The ACNA Has Released the “Final Version” of Its Catechism

By Robin G. Jordan

The Anglican Church in North American has finally gotten around to releasing the latest version of its catechism. The “final version” of To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism, as it is billed, like its predecessors, belies the claim that its contents are agreeable to all legitimate Anglican schools of thought. First, it asserts that the Holy Spirit is given at baptism, a view that is not shared by all such schools of thought and which is not supported by the Scriptures. While the Holy Spirit may have manifest himself as a dove that alighted on Jesus when John baptized him in the Jordan River, the New Testament tells us that Cornelius and his household and the apostle Paul received the gift of the Holy Spirit before they were baptized and the Ephesians and the Samaritans received the gift of the Holy Spirit after they were baptized. Although Simon Magus was baptized, he did not receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In his conversation with Nicodemus as recorded in the Gospel of John, Jesus compares the Holy Spirit to the wind which blows where it pleases. In the same way the Holy Spirit is not bound by our actions.

The benchmark sixteenth century Anglican divine Richard Hooker wrote “all receive not the grace of God which receive the sacraments of his grace.” The historic Gorham judgment recognized as a legitimate position in historic Anglicanism that the gift of the Holy Spirit may be given before, in, or after baptism or not at all. In its assistance that the gift of the Holy Spirit accompanies baptism, the "final version" of To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism takes a position historically associated with the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Anglican Church.

Second, the “final version” of To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism further claims that there are five other sacraments in addition to the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These purported sacraments it maintains are “confirmation, ordination, marriage, absolution,” and “the anointing of the sick. It refers to these acts as “the sacraments of the church,” a term used to describe them in the canons and catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. It goes on to state:

“They were not ordained by Christ as necessary to salvation, but arose from the practices of the apostles and the Early Church, or were blessed by God in Scripture. God clearly uses them as means of grace. (Articles of Religion, 25)”

Note the wording of this section of To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism. While it paraphrases the wording of  Article 25, it does not convey the same meaning as Article 25 does. Article 25 clearly states that these acts are either corruptions of apostolic practice or states of life allowed in Scripture. Nowhere do the Articles of Religion affirm that God uses them as means of grace. Here again the "final version" of To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism takes a position historically associated with the Anglo-Catholic movement which has sought to reestablish the Roman Catholic sacramental system in the Anglican Church.

Third, the “final version” of To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism infers that regeneration accompanies baptism. This position has historically been a major cause of controversy in the Anglican Church and is generally but not exclusively associated with the Anglo-Catholic movement. It caused a major split in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the nineteenth century and the departure of conservative Evangelical Episcopalians from that denomination.

The afore-mentioned sections of the “final version” of To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism are not the only problematic sections in the catechism. They, however, point to a major weakness of the catechism. It is designed to promote the doctrinal views of one school of thought in the Anglican Church in North America and the larger Anglican Communion. It is not designed to comprehend the other schools of thought represented in the ACNA and the Anglican Communion. For this reason Anglican clergy who are committed to upholding the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and the principles of the historic Anglican formularies will want to steer clear of using the catechism in instructing inquirers, new church members, existing church members, and their children.

Despite the claim made on the ACNA website the “final version” of To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism, while it may have received the endorsement of the College of Bishops, has not been approved as the official catechism of the Anglican Church in North America. Such approval would require the adoption of an authorizing canon by the Provincial Council and the Provincial Assembly. Individual bishops may permit its use in their dioceses but they will be treading on dangerous ground because some of its sections are arguably contrary to Scripture. It is ironic that a catechism which includes sections explaining what the Ten Commandments mean, including what it means to bear false witness, itself contains what may be regarded as highly questionable material.

As in the case of The Book of Common Prayer 2019, the “final version” of To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism gives the appearance of having been produced not to move the Anglican Church in North America in the direction of authentic historic Anglicanism but away from the Anglican Church ‘s historic formularies and its central theological tradition. After all, authentic historic Anglicanism is Biblical, Protestant, evangelical, and reformed in character. It is the very antithesis of the unreformed Catholicism which The Book of Common Prayer 2019 and To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism promote. The failure of the ACNA to produce a more comprehensive prayer book and catechism are further evidence of the need for a ecclesial body in North America, which genuinely represents the Biblical, Protestant, evangelical, and reformed character of authentic historic Anglicanism.