Catechism #31 & 32

I think these questions do a great job of explaining the three offices of Christ as Prophet, Priest and King, and how those offices are paralleled in those who are 'in Christ'. The boys, especially Caleb, have commented several times how much they like doing this devotionally. I would recommend DeYoung's book, The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism. In the next week or two I'm going to add John Williamson Nevin's book History and Genius of the Heidelberg catechism, copyright 1847, to my reading list (available for free here). I'm going Heidelberg crazy!

Question #31: Why is he called "Christ," meaning "anointed"?
Answer: Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been anointed with the Holy Spirit to be our chief prophet and teacher who perfectly reveals to us the secret counsel and will of God for our deliverance; our only high priest who has set us free by the one sacrifice of his body, and who continually pleads our cause with the Father; and our eternal king who governs us by his Word and Spirit, and who guards us and keeps us in the freedom he has won for us [Luke 3:21-22; 4:14-19; (Isa. 61:1); Heb. 1:9 (Ps. 45:7); Acts 3:22 (Deut. 18:15);John 1:18; 15:15; Heb. 7:17 (Ps. 110:4); Heb. 9:12; 10:11-14; Rom. 8:34; Heb. 9:24;Matt. 21:5 (Zech. 9:9); Matt. 28:18-20; John 10:28; Rev. 12:10-11].

Question #32: But why are you called a Christian?
Answer: Because by faith I am a member of Christ and so I share in his anointing. I am anointed to confess his name, to present myself to him as a living sacrifice of thanks, to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity [1 Cor. 12:12-27; Acts 2:17 (Joel 2:28); 1 John 2:27; Matt. 10:32; Rom. 10:9-10; Heb. 13:15; Rom. 12:1; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Gal. 5:16-17; Eph. 6:11; 1 Tim. 1:18-19; Matt. 25:34; 2 Tim. 2:12].