An Anglican is merely a Christian following Jesus through a catholic body, a Confessional mind, and a Gospel Centered heart.
While it’s important to recognize that our global church is guided by three creeds (Nicene, Apostles, and Athanasian) along with the 39 Articles as our statement of faith, it’s also important to understand how these documents work in the life of an Anglican.
According to the catechism, “The Church is the whole community of faithful Christians in heaven and on earth. The Church on earth gathers in local congregations to worship in Word and Sacrament, to serve God according to the Scriptures, and to proclaim the Gospel, under the leadership of those whom God appoints for this purpose. (Articles of Religion , 19; Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Peter 2:9)”
An Anglican is merely a Christian following Jesus through a catholic body, a Confessional mind, and a Gospel Centered heart.
1. Anglicanism is Gospel-centered (Evangelical)
Anglicanism is Gospel Centered; rooted in the Reformation and Centered on the Good News
Rooted in the Reformation
While much as been made of King Henry the VIII, he is not the head of the Anglican Church (affirmed in his Six Articles of 1539 which repudiated Protestantism in England). Thomas Cranmer, followed by the boy King Edward and Elizabeth I, finally established the Anglican Church with a generous principle of reform: “If something in church practice is not forbidden in Scripture, we are free to retain it.” This proved a more helpful approach in national life than the more severe: “we will permit in church life only what is enjoined in Scripture.”
This English Reformation sought to reform the church according to the teaching of the Bible and the practice of the early church and was encouraged by the revival on the Continent led by Luther, Zwingli, and later, Calvin, who all made their mark on the English church.
Cast off were the trappings and authority of the medieval Roman Church, replaced by a liturgy in the common tongue; a rooted apostolic doctrine and Bible teaching priesthood steeped in the Scripture focused preaching. The oft quoted missionary bishop Stephen Neil distilled Anglicans thus:
“Show us some truth in the Bible that we are not teaching, and we will teach it; show us something we are teaching that is denied in the Bible, and we will stop teaching it.”
Anglicanism has no special feature of its own. It is simply the Christianity of the Bible, pure and simple, as it has been received through the history of the English people. What is distinctively Christian should describe Anglicanism.
Centered on Good News (Evangelical)
Thomas Cranmer, John Knox, Hugh Latimer all of the Anglican reformers were influenced by the Continental Reformation of Luther and Calvin such that the primacy of the Gospel melted hearts. The Gospel, William Tyndale said, “makes a man’s heart glad and makes him sing, dance, and leap for joy.”
The scriptures teach us of Christ alone reconciling sinners to God by grace alone and not by works, for God’s glory alone and received simply by faith alone. Anglicans are passionate about the Gospel not only because the Reformers were, but because we believe the Gospel still heals bruised bones, still makes the sad and sorrowful leap for joy, and still gives victory over sin, death, and the devil reconciling the child of God to himself and leading God’s people in liberty.
Anglican Worship is designed to bring the sinner into God’s presence not on his own merits, but on the merits of Christ alone. Dr. Ashley Null, the authority on Thomas Cranmer, roots the center of our worship neither on the Sermon nor the Eucharist… but the Comfortable Words. The divine allurement of the Gospel succinctly found in the Word of God to all who truly turn to Him:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 1 Timothy 1:15
If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2
It is only through Jesus that the Peace of the Lord can be always with us.
Anglicanism is Gospel Centered; rooted in the Reformation and Centered on the Good News
2. Anglicanism is catholic
By 1593 the Church of England had shown plainly that it would not walk in the ways either of Geneva or of Rome. This is the origin of the famous Via Media, the middle way, of the Church of England. Anglicanism is a very positive form of Christian belief; it affirms that it teaches the whole of Catholic faith, free from the distortions, the exaggerations, the over – definitions both of the Protestant left wing and of the right wing of Tridentine Catholicism. ( Stephen Neill, Anglicanism p. 119)
Thus, it is patristic, organic, liturgical and ecumenical
Patristic
Anglicans are very much in continuity with the patristic church. This is why Cranmer begins many of his homilies with support from such early church theologians as Athanasius, Augustine, John Chrysostom and many others. Cranmer’s implied point is that there is Patristic support for the theological points at the heart of the Reformation. More explicitly, John Jewel argues that “God’s holy Gospel, the ancient bishops, and the primitive Church do make on our side.”
The English Reformation did not believe it was charting a new course but rather recovering an old one. The English Reformers believed that the Medieval church had lost its way and therefore needed to be re-formed. Modern Reformation Anglicans see themselves, like their forbearers as reformed catholic Christians in continuity with the historic church and bearing the doctrine and substantial marks of early Christianity.
Reformation Anglicans recognized the second century marks of catholic identity
1) The canon of Scripture.
The 66 Books of the Bible recognized by 397AD as inspired by God and containing all things necessary for salvation, life, and Godliness
2) The Rule of Faith.
The Trinitarian structure which summarizes God the Father’s creation of the world, God the Son’s redemption of sinful humanity through the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, and God the Holy Spirit’s presence in the church and the Scriptures,
3) Apostolic succession
Recognizing the transmission of the Gospel by examination, manual transfer, historic lineage as a safeguard to the Faith
4) Worship in word and sacraments:
Using the Scripture to define and codify our Sunday liturgical patterns.
Anglicanism is not “Roman Catholicism without the pope”; neither is it Lutheranism or Calvinism with bishops. Anglicanism is “Reformed Catholicism” or “Catholic Evangelicalism” as a reforming movement within the Western Catholic Church. It does not understand itself as a new church that began with Henry VIII, but the same Catholic Church in continuity with the Celtic Church and the Church of Augustine of Canterbury, reformed of Medieval distortion and abuses, while also embracing the central doctrinal distinctives of the Reformation: sola scriptura, sola gratia, sola fide.
Organic
Not only do Anglicans look to the past fathers, we are organically connected to the worldwide communion.
Spurred on by Thomas Cranmer’s Good Friday Collects
Merciful God, creator of all the peoples of the earth and lover of souls: Have compassion on all who do not know you as you are revealed in your Son Jesus Christ; let your Gospel be preached with grace and power to those who have not heard it; turn the hearts of those who resist it; and bring home to your fold those who have gone astray; that there may be one flock under one shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord.
We actively seek hands-on mission with global partners organically recognized in the laying on of hands, but also through real and robust relationships, bringing us into a communion of Christians that is the third largest body in the world.
While we don’t have a pope, like Rome, we have real and true full communion, apostolic succession, and licensed ministry through confessional and conciliar relationships.
Liturgical
Dom Gregory Dix (ironically) described Cranmer’s order for Holy Communion as an admirable attempt to frame the Eucharist around the doctrine of justification by faith. This liturgical order catechized generations in the gospel. We acknowledge our sins as “provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us.” The cross of Jesus Christ is presented as “the full perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.” We receive the sacrament with the words, “The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ that was given for you, preserve your Body and soul unto everlasting life. Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your heart by faith with thanksgiving.” The best practice gives worshippers a balance of Word and Sacrament, both proclaiming the gospel.
Ecumenical
J.I. Packer says, “Anglicanism as a form of Christianity is …humble in spirit… we do not claim that Anglicanism is self-sufficient… Anglicans have always rejoiced to receive wisdom from outside their own circles.” Having a “vision of Christendom as a fragmented reality with flashes of truth and wisdom scattered all across the board. Our business as Anglicans, seeking the glory of God, is to pick up as much truth and wisdom … as we possibly can.
Anglicanism is catholic in its patristic, organic, liturgical and ecumenical commitments
3. Anglicanism is Confessional
Anglicanism is Confessional in its Doctrine, Scripture Centeredness and Clear Boundaries
Doctrinal
The 39 Articles are required subscriptions for Anglican clergy establishing orthodoxy within English Protestantism. And they’re meant to be said with full throated attestation… not with fingers crossed behind the back.
Note, the Anglican Church is not “Cranmerian”. Unlike the Lutherans, and Calvinists, one subscribed not to the teachings of Thomas Cranmer (or Ridley, or Parker, or Hooker, etc.) but one subscribed to the Articles of Religion. To be sure, Anglicanism is informed by the various personalities of the English Reformation (and Celtic and Augustinian fathers) but it is identified by a confession of the faith of the Protestant Church of England.
That faith is found in the “Book of Common Prayer” which is the fruit of scripturally founded, Gospel centered doctrine which comes from the 39 Articles. As the Lambeth Quadrilateral would say, 1 Scripture 2 Sacraments, 3 Creeds, and a plurality of Bishops
The Jerusalem Declaration states: “We rejoice in our Anglican sacramental and liturgical heritage as an expression of the gospel, and we uphold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, to be translated and locally adapted for each culture.”
Scripture Centered
The authority of the Scriptures is as clearly established in Anglicanism’s foundational documents as in any church; These foundational documents guide our interpretation of Scripture. We read, systematically, through the Scriptures and hear the Bible taught and explained. At ordination, our ministers are symbolically presented with copies of the Scriptures as a sign that they are to read, obey, preach, and to enable lay people to read and obey, the Bible
.
Clear Boundaries
Anglicanism has limits. We broke from Rome for clear reasons. Anglicans believe the Gospel is central and is found in the whole Bible, in contrast to those who regard much of the Bible as obsolete.
Anglicans believe in ancient creedal formulations, such as the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed which are taken at face value, without reservation in contrast to those who say the words “with their fingers crossed” (to quote Bp. John Rodgers)
Anglicans believe in a catholic faith that regards conciliar action and humble discipline to be core to our mere Christianity in contrast to those who impose their latest prophetic ideas with condescension and colonialism.
And, finally, Anglicans believe that Jesus truly did exist as the divine Son before he was born, that he actually was born of a virgin, and that he really was raised bodily from the dead.
As C.S. Lewis wrote in, “God in the Dock”, …bounding lines must exist, beyond which your doctrine will cease to be Anglican or to be Christian…”
Whether it be our Celtic fore-bearers, Reformation brothers and sisters, or modern day Bishops we are a church that is ever reforming — coming back to our Gospel centered, catholic and Confessional roots.
An Anglican is merely a Christian following Jesus through a catholic body, a Confessional mind, and a Gospel Centered heart.