What does the new ACNA catechism teach about the sacraments? (Part 6)

By Robin G. Jordan

In our examination of the remaining questions and answers on sacraments in Part II in Being A Christian: An Anglican Catechism, we will be looking at what the new ACNA catechism teaches about marriage and anointing of the sick. As we have seen so far, the new ACNA catechism teaches that confirmation, absolution, ordination, marriage and anointing of the sick are sacraments and confer sacramental grace. In its teaching on sacraments the new ACNA catechism favors the sacramental teaching of a particular school of Anglican thought, a school of thought that has its origins in the nineteenth century Tractarian and Ritualist movements, and is strongly influenced by the sacramental views of the Roman Catholic Church. This section of the new ACNA catechism contains five questions, three on marriage and two on anointing of the sick, and the answers to these questions.

128. What is marriage? 

Marriage is a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman, binding both to self-giving love and exclusive fidelity. In the rite of Christian marriage, the couple exchange vows to uphold this covenant. They do this before God and in the presence of witnesses, who pray that God will bless their life together. (Genesis 2:23-24; Matthew 19; Mark 10:2-9; Romans 7:2-3; 1 Corinthians 7:39)

The Thirty-Nine Articles state that marriage should not be viewed as a sacrament. Rather it is a state of life “allowed in the Scriptures.” The Homily on Common Prayer and the Sacraments classifies marriage as a godly state of life, “necessary in Christ’s Church, and therefore worthy to be set forth by public action and solemnity by the ministry of the Church.” The marrage service in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer describes “holy Matrimony” in these terms:

[holy Matrimony] is an honourable estate, instituted of God in the time of man's innocency, signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church; which holy estate Christ adorned and beautified with his presence, and first miracle that he wrought, in Cana of Galilee; and is commended of Saint Paul to be honourable among all men: and therefore is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly, to satisfy men's carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God; duly considering the causes for which Matrimony was ordained.

The 1662 Marriage Service goes on to give three reasons for which God ordained matrimony:

First, It was ordained for the procreation of children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy Name. Secondly, It was ordained for a remedy against sin, and to avoid fornication; that such persons as have not the gift of continency might marry, and keep themselves undefiled members of Christ's body. Thirdly, It was ordained for the mutual society, help, and comfort, that the one ought to have of the other, both in prosperity and adversity. Into which holy estate these two persons present come now to be joined.

In the 1662 Marriage Service the term “covenant” is paired with the term “vow” and the two terms refer to the solemn promise that the couple is making to be faithful to each other.

O eternal God, Creator and Preserver of all mankind, Giver of all spiritual grace, the Author of everlasting life: Send thy blessing upon these thy servants, this man and this woman, whom we bless in thy Name; that, as Isaac and Rebecca lived faithfully together, so these persons may surely perform and keep the vow and covenant betwixt them made, (whereof this ring given and received is a token and pledge,) and may ever remain in perfect love and peace together, and live according to thy laws; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The 1662 Marriage Service uses the term “troth” to describe the faithfulness to each other, which the couple is committing themselves. It can refer not only this faithfulness but also to the commitment itself.

Forasmuch as N. and N. have consented together in holy wedlock, and have witnessed the same before God and this company, and thereto have given and pledged their troth either to other, and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a ring, and by joining of hands; I pronounce that they be man and wife together, In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

While the definition of marriage in the new ACNA catechism uses the term “covenant” and the 1662 Marriage Service uses the same term, they do not appear to be using it in the same way. As we shall see, the new ACNA catechism does not take its teaching on marriage from the Anglican formularies—the Thirty Nine Articles, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, and the two Books of Homilies—but from Roman Catholic documents. 

Genesis 2:23-24; Matthew 19; Mark 10:2-9; Romans 7:2-3; 1 Corinthians 7:39 are cited in support of the catechism’s definition of marriage. It is questionable that this definition of marriage can be read out of these passages, which relate to God’s institution of the state of marriage, marital fidelity, and divorce. Matthew 19 pertains to marriage only in part. It includes a passage about becoming a eunach for the kingdom, a passage that the Roman Catholic Church claims provides the Scriptural basis for its teaching on a celibate priesthood. Protestants and Roman Catholics are divided over the meaning of this passage as are Anglicans among themselves.

A google search of terms used in the answer to question 128 yield some interesting results. The phrase “lifelong covenant” appears in the guidelines and liturgies for the sacramental blessing of same sex relationships authorized by a number of dioceses of the Episcopal Church. It crops up in articles on the Covenant Marriage Movement. It appears in a discussion of the similarities between the covenant theology of sexuality and Pope John Paul II’s “theology of the body” in John F. Kipley’s Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality. It also crops up in a Catholic definition of marriage on the Marriage Missionaries website: “Marriage is a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman to give honor to God through the procreation and education of their children.”

The phrase “self-giving love” repeatedly appears in an explanation of the matrimony as a sacrament in Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, a 2009 pastoral letter by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This pastoral letter and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as we shall see, are the primary sources of the doctrine states or inferred in the answers to question 128-130. 

129. What is signified in marriage?

The covenantal union of man and woman in marriage signifies the communion between Christ, the heavenly bridegroom, and the Church, his holy bride. Not all are called to marriage, but all Christians are wedded to Christ and blessed by the grace God gives in marriage. (Ephesians 5:31-32)

In its discussion of the challenges to the nature and purposes of marriage, specifically divorce, Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan  refers to marriage as “a lifelong covenantal union.” While 1662 Marriage Service speaks of the “mystical union” between Christ and his Church, the Catechism of the Catholic Church uses the term “communion” to describe this relationship. An examination of Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan  and the corresponding sections of the Catechism of Catholic Church on the sacrament of matrimony reveals that the new ACNA catechism not only borrowed terminology from these documents but is also strongly influenced by their thinking. The answers to questions 128 -130 show the influence of Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan and the Catechism of Catholic Church to such extent that they may be described as a condensed version of the teaching in these documents.

The answer to question 129 claims that all Christians are “blessed by the grace God gives in marriage.” This view is found in Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan and the Catechism of Catholic Church and has its origins in the medieval view that marriage is “an instrument of sanctification, a channel of grace that caused God's gracious gifts and blessings to be poured upon humanity.” See John Witte’s From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition (p. 92).

It is noteworthy that a number of liturgies for the blessing of same sex relationships in the Episcopal Church also use the term “lifelong covenantal union.”

130. What grace does God give in marriage? 

In Christian marriage, God establishes and blesses the covenant between husband and wife, and joins them to live together in a communion of love, faithfulness and peace within the fellowship of Christ and his Church. God enables all married people to grow in love, wisdom and godliness through a common life patterned on the sacrificial love of Christ.

In the answer to question 130 we find in a condensed form what Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan and the Catechism of the Catholic Church teach is the grace of the sacrament of matrimony.

Before we examine the questions and answers on anointing of the sick, we should first take a look at the origin of this practice and its development into a sacrament. Anointing the sick with oil was a common practice in the ancient Mediterranean world. It was known to the Greeks, Romans, and other Mediterranean peoples, as well as the Jews. The New Testament not only describes Jesus’ disciples anointing the sick with oil but also the Good Samaritan treating with oil the injuries of the traveler whom robbers had beaten and left for dead. Up until the ninth century the anointing was done by a priest, a layperson, or by the sick or injured person himself. It was not confined to the dying and was used in any serious illness or injury. It was sometimes repeated several times. A Protestant Dictionary gives this account of the further development of anointing of the sick:

In the ninth century (the beginning of the Middle Ages) the administration of the oil was confined to a priest, and gradually it became not a rite, from which restoration to health was hoped, but a preparation for death. For this reason it came to be called, in the twelfth century, the Last, or the Extreme Unction, because it followed after previous unctions at baptism and confirmation ; and very soon the expression Extreme Unction was identified with unction of one in extremity. Then followed its inclusion in the list of the Seven Sacraments, first drawn up in the thirteenth century. 

Combined with the Viaticum it thus became one of the institutions of the new religion into which traditional Christianity was resolved by Innocent III., the most salient features of which were Transubstantiation and the Confessional, supplemented by Extreme Unction and the Viaticum. 

By the thirteenth century anointing of the sick was believed “to strengthen the soul in the death agony against the temptations of the devil, to wipe out all the remains of sin, to remove all punishments still due,” and “sometimes to restore to health.” 

The 1549 Book of Common Prayer permitted the anointing of the sick if they desired it. The 1549 Prayer Book confined the anointing to “the forehead and breast only” and appointed the use of a prayer that “did not attribute any spiritual efficacy to the material and visible oil.” 

If the sick person desire to be anointed, then shall the priest anoint him upon the forehead or breast only, making the sign of the cross, saying thus, 

As with this visible oil thy body outwardly is anointed: so our heavenly father almighty God, grant of his infinite goodness, that thy soul inwardly may be anointed with the holy ghost, who is the spirit of all strength, comfort, relief, and gladness. And vouchesafe for his great mercy (if it be his blessed will) to restore unto thee thy bodily health, and strength, to serve him, and send thee release of all thy pains, troubles, and diseases, both in body and mind. And howsoever his goodness (by his divine and unsearchable providence) shall dispose of thee: we, his unworthy ministers and servants, humbly beseech the eternal majesty, to do with thee according to the multitude of his innumerable mercies, and to pardon thee all thy sins and offences, committed by all thy bodily senses, passions, and carnal affections: who also vouchsafe mercifully to grant unto thee ghostly strength, by his holy spirit, to withstand and overcome al temptations and assaults of thine adversary, that in no wise he prevail against thee, but that thou mayest have perfect victory and triumph against the devil, sin, and death, through Christ…. 

The 1549 Prayer Book was a transitional service book. The anointing of the sick was dropped from the 1552 Prayer Book. The Articles of Religion reject Extreme Unction as a “corrupt following of the Apostles.” 

The Ritualist movement would revive the practice of Extreme Unction in the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the nineteenth century, teaching in conjunction with this practice what the Roman Catholic Church taught about Extreme Unction. 

The practice of anointing the sick, not just the dying, would reappear with the charismatic renewal movement in the twentieth century. Charismatics would be divided in their understanding of the practice. Some viewed it as an apostolic practice while others viewed it as a sacrament. 

In the same period the Roman Catholic Church would expand its use of anointing of the sick. The Roman Catholic Church did not abandon its teaching about Extreme Unction but included that teaching in its teaching about what it now calls “the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.” It also retained the term, “Extreme Unction.” 

131. What is the anointing of the sick? 

Through prayer and anointing with oil, the minister invokes God’s blessing upon those suffering in body, mind, or spirit. (Matthew 10:8; James 5:14-16). 

Matthew10:8 and James 5:14-16 are cited to support the answer to question 131. Matthew 10:8 is a descriptive passage incidental to the narrative in this particular chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. The chapter itself contains nothing to suggest that Matthew’s intention was to establish a precedent with its inclusion. One certainly cannot read out of this passage that annointing of the sick is a sacrament. What the passage does tell us is that the disciples annointed the sick with oil. 

James 5:14-16, on the other hand, is prescriptive. The Greek word is προσκαλέω (pronounced proskaleō), “let him call,” is in the aorist imperative, and is a command. James 5:14-16, however, must be read within the context of James 13-18. 

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.Therefore,confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. [Or The effective prayer of a righteous person has great power] Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. 

The main focus of James 13-18 is upon the prayer of faith. James 5:14-16 does not provide a Scriptural basis for sacramental anointing of the sick, much less Extreme Unction. Note also that those who are sick are directed to call for “the elders of the church,” not a priest. James 5:14-16 assumes a church has more than one elder. 

132. What grace does God give in the anointing of the sick?

As God wills, the healing given through anointing may bring bodily recovery from illness, peace of mind or spirit, and strength to persevere in adversity, especially in preparation for death.

A comparison of the answer to question 132 with the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the effects of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick clearly shows a connection between the teaching of the ACNA catechism and that of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

IV. The Effects of the Celebration of This Sacrament

1520 A particular gift of the Holy Spirit. the first grace of this sacrament is one of strengthening, peace and courage to overcome the difficulties that go with the condition of serious illness or the frailty of old age. This grace is a gift of the Holy Spirit, who renews trust and faith in God and strengthens against the temptations of the evil one, the temptation to discouragement and anguish in the face of death.This assistance from the Lord by the power of his Spirit is meant to lead the sick person to healing of the soul, but also of the body if such is God's will.Furthermore, "if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven."

1521 Union with the passion of Christ. By the grace of this sacrament the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ's Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior's redemptive Passion. Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.

1522 An ecclesial grace. the sick who receive this sacrament, "by freely uniting themselves to the passion and death of Christ," "contribute to the good of the People of God."By celebrating this sacrament the Church, in the communion of saints, intercedes for the benefit of the sick person, and he, for his part, though the grace of this sacrament, contributes to the sanctification of the Church and to the good of all men for whom the Church suffers and offers herself through Christ to God the Father.

1523 A preparation for the final journey. If the sacrament of anointing of the sick is given to all who suffer from serious illness and infirmity, even more rightly is it given to those at the point of departing this life; so it is also called sacramentum exeuntium (the sacrament of those eparting).The Anointing of the Sick completes our conformity to the death and Resurrection of Christ, just as Baptism began it. It completes the holy anointings that mark the whole Christian life: that of Baptism which sealed the new life in us, and that of Confirmation which strengthened us for the combat of this life. This last anointing fortifies the end of our earthly life like a solid rampart for the final struggles before entering the Father's house. 

In the answer to question 132 we have another condensation of the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The answer to question 132 is so worded as to not exclude teaching what the Roman Catholic Church teaches about Extreme Unction. 

In giving its approval to Being a Christian: A New Anglican Catechism, the ACNA College of Bishops clearly rejected the authority of the Anglican formularies and endorsed the sacramental teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. In our next article we will examine what the new ACNA catechism teaches about Christian ministry.

Also see
What does the new ACNA catechism teach about the sacraments? (Part 5)
What does the new ACNA catechism teach about the sacraments? (Part 4)
What does the new ACNA catechism teach about the sacraments? (Part 3)
What does the new ACNA catechism teach about the sacraments? (Part 2)
What does the new ACNA catechism teach about the sacraments? (Part 1)
What does the new ACNA catechism mean for Anglicans in North America? outside of North America?
What Does the New ACNA Catechism Teach about the Holy Spirit?
How Reliable Is the New ACNA Catechism?
Does the New ACNA Catechism Teach a Synergistic Arminian View of God and Salvation?
The New ACNA Catechism – A Closer Look
Tada! New ACNA Catechism Finally Online