Faith in the 1928 BCP Catechism
Faith in the 1928 BCP Catechism is not a private opinion or a merely intellectual exercise. The Catechism places faith within the baptismal promise, gives it public content in the Apostles' Creed, and directs it toward a persevering life of worship, repentance, and charity. It therefore connects Baptism (1928 BCP), Confirmation (1928 BCP), and Holy Communion (1928 BCP).
The baptismal promise
The Catechism recalls the promise made at Baptism in a threefold order: renunciation, faith, and obedience. Faith is neither detached from conversion nor treated as a reward for moral achievement; it is the promise to receive and confess what God has made known in Christ.
They did promise and vow three things in my name: First, that I should renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh; Secondly, that I should believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith; And Thirdly, that I should keep God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of my life.
The answer that follows is equally important. The baptized person acknowledges a present call to salvation through Christ and asks for grace to continue. Thus the Catechism's faith is personal and ecclesial: it is spoken by the believer, but received in the Church's teaching and sacramental life.
Yes, verily; and by God's help so I will. And I heartily thank our heavenly Father, that he hath called me to this state of salvation, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And I pray unto God to give me his grace, that I may continue in the same unto my life's end.
Faith confessed in the Creed
The Catechist then asks for the Articles of Belief and the Catechism expounds the Creed according to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This gives the word “faith” a definite Christian content, rather than leaving it as a general religious feeling.
First, I learn to believe in God the Father, who hath made me, and all the world. Secondly, in God the Son, who hath redeemed me, and all mankind. Thirdly, in God the Holy Ghost, who sanctifieth me, and all the elect people of God.
The biblical language of faith embraces both trust in God and the Gospel that is confessed. Hebrews joins confidence in God with seeking him; it does not define faith as bare possession of religious information.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
M. F. Sadler's nineteenth-century Anglican manual distinguishes these related uses. He calls faith both the grace by which a person believes God's word and the body of truth which God gives the Church to believe. That distinction clarifies why the Catechism can require belief in “all the Articles” and immediately rehearse a Creed.
It first means that power, or faculty, or virtue in the soul or spirit, which believes a thing to be true on God's word. It means, secondly, that body of truth which God gives to us to be believed by us. (In which latter case it is usually designated “the faith.”)
Faith in worship and formation
The Prayer Book does not reserve the Creed for private study. It puts it into the Daily Offices and joins the baptismal promises to the public profession of the Apostles' Creed. Anthony Sparrow, writing in his 1672 rationale of the Prayer Book, explains this use as a common confession by which the Church recognizes its faith; his historical explanation should be read as an early modern Anglican rationale, not as a modern claim that the Apostles themselves composed the present wording.
For as Souldiers know their own side from the Enemy by their Word, so the Apostles and the Church should know who were the Churches friends, and who were enemies; who were right believers, who false, by this word of Faith.
Sparrow also observes that the Creed is repeated in the Church's daily prayer. The practical point is not repetition for its own sake: repeated confession forms a believer to receive, remember, and articulate the faith in the worshipping assembly.
Say your Creed daily Morning and Evening. Rehearse your Creed to God; say not, I said it yesterday, I have said it to day already, say it again, say it every day: guard your selves with your Faith.
Faith, sacrament, and Christian life
The Catechism names faith among the requirements for Baptism: repentance turns from sin, while faith steadfastly receives God's promise in the sacrament. It also requires communicants to have a “lively faith in God's mercy through Christ.” Faith therefore cannot be isolated from repentance, thankful remembrance of Christ's death, or charity with others.
Repentance, whereby they forsake sin; and Faith, whereby they stedfastly believe the promises of God made to them in that Sacrament.
To examine themselves, whether they repent them truly of their former sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of his death; and be in charity with all men.
For teaching, then, the Catechism's sequence is worth preserving: learn the Creed, confess it in worship, and live its baptismal implications by God's grace. Confirmation gives the Church's setting for a mature renewal of the promises; Holy Communion keeps faith joined to repentance, thanksgiving, and charity.
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- Catechism (1928 BCP)
- Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)
- Confirmation (1928 BCP)
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), A Catechism, p. 577, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), A Catechism, p. 577, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), A Catechism, pp. 577–578, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments, Authorized (King James) Version (Oxford: University Press, 1769), Hebrews 11:6, Bible Gateway text.
- ↑ M. F. Sadler, The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction, 3rd ed. (London: Bell & Daldy, 1872), section XIII, “The Faith,” pp. 44–45, Internet Archive scan.
- ↑ Anthony Sparrow, D.D., A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer (London, 1672), “The Apostles Creed,” Project Canterbury transcription.
- ↑ Anthony Sparrow, D.D., A Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer (London, 1672), “The Apostles Creed,” citing Augustine on daily rehearsal, Project Canterbury transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), A Catechism, p. 582, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), A Catechism, p. 583, Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.