Every book has an aim, it is designed to communicate. That is especially true of the Bible, and the great wonder and testimony to its inspiration, is that though it is made up of 66 books written by 40 people a common message flows through them all.
Q3: What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A: The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.
This answer gives us the outline for the rest of the catechism. Questions 4 through 38 deal with what we are to believe and from 39 to the end largely with what we are to do.
There are many matters in the Bible, history, geography, biography, literature, but the Bible is above all else God’s Book. It is inspired by Him in order to reveal to us who and what He is and what He, our Maker and our Saviour, would have us do.
We must come to the Bible and get right ideas about God. There is only one living and true God and He has revealed Himself in His Word. Here He speaks, here His heart overflows in love for us, here He comes in Christ to save us.
God knows best what is right and what is wrong. In the first place, He made us like God Himself, and His law is simply this: Be like God. The Bible goes on and tells us what we ought to do to be like God, especially in the Ten Commandments and in the Sermon on the Mount. A true understanding of God and an obedient life are the whole duty of all people; entering into this and growing in it is the joy of every Christian.
“Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” (Psalm 25:4–5)