Introduction to Anglican Theology

This is the first of eight lessons introducing Anglican Theology. Each lesson consists of a written “lecture,” followed by review questions to call attention to important aspects of the lesson, and then followed by a discussion question to apply the lesson to the life of your community. Our first lesson introduces articles one through five of the Articles of Religion. The Articles of Religion are given on this website.

(Lesson One)

Introduction

We are going to be studying Anglican Theology. Anglican theology took characteristic form in the 16th century when the English Church, like many other Christian bodies, broke away from the Roman Church and formed a national church. After the break with Rome, Anglican theology continued to develop through the centuries. We cannot study these many developments in an introductory course. Our goal is to investigate some essential features of early Anglican theology as that is when Anglicanism took its classical form.

Why did Anglicans and many other Christian bodies break from the Roman Church in the sixteenth century? There were many reasons for this. Here are some of them.

• the translation of Scripture into national languages
• the invention of the printing press in 1450 which made learning available to a great many people who formed their own ideas
• the new learning in which scholars began to study the Scriptures apart from the teaching authority of the Roman Church
• the rise of nationalism so that countries established their own religious and political policies independent of Rome
• the development of new theological perspectives based upon a new way of reading Scripture
• the rejection of a number of Roman practices and beliefs as being unbiblical and superstitious
•the need for people to worship in their own language rather than in Latin as was done in the Roman Church.

All of these factors and more produced a century of profound change, and in that century, Anglicanism took its characteristic form.

As we shall see, Anglicans came to believe that the Roman Church had distorted the ancient faith. As a result, Anglicans called for a Reformed Catholicism where the term “catholic” means “universal,” that is, the teaching and practice of the church of the first five centuries when there was a single, universal Christian church. In their view, many of the beliefs of the Roman Church as it had developed over the centuries were not found in Scripture or the practice of the ancient church, and therefore, they had to be rejected. For example, the early English Reformers could find no basis in Scripture and early church teaching for such things as the absolute authority of the pope, that certain traditions of the church were equal in authority to Scripture, that clergy had to be celibate, that Christ was sacrificed again in the mass (the holy communion), that there was such a thing as purgatory, that one could buy indulgences that released a soul from purgatory, that one could earn salvation through good works, that the laity could not receive wine at communion, and more.

The Articles of Religion

As the English Church took form, it became necessary to define Anglican doctrine, not only in regard to what were considered the errors of Rome, but also the errors of other Christian groups. To that end, a series of articles of religion were proposed, beginning with the Ten Articles of 1536 and followed by the Six Articles of 1539. These articles essentially maintained Roman doctrine, but in 1553 a new set of articles was published, forty-two articles in all. In these articles, Archbishop Cranmer, in consultation with other Anglicans and scholars from the various Protestant churches of Europe, set forth what was to become the Anglican position. After considerable debate and reflection, a final edition of thirty-eight articles was submitted to the church’s governing body (the convocation) and to Queen Elizabeth, the head of the Anglican Church. These were approved and became church law in 1563. Then, in 1571, these articles with one additional article, were submitted to the English Parliament and were approved. All Anglican clergy in England were required, upon ordination, to subscribe to the Thirty-Nine Articles. These articles have not been changed to this day and define English theology in its inception.

Anglican Theology is classical theology, the theology of the universal church, especially the theology developed in the first few centuries. In those centuries the church was frequently afflicted with false teaching. This is understandable since, as the church expanded from kingdom to kingdom and from tribe to tribe, peoples who had little or no prior understanding of Christianity could easily misinterpret Christian teaching. To help in the teaching of new coverts, the church not only accepted Scripture as the foundation of all Christian Truth, but also short summaries of the Christian faith. These summaries went by various names such as the “regula,” the “rule of faith,” the “tradition,” or the “tradition of the apostles.” The New Testament mentions this tradition, using the words such as “the deposit,” “the teaching,” “sound doctrine,” or the “the faith,” to describe the summary of the most important Christian beliefs. These short summaries were especially important in training new Christians for baptism.

These short summaries of the faith could also be called “proto-creeds” since they were forerunners of what came to be known as the creeds. When false teaching emerged in the church, the church responded by taking their original summaries and augmenting them with additional phrases and words that denied the false teaching. These developed creeds were then affirmed by the entire church sitting in counsel together. These creeds lay the foundation for the theology of the Articles of Religion.

In this lesson, we will investigate the first five articles of The Articles of Religion

, as well as two creeds, the original creed of

Nicea adopted in 325, and the Creed of Chalcedon adopted in 451. You will need to read these three creeds.

At this point, I will present some background information to help us understand the first five articles more fully. To help in this, I have consulted the excellent book by W.H. Griffith Thomas, Principles of Theology (London: Church Book Room Press, 1951).

Article 1. Two great doctrines comprise the heart of the Christian faith, the Trinity and the doctrine of Jesus Christ, and these two doctrines are described in Articles 1 and 2.

God is one. That is the starting point of Article 1. The oneness of God was the distinctive characteristic of Jewish faith, and since the earliest Christians were Jews, they began with the fact that there is only one true God. The classic text, taken from Deuteronomy 7:4 and repeated by Jesus in Mark 12:29, is this, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

The one true God has certain characteristics. He is a living God. He is alive. He is life, and he is the source of all life. He is also the “true God,” meaning that God is real, substantial, and actual, as against something that is false or unreal. As the true God he is also truthful. He does not lie or deceive. He is also eternal, without a beginning and without an end. He is without a body. Because we are bodily, we are limited in time and space. God is not limited. He is present to all time and all places. As indivisible, he is not subject to inner conflict or imperfection of any kind. As invulnerable, no force is capable of standing against him. He governs and rules all things. As we mention these characteristics, it is important to remember that these divine characteristics are found in Scripture.

He is of “infinite power, wisdom and goodness.” This is very important. Infinite in goodness means he will always work for good, always. Infinite in power means that there is no obstacle to his working for good in all circumstances. Infinite in wisdom means that he always knows the best way to work for good in all circumstances.

As we consider these characteristics of God it becomes clear that God is utterly unlike any other reality we may know or understand. The theological term for this is “transcendent.” As transcendent, he is utterly unlike all other things. Only God is infinite in power, wisdom, and goodness. God, to quote Luke 3:8, “is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.” No other power can do this. Since God is infinite in wisdom, we cannot expect to fully understand his ways. But, as revealed in Scripture, above all in Jesus Christ, he is infinite goodness and therefore he can be trusted in every circumstance of life.

“He is the maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible.” Christian theology has traditionally affirmed that God created all things out of nothing. He can do this because he is infinite in power, wisdom, and goodness. As creator, he also preserves all things. This means, without his active preserving, all things would be subject to chaos and dissolution. He gives life and he preserves life. As infinite, he is present to all things at every moment -- to our thoughts, to our hearts, to the world around us. Nothing escapes his gaze. His presence is an active presence. At certain moments he simply preserves a given situation and his presence seems hidden. But he is always there, always working for the good. At other moments he acts, or speaks, or appears. Scripture, from one end to another, is filled with accounts of God acting, speaking, and appearing. These events assure us that God is always there, working for the best. He can and will create a final good. On the last day he will create a new heaven and a new earth. Then his people will see him face to face. God ”will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

How do we know these things? We know them by revelation, above all, the revelation of Jesus Christ. When the disciples saw and heard the Lord Jesus, they saw not only a man, but with time, they came to recognize that his words and deeds were the words and deeds of God. As Jews, they also believed that God was one, the transcendent power who created the world and revealed himself to Israel. When they encountered God as the person of Jesus, they came to recognize that God was not only transcendent, the one who acted in the life of their people Israel, yet at the same time, he was upon earth, present and active as the person of Jesus revealing the transcendent God. With time, this two-fold character of God, the transcendent creator, the God of Israel, yet the person of Jesus, led the church to understand that there was something two-fold about God, a transcendent creator who was also the person of Christ who revealed the Creator and fulfilled the promises to Israel. They experienced this reality in their very lives -- the living God of heaven and earth knelt before his disciples and washed their feet. As they experienced this two-fold reality, they realized that there was a power within them that made the revelation of God in Jesus Christ real in their lives. This power within them was the Holy Spirit, so that, with time, they began to recognize there was something three-fold about God – transcendent creator, living presence as the man Jesus who revealed the transcendent God, and a power active in their lives making Jesus real to them. Jesus called the transcendent, living God the Father, and using his language, the church came to recognize that God was the Father, that Jesus was the Son, and that the power who worked in them was the Holy Spirit. All of this flowed naturally out of the fact that the one God of Israel had revealed himself as the person of Jesus, and further, this revelation was made real in their lives by the Spirit.

When we say that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are not saying that God is three individual persons. If God were three individuals, God would be three, not one. But God is one only as three-fold, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We know the triune God in various ways. At times it may seem that God is no longer with us, as if we are alone. We may wonder why he doesn’t speak or act in our lives. We seem alone because God is transcendent and cannot be identified with any created thing. At other moments our attention may focus on the Lord Jesus, his atoning sacrifice, his mighty resurrection, the hope we have in him. As this happens, God the Father speaks to us, acting in our lives, and through Jesus, we come to know the Father, the transcendent God of glory. We know by the mighty resurrection of Christ that God’s power is so great that he will overcome all evil and bring us home. At other moments, we become aware of the fact that these great Christian realities have become real to us, that the very life of God is manifest in our midst. At those moments, we become aware of the work of the Spirit. If Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were three individuals, the Son would not perfectly reveal the Father. As an individual, I am somewhat like my father, yet very different from him. I am not a true revelation of my father, but only partially so. And if the Spirit were a distinct individual, he would not perfectly realize the person of Christ in us. We would not really be able to know Christ, nor through him, come to know the transcendent Father, the living God of love.

God is personal. As the one God, he speaks, acts, and appears. As one, God is personal. He is also personal as Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ acts and speaks in our lives, revealing himself as one with a will, intellect and feelings. As he speaks and acts, his words and deeds are the words and deeds of the Father, and then we know the Father, the transcendent God of everlasting love. As this happens, we know the Spirit, acting in our midst. Each of these three “persons” is recognized as personal, and each is personal in that each has a will, an intellect, and feelings. All three persons of the Trinity are personal as they speak, act, and appear as the one God in three ways of being real.

As God is in his revelation, so he is within himself. When God speaks or acts, it is always in a three-fold way. In creation, for example, the Spirit hovered over the waters (Genesis 1:2), and creation occurred as God spoke (Genesis 1:3ff). But the speech of God, his Word, is Jesus Christ (John 1:1 and 14), so that the New Testament will say that all things were created through Jesus Christ (John 1:3). Or, when God acted as the person of Christ, he then sent the Spirit so that the revelation in Christ would become real in human experience. Since God always acts or speaks in a three-fold way, and since God does not deceive in his actions, God within himself is three-fold, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God does not simply appear to be three-fold. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the one God. In other words, God is complex. He is not a uniform, undifferentiated divine nature. Rather, within God, there are distinctions between the three persons of the Trinity.

The article states that the three persons of the Trinity are “of one substance, power and eternity.” This is important. Early in the life of the Church a false teaching arose that claimed that the spiritual power that became incarnate in Jesus Christ was something less than God. In other words, something other than God was incarnate in Jesus Christ. As such, this being was a creature, something created by God rather than God himself. This heresy took hold of major portions of the church and was taught by Arius. This teaching was condemned at the Council of Nicea held in 325 A.D. Against this teaching an earlier creed was amplified to read that Jesus Christ was “the only-begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father,” as quoted in the Nicene Creed. If, as Scripture claims, Jesus was the Son of the Father, and if he were a creature, he would have been begotten or made by the Father, and like all created things, he would have had a beginning in time. Creatures are not eternal. They are created, even spiritual beings are created. But the spiritual being that became incarnate in Christ was God himself, not a creature, and therefore, the begetting of the Son, that is, the sending of the Son to reveal the Father, was something that happened eternally. In other words, whenever the Father speaks or acts, he does so as the Son, eternally begetting him so to speak, and this has occurred forever, even before the existence of the world. Or, to put it another way, within God, the Father is always eternally sending the Son, eternally begetting him. This is why the Nicene Creed will say that Jesus Christ was begotten before all ages, one who was begotten not made, Then, within time, as the Father sends the Son, he is sending himself, “light from light, true God from true God.”

It was absolutely vital for the church to defeat Arianism. If Christ is not the incarnation of God, then the works and deeds of Jesus were not the words and deeds of God. In that case, since only God can save, whatever happened in Jesus Christ was not the work of God and we are not saved by Jesus. Therefore, when speaking of the person of the Son, we say that he is God the Son, not simply a creature, but God, just as the Father who sent him was and is God. This may need to be restated. Within God there are three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One of them, the one begotten of the Father but not made, was sent by the Father to be incarnate in Jesus Christ. Only the divine Son was sent. The Father did not send himself, but sent the one he loved, his Son, to die for us.

Similarly, if the Holy Spirit were not God, then something less than God would be attempting to make the saving work of Christ real in us. But no spirit in heaven and earth can make salvation real in us. Only God can create in us the very life of Christ, a life that never ends. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is God, and we say that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Again, it is important to recognize that all these truths, here theologically set forth, have their basis in Scripture.

Since the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, they are have the same divine nature. Article 1 describes this by saying that all three are of “substance, power and eternity.” However, the article also states that God is infinite goodness, power, and wisdom, and therefore, since all persons of the Trinity are God, it follows that all three persons are infinite in goodness, power, and wisdom, as well as all the other characteristics that reflect the one, true God.

If, however, the three persons of the Trinity are the same as God, each of them being God, how can we distinguish one from the other? To address this we need to return to our understanding of how the early Christians came to know the three persons of the Trinity in the first place. As seen in earlier paragraphs, the early believers knew the one God, but then, they realized that this one God had sent his Son for their salvation, and that on the Day of Pentecost, God had poured out upon them the Holy Spirit so they would know the Son and by him know the eternal Father. From this perspective, the Father is the one who sent the Son, the Son is the one who was sent, and the Spirit proceeded from both in the sense that he made the life of the Father and Son real in Christian experience. From this it follows that the three persons of the Trinity are identical as God, of the same substance, power, and eternity, but they differ in that God the Father sends, the Son is sent, and the Spirit proceeds from both by making Father and Son real in the Christian life. Or, to say it more simply, the persons of the Trinity are identical as God, but are distinguished by their relations to one another.

In one sense these things are mysteries, but if we keep certain facts in mind we can see our way forward. We begin with the three-fold experience of God. Since God does not lie, he is three-fold within himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christian faith, following Judaism, knew that God was the transcendent creator of all. Jesus called this God “Father,” the one who sent Jesus for our salvation. If the power incarnate in Jesus was less than God, Jesus did not save. If the spirit that works Christ’s salvation in us were less than God, then we are not empowered to receive salvation. But Jesus did die for our salvation and we have truly received the gift of eternal life. Therefore, Father, Son, and Spirit are all God, of the same substance, power, and eternity. In terms of their being God, the persons of the Trinity are identical, each the same God. They differ in their relations one with another.

This understanding of God differs from two other alternatives in regard to God. These are paganism and deism. Paganism is the belief that the natural powers of the world are divine. For ancient people these powers were such things as the sun, the moon, and the earth, various animals and other beings, spirits or powers such as the power of love or the intellect, great human beings like the Egyptian Pharaoh or the Roman Emperor. All these were worshipped and it was believed that they gave life and happiness. Although some people today worship the ancient natural powers such as the sun or the moon, the earth or the lakes, most people do not. All of us, however, to some degree in one form of another, believe that our true happiness is found in being blessed by the natural goods of life -- such things as financial success, ample possessions, a healthy body, an ideal spouse, and a position of status and or power in the family, the society or the church. Like the pagans of old, most people seek these things constantly, and as they seek them, they love them, and their love is shown by their constantly pursuing worldly things -- worrying about them, fighting over them, and wishing they had more and fearing to have less. This is the pagan perspective -- inordinate attention to and love of the things of the created world.

According to Scripture, the creeds, and the Articles of Religion, there is only one true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is not many forces and powers such as status, wealth, and health. He and he alone knows all things, and Scripture makes it clear that one should not be involved with occult powers such as consorting with spirits or communicating with the dead. He is the one, final authority, and further, he is utterly different from all these things. He is uncreated, living in heaven, the creator and ruler of all things. He alone has the power to create the world, and when it has gone wrong, to recreate it by Jesus Christ whom he raised from the dead. If we attach ourselves to lesser powers, we will go down with them since, apart from Christ, all things are subject to corruption and death. For that reason, for our sake, Jesus commands us to "… love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Above all, loving God means having faith in the One that he has sent, and if we hold to Jesus Christ, we shall come to know God and inherit eternal life.

Paganism does, however, witness to one aspect of Christian Truth. Pagans believe in powers that do things upon earth. The Father of Jesus Christ does indeed do things upon earth, but unlike the pagan powers, he has the power to recreate the heavens and the earth on the last day (Revelation 21:1). No pagan power has this authority.

Deism is the belief that God created the world and then withdrew his active presence. Deists believe there is a God, but this God does nothing in anyone’s life. Such a God is remote in heaven. Very few people are actually deists, but many are practical deists. They believe in God, they may even believe in Christ, but they are not interested in God acting in their lives, or they may think that God acts in the lives of others but not in their lives. Some of these people have humble hearts. They are longing for God but feel he has rejected them. That is where the ministry of the church is so important because God always wants to have a relationship of love with those who seek his presence. Deism witnesses to one aspect of Christian Truth. God is in heaven. He is not a worldly power. Deists, however, do not believe that God acts in life. Above all, true deists will not think that God became incarnate in the man Jesus for that is God’s supreme act upon earth.

To sum up, knowing God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is our greatest good. We know him as we remain faithful in times of darkness when he seems so remote and far away. In those times we hold to him by faith that he has revealed himself as love in Jesus Christ. At other times, he draws close to us and we experience his presence as the person of Jesus. He speaks, acts, and appears, and the Holy Spirit makes him very real to us. We respond in praise, thanksgiving, and obedience, interacting with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, together with other believers in a community of love. That is joy, the joy of being a Christian, a joy that has a glorious end, eternal life with God.

What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Colossians 2:9).

Article 2. This article contains a number of ideas that we have already explored in Article 1. For example, we learned in Article 1 that if the spiritual being that took flesh in the person of Jesus was not God, then Jesus Christ did not save since only God can save. Therefore the second person of the Trinity, God the Son who became incarnate in the man Jesus, was and is, quoting Article 2, “the true and eternal God, of one substance with the Father.” The word “substance” does not mean anything material. According to Article 1, God does not have a body, nor do the Father, Son, and Spirit have bodies since each is God. The Son, like all the persons of the Trinity, is a spiritual being. The word “substance” is a theological word, telling us that both the Son and the Father are God. Both have the same “God-substance” so to speak. From Article 1 we know that this substance entails such things as infinite power, wisdom, and goodness.

In Scripture there are usually two words describing the second person of the Trinity. They are Son and Word. The Son is sent from the Father to be incarnate in the Lord Jesus, and as Jesus spoke and acted, God was speaking his Word. When I speak words my words are human words, and when God speaks words, his words are divine words, the Word of God that became incarnate as Jesus. This Word or Son was, as discussed in Article 1, “begotten from eternity of the Father,” as phrased in Article 2.

If God the Son or Word became incarnate, took flesh, spoke and acted as the man Jesus spoke and acted, how were the divine Son or Word and the human Jesus related to each other? In addressing this question, two words are especially important. The first is “nature.” What is the nature of something? The nature of a thing is what it is like, its characteristics and qualities. When God the Word entered into the person of Jesus, the Lord Jesus then had a divine nature since God the Son was incarnate in him. This means there was something eternal about the person of Christ, since it is the nature of God to be eternal. That is why Jesus would say, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58).

The second important word for understanding how the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ are related is the word “person.” A person is a separate individual. All persons share a common human nature, but that human nature reaches a specific form and distinctive expression in each person, distinct from other persons who share the same common humanity.

What happened to Jesus’ human nature when the divine nature of God the Son became incarnate in him? Did the divine nature of Christ abolish the humanity of Jesus? Was the humanity of Jesus an illusion, an appearance God used to communicate divine truths? This belief was called docetism. Or, perhaps the divine nature of God the Son or Word that entered into Christ preserved almost all his human characteristics, but since Jesus’ words and deeds were really those of God, perhaps the mind Jesus used was the mind of God the Son. In that case, Jesus Christ was a man like us, except he did not have a human intellect. Rather, his intellect was that of his divine nature, but apart from that he had a body and feelings just as we do. This belief was called Apollinarianism. Or perhaps the human nature of Jesus took personal form like our human nature. His divine nature was also a person, being the second person of the Trinity. In that case Jesus Christ was composed of two persons who worked together to save the human race. This view was called Nestorianism. Or, finally, perhaps the human and divine natures fused together to form something unique, a third thing that was something other than perfectly human or perfectly divine. This view was called Eutychianism. All these views were promoted by various persons in the early history of the church.

These four alternatives, that the humanity of Jesus was an illusion, that his intellect was not human but divine, and that his human and divine natures were each full persons that worked together, and that the human and divine natures fused into a third thing, were rejected by the early church. In 451 A.D, in the city of Chalcedon, a general council of all the churches was called. At that time a creed was developed which denied the wrong teaching on the human and divine natures of Christ and affirmed the truth of the Christian faith. Please read that Creed at this time. You will notice that its essential ideas are found in Article 2.

Article 2 states that Jesus Christ possessed a whole and complete human nature and a whole and complete divine nature, and these two came together to form one person. The divine nature was given by the incarnation of God the Son, his human nature by his birth from the blessed, virgin Mary. Why did the church reach this conclusion, and what does it mean? Why is it important? First, the church derived all its conclusions from Scripture, and as they did so, they made certain theological affirmations. From Scripture they recognized that if Jesus possessed something less than a whole and complete human nature, then his sacrifice of himself on the cross for our sins did not save the whole of us. For example, if Jesus did not have a human intellect, then his sacrifice did not pay the price for the sins of our minds. In that case our minds are still in sin. If his body was simply an illusion, then he did not offer his body in sacrifice to redeem our bodies and our bodies are not saved. If he really did not have a human nature because it became something other than human by fusing with the divine, then he did not offer our human nature on the cross for our sins. For that reason, the human nature of Jesus Christ was whole and complete. We are fully redeemed, all aspects of our humanity.

As we learned in Article 1, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, was incarnate in the man Jesus. Therefore, as the incarnation of God the Son, Jesus Christ possessed a whole and complete divine nature, the second person of the Trinity. Further, as we read the gospels, we can see at once that Jesus Christ was one person, a single, acting individual. He was not two persons, but only one person. If he were two persons, the words and deeds of the man Jesus would not be the words and deeds of God, but of Jesus himself as a separate individual. And if his words and deeds were only human and not also divine, then God was not acting to save in the person Jesus Christ. Therefore, Jesus Christ was one person in which the full and complete divinity and the full and complete humanity “were joined together in one person, never to be divided.” The one person was the Son, the second person of the Trinity, while his humanity was a general humanity. If his humanity took personal form, there would be two persons in Christ, the human and the divine, but there is only one, the person of God the Son.

You will notice these phrases in the Creed of Chalcedon, “as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer (Theotokos)…” Why is Mary called Theotokos,” the “God-bearer”? To address that question we must introduce one other concept, the communicatio idiomatum. Please consider these verses taken from Scripture. “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). This sentence states that God obtained the church “with his own blood.” The blood referred to here is the blood of Christ, so that in Christ, it is appropriate to say that God acquired the church with his blood. God, of course, has no blood, but in Christ, it can be said that the property of shedding blood, which belongs to the human nature of Christ, also belongs to the divine nature so that God himself shed blood. Consider this sentence, “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (First Corinthians 2:8). The word “Lord” is a title for God, and only God is the “Lord of glory,” so that the verse is saying that God was crucified. God cannot be crucified, he is eternal. Yet, in Christ, it can be said that the property of being crucified which belongs to the human nature of Christ, also belongs to the divine nature so that, in the one person of Christ, it can be said that God was crucified. Or, consider the statement frequently found in the New Testament, “Jesus is Lord.” The word “Lord” is a title for God. Jesus was a man and Scripture clearly teaches that no human being is God, yet in the one person of Jesus Christ, it can be said that the property of being Lord, a property which belongs to the divine nature, also belongs to the human nature so that the man Jesus is Lord. Similarly, it was a property of Jesus’ human nature that the Virgin Mary carried and formed him in her womb, yet in the one person of Jesus Christ, this property of being carried in the womb of Mary was also a property of his divine nature, so that the Virgin Mary was Theotokos, the God-bearer. Or, it was a property of the human nature of Jesus Christ to speak and act, but in the one person of Jesus Christ, this human property of Jesus was also that of the divine nature, so that the words and deeds of the man Jesus were also the words and deeds of God. In the one person of Jesus Christ it can be said that the properties of the human nature belong to the divine nature, and the properties of the divine nature belong to the human. This is the communicatio idiomatum, and it has its basis in the one person of Jesus Christ. Only in the one person, Christ Jesus, no where else, does the communicatio idiomatum hold.

If there were no communicatio idiomatum, then the words and deeds of Jesus would belong to his human nature alone, and God would not be speaking and acting as the person of the Lord Jesus. In that case, God would not save us in Christ. Or, if there were no communicatio idiomatum, we would not call Jesus Lord, a title that belongs only to God.

In regard to its nature, the divine nature is not human. It is fully divine but not human. God has no blood and he cannot be crucified and die. But in Christ Jesus, God did shed blood and was crucified. In regard to its nature, the human nature of Jesus Christ is not divine. Simply as a man, Jesus could never be given the title “Lord.” His human nature was just like ours except for sin, and we are not the Lord. In the one person of Jesus Christ, however, it can be said that Jesus is God. When Thomas saw the human body of the resurrected Jesus, the wound in his side and the print of the nails, and when he heard the Lord Jesus speaking human words to him, he replied, “My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28)

In certain ways these things are difficult to understand, but we must affirm certain facts about Jesus Christ, truths which are taught in Scripture. If Jesus Christ was not the incarnation of God the Son, then there is no salvation in Christ since only God can save. If his human nature was not a whole and complete human nature, then he did not fully redeem us on the cross. If he were two persons, he would be a strange thing, utterly unlike the one person we meet as we read Scripture. Further, we would not call him Lord and his words and deeds would not be those of God. Therefore, he was one person with two natures, and the words and deeds of that one person were the saving words and deeds of God as well as human words and deeds.

There are many other things that could be said at this point, but this is an introduction to Anglican Theology and not a full course. Therefore, we will leave aside some of the further perplexities of Articles 1 and 2 and draw a few important conclusions.

Since Jesus possessed a human nature, he was like us though without sin. Therefore, as it says in Hebrews 4: 15-16, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” When we pray, we can rest assured that Christ in his mercy hears us and will respond with infinite goodness and wisdom.

Jesus Christ is God’s saving act, and since Jesus Christ was fully human, God’s saving acts involve a full human nature. This was true of Jesus and it is true of God’s actions today. As God acts through the ministry of the church, in such things as worship, teaching, preaching, acts of mercy, healing and deliverance, he acts by means of the full humanity of Christians. He does not bypass our wills, intellects, or bodies. Falling in a trance, for example, is no sign that we have received revelation. Preparing for a sermon is a sign that we have used our minds for revelation. Laying-on-of-hands is a sign that God is using our bodily nature for healing. Showing mercy means human actions that involve our full capacities, the mind, the will, and the heart.

Article 2 concludes by stating that Christ died for our sins. The great truth on the atoning work of Christ is also mentioned in other Articles, especially Article 31, and I will leave the discussion of the atonement to those articles. As discussed in Article 2, it can readily be seen that the one person Jesus Christ was fully human and fully divine, for if not, his work on the cross did not save.

Article 3. This article can be interpreted in many different ways, depending, among other things, on how one understands the word “hell.” What does seem clear, however, especially since the article follows Article 2 which spoke of Christ’s full human nature, is that the Lord Jesus experienced the many forms of suffering common to our human nature. One such form is hell, and however hell is understood, it is a terrible place and Christ entered it to redeem us from its terrors.

Article 4. In the time of the early church there were those who denied that Jesus was actually flesh and bones. They were called Docetics, taken from a Greek word which means to appear. In their view, Christ only appeared to take flesh, and therefore, no real body was crucified, nor was there a physical resurrection. At the time of the Reformation there were some who revived this ancient heresy. Together with the universal church of the centuries, Anglicans believe in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and even more, of his bodily ascension into heaven. The belief that Christianity is nothing more than a set of beautiful ideas or inspired moral teaching is docetic. Or the belief that the Christian faith is not about healing the body, or making sure people have enough to eat, is docetic. Christian faith is bodily. Jesus was bodily raised, and on the last day, we will be bodily raised with a transformed body, one that is imperishable as described by Paul in First Corinthians.

Article 5. We have, in our study of Articles 1 and 2, seen that the work of the Spirit is to make real in the Christian community the saving life of Christ. What does this mean? Let me list a few of the works of the Lord Jesus as made real by the Spirit. The Spirit gives the community and its members a hunger for the Word of God, and therefore, they begin to read and study Scripture, receiving it into their hearts. As they read Scripture, Christ becomes real to them and then, by the power of the Spirit, they begin to live his words and deeds. They worship, heal the sick, proclaim the everlasting gospel, feed the hungry, forgive their enemies and ask forgiveness, receive the rejected, cast out evil spirits, and serve others in their families, churches, places of work, and community. Above all, they come to know Christ, and through him, the Father of everlasting love. Empowered by the Spirit, they love God with all their hearts, minds, and souls, and learn to love their neighbors as themselves. This, all this, is created by the Spirit who enlivens the testimony of Scripture so that the life of Christ becomes a living reality in the church. This is what is meant by the phrase that the “Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son,” to quote Article 5. He has the authority to do this because he “is of one substance, majesty and glory with the Father and the Son, true and eternal God.”

Review Questions

1. When did Anglican theology take characteristic form?

2. Lesson One describes seven reasons for the splintering of Christendom in the 16th century. Read them and list the three you think might have been the most significant.

3. Lesson One mentions eight ways the Anglican Reformers disagreed with Rome. List the three that seem the most important to you.

4. What was the purpose of the Articles of Religion?

5. In what year were the Articles of Religion approved by convocation?

6. In regard to the Articles of Religion, what was required of each person who was to be ordained?

7. State two of the ways the early church made use of creeds.

8. What two great doctrines provide the theological foundation of the Christian faith?

9. List seven characteristics of God as found in Article 1.

10. Why, according to Lesson One, is it important that God be infinite in power, wisdom, and goodness?

11. What does the word “transcendent” mean?

12. What does it mean that God preserves all things?

13. The lesson speaks of God as an active presence. What is meant by that? Be brief.

14. Briefly state in what way, as Jews, the early disciples of Jesus came to a two-fold understanding of God’s nature.

15. What happened to them that caused them to then arrive at a three-fold understanding of God?

16. In what ways are the experience of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit different from each other?

17. What does it mean that God is personal?

18. What does it mean that the three persons of the Trinity are “of one substance, power and eternity”?

19. Why is it important that the three persons of the Trinity be “of one substance, power and eternity”?

20. What did Arius teach?

21. What phrases in the original Nicene Creed deny the teaching of Arius?

22. Why was it so important that the teaching of Arius be rejected?

23. Since all three persons of the Trinity are identical as God, how are they distinguished from one another?

24. What is paganism?

25. List the powers, or forces, or ideas, or spirits, that the people in your community believe will make them happy, or successful, or strong.

26. What is deism? Are many people in your community practical deists? Are there many who do not believe in God at all?

27. Article 2 says that God the Son was of one substance with the Father. What is the meaning of the word “substance” in this article?

28. What two important words are used in Scripture to describe God the Son?

29. What two words are important for understanding how God the Son incarnate in Jesus Christ was related to the human nature of Jesus?

30. The lesson describes four ways how the presence of God the Son in the man Jesus could have affected his human nature. All four of these ways were rejected by the church. Briefly state each of these four ways.

31. What council of the church rejected the four ways mentioned in the previous question and affirmed the true understanding of the relationship between the divine and human natures of Christ?

32. Why is it so important that Jesus Christ have a whole and complete human nature?

33. This question has four parts. What phrases or words from the Creed of Chalcedon deny

a. docetism?

b. Appolinarianism?

c. Nestorianism?

d. Eutychianism?

34. What phrases from the Creed of Chalcedon affirm his complete human nature?

35. What phrases from the Creed of Chalcedon affirm his complete divine nature?

36. Why did the church reject the idea that there were two persons, one divine and one human, in the man Jesus?

37. What is the communicatio idiomatum?

38. Give two examples of the communicatio idiomatum taken from Scripture.

39. Lesson One, in the paragraph that mentions Hebrews 4:15-16, gives one reason why it is so important that Jesus have a full human nature. What is that reason?

40. In the following paragraph, Lesson One gives another implication of the fact that Jesus had a full human nature. Describe in one paragraph what this means to you and your ministry.

41. Since Article 3 follows immediately after Article 2, what is the significance of Christ going down into hell?

42. State in three or four sentences why you think the bodily resurrection of Jesus is important.

43. The comments in Lesson One on Article 5 list several works of the Spirit as lived in the local church. Which ones are most strongly represented in your church and which are weakest?

Discussion Questions

Gather a few people together for a discussion. You will need at least two other people in addition to yourself. You do not need to use the same people as you did for previous lessons, but you may use those same people if you wish.

In this lesson there was a discussion of paganism and how the Christian faith differs from paganism. Tell your group about this. Ask your group to tell you how they see paganism being believed and lived in your community, and also, how one should go about leading a Christian rather than a pagan life.

The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
February, 2015