The 39 Articles of Religion

Part fifteen: The ministry, sacraments, and grace

Article XXIII. Of Ministering in the Congregation

It is not lawful for any man to take upon him the office of public preaching, or ministering the Sacraments in the Congregation, before he be lawfully called, and sent to execute the same. And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have public authority given unto them in the Congregation, to call and send Ministers into the Lord's vineyard.

The ministry of the church• Articles 19-22 address the basis of church legitimacy and

authority• Articles 23-6 ask what the church does, and how. • Or, how is God’s grace communicated to us?

Raphael, Christ's Charge to Peter, 1515

‘Co-option’ to ministry

• Authorized ministers of the church are those both ‘called’ and ‘sent’—co-optati et adsciti • The foundational qualification for

ministry is discipleship• “…one of the men who have

accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us...” Acts 1:21

Duccio di Buoninsegna, Apostle Matthias, 1311

Appointment to ministry“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ… so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.” Ephesians 4:11-14

Peter Paul Rubens, Conversion of St. Paul, 1612

Ministry and priestly office

• For Christian ministers biblical Greek uses the word πρεσβύτερος [presbýteros], meaning ‘elder’• For sacerdotal alter ministers

in other religions, or for Christ the Great High Priest, it uses ἱερεύς [iereus]• The English word priest is

from presbyter; sacerdotal connotations were imposed on BCP language in the 19th C

Matthias Stom, Jesus and Caiaphas the High Priest, c. 1633

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.

Preaching the word to build faith

Jean Restout, Pentecost, 1732

“You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.” 1 Corinthians 14:18-19

Article XXV. Of the SacramentsSacraments 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…

Article XXV continued

…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 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, they have a wholesome effect or operation: but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves damnation, as Saint Paul saith.

Effectual signs of objective grace

Da Vinci, Last Supper, 1498

“There is nothing in the Word which is not implied and expressed in the Sacraments, and nothing in the Sacraments which is not interpreted and explained in the Word. The Word may act apart from the Sacraments, but the Sacraments never apart from the Word. The Word makes Christians through faith, the Sacraments make the Church through fellowship. The Word proclaims Christ to the ear, the Sacraments proclaim Him to the eye.” Thomas, Principles of Theology, 344.

The location and transfer of grace

Joseph Kronheim, Martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer, 1887

• In 1547 the Council of Trent anathematized “anyone [who] says that grace is not conferred ex opere operato, but that belief in the divine promise alone suffices to obtain grace.”

• This is almost the exact wording of the article, which states that “in such only as worthily receive the same, [sacraments] have a wholesome effect or operation.”