Thirty-nine Articles of Religion
The Articles are often dismissed with an offhanded comment that Anglicans and Episcopalians are not “confessional” like Lutherans with their Augsburg Confession, and Presbyterians with their Westminster Confessions. The thinking that Anglicans do not have a defining statement of belief is simply not true. Thomas Cranmer wrote the Articles at the same time as the other great Protestant confessions, with the same purpose in mind.
The 1571 (and final) version of the Articles succinctly states their purpose: “For the avoiding of diversities of opinions and for the establishing of Consent touching true religion.” While it is clear that the Articles speak to sixteenth-century issues in the Church of England, they are much broader in scope and more comprehensive with their attention to such core Christian doctrines as the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, and the authority of Holy Scripture. By addressing many matters — controversial and noncontroversial to the times — the Articles show themselves to be the church’s confession of faith. Since the act of Parliament which established the Articles in 1571, all clergy ordained in the Church of England have been required to subscribe to the Articles as an authoritative statement of Anglican beliefs. Moreover, in many parts of the Anglican Communion, today subscription is still required of ordinands, as the Articles “bear witness to the faith revealed in Scripture and set forth in the catholic creeds.”
So what is an Article, and how are they organized? An Article is simply an official position statement on an important doctrinal matter. The Thirty-nine Articles can be organized and divided into three sections: the catholic (as in “universal”), the Protestant, and the Anglican. Articles 1-8, the catholic Articles, define and describe what is to be believed by all Christians, everywhere and in every age. Articles 9-34 are the Protestant Articles that describe how Anglicanism is distinctly Protestant and not Roman Catholic. The last ones (Articles 35-39) are considered the Anglican Articles, describing aspects of Anglicanism that are distinctive from other parts of Protestantism. As Gerald Bray explains:
“Understood in this way, the Thirty-nine Articles have a logical and harmonious symmetry, starting with the universal and going on progressively to what is more particular, first to the protestant world in general and then to the specific circumstances of the Church of England.”
The Articles have doctrinal authority today because they are recognized as Anglican’s key doctrinal statement. At the General Convention of 1801, the fledgling Episcopal Church adopted the Articles as its theological standard. The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) Constitution and Canons states: We receive the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion of 1571, taken in their literal and grammatical sense, as expressing the Anglican response to certain doctrinal issues controverted at that time, and as expressing fundamental principles of authentic Anglican belief. Jerusalem Declaration (Gafcon, 2008) states that “We uphold the Thirty-nine Articles as containing the true doctrine of the Church agreeing with God’s Word and as authoritative for Anglicans today.” Those who want to know what Anglicans believe about Scripture, predestination, transubstantiation, and whether or not the sacrament’s efficacy depends on the holiness of their minister need only to read the Articles of Religion.
XI. Of the Justification of Man.
We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.
