Global Anglican Commentary

Article 2. The Holy Scriptures (Part One)

By the Reverends Ron Offringa and Brandon LeTourneau

Article 2.

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.

While God speaks to us in many ways, and spoke most clearly in his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2), the Scriptures are the fount from which Christians are called to drink that we might receive Christ. Indeed, the Words of God lead us to the Word of God himself (John 5:39-40). As the First Homily rightly declares:

Unto a Christian man there can be nothing either more necessary or profitable than the knowledge of holy Scripture; forasmuch as in it is contained God’s true word, setting forth his glory and also man’s duty.And there is no truth nor doctrine necessary for our justification and everlasting salvation, but that is or may be drawn out of that fountain and well of truth. Therefore as many as be desirous to enter into the right and perfect way unto God must apply their minds to know holy Scripture; without the which they can neither sufficiently know God and his will, neither their office and duty.

The Drama of Scripture

God reveals through a dramatic narrative his redemption of mankind in the Scriptures. The Old Testament bears witness to God’s mighty acts of salvation for his people under the Old Covenant while the New Testament records the sending of the Son and the Spirit for the salvation of the world under the New Covenant.

Therein we read of God’s creation and order of the universe so that it might reflect his goodness. We remember Man’s fall from grace, which subjected him to the tyranny of sin, death, and the devil. We learn of God’s promise to crush the head of the Serpent through the Seed of the Woman. We see God’s unilateral grace to Abraham, promising that his Seed would inherit the earth. We hear the cry of Israel to be delivered from slavery, the cry of Moses to set his people free, and the cry of Egypt as God issues his judgements. We see God raise up Prophets, Priests, and Kings, each images of that final Redeemer promised in the Garden. We watch Israel and Judah fall into idolatry and, as promised, be led into captivity that the land may rest. We harken to the promise of a coming anointed one who will be cut off, bearing his people’s sin, but seeing his posterity. We see Israel return to the land, but foreign invasion after foreign invasion leaves God’s people crying out, “How long?”

In the midst of Roman occupation and priestly corruption, a voice in the wilderness cries out: “Behold the Lamb of God!” The promised Seed, born of a woman, born under the Law, has come to ransom for himself a people to God. Jesus of Nazareth gathered disciples to himself and traveled throughout Judea preaching that the Kingdom of God has come near, teaching how to live now in the Kingdom to come, and demonstrating the renewal of all things through healing the sick, casting out demons, and raising the dead. After three years of ministry Jesus was betrayed by one of his own and condemned by the people he came to save. Nailed to the cross, he draws all men to himself. Buried for three days, his soul descends to the underworld to announce victory over fallen angels and preach the Gospel to the dead. On the third day his body and soul are united again as women rush to the disciples proclaiming the resurrection of the Son. After forty days he ascends to the right hand of God, and after ten days, he sends the Holy Spirit to anoint the Church for mission. Peter, John, James and the other Apostles preach Christ crucified, suffer affliction, and rejoice that they have been counted worthy to suffer for the Name. Saul, who becomes Paul, learns himself how much he will suffer for the very Christ he once persecuted. Traveling through the provinces of the empire, Paul preaches the Gospel and plants church after church. These same Apostles write letters to these churches, encouraging them to hold to the faith once delivered to the saints, even while the one who leaned upon our Lord’s breast receives a vision of the end of the age.

Containing All Things Necessary for Salvation

But the Scripture is more than just a narrative of redemption. Rather, as Article Six of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion states concerning the Scriptures, “whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.” This protects the faithful from modern Pharisaism, which asserts that the personal pieties of individuals must be received by all, even if they cannot be proved by Holy Writ. We must always distinguish private interpretation from God’s spoken Word.1 For example, while it is permissible for one to hold that Mary was assumed into Heaven, the deposit of faith contained in the Scriptures makes no such assertion and therefore the faithful are not required to believe this for their salvation.

The Second Council of Constantinople (A.D. 553) makes this fascinating declaration: “For although the grace of the Holy Spirit abounded in each one of the Apostles, so that no one of them needed the counsel of another in the execution of his work, yet they were not willing to define on the question then raised touching the circumcision of the Gentiles, until being gathered together they had confirmed their own several sayings by the testimony of the divine Scriptures.” What the Ecumenical Council describes is that although the Apostles had the ability and authority to speak infallibly under the Spirit’s inspiration – they are the human authors of the infallible Scriptures, after all – still at the Jerusalem Council they did not dare to speak before confirming their individual sayings by the Scriptures. What is even more telling, is that the Acts of the Apostles say: “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit ” (Acts 15:28). The Second Council of Constantinople’s gloss on this passage equates “good to the Holy Spirit” with the Apostles’ consultation of the Holy Scriptures; to consult the Scriptures is to consult the Holy Spirit. When it pertained to the Salvation of the Gentiles, the Apostles consulted the higher authority of the Holy Scriptures, which are “able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).

The salvific quality of the scriptures is not limited to this life. The Homily On The Reading of Holy Scripture asserts that the Scriptures are themselves a “sure, steadfast, and everlasting instrument of salvation.” An everlasting instrument of salvation? This implies that the saints’ engagement with the Bible is not limited to this life only. How? St. Paul writes that “faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). St. Irenaeus says that the mysteries of Holy Scripture cannot all be explained in this world or the next.2 Therefore, “Hope” – which desires to receive from God – endures because God is ever teaching His Saints from the Scriptures even in eternity. The assertion that the Holy Scriptures contain all things necessary to salvation is a complete one; it touches the perfecting of souls in both this life and the next.

Translated & Read

The necessity of translating and reading the Word of God in the common language of the people is a deeply Biblical principle. Throughout the Old Covenant we see God condescending to us, speaking our language in order to reveal himself. Though his thoughts are higher than our thoughts,3 he speaks to us in our language so that we might know him.4 This principle of accessibly led Jewish scribes in the diaspora to translate the Hebrew text into Greek. This translation, the Septuagint, provided the linguistic foundation for the Apostles and Evangelists. They did not insist that all converts must learn Hebrew to know the revelation of God, but—without hesitation—utilized the translations available to them.

Why is translation of the Sacred Text so intrinsic to the Holy Tradition? Why does the Church not insist on the sanctity of the original languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek)? Because on the Day of Pentecost the Spirit of God empowered the Apostles to speak in the tongues of all mankind that all might hear and receive the Gospel. As St. Augustine testifies, “Holy Scripture, which brings a remedy for the terrible diseases of the human will, being at first set forth in one language, by means of which it could at the fit season be disseminated through the whole world, was interpreted into various tongues, and spread far and wide, and thus became known to the nations for their salvation.” 5 The work of translation is thus a participation in the evangelization of the nations. If Scripture contains all things necessary for salvation and if Scripture leads us to Christ, then it is the sacred duty of the Church to ensure that God’s Word may be read by and to the people in their own language.

Preached, Taught, & Obeyed

For St. Paul, this is the deposit of faith: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received.” And what has been received? “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures …” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). There has never been a proclamation of the Church which has not been “according to the scriptures.” Although it is certain that the New Testament Church precedes the Canon, at no point was it ever without the Scriptures.

The reception of Holy Scriptures is incomplete, however, unless lived. The preaching of the Scriptures has an effect. Although the Word spoken to the Apostles “cleansed” them, yet it is immediately followed by a command to abide in it, bear good fruit, and keep the commandments (cf. John 15:1-11). St. Paul says that the preaching of the Word results in the new believer calling upon the name of God (Romans 10:14). The road to Emmaus whereon our Lord “interpreted to them in all the Scriptures” terminates in the breaking of the bread, an about-face to Jerusalem, and returning to the Apostolic community from which these disciples fled (Luke 24:13-35). St. James accuses those who hear the Word apart from obedience of being self-deceptive. To receive the Apostolic Preaching is to live accordingly; to do otherwise is to have not received it. Whoever does not receive the Apostolic Preaching – the Word of Christ – does not receive Christ who gave it (cf. Matthew 10:40; Luke 10:16).

For this reason, The Homily on Declining from God provides a warning to those who neglect God by neglecting His Word. It reminds the readers that the final goal of Scripture is for it to be inscribed on their hearts and thereby lived. The homily condemns those who do not obey the scriptures of being negligent in their study. Knowledge of the Word is not the study of the Word. For this reason we may assert confidently that the Demons have never once studied the Word of God because they have never once lived it. Likewise, the Church is not truly teaching the Word unless it is truly obeyed.

This concludes Part One of our Commentary on Article Two: The Holy Scriptures. Read Part Two

An Addendum: Why do Anglicans include the Apocrypha?

It is helpful to note that as Anglicans we receive the whole Old Testament, including the Apocrypha. The reasons for receiving these texts are threefold: New Testament allusions, ancient Church practice, and moral instruction. While the New Testament authors do not quote the texts of the Apocrypha like the canonical Scriptures with the usual phrase, “as it is written,” they make regular allusions to these texts.6 Reading them is, therefore, important for understanding Scripture, but the allusions are deep enough to expect all, not just scholars, to be familiar with them. While the texts of the Apocrypha were not included in the Masoretic textual tradition (either its final form or its precursors in the time of Jesus), they were regularly included in the Greek codices used by Jews and Christians alike.7 Thus, we see St. Athanasius enjoining apocryphal texts to be read to Catechumens, though not including them properly in the canon of Scripture.8 Therefore, the Sixth of the Articles of Religion cites Jerome, maintaining the practice that the texts of the Apocrypha “the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.”

  1. 2 Pet. 1:19-21. ↩︎

  2. Against Heresies, 2.28.3 ↩︎

  3. Isa. 55:9 ↩︎

  4. Isa. 43:10 ↩︎

  5. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, 2.5 ↩︎

  6. Compare, for example, Wis. 7:24-30 with John 1:1-14 and Heb. 1:1-3, Wisdom 13-14 and Romans 1, or Tobit 3:8 with Matt. 22:23-34. ↩︎

  7. It is important to note, however, that we do not have any ancient codices that include all of the apocryphal texts together. To say they were included in the Septuagint is loosely true, but not quite accurate. For more on the Apocrypha and the Septuagint see “Translation of the Seventy” by Edmon Gallagher. ↩︎

  8. See Athanasius’ Letter 39.7. ↩︎