Homily of Faith in Anglican Formularies

The Homily of Faith is a doctrinal homily in the first Book of Homilies of the Church of England, traditionally known by its fuller title, A short declaration of the true, lively and Christian faith. In Anglican usage it forms part of the Reformation-era teaching received among the Anglican formularies, especially because the Thirty-Nine Articles commend the homilies as containing "godly and wholesome doctrine" for the instruction of the people. The homily is closely related to the teaching of Article XI, which confesses justification by faith, while also insisting that true faith is living and fruitful rather than merely verbal or notional.

Place in the Books of Homilies

The first Book of Homilies was issued in the early English Reformation to provide authorized preaching and teaching in parish churches. It addressed subjects considered basic for Christian instruction, including Scripture, sin, salvation, faith, good works, prayer, and the worthy reception of the sacraments. The Homily of Faith belongs to this catechetical and pastoral setting. It was intended not as a speculative theological treatise, but as public instruction for ordinary worshippers hearing the Word of God in their parish church.

Within the sequence of the first book, the homily follows closely upon teaching about salvation and precedes fuller discussion of good works. This position is significant. The homily presents faith as the means by which the benefits of Christ are received, but it also guards against the misunderstanding that faith is only assent to Christian teaching. In this respect it functions as a bridge between the Anglican doctrine of justification and Anglican moral exhortation.

The homily's authority in Anglican history comes from its connection with the wider formularies rather than from independent confessional status. The Book of Common Prayer, the Ordinal, and the Thirty-Nine Articles have usually been treated as the principal standards of classical Anglican doctrine and worship. The homilies occupy a related place: they illustrate, expound, and apply Reformation teaching for the life of the church.

Teaching on faith

The central concern of the Homily of Faith is the nature of Christian faith. It distinguishes true faith from a bare historical belief that Christian claims are correct. Such outward or inactive belief is not the faith by which a person is united to Christ. True faith is described as trust in God through Jesus Christ, joined with repentance, love, obedience, and perseverance.

This emphasis reflects a characteristic Anglican balance. The homily does not make good works the ground of acceptance before God. Salvation is grounded in the mercy of God and the merits of Christ, received by faith. At the same time, it teaches that saving faith cannot remain alone or barren. Faith is known by its fruits, because the grace that justifies also renews the believer's life. This pattern is consistent with Article XII of the Thirty-Nine Articles, which teaches that good works follow after justification and are pleasing to God in Christ.

The homily therefore served a pastoral purpose. It reassured consciences that Christians are not justified by their own merits, while also warning against presumption. In parish use, this made the doctrine of faith both evangelical and moral: evangelical because it directed sinners to Christ, and moral because it called the baptized to a life shaped by the commandments of God.

Anglican reception

In later Anglican history the Homily of Faith has been read chiefly as a witness to the Protestant and Reformation character of the Church of England. Evangelical Anglicans have often appealed to it as evidence that Anglican doctrine teaches justification by faith and the sufficiency of Christ's saving work. High church and catholic-minded Anglicans, while sometimes placing less emphasis on the homilies in ordinary teaching, have generally understood them within the broader framework of the Prayer Book, the creeds, and sacramental worship.

The homily also helps explain why Anglican accounts of faith commonly resist two reductions. First, faith is not treated as a human achievement that earns divine favour. Second, faith is not reduced to private opinion or inward feeling detached from the visible life of the church. In the classical Anglican setting, faith is nourished by Scripture, confessed in the creeds, prayed in the liturgy, and enacted in obedience, charity, and the reception of the sacraments.

For AnglicanWiki, the Homily of Faith is significant because it shows how doctrinal teaching, parish preaching, and liturgical religion were connected in the English Reformation. It is a concise example of how Anglican formularies sought to teach the gospel in a manner ordered toward public worship, catechesis, and holy living.