Formulary Friday: Keep Calm & Back to Thirty-nine Articles

Smith, Mark. “Formulary Friday: Why Creeds?”  Church Society.  30 May 2014. http://churchsociety.org/blog/entry/formulary_friday_why_creeds#When:06:00:00Z.  30 May 2014.

Formulary Friday: Why Creeds?

Posted by Mark Smith, 30 May 2014

In every major service in the Prayer Book, the congregation recite one of three Creeds, helpfully laid out for us in Article VIII:

“‘Of the Three Creeds’. The Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius’s Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles’ Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.”

At the Reformation, the Church of England made it clear that it remained part of, and in continuity with, the Catholic Church – and one way it did this was by retaining the Catholic Creeds. Scripture remains, as in all things, our primary authority – but these three Creeds provide us with briefer forms of that deposit of faith – they give us salvation in summary.

Creeds, then, summarise Biblical truths, and guard those truths from error and false teaching. They also allow communal affirmation of those Biblical truths – just as we were saved into a family of believers, so we praise God as a family.

 In Exodus 15, Moses, Miriam and the people of Israel sing to God of their deliverance, exalting his character and glorifying his name – and in the Creeds we do the same.

It’s one reason, of course, why we stand for Creeds – to make it clear that this is something that I personally assent to, truths that I personally take my stand upon.

Creeds also identify us as part of the Catholic Church. Each congregation that stands to affirm the Creed does so not only as the Church in one particular time and place, but joins that greater voice, which extends over the earth and echoes down the centuries.

In these old words, we receive and pass on the Christian tradition, the unchanging deposit of our faith, whilst receiving its truth and wisdom precisely into our own particular situation and context.

And so we are prepared for the worship of heaven, where before the Throne we shall sing praises to God and tell of his wonderful works (cf. Rev. 4-5).

So next Sunday, when you stand to say the Creed, do it with gusto!

Mark Smith is Curate at All Saints, Little Shelford, Cambridgeshire

See more at: http://churchsociety.org/blog/entry/formulary_friday_why_creeds#When:06:00:00Z

(Church Society) Formulary Friday: "Only in the Name of Jesus"

A commendable article and blog.  A blog recommended to other bloggers directly.  Protestant and Reformed Anglicans largely in England;  there be few in the US.


Smith, Mark. "Only in the Name of Jesus."  Church Society.  23 May 2014.  http://churchsociety.org/blog/entry/formulary_friday_only_the_name_of_jesus_christ#When:06:00:00Z.  Accessed 23 May 2014.

Formulary Friday: Only the name of Jesus Christ

A short and crisp post this week – and a reminder that these old Articles remain endlessly contemporary.

Article XVIII: 'Of Obtaining Eternal Salvation Only By the Name of Christ'. They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of Nature. For holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.

The Article is taking aim against the kind of inclusive, liberal view that says ‘it doesn’t really matter what you believe, it just matters that you’re sincere, and live in accordance with your beliefs’. Perhaps today this might often be expressed in terms of being respectful of other religions – ‘we’re all following the same God really’, ‘there are many paths up the mountain’.

But the Church of England has set her face decidedly against all this. The Article refers us back to Holy Scripture, wherein we read (Acts 4.12): There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Only in Jesus Christ do we find redemption, he alone is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father, but by him (John. 14.6). To deny this is wilfully to set aside the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and in vain to set up our own gods – it is to spurn our only hope and our only Saviour.

Beyond all the debates that currently preoccupy our Church, this Article points to her primary concern, and her fundamental message. Beyond all the many things which can distract us in our daily ministry and service, let us not forget this fundamental truth, which gives shape to all others: the uniqueness and sufficiency of Jesus Christ, who alone is our mediator and advocate.

CS Lewis puts this strikingly in the sixth of his Narnia books, The Silver Chair. It’s a conversation between the great Lion Aslan, and a new arrival to the land of Narnia called Jill, who knows little of the strange land, and even less about this great Lion. All Jill knows is that she’s very thirsty, but the only stream she can find is right next to the Lion.

‘Are you not thirsty?’ said the Lion.

‘I’m dying of thirst’, said Jill.

‘Then drink’, said the Lion.

‘May I – could I – would you mind going away while I do?’, said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

‘Will you promise not to – do anything to me, if I do come?’, said Jill.

‘I make no promise’, said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.

‘Do you eat girls?’, she said.

‘I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms’, said the Lion.

It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry.

It just said it. ‘I daren’t come and drink’, said Jill.

‘Then you will die of thirst’, said the Lion.

‘Oh dear!’, said Jill, coming another step nearer. ‘I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.’

‘There is no other stream’, said the Lion.

Mark Smith is Curate at All Saints, Little Shelford, Cambridgeshire –

See more at: http://churchsociety.org/blog/entry/formulary_friday_only_the_name_of_jesus_christ#When:06:00:00Z