble our efforts when it comes to mentoring parents and holding them accountable for what God has commanded of them for the family. We cannot ignore that commands about teaching children are nearly all aimed specifically at parents. The church must adjust to what IS- absolutely- but IMO that effort should not leave parents in the dust of children’s programs.
Susan, I am with you; I really believe in Deuteronomy 6; I have taught, preached, and written about it for years; my wife and I tried to rear our kinds in light of it. But here is my problem. HOW do we hold parents accountable, outside of creating a German POW camp?

"The Midrash Detective"

[Aaron Blumer]
It is our idealism that makes us aspire, but it is our idealism that causes us to refuse to adjust to what IS
Ed, you reminded me that I’ve got a whole article stewing (on one of about 20 “back burners”) on this topic. You’re so right.
Aaron, you think a lot like me. I agree with people who think like me! This is the challenge, is it not? Not forsaking the ideal while adjusting to the real.

"The Midrash Detective"

[Ed Vasicek]
[Aaron Blumer]
It is our idealism that makes us aspire, but it is our idealism that causes us to refuse to adjust to what IS
Ed, you reminded me that I’ve got a whole article stewing (on one of about 20 “back burners”) on this topic. You’re so right.
Aaron, you think a lot like me. I agree with people who think like me! This is the challenge, is it not? Not forsaking the ideal while adjusting to the real.
If I’m reading you correctly, I think you’re saying something similar to what I read in John Frame a few years back. (The following is probably a mixture of his ideas and mine since then.) It was a light-bulb moment for me. He said that in a healthy church, there are going to be people of all levels of spirituality, from the unsaved guy at 0, to the super-mature Christian (whoever he is) at 10. But because sometimes it’s difficult for people of these different levels to relate to each other (especially people who think they’re near 10….hmm….), churches tend to focus on one spectrum. You might have a church that focuses on the 7 to 10 group, as they see it. Nobody would feel welcome in this Church unless they are already in substantial agreement with the doctrine, order of worship, and lifestyle choices of the people present. People are attracted to the church b/c of its stand on issues. Evangelism is seldom talked about and in reality almost non-existent. New members come from those who have “improved” their theology from other churches.

On the other hand, you have the churches who have decided to focus on the 0-4 or so of the spectrum. They want to attract unbelievers, lots of them. Then, when some of these unbelievers make professions of faith, the operating ideal is “Keep It Simple Stupid.” The church is intentionally designed so as not to exclude people, no matter how they live. Instead of being fully discipled, people are trained in how to perpetuate the growth cycle by bringing their friends and others to the church or simply plugged into a program. Teaching focuses almost exclusively on “life issues,” how to handle marriage, money, kids, etc.

So, it seems a difficult thing for a church to really serve the 0-10 spectrum well. Especially in towns where there are a lot of churches, perceived market forces tend to form niche churches. In Greenville, I know churches at which a single mom with kids would be out of place, or even a single person would feel awkward. There are some Reformed churches where the inability to quote the Shorter Catechism or an unfamiliarity with John Calvin may result in a stern look. There are some megachurches where the mention of either would educe a panicked look. All that to say, Ed, I really appreciate any pastor who has his eye on the whole spectrum and who plots and plans to get people from one level of maturity to the next.

My Blog: http://dearreaderblog.com

Cor meum tibi offero Domine prompte et sincere. ~ John Calvin

For starters, I completely agree that rote learning has its place. As to curriculum, when I was more active teaching at church, I wrote my own. I’ve had to do that to some degree at home as well for our homeschool Bible classes.
HOW do we hold parents accountable, outside of creating a German POW camp?
As Dr. Bauder said recently, the tools of the NT pastor/teacher are those of persuasion, not coercion. We tend to think of accountability as having a punitive element, that is, if you aren’t meeting certain criteria, there is punishment of a sort.

But accountability has a more positive side, IMO. It means that if you aspire to be a teacher or worker in the church, you have to meet certain standards of Bible knowledge and personal conduct, instead of allowing people to teach simply because they have a pulse and don’t drool. The idea of strict standards for those in leadership is supportable by Scripture.

The problem is that we often don’t look at SS teachers and youth workers as being in ‘leadership’ simply because they work with children, and children aren’t considered as important as the adults in the church population. Instead of children’s ministries being led by those with little ministry experience because “It’s just kids”, those who wish to teach should be mentored and their classes supervised by qualified individuals until competency is demonstrated. It is a serious responsibility and honor to teach God’s Word to any audience. If we want people to think of the teaching and training of children as important and meaningful, then that is how we should approach it- from the choosing of teachers to the quality and focus of curriculum. A few quizzes or games or puppet shows sprinkled here and there is fine for lower age groups, but if SS from age 3-18 is immersed in frivolity, then folks are going to view SS as frivolous. We know that Christ did not consider the well-being of children as trivial, since He advocated that anyone who harms a child in any way be fitted with a cement necktie and thrown into the sea.

When parents see that the church takes the teaching and training of children very seriously, a positive pressure will be felt to continue this training at home. Not every parent will get on board- I know- but they will not be the ones teaching classes of other people’s children while not teaching their own. The very idea of leadership is that someone is out front setting standards, and followship is going to be at various stages behind the leader- so let’s make leadership WAY out in front. So what if some people are lazy and unmotivated- why cater to the lowest common denominator, especially in an area so weighty as understanding and applying God’s Word? The children of the irresponsible will still benefit from the higher standards.