After doing all of this work, where are we in this discussion? The first generality that we can make is that the Church of England was founded in the sixteenth century on reformed doctrines. There are some ideas intermixed that are clearly the result of the relationship between church and state that doesn’t exist in this country to the same degree. There are only a few issues that remain unanswered.
The Church of England began as a reformed faith with reformed doctrine. The 39 Articles affirm several ideas that are central to the reformed understanding of Christianity. The Trinity is supported both by the uplifting of the Trinitarian creeds and by the specific doctrinal statements concerning the Trinity. The Arian heresy is specifically renounced by affirming that Jesus is wholly God and wholly man. The only question for me is the issue of Christ’s entering into hell. It is what we should call a second order issue, not a first order issue. The actual bodily resurrection is affirmed and the Holy Spirit is affirmed as a part of the Trinity.
The Creeds and the Canon are affirmed. Of note, my interrogatives concerning the Athanasian Creed revealed a less than practical affirmation of this particular creed. The other two are also Trinitarian creeds, though not as detailed. They have the benefit of lacking the works righteousness comments. When perusing the Books of Common Prayer over the last several hundred years, one finds that the other two creeds are preferentially used. Therefore, it can be inferred that the specific articles dealing with righteousness are thought to supersede those two lines of that creed.
The Church of England affirms the reformed definition of justification. Pelagius is denounced by affirming the doctrine of original sin. Free will is tainted by original sin, so that only by the action of God in the person of the Holy Spirit is faith given as a gift to the elect. We see specifically, again, the Roman practice of indulgences and supererogation to be contrary to scripture. This section is a full break with Rome and places the Church of England clearly in the crosshairs of Trent.
The role of Baptism and Election is discussed. The reformed positions of both doctrines are affirmed. PaedoBaptism is accepted for the children of Baptized believers as admission into the Covenant of Grace. Justification occurs at Baptism when it is the mark of true faith. We are simultaneously justified and sinners as per the older, reformed view of Romans 6-8, because we are simultaneously members of this Age and the Age to Come. Finally, salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone to the Glory of God alone through Grace alone as revealed in Scripture alone, the five solas of the reformation.
There are bits about church government and authority where the sacerdotal model is shown not to be completely abandoned. The Church of England did, after all, keep an Episcopate that is remarkably similar to the Roman College of Cardinals. The specific authority of the church gets cluttered with references to the royalty. But these second order issues do not deflect from all that has come before.
The section on the Sacraments has some vital pieces of information. First, the doctrine of Transubstantiation is specifically rejected. The formal definition of sacrament is introduced and the two are named. Withholding of the cup from believers is forbidden. The sacraments are valid in terms of the office of the church that administers them, not in terms of the individual who administers them. Therefore, the imperfections and sin of the minister have no reflection on the validity of the sacraments. This is no small issue, and likely answers the concerns of many laymen throughout the centuries.
The two books of Homilies are discussed, and I will be starting the Homily series in the near future.
The last group are a collection of odds and ends that only is remarkable in the doctrine of separation expressed as excommunication. This sounds like an exceedingly works based remnant of the Roman Church, but again, this is of second order importance.
Therefore, in summary, it can be confidently asserted that the Church of England, at least at its inception, could be counted among the reformed family of churches. That is of some relief to me personally, as it gives insight to me as to why these doctrines might be intellectually appealing to me, independent of the arguments that are very compelling. I am never one to defer the historical knowledge and record to warm feelings; that was not my meaning. I instead mean that it is nice that my warm feelings align with the intellectual appraisal of the church. There are clearly issues to discuss, but they are all of second order importance. Despite the numerous second order issues, I am confident that the Word and Sacraments of this denomination of the reformed church can be believed to uphold faithfully the Gospel, at least historically. There are also the grounds for members of the Episcopal church to take back the doctrines of the church in a new reformation based on the historical documents of the church. In these 39 Articles, we can continue forward as Episcopalians with some hope for the denomination.
--Troll and Ogre--
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