Summary of the Law (1928 BCP)
Summary of the Law (1928 BCP) is the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer form of Christ's twofold commandment of love, used in Holy Communion with the Decalogue and the Kyrie Eleison. In the 1928 rite it is not a free-standing devotional motto, but a liturgical proclamation of Christ's interpretation of the Law before the Collect, Epistle, Gospel, Creed, sermon, offertory, confession, and communion.
Prayer Book Text
The 1928 rubric makes the Summary mandatory whenever the Decalogue is omitted. It therefore preserves the moral-law function of the opening preparation while allowing the longer commandment form to be used monthly rather than at every celebration.
The Decalogue may be omitted, provided it be said at least one Sunday in each month.
The Summary itself is introduced as the direct speech of Christ, not as a later ecclesiastical paraphrase. Its first clause names the love of God as the "first and great commandment"; its second clause joins love of neighbor to it; and its final sentence identifies both together as the interpretive key to "all the Law and the Prophets."
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith.
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.
When the Decalogue is omitted, the 1928 rite requires the Lesser Litany immediately after the Summary. The order matters: Christ's commandment exposes sin, the Kyrie asks mercy, and the following collect asks that heart and body be governed "in the ways" and "works" of God's commandments.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Scriptural Foundation
The Summary is drawn from Christ's answer concerning the great commandment. In the Synoptic form used by the Prayer Book, love of God and love of neighbor are not rivals. Love of God is total devotion of heart, soul, and mind; love of neighbor is the necessary second table of the same moral obedience.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
The 1928 wording follows Matthew 22:37-40 most closely, but Mark's account is important because it shows the Summary as a confessedly monotheistic interpretation of the commandments: the first commandment begins with "Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord." The liturgical phrase "Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith" therefore frames the Summary as the Church hearing the Law from the incarnate Lord.
There is none other commandment greater than these.
Relation to the Decalogue and Catechism
The Summary does not abolish the Ten Commandments in the 1928 rite. It gathers their two tables into love of God and neighbor. The 1928 Catechism explains the same structure: the commandments teach "two things," first duty toward God and then duty toward neighbor.
I learn two things; my duty towards God, and my duty towards my Neighbour.
The catechetical exposition also guards the Summary from moralism. After listing duties toward God and neighbor, the Catechism says that the Christian cannot keep God's commandments without grace. Thus the Communion rite's movement from Summary, through Kyrie, toward confession, absolution, and sacramental feeding is doctrinally coherent: the law names the life of love, and grace gives forgiveness and obedience.
thou art not able to do these things of thyself, nor to walk in the Commandments of God
Historical Development
Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere describe the insertion of the Decalogue into the English Communion office as a penitential preparation. Their account explains why the Summary belongs near the beginning of the rite: it stands where the congregation is prepared by hearing God's law and praying for mercy.
The ten Commandments were prefixed to the Liturgy as a penitential preparation
Procter and Frere also trace the American alternative to earlier Scottish and Nonjuror use. In their note on the American Prayer Book of 1892, the Summary is tied to Matthew 22 and made obligatory whenever the Decalogue is omitted; they identify the Nonjurors' Office of 1718 as the place where the Summary first displaced the Ten Commandments in Anglican eucharistic use.
the Summary was first used, to the exclusion of the Ten Commandments
The 1928 American revision tightened the older American rule. E. Clowes Chorley, writing soon after the new book's adoption, notes that the 1892 requirement of full Decalogue recital every Sunday was reduced in 1928 to monthly use.
the new Book limits this requirement to "at least one Sunday in each month."
The Episcopal Church's glossary gives a concise institutional summary of the same history and its biblical basis: the commandments appear separately in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, are joined by Jesus, and enter Anglican eucharistic use through Nonjuror, Scottish, and American Prayer Book transmission.
Jesus was apparently the first to formulate them precisely in this way
Anglican Theological Use
Michael Ferrebee Sadler's catechetical exposition is useful because it rejects both antinomianism and works-righteousness. For Sadler, Christ's graced people are not justified by law-keeping, yet the very grace received in Christ enables fulfillment of the law's righteousness.
we are not under the law as the means of our justification in God's sight
Sadler also states why Christians still hear and keep the commandments: spiritually expounded by Christ, they remain the moral law. This is exactly the function of the Summary of the Law in Holy Communion: Christ's words give the law's spiritual sense and send the worshipper to mercy, grace, and obedient love.
The ten commandments, as spiritually expounded by our Saviour, are the moral law
A recent Anglican reflection in The Living Church makes the liturgical connection explicit: the Summary anticipates the confession's admission that worshippers have not loved God and neighbor as commanded, and the Eucharist then moves from confessed lawbreaking to absolution, communion, and renewed walking in God's ways.
There is a deep liturgical cohesiveness at play
Use in Worship
In parish use the Summary is most transparent when it is heard with the Kyrie that follows it. The congregation hears Christ's commandment, asks mercy, and then proceeds to the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel. The Summary therefore serves three overlapping purposes in the 1928 BCP: it is scriptural proclamation, penitential preparation, and catechetical remembrance of the twofold duty of love.
See Also
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
- Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
- Decalogue in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
- Kyrie Eleison in Holy Communion (1928 BCP)
- Catechism (1928 BCP)
External Links
- Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
- Catechism - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer
- Procter and Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chapter XII
- E. Clowes Chorley, The New American Prayer Book, chapter VII
References
- ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," rubric before the Decalogue and Summary of the Law, p. 68; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 88-92. - ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," introductory sentence to the Summary of the Law, p. 69; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 153-161. - ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," Summary of the Law, p. 69; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 157-161. - ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, "The Order for the Administration of the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion," Lesser Litany after the Summary of the Law when the Decalogue is omitted, p. 69; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Holy Communion - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 166-171. - ↑ The Holy Bible, Authorized Version, Matthew 22:37; BibleGateway, Matthew 22:34-40, King James Version. The wording was checked against the Prayer Book's Holy Communion form in
sources/justus1928/HC.htm, lines 157-161. - ↑ The Holy Bible, Authorized Version, Mark 12:31; BibleGateway, Mark 12:28-34, King James Version.
- ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, "A Catechism," exposition of the Ten Commandments, pp. 581-582; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Catechism - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/Catechism.htm, lines 136-138. - ↑ Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, The Book of Common Prayer, 1928, "A Catechism," transition from the commandments to the Lord's Prayer, p. 583; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, Catechism - The 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Local comparison:
sources/justus1928/Catechism.htm, lines 159-162. - ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised edition, London: Macmillan, 1902, chapter XII, section on the Communion office, p. 465; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter 12, Holy Communion.
- ↑ Francis Procter and Walter Howard Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, with a Rationale of Its Offices, revised edition, London: Macmillan, 1902, chapter XII, note 57 on the Scottish, Nonjuror, and American Communion offices, pp. 472-473; Society of Archbishop Justus transcription, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer: Chapter 12, Holy Communion.
- ↑ E. Clowes Chorley, The New American Prayer Book: Its History and Contents, New York: Macmillan, 1929, chapter VII, "The Services of the Church," discussion of 1928 revision and Holy Communion, The New American Prayer Book, chapter VII.
- ↑ The Episcopal Church, "Summary of the Law, The," Glossary, published 22 May 2012, Summary of the Law, The - The Episcopal Church.
- ↑ Michael Ferrebee Sadler, The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction, London: Bell and Daldy, 1872, section XXXIII, "The Preface to the Commandments," p. 189; Internet Archive scan, The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction. Quotation checked against local OCR in
sources/churchteachersma00sadlrich_djvu.txt, around lines 12809-12816, with line breaks normalized. - ↑ Michael Ferrebee Sadler, The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction, London: Bell and Daldy, 1872, section XXXIII, "The Preface to the Commandments," p. 189; Internet Archive scan, The Church Teacher's Manual of Christian Instruction. Quotation checked against local OCR in
sources/churchteachersma00sadlrich_djvu.txt, around lines 12820-12825, with line breaks normalized. - ↑ John Deepak Sundara, "From Law to Grace: The Gospel in the Holy Eucharist," Covenant, The Living Church Foundation, 3 August 2023, From Law to Grace: The Gospel in the Holy Eucharist.