I mentioned in a Sunday Bible class recently how my friend Pr. Fast showed me, when I was just out of seminary, the structure of the Catechism, which should also be the structure of our Christian life.

That structure is: Repentance, Faith, Holy Living.

A parishioner emailed me asking me to explain a bit further. Here’s what I wrote:

The Ten Commandments preach repentance, i.e., they show us our sin (2nd use of the Law, as a mirror), revealing to us that we are idolaters, misusers of God’s name, Sabbath breakers, people who dishonor parents, murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, and covet.

The Apostles’ Creed is just the opposite of the Commandments; the Commandments show us what God demands, while the Creed shows us what God does, gives, promises. So the Creed preaches faith, trust in God and His salvation.

The Lord’s Prayer, then, is our response to the faith preached to us in the Creed. In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask, in essence, that God would keep us in the pure teaching of His Word and help us to lead holy lives according to it (see the explanations to the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer in the Small Catechism).