The 39 Articles were established in 1563 as the fundamental statement of faith of the Anglican (Episcopal) Church as the culmination of several earlier documents: the Ten Articles (1536), the Six Articles (1539), and the 42 articles (1552). Understanding the English Reformation involves reviewing the complicated history of this time under five British monarchs: Henry VIII, Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.
HENRY VIII & CATHERINE OF ARAGON
There’s quite a bit more to story of the English Reformation than Henry VIII’s desire for a male heir. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the Spanish King Ferdinand II and Isabella (of Columbus’ fame), conceived eight times, but only one daughter, Mary, survived infancy. After 18 years of marriage, in 1527 Henry gave up on having a male heir from Catherine and sought permission from the Pope to have the marriage annulled. Five years of negotiations ensued until, in 1532, the Archbishop of Canterbury died with Thomas Cranmer, a convert of the Reformation, being appointed to fill the vacancy through the influence of the evangelical Boleyn family.
ANNE BOLEYN
Anne Boleyn had grown up in France as a “child in waiting” to the sister of Henry VIII who was married to King Louis XII. Anne was ten years old when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door in Wittenburg, after which the Reformation quickly spread into France. Anne become a devout Christian, probably through her close friend and leader of the French Reformation, Marguerite of Navarre, sister of King Francis I of France.
Recalled to England in 1521, Anne caught the ever-lustful eye of Henry VIII, who asked her to become his mistress. Though she initially refused, she was ultimately persuaded in 1532 to shack up with Henry on information that Henry’s divorce from Catherine was forthcoming. In December of 1532 she learned she was pregnant, and she and Henry were secretly married since Henry was still technically married to Catherine at this point. Four months later Thomas Cranmer was officially installed as the Archbishop of Canterbury and immediately granted Henry’s divorce. Parliament then severed ties with Rome making Henry VIII head of the English Church.
Anne significantly aided the English Reformation by appointing evangelical bishops and personal chaplains. Whenever she dined with Henry, she discussed the Bible with him. She helped distribute Bibles, making sure that every church had an English Bible. After three years of marriage, she also had failed to produce a male heir, giving birth only to the future Queen Elizabeth I. Meanwhile, Henry had fallen in lust with Jane Seymour, so he conspired to have Anne falsely accused of adultery. He had Anne beheaded at the Tower of London on May 19, 1536. Her last words were: “To Christ I commend my soul, Jesu, receive my soul.”
REMAINING WIVES OF HENRY VIII
Ultimately Henry’s quest for a male heir resulted in six marriages. In 1536 he married Jane Seymour, who died soon after childbirth, giving Henry his heir, Edward VI. He was married to Anne of Cleaves for seven months in 1540, mainly due to her in actuality being less attractive than her portrait that originally attracted him. Three weeks later he married the high-spirited Catherine Howard whom he had executed for adultery, for which she may or may not have been guilty, a year and a half later. In July 1543 Henry married Catherine Parr, who functioned more as a nurse and stepmother than a wife. Henry VIII died three and a half years later. His only son, Edward VI became king at age 9 with his Protestant uncle, Edward Seymour, serving as the Lord Protector. It was said that with the death of Henry, England buried an ogre and crowned a saint. Of Henry’s wives it is said:
Divorced, beheaded, died
Divorced, beheaded, survived
EDWARD VI — THE BOY KING
Edward and Edward Seymour set out to reform the Church of England, which had been severed from papal authority, but retained Roman Catholic dogma. New statutes ordered that services be conducted in English (instead of Latin) and that communicants be offered both the bread and the wine. The doctrine of Purgatory was removed, as were masses for the dead. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, issued the first Book of Common Prayer, which Parliament ordered every church in England to adopt. Protestants who had fled England during Henry’s ever-increasing despotic reign flooded back into England, bring with them the teachings of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and the Anabaptists.
By 1553 England had pretty much abandoned what was left of Roman Catholicism. Edward VI died in 1553 at age 15 from tuberculosis and congenital syphilis. Three hours before he died he was overheard praying:
Lord God, deliver me out of this miserable and wretched life, and take me among thy chosen: howbeit not my will but thy will be done. Lord, I commit my spirit to thee. O Lord, thou knowest how happy it were for me to be with thee; yet for thy chosen sake send me life and health that I may truly serve thee. O my Lord God, bless thy people and save thine inheritance. O Lord God, save thy chosen people of England. O my Lord God, defend this realm from papistry, and maintain thy true religion, that I and my people may praise thy holy name, for thy Son Jesus Christ’s sake.
LADY JANE GREY — QUEEN FOR 9 DAYS
Lady Jane Grey was the niece of Henry VIII. Her father was committed to the Reformation and made sure she had the best possible Reformed education. It was also her father’s desire that she marry her cousin, Edward VI, with whom she was the best of friends and shared the same spiritual passion.
But when Edward became terminally ill, her father had her marry Lord Guildford Dudley, the son of John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, a powerful political figure. Before Edward’s death, the Duke persuaded the King to name Lady Jane Grey, his daughter-in-law as successor instead of the King’s own half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth. On July 10, 1553 Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen against her will, believing that Mary was the rightful heir. Much of the nobility and general populace supported Mary becoming Queen, resulting in Jane being deposed after just nine days. Within two weeks, Jane and her husband were arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London, sentenced to death.
Two days before Jane and Guildford were to be beheaded, Mary sent the abbot of Westminster to persuade her to convert to Roman Catholicism, to which Jane refused. The abbot concluded by saying, “For I am sure we two shall never meet.” Jane replied:
True it is that we shall never meet, except God turn your heart, for you are in an evil case. And I pray to God to send you his Holy Spirit, for he hath given you his great gift of utterance, if it pleased him also to open the eyes of your heart.
Her husband was beheaded first. Looking out her prison window Jane saw his body being carried away and cried out:
Oh Guildford! Guildford . . . that is nothing compared to the feast you and I shall this day partake of in Paradise.
At her turn to be executed she addressed the crowd:
Good people, I pray you all to bear me witness that I die a true Christian woman, and that I look to be saved by no other means but the mercy of God in the blood of his only Son, Jesus Christ.
She knelt, recited a Psalm and died at age 16.
MARY I — “BLOODY MARY”
Mary was 15 when Henry finally got his divorce from her mother, Catherine of Aragon. With the birth of her half-sister Elizabeth when she was 17, she was declared a bastard and lost her title of Princess and right of succession to the throne. She basically blamed the Reformation for her misfortune.
When she became queen, Mary was determined to restore Roman Catholicism to England. Though initially she was tolerant of the Protestants, hoping to convert them back. Her initial popularity faded within a few weeks as the population began to view her primarily as a Spaniard first and a Tudor second. She was physically unattractive, and had congenital syphilis like Edward which gave her severe headaches, poor eyesight and chronic rhinitis resulting in continual bad breath.
Fearing a Protestant takeover with her half-sister, Elizabeth, succeeding to the throne, Mary issued an edict on March 4, 1554 reinstating Roman Catholic worship and outlawing Protestantism. In 1555 a “reign of terror” ensued with the execution of Protestant ministers earning her the title “Bloody Mary.” Those who refused to recant were burned at the stake. Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, along with deposed bishops Latimer and Ridley, were among her 300 victims. The persecution ended with her death in 1558 after a reign of just five years.
ELIZABETH I
Though Elizabeth had been imprisoned by Mary, she survived, and was crowned Queen upon the death of Mary. A separate Protestant Church of England was re-established and the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion were adopted by a convocation of the Church in 1563. As an interesting historical footnote, the contempt over the reign of Bloody Mary was demonstrated by Elizabeth being buried in Westminster Abbey on top of Mary’s body! Elizabeth reigned for 45 years, taking Britain from a backwater country to a world power politically and culturally.
Burial Crypt of Elizabeth (and Mary) — Westminister Abbey
Mary I
Elizabeth I
THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES
The basic summary of the beliefs of the Church of England, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion were drawn up by the church in convocation in 1563 on the basis of the earlier Forty – two Articles of 1553. Subscription to them by the clergy was ordered by act of Parliament in 1571. Devised to exclude Roman Catholics and Anabaptists, but not to provide a dogmatic definition of faith – in many instances, they are ambiguously phrased – the articles were influenced by the confessions of Augsburg and Wurttemberg.They concern fundamental Christian truths (Articles 1 – 5), the rule of faith (Articles 6 – 8), individual religion (Articles 9 – 18), corporate religion (Articles 19 – 36), and national religion (Articles 37 – 39). Retained in use by the various churches of the Anglican Communion, the Articles have been changed only as circumstances require. Thus the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States has retained them, without requiring assent, changing only those articles affected by the independence of the United States from England (Articles 36 and 37).
Selected Articles for Discussion:
Article I — Of faith in the Holy Trinity
There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Article II — Of the Word, or Son of God, which was made very man
The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took man’s nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very man, who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.
Article V — Of the Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal God.
Article VI — Of the sufficiency of the Holy Scripture for Salvation
Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that 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.
Article VII — Of the Old Testament
The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and man. Wherefore there are not to be heard which feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the law given from God by Moses, as touching ceremonies and rites, do not bind Christian men, nor the civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth; yet, notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral.
Article VIII — Of the Three Creeds
The three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius’ 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.
Article IX — Of Original or Birth Sin
Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the spirit; and therefore in every person born into this world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation. And this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated, whereby the lust of the flesh, called in Greek phronema sarkos (which some do expound the wisdom, some sensuality, some the affection, some the desire of the flesh), is not subject to the law of God. And although there is no condemnation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the Apostle doth confess that concupiscence and lust hath itself the nature of sin.
Article X — Of Free Will
The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.
Article XI — Of the Justification of Man
We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore that we are justified by faith only is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort; as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.
Article XII — Of Good Works
Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins and endure the severity of God’s judgement, yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.
Article XV — Of Christ alone without Sin
Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only except, from which He was clearly void, both in His flesh and in His spirit. He came to be the lamb without spot, Who by sacrifice of Himself once made, should take away the sins of the world: and sin, as S. John saith, was not in Him. But all we the rest, although baptized and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things: and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Article XVII — Of Predestination and Election
Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, He hath constantly decreed by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour. Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God’s purpose by His Spirit working in due season; they through grace obey the calling; they be justified freely; they be made sons of God by adoption; they be made like the image of His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ; they walk religiously in good works; and at length by God’s mercy they attain to everlasting felicity.As the godly consideration of Predestination and our Election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly members and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: so for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God’s Predestination is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation or into wretchlessness of most unclean living no less perilous than desperation.
Furthermore, we must receive God’s promises in such wise as they be generally set forth in Holy Scripture; and in our doings that will of God is to be followed which we have expressly declared unto us in the word of God.
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 to us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved. The Church hath power to decree rites or ceremonies and authority in controversies of faith; and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything contrary to God’s word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ: yet, as it ought not to decree anything against the same, so besides the same ought it not to enforce anything to be believed for necessity of salvation.
Article XXII — Of Purgatory
The Romish doctrine concerning Pugatory, Pardons, worshipping and adoration as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation of Saint, is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture; but rather repugnant to the word of God.
Article XXIV — Of speaking in the Congregation in such a tongue as the people understandeth
It is a thing plainly repugnant to the word of God and the custom of the primitive Church, to have public prayer in the Church, or to minister the sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people.
Article XXV — Of the Sacraments
Sacraments ordained of Christ be not only badges or tokens of Christian men’s profession, but rather they be certain sure witnesses and effectual signs of grace and God’s good will towards us, by the which He doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in Him.There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel, that is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.
Those five, commonly called Sacraments, that is to say, Confirmation, Penance, Orders, Matrimony, and Extreme Unction, are not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel, being such as have grown partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles, partly are states of life allowed in the Scriptures; but yet have not the like nature of Sacraments with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, for that they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God.
The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon or to be carried about, but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily receive the same, have they a wholesome effect or operation: but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves damnation, as S. Paul saith.
Article XXVII — Of Baptism
Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christian men are discerned from other that be not christened, but is also a sign of regeneration or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God, by the Holy Ghost are visibly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed, and grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God. The baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained in the Church as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.
Article XXVIII — Of the Lord’s Supper
The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians ought to have among themselves, one to another, but rather it is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ’s death: insomuch that to such as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ, and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ.Transubstantiation (or the change of the substance of bread and wine) in the Supper of the Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath given occasion to many superstitions.
The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is faith
The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was not by Christ’s ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped.
Article XXX — Of Both Kinds
The Cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both parts of the Lord’s sacrament, by Christ’s ordinance and commandment, ought to be ministered to all Christian men alike.
Article XXXI — Of the one oblation of Christ finished upon the Cross
The offering of Christ once made is the perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual, and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifices of Masses, in the which it was commonly said that the priests did offer Christ for the quick and the dead to have remission of pain or guilt, were blasphemous fables and dangerous deceits.
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