Posted by: Clayton Fopp
on 18 August, 2009
A couple of years ago I was at a preaching conference where Don Carson and Dale Ralph Davis where the main speakers. Their various books were available for sale at the bookstall and I simply couldn't pass up Davis' book, The Word Became Fresh! It's the only time I can recall buying a book almost entirely because I thought the title was clever!
In Article 2, we read the Reformers insistence that the eternal Word of God, did indeed become flesh as per John 1:14.
The Son, which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and of one substance with the Father, took Man’s nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, of her substance: so that two whole and perfect Natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God, and very Man; who truly suffered, was crucified, dead, and buried, to reconcile His Father to us, and to be a sacrifice, not only for original guilt, but also for all actual sins of men.
Posted by: Clayton Fopp
on 6 July, 2009
"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start" sang Maria to her new pupils in Rogers and Hammerstein's final work, The Sound of Music. I'll take Fraulein Maria's advice and start this series on The 39 Articles with Article 1 - Of Faith in the Holy Trinity.
There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the Maker, and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Griffith Thomas (1861-1924) in his significant work on the Articles, The Principles of Theology, states that there are two main truths to Article 1; The unity of the Godhead and the Trinity in the Godhead. To this we could also add that the Article speaks to the some of the characteristics of the Godhead, laying the foundations for the Articles that follow, especially those focussing on aspects of God's person and work in the first section (1 - 5).
Posted by: Clayton Fopp
on 4 July, 2009
In the light of the new series of posts on The 39 Articles, I thought I'd share news of a conference I was invited to (invited in the sense of a mass email - they didn't want me particularly!).
Posted by: Clayton Fopp
on 19 June, 2009
Here on our site, you can read The 39 Articles, the historic statement of faith of the Anglican Church. These short statements written in the 16th Century, are a brief and condensed summary of what the Church considers the most central doctrines and teachings of the Christian faith.
My co-blogger Andy and I have been discussing the value of having the Articles on the website. We believe they are "eminently Protestant and eminently Evangelical" (as Bishop J C Ryle wrote in 1900) but how comprehensible are they to modern ears? Can we expect people to even know what they mean?
Therefore, starting with this post which will serve as a bit of an introduction, I'll be blogging on The 39 Articles, the Statement of Faith of Trinity Mount Barker, and in fact, all churches in the historic Anglican tradition. At this stage, I'm not sure whether I'll examine each of them, or just choose a few which may be of particular interest to 21st Century Christians. We'll see what happens as we go along! You can make requests, too, if you want to hear about an Article you think I may otherwise skip!
