Missionsvennen

Debated questions from Pontoppidan’s Catechism

As I work through a Synod debate from 1885, I see that the following questions from Pontoppidan’s Catechism discussed:

395

What is the state of grace?

A blessed society and union with God, who for Christ’s sake by his Spirit regenerates the sinful soul, forgives it of its sins, clothes it the righteousness of Christ, frees it from the bonds of sin and Satan, and daily renews it in his image.

478

What does it mean that God calls men?

He touches their hearts with his Word, reveals and offers them his grace through the gospel, and gives them strength to receive this grace.

485

What is the real difference between human knowledge and divine enlightenment?

Human knowledge can be acquired by human ingenuity and diligence, while standing against the power of God’s Word; it is only the faculty of the brain and merely a historical knowledge, and therefore allows man to remain in his evil.

The divine enlightenment is effected by the same word of God by the Holy Spirit, which then finds room in the soul; it fills the heart, gives a living experience, and begins to take away the defiance of the will.

487

What is regeneration or the new birth?

Man gets a living faith, is awakened from spiritual death, repents and is brought over from darkness to light, from Satan’s power to God.

488

Can you say anything more about what the rebirth is?

It does not consist, as Nicodemus thought, in a man entering his mother’s womb when he is old, and being born again; but the rebirth is a work of God in the human heart, as this in an unimaginable way acquires a new nature, a new light in the mind and a new longing, desire and power in the will. Thus an entirely new life arises in him who was before spiritually dead; and this the Scripture calls a new heart, a new spirit, a new man, or a new creature.

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Hans Jakob Grøgaard Krog was born in Flekkefjord, Norway. After having obtained his master’s degree, he took up the study of theology but discontinued this, however, and became a teacher in Christiania and later in Trondhjem. Rev. J.A. Ottesen had often written in Norwegian papers concerning the scarcity of clergymen among Norwegians in America, and this led Krog to take up the study of theology anew. In 1872 he emigrated to America and was ordained into the ministry in 1874. His first call took him to Minneapolis, but a year later found him in Menominee, Wis., where he remained until 1890, when the Church Council elected him to a professorship at Luther College, where he remained for six years. He taught Norwegian, Religion, Latin, and French, besides taking, together with his wife, a very active part in the church work in and about Decorah. Rev. Krog was intensely interested in mission work, especially in the seamen’s mission. In 1902 he resigned his pastorate, which he had held at Ossian since 1896, in order to devote all his time to the mission work. In this capacity he labored unselfishly to the last. In the death of Rev. Krog the cause of Christian education has lost one of its warmest friends and supporters and one whose labors and influence have promoted and strengthened the highest and best elements in the field of education.

Hans Jakob Grøgaard Krog

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