Renunciation in the 1928 BCP Catechism
Renunciation in the 1928 BCP Catechism is the first of the three baptismal promises which the Catechism asks every baptized person to own before Confirmation. It is not an isolated warning about evil. The Prayer Book joins renunciation to faith in the Creed and to the lifelong keeping of God's commandments; the movement is from turning from the enemies of Christian life to trusting Christ and walking in his way.
The Catechism's baptismal promise
The Catechism makes clear both that the promise was first made by sponsors and that the baptized person must later answer for it. Its threefold shape is important: renunciation, belief, and obedience belong together.
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 language is deliberately personal—“in my name”—but not autonomous. The next answer requires assent “by God's help” and gives thanks for God's prior call “to this state of salvation.” Thus renunciation is a baptismal response to grace, not an attempt to earn it.
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.
In the rite of Holy Baptism
The Catechism condenses the baptismal interrogatories. In the Ministration of Holy Baptism, sponsors answer the question for an infant; the adult office asks the candidate directly. The more expansive rite explains what the shorthand “pomps and vanity” and “sinful lusts” is doing: it refuses the powers and desires that lead a person rather than following them.
Dost thou, therefore, in the name of this Child, renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the sinful desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them?
I renounce them all; and, by God's help, will endeavor not to follow, nor be led by them.
The answer does not claim that temptation has vanished. Its “by God's help” and “will endeavor” describe a continuing conflict in which the baptized resist what would govern their loves and conduct. This is why the Catechism does not end with rejection: it immediately requires belief in the Articles of the Christian Faith and the keeping of God's commandments.
Scripture and theological interpretation
The Prayer Book's “devil, world, and flesh” is a compact pastoral account of the sources of temptation, rather than permission to despise creation or other people. The New Testament calls the Christian to vigilance and resistance, while grounding that resistance in God’s care.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Michael Ferrebee Sadler’s nineteenth-century expansion of the Church Catechism identifies the logic of the first renunciation with baptismal union with Christ. His point is not that a baptized person is left to resist alone, but that the person belongs to the One who overcomes the devil’s works.
Because in Baptism I was made a member of Him Who came amongst us that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Sadler also gives a useful guard against a false reading of “the world.” The Prayer Book does not require withdrawal from the created order or abandonment of one’s calling; it renounces the world’s vain and sinful claim to rule the Christian.
No: I renounce the pomps and vanity of this wicked world.
This reading is consistent with the catechetical order itself. Faith is not an afterthought to moral effort: the Creed is the answer by which the baptized confess the God in whose help they trust, and the commandments name the concrete form of their continuing obedience.
History and confirmation
The form is older than the 1928 American book. Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere record an analogous threefold sequence—faith, renunciation, and commandments—in their account of the proposed 1689 revision. Their history helps explain why the Prayer Book treats the baptismal answers as a coherent profession rather than three unrelated questions.
Dost thou renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil? Ans. I renounce them all. Min. Wilt thou keep the commandments of Christ, and persevere in them? Ans. I will, God being my helper.
At Confirmation the 1928 Prayer Book has candidates rehearse the same promise publicly. Confirmation therefore does not replace Baptism or invent a new pledge; it is the baptized person’s own ratification of what sponsors promised and vowed.
My Sponsors 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.
For teaching and pastoral use, the sequence should remain intact: name the evil that must be refused, confess the faith by which it is resisted, and practise the obedience that follows. The 1928 Catechism thereby frames renunciation as a lifelong, grace-dependent consequence of belonging to Christ.
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- Catechism (1928 BCP)
- Offices of Instruction (1928 BCP)
- Confirmation (1928 BCP)
External Links
- The 1928 Catechism at the Society of Archbishop Justus
- The 1928 Baptism office at the Society of Archbishop Justus
References
- ↑ The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, answer to “What did your Sponsors then for you?” Society of Archbishop Justus transcription of the 1928 Catechism.
- ↑ The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “A Catechism,” p. 577, answer to “Dost thou not think that thou art bound to believe, and to do, as they have promised for thee?” Society of Archbishop Justus transcription of the 1928 Catechism.
- ↑ The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Ministration of Holy Baptism to Children,” interrogatory beginning “Dost thou, therefore,” pp. 275–276. Society of Archbishop Justus transcription of the 1928 Baptism office.
- ↑ The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Ministration of Holy Baptism to Children,” response to the baptismal renunciation, p. 276. Society of Archbishop Justus transcription of the 1928 Baptism office.
- ↑ 1 Peter 5:8–9, The Holy Bible, King James Version (Oxford: University Press, 1769), text available at Bible Gateway, KJV.
- ↑ 1 John 2:15, The Holy Bible, King James Version (Oxford: University Press, 1769), text available at Bible Gateway, KJV.
- ↑ M. F. Sadler, The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction: Being the Church Catechism Expanded and Explained in Question and Answer (London: Bell & Daldy, 1872), 25, section VII, “Renouncing the Devil,” answer 7. Internet Archive scan.
- ↑ M. F. Sadler, The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction: Being the Church Catechism Expanded and Explained in Question and Answer (London: Bell & Daldy, 1872), 30, section VIII, “The World,” answer 6. Internet Archive scan.
- ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer (London: Macmillan, 1901), ch. VIII, “The Prayer Book of 1689,” section “Private Baptism.” Society of Archbishop Justus transcription.
- ↑ The Book of Common Prayer (New York: The Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Order of Confirmation,” catechetical question and answer, p. 298. Society of Archbishop Justus transcription of the 1928 Confirmation office.