Instead of banishing and driving away “strange and erroneous doctrines contrary to God’s Word,” a number of Anglican leaders seem to be rushing to embrace them. They are not only espousing doctrinal innovations of their own but also those of the Roman Catholic Church. This past week a group of Anglican leaders signed a highly controversial ARCIC document, “Mary: Hope and Grace in Christ.” This documents asserts that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was sinless and that the Roman Catholic doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary are consistent with Anglican interpretation of the Bible. It goes on to declare that Roman Catholics and Anglican agree upon the appropriateness of the practice of invoking Mary to intercede on their behalf with her son. The document would close the door upon the option of Anglicans agreeing to differ with Roman Catholics on Mary if the two churches were to reunite.
Anglicans have historically believed that Christ alone is without sin as taught in the Bible. Article XV of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, a foundational document of Anglicanism, states:
“Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only except, from which he was clearly void, both in his flesh, and in his spirit. He came to be a Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the world, and sin, as Saint John saith, was not in him. But all we the rest, although baptized, and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things; and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
With the exception of some Anglo-Catholics, Anglicans reject the Roman Catholic doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary as having no basis in Scripture. To assert that these doctrines are consistent with Anglican interpretation of the Bible is untrue.
While some Anglo-Catholics invoke Mary in their prayers, most Anglicans subscribe to Article XXII of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. This article states that “the Romish doctrine concerning…invocation of saints, is a fond thing vainly invented and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.” Deuteronomy 18:10-12 tells us that anyone who seeks to communicate with the dead is an abomination to the Lord. The Old Testament made this practice punishable by death (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 20:27). The New Testament adds that “those who do these things will not receive the Kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-21). They will not enter God’s “city” (Revelation 22:14-15). Instead, “the place for them is the lake burning with fire and sulphur” (Revelation 21:8).
Nowhere do the Scriptures give permission for us to invoke Mary or any of the faithful who have departed this life. Nowhere do the Scriptures tell us that the dead can intercede on the behalf of the living or the living can intercede on the behalf of the dead. As Article XX of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion reminds us “…it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another.” Although the church is a witness and guardian to holy Scripture, it must not decree anything contrary to Scripture, nor is it to enforce belief in anything additional to Scripture as essential to salvation.
The cult of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church is marked by many superstitions and unscriptural beliefs. For many Roman Catholics their devotion to Mary - a daughter of Eve, spotted by original sin and sharing our fallen estate - eclipses their devotion to her son - the Word made flesh, the unspotted Lamb of God. To the sensibilities of Bible-believing Anglicans the Roman Catholic veneration of Mary as the Queen of Heaven has all the appearances of idolatry – a violation of the First and Second Commandments. Hymns and anthems are sung to Mary as well as prayers offered to her. Images of Mary are placed in Roman Catholic churches and candles burned and prayers and incense offered before them. The image of Mary or her various apparitions is carried about in processions.
“Mary: Hope and Grace in Christ” represents a serious departure from the teaching of the Bible upon the part of its Anglican signatories. One must question the motives of those Anglican leaders who signed this document. One must wonder why they endorsed a document that is clearly at odds with the beliefs of the vast majority of Anglicans of history and of today’s world and their interpretation of the Bible, a document that is bound to cause division in the Anglican Church. They appear only too willing to compromise biblical teaching for rapprochement with an unreformed Roman Catholic Church. Do they believe that through a strategy of accommodation they can win papal recognition of the Anglican Church and Anglican orders? With revisionists like Peter Carnley and Frank Griswold numbered among the members of the ARCIC committee that produced this document, one is tempted to suspect that their endorsement of the document is intended to ingratiate them with the new pope, to drive a wedge between Anglican evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics, and to divert the attention of Anglican evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics from the doctrinal innovations of the revisionists.
The danger of ARCIC documents like is that they have a tendency to be viewed as doctrinal statements of the Anglican Communion although they have no official standing and simply represent the opinions of those who participated in the ARCIC committee. Most of these documents have been unscriptural in their assertions and have drawn heavy criticism from Anglican evangelicals and others. While the Roman Catholic Church adopted a number of reforms in worship in the 20th century, it has made little or no progress in the area of doctrine. For Roman Catholics, the infallible Bishop of Rome is the foundation of authority in the Church and not the Bible. The Roman Catholic Church continues to demand belief in as an article of faith that which cannot be read in Scripture nor can be proved from Scripture and to teach it as necessary or required for salvation. Anglicans who believe in the authority of Scripture and subscribe to the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion need to with one voice and in no uncertain terms reject and disown. They need to call upon the Anglican signatories to “Mary: Hope and Grace in Christ” to repudiate the document, repent of their doctrinal error, and reaffirm the teaching of the Bible. Any move to ratify this document by their respective provinces should be strongly opposed.
What is the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue really accomplishing? It has not led to any substantive doctrinal changes in the Roman Catholic Church. Rather the Anglican Church has steadily retreated from reformed Anglican doctrinal positions. If six years of talks produced a document in which Anglicans essentially abandon the teaching of the Bible and acquiesce to the doctrinal innovations of the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Church needs to re-evaluate and re-think its dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church.
No comments:
Post a Comment