Evangelical, Biblical Reform

 

"Laying aside the errors of human dispute, we return with a sincere & religious faith 

to the evangelical authority & to the apostolic tradition." —St Cyprian

Evangelical.

The earliest writings of the Church call us to hold fast to the Gospel. The Teaching of the Twelve repeatedly said, "Act according to the precepts of the gospel...your prayers and alms and all your deeds so do, as you have it in the gospel of our Lord." The whole Christian life ties to the revelation of Christ as God becoming Man to ransom mankind and restore them to be like God. As such, we cherish the Gospel, reciting the four Evangelists every Sunday and every eucharist to hear once more our Lord speak.

“The Book of Common Prayer: a book so scriptural that it is full of scripture 

from one end to the other, & built altogether upon it.” —Bp John Medley

Biblical.

Anglicans cling to the Scriptures, filling each day with chapters of the Old Testament & New Testament accompanied with Psalms. Our worship services similarly brim with biblical readings as we read Scripture, sing Scripture, pray Scripture, and embody Scripture. Like David and the Apostles, we kneel in reverence: "O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!" (Ps. 95:6) Like the Prophets and Apostles, we mark our brow with the sign of the cross. (Ez. 9:4; Rev. 7:3) Like the first Church, we raise our hands in praise and prayer: "Lift up your hands to the holy place, and bless the Lord." (Ps. 134:2; 63:4; 28:2; Lk. 24:50; 1 Tim. 2:8) We embrace the biblical patterns Christ lived, patterning our lives after His life to glorify our Father in heaven: "It is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master." "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ." (Matt. 10:25; 1 Cor. 11:1; Heb. 13:7)

"There is a separation, by reformation, by amplification, by progress; just as the fruit is separated from the seed, although the fruit comes from the seed. So likewise the gospel is separated from the law, while it advances from the law — a different thing from it, but not an alien one; diverse, but not contrary. Nor in Christ do we even find 

any novel form of discourse." —Tertullian

Reform.

Just as controversies rocked the ancient Israelites in the wilderness, controversies have sparked through Church history. The frequent appeal of the second, third, and fourth generation Christians was to be 'Evangelical, Apostolic, and Catholic'—that is, to be of the Gospel, as taught by the Apostles in every church throughout the world. The Apostle John's disciple St Ignatius of Antioch wrote to Smyrna, "Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." In Africa, early martyr and bishop St Cyprian lamented, "Since, then, neither the apostle himself nor an angel from heaven can preach or teach any otherwise than Christ has once taught and His apostles have announced, I wonder very much whence has originated this practice, that, contrary to evangelical and apostolic discipline, water is offered in some places in the Lord's cup, which water by itself cannot express the blood of Christ." As such, when bishops gathered from Britain to India for the Council of Nicea, they declared: "As we have received from the Bishops who preceded us, and in our first catechisings, and when we received the Holy Laver, and as we have learned from the divine Scriptures, and as we believed and taught in the presbytery, and in the Episcopate itself, so believing also at the time present, we report to you our faith, and it is this [Nicene Creed]." Just as the early Church reformed its doctrines and practices around the Gospel in times of controversy, Anglicans have sought to renew evangelical, biblical faith to reform Christ's Church as founded on His prophets and apostles.