Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

ACNA Catechism (Pt. 5): Arminian Soteriology/TFO-Sacramentology

Robin Jordan


What does the new ACNA catechism teach about the sacraments? (Part 5)



By Robin G. Jordan

In this examination of questions 120 – 123 and the answers to these four questions in Part II of Being a Christian: An Anglican Catechism, we will be looking at what the new ACNA catechism teaches about absolution, and ordination.
120. What is absolution?

After repenting and confessing my sins to God in the presence of a priest, the priest declares God’s forgiveness to me with authority given by God. (John 20:22-23; James 5:15-16)
In the answer to question 120 we find a description of the Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic practices of auricular confession and priestly absolution. See Fredrick Meyrick’s article, “Absolution,” in A Protestant Dictionary.

Also see “Chapter VII: The Absolution in the Visitation of the Sick,” (p. 101), “Chapter VIII: Auricular Confession,” (p. 115) and “Appendix – Bishop Wilberforce and Dr. Pusey on Private Confession” (p. 215) in Dyson Hague’s The Protestantism of the Prayer Book and “The Voice of the Church of England on Auricular Confession” and Joseph Bardley’s “Confession and Forgiveness of Sins” in the Church Association Tracts (Vol. 1).

As we have seen in our examination of the four previous questions and answers in this section of the new ACNA catechism, the catechism takes the Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic position that absolution is a sacrament. While the new ACNA catechism avoids the use of the term “penance,” which the Thirty-Nine Articles identify as “a corrupt following of the Apostles,” and endeavors to avoid other language that is associated with the Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic teaching on penance, it is quite clear that the new ACNA catechism is referring to what Thirty-Nine Articles and the Catechism of the Catholic Church call “penance.”

In support of the answer to question 120 the new ACNA catechism cites John 20:22-23 and James 5: 15-16. Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics interpret John 20:22-23 as supporting their teaching on auricular confession and priestly confession. Anglicans have historically divided over the meaning of this passage. See Fredrick Meyrick’s article, “Absolution,” in
A Protestant Dictionary.

In order to cite James 5: 15-16 in support of the practices of auricular confession and priestly aboution, one must ignore the plain meaning of the text, which encourages believers to confess their sins to one another and not to a priest.
Bishop Charles P. McIlvaine, a leading nineteenth century Evangelical in then Protestant Episcopal Church and author of Oxford divinity compared with that of the Romish and Anglican churches, pointed to the attention of a group of confirmands that, while the clergy of their church may have taught them to confess their sins to a priest, the same clergy should be confessing their own sins to the confirmands.
121. What grace does God give to you in absolution?

In absolution, God conveys to me his pardon through the cross, thus declaring to me reconciliation and peace with him, and bestowing upon me the assurance of his grace and salvation.
In the answer to question 121, the new ACNA describes the sacramental grace that it purports is conferred by priestly absolution. Compare this answer with what the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
I. What is This Sacrament Called?

1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin.

It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.

1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.

It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace."

It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God." He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother."
For the rest, see:
 http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2014/02/what-does-new-acna-catechism-teach_25.html
 

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