Fort Worth Bishop Jack Iker's Address to the 2011 Forward in Faith North America Assembly

"The Authority of the Bible in Anglican Tradition"

A few years ago, I was invited to be a guest speaker in the Lenten series of a church on the theme “The Four Cornerstones of the Church.” Their chosen topics were the Holy Scriptures, the Book of Common Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and Personal Holiness – all very important, worthy subjects for a study series for Lent. As the first speaker, whose topic was the Bible, I began by pointing out that this was much more than simply one of the four cornerstones of the Church – that all three of the others came from the Holy Scriptures and were, in fact, rooted in the teachings of the Bible. The real significance of the Book of Common Prayer is that it is a thoroughly Biblical document. So much of it sounds like the Bible because it is taken from the Bible. The Ten Commandments are, of course, a central part of the Holy Scriptures, and Personal Holiness has as its source and inspiration and vision, the teachings of the Old and New Testaments. The Holy Scriptures are the foundation upon which the other three are built.

The theme of the teachings in this Annual Assembly reminds us that this is what Forward in Faith, North America, is all about. We have sometimes been criticized for being a one-issue organization, and that is true. But the one issue we are most concerned about is not so much the controversy over the ordination of women as it is the authority of the Scriptures. We are committed to the central authority of the Bible as the Word of God. It alone is the basis for all that we teach, believe, preach and practice. Ours is not a man-made religion, nor are we free to revise the doctrines revealed to us by God to be more pleasing to the modern age. Dean Inge of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London once observed, “He who marries the spirit of the age will soon find himself a widower.”

In the Anglican tradition, the Holy Bible is revered as central to God’s self-revelation to the world. It is the divinely inspired, revealed Word of God, unchanged from the time of the first Apostles. It expresses the unchanging Gospel of the Lord Jesus for ever-changing times – for, though times may change, the Truth does not. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings.” (Hebrews 13:8) Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word of God, tells us, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.”(John 14:6) When certain bishops deny these words, they are no longer true guardians and defenders of the faith, unity and discipline of the Church, as held by Anglicans around the world. Those who abandon the teachings of the Bible also abandon the Anglican way. Such innovators are free to start a new church, but do not call it Anglican if it does not abide by the clear standards and teachings revealed in Holy Writ.

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