On the Articles: Article VIII

The Octave Day of Easter

ALMIGHTY Father, who hast given thine only a Son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification: Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may alway serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Easter

O GOD, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the resurrection from the dead of thy only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we who celebrate this Paschal feast may die daily unto sin, and live with him evermore in the glory of his endless life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

VIII. Of the Creeds
The Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius’s Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles’ Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.

 While many of the more mainline reformation churches on the continent did not express objection to the creeds, their understanding and legitimacy had been, to some degree, put into question particularly by more radical reformers. Rome itself had upheld them by virtue of Holy Tradition, which was quite suspect by most continental reformers. In the Christian East, the Athanasian creed had never been accepted, and the Apostle’s creed had never been used.

Article VIII declares all three to be valid and received by the Church in England, and  goes further in stating why: because they may be proved by Holy Scripture. No longer do we accept the Nicene Creed solely because it was the creed of the early Church Councils, but also because the doctrine set forth in the creed is in agreement with Holy Scripture. Going back to Article VI, this emphasis on the prima sciptura mindset of the English Reformation makes it clear that in its having the highest form of divine inspiration, the Holy Scriptures remain at all times the rule and standard by which every other tradition of the Church is judged, even while in their symbiotic relationship it is through Holy Tradition by which we know the right interpretation of Holy Scripture. To quote Fr Kenneth Ross, it is the responsibility of, “the Church to teach and the Bible to prove.”

This also helps to explain why all three creeds are accepted, and in particular the Athanasian Creed, which was not written by St Athanasius the Great but rather was attributed to him, leading many in the East to reject it as inauthentic. Because of its still widespread use throughout the West, and because its doctrines were Biblically sound, the Church continued to accept the validity of the Creed as a doctrinal statement.

Article VIII speaks well to the idea of the symbiosis between the role of Holy Scripture as the rule of faith against which all else is judged, and also the reality that Holy Scripture itself is not always easily understood and Holy Tradition, and in this case the Creeds, help us to rightly understand Holy Scripture. St Vincent of Lerins once noted that we must take care to, “cleave to antiquity, which cannot now be led astray by any deceit of novelty.” The Nicene Creed cannot accept some new heresy because its words and meaning were fixed in antiquity; in the same way the ancient authors help us to interpret Scripture because they cannot be accepted by some new novelty in that they are no longer among the living to debate the merits of new interpretations.

It is particularly important to affirm this fact in modern times when the understanding of the Creeds is becoming more complicated. Some Anglicans simply cannot profess the truths they proclaim, either refusing to say the Creed or omitting portions of it which they find distasteful. This practice goes completely against the Anglican tradition, in which they are not merely proclaimed, but as the Article states are, “thoroughly to be received and believed.”

When an individual has a problem accepting or believing some particular aspect of the Creed, which is a sufficient statement of the Christian faith, the issue is not with the Creed but rather with their lack of education to understand the Creed and its meaning. The Creeds themselves speak to something unchanging: God and his historical interactions with mankind, particularly through the incarnation of Christ Jesus. In what way would the passage of time change the nature of God or the historicity of the incarnation? Even two thousand years is a small passage of time for the eternal and immutable God. The Scriptures themselves are presented as timeless and unchanging in their message; and in a similar way the Creeds must be understood. They speak to a particular Truth about God.

In our modern society, where there are concerns or unbelief, there are two solutions. The first is prayer, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (St Mk 9. 24b). The second is education. Particularly with many children breaking with faith during their teenage years—a time critical to Christian formation among young people—they may not have the foundations of understanding often assumed for adults who profess the Christian faith. Greater opportunities need to be made available to address these critical gaps in understanding of Christian doctrine and faith.

While that solution is there, Article VIII remains as a reminder of why it is needed. As Anglicans, we profess the historic faith in Christ, and will for all times as a matter of our inherent Anglican identity.