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The
Twenty-Five Articles of Religion
Methodist
Dennis Bratcher, ed.
The
Twenty-five Articles of Religion of the MethodistChurch, from the Discipline
of 1808 collated against Wesley's original text in The Sunday Service of
the Methodists, 1784.
These 25 Articles of Religion were Wesley's adaptation of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion from the Anglican
Church in which Wesley had been a priest. Several of the Articles are aimed
directly at distinguishing the beliefs held by Wesley, as well as by
Anglicans, from Roman Catholicism. These especially relate to the basis
of religious authority (Articles 5-6), justification by grace through faith
(Articles 9-11), the nature of the church (Articles 13, 22), the rejection of
the doctrine of purgatory (Article 14), the rejection of services in Latin
(Article 15), the nature of the sacraments and the rejection of the concept
of the Mass (Articles 16-20), and the rejection of a celibate clergy (Article
21).
Two of the articles (7, 8) also clearly reject Pelagianism, a heresy
contending that human beings are capable of choosing God by exercising their
own inherent free will without the necessity of grace. While Wesley
never held this position in even a modified form, he was often accused of
doing so by Calvinists promoting total predestination and the lack of any
role for the human will in salvation (see Article 8
and TULIP Calvinism Compared with Wesleyan Perspectives).
There are also included two provisions adopted by the Uniting Conference
of 1939 that produced the United Methodist Church (US). These are not
properly a part of the Articles of Religion, but are included as additional
statements of belief. The article Of
Sanctification was from the Discipline of the Methodist Protestant
Church, one of the three major groups that came together to form the United
Methodist Church (US). The article was preserved, but not adopted as a new
Article of Religion. The article Of the Duty of
Christians to the Civil Authority was adopted to clarify and interpret
for worldwide Methodists Article 23, Of the Rulers of
the United States of America.
The Articles of Religion of the MethodistChurch
Article 1—Of Faith in the Holy
Trinity
There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts,
of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of all
things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead there are
three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity—the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost.
Article 2—Of the Word, or Son of
God, Who Was Made Very Man
The Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one
substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the blessed
Virgin; 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 actual sins of men.
Article 3—Of the Resurrection of
Christ
Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with
all things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith he
ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return to judge all men at
the last day.
Article 4—Of the Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one
substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and eternal
God.
Article 5—Of the Sufficiency of
the Holy Scriptures for Salvation
The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that
whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be
required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be
thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy
Scripture we do understand those canonical books of the Old and New Testament
of whose authority was never any doubt in the church. The names of the
canonical books are:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth,
The First Book of Samuel, The Second Book of Samuel, The First Book of Kings,
The Second Book of Kings, The First Book of Chronicles, The Second Book of
Chronicles, The Book of Ezra, The Book of Nehemiah, The Book of Esther, The
Book of Job, The Psalms, The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes or the Preacher, Cantica
or Songs of Solomon, Four Prophets the Greater, Twelve Prophets the Less.
All the books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive
and account canonical.
Article 6—Of the Old Testament
The Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New
Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only
Mediator between God and man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not
to be heard who feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory
promises. Although the law given from God by Moses as touching ceremonies and
rites doth not bind Christians, nor ought the civil precepts thereof of
necessity be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian
whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called
moral.
Article 7—Of Original or Birth
Sin
Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do
vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that
naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far
gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and
that continually.
Article 8—Of Free Will
The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn
and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and
calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and
acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we
may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.
Article 9—Of the Justification
of Man
We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings.
Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome
doctrine, and very full of comfort.
Article 10—Of Good Works
Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after
justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's
judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring
out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be
as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit.
Article 11—Of Works of
Supererogation
Voluntary works—besides, over and above God's commandments—which they call
works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety. For
by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they
are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is
required; whereas Christ saith plainly: When you have done all that is
commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants.
Article 12—Of Sin After
Justification
Not every sin willingly committed after justification is the sin against
the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not
to be denied to such as fall into sin after justification. After we have received
the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and, by
the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives. And therefore they are to
be condemned who say they can no more sin as long as they live here; or deny
the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.
Article 13—Of the Church
The visible church of Christ
is a congregation of faithful men in which the pure Word of God is preached,
and the Sacraments duly administered according to Christ's ordinance, in all
those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.
Article 14—Of Purgatory
The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon, worshiping, and
adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is
a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but
repugnant to the Word of God.
Article 15—Of Speaking in the
Congregation in Such a Tongue as the People Understand
It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the
primitive church, to have public prayer in the church, or to minister the
Sacraments, in a tongue not understood by the people.
Article 16—Of the Sacraments
Sacraments ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian
men's profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's good
will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only
quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him.
There are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that
is to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.
Those five commonly called sacraments, that is to say, confirmation,
penance, orders, matrimony, and extreme unction, are not to be counted for
Sacraments of the Gospel; being such as have partly grown out of the corrupt
following of the apostles, and partly are states of life allowed in the
Scriptures, but yet have not the like nature of Baptism and the Lord's
Supper, because they have not any visible sign or ceremony ordained of God.
The Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be
carried about; but that we should duly use them. And in such only as worthily
receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation; but they that
receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves condemnation, as St.
Paul saith.
Article 17—Of Baptism
Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby
Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is
also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children
is to be retained in the Church.
Article 18—Of the Lord's Supper
The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians
ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather is a sacrament of our
redemption by Christ's death; insomuch that, to such as rightly, worthily,
and with faith receive the same, the bread which we break is a partaking of
the body of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the
blood of Christ.
Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of bread and wine in
the Supper of our Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to
the plain words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and
hath given occasion to many superstitions.
The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a
heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of Christ is
received and eaten in the Supper is faith. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
was not by Christ's ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or
worshiped.
Article 19—Of Both Kinds
The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the
parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment, ought to
be administered to all Christians alike.
Article 20—Of the One Oblation
of Christ, Finished upon the Cross
The offering of Christ, once made, is that perfect redemption,
propitiation, and satisfaction for all the sins of the whole world, both
original and actual; and there is none other satisfaction for sin but that
alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which it is commonly said
that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick and the dead, to have
remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit.
Article 21—Of the Marriage of
Ministers
The ministers of Christ are not commanded by God's law either to vow the
estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage; therefore it is lawful for
them, as for all other Christians, to marry at their own discretion, as they
shall judge the same to serve best to godliness.
Article 22—Of the Rites and
Ceremonies of Churches
It is not necessary that rites and ceremonies should in all places be the
same, or exactly alike; for they have been always different, and may be
changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men's manners, so
that nothing be ordained against God's Word. Whosoever, through his private
judgment, willingly and purposely doth openly break the rites and ceremonies
of the church to which he belongs, which are not repugnant to the Word of
God, and are ordained and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked
openly, that others may fear to do the like, as one that offendeth against
the common order of the church, and woundeth the consciences of weak
brethren.
Every particular church may ordain, change, or abolish rites and
ceremonies, so that all things may be done to edification.
Article 23—Of the Rulers of
the United States of America
The President, the Congress, the general assemblies, the governors, and
the councils of state, as the delegates of the people, are the rulers of
the United States of America,
according to the division of power made to them by the Constitution of
the United States
and by the constitutions of their respective states. And the said states are
a sovereign and independent nation, and ought not to be subject to any
foreign jurisdiction.
Article 24—Of Christian Men's
Goods
The riches and goods of Christians are not common as touching the right,
title, and possession of the same, as some do falsely boast. Notwithstanding,
every man ought, of such things as he possesseth, liberally to give alms to
the poor, according to his ability.
Article 25—Of a Christian Man's
Oath
As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by
our Lord Jesus Christ and James his apostle, so we judge that the Christian
religion doth not prohibit, but that a man may swear when the magistrate
requireth, in a cause of faith and charity, so it be done according to the
prophet's teaching, in justice, judgment, and truth.
Of Sanctification
Sanctification is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost,
received through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanseth
from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of sin, but
are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are enabled, through
grace, to love God with all our hearts and to walk in his holy commandments
blameless.
Of the Duty of Christians to the
Civil Authority
It is the duty of all Christians, and especially of all Christian
ministers, to observe and obey the laws and commands of the governing or
supreme authority of the country of which they are citizens or subjects or in
which they reside, and to use all laudable means to encourage and enjoin
obedience to the powers that be.
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This nineteenth-century engraving shows one of the most
dramatic incidents in the childhood of John Wesley, when at the age of six he
was rescued by a neighbour from a burning room in his father's rectory at
Epworth. This narrow escape left such a deep impression on Wesley that he often
referred to himself in later life as a 'brand plucked from the burning'. 
This was the first collection of hymns compiled by John
Wesley and has the additional distinction of being the first American hymnbook
- previous American publications had contained only metrical psalms. Very few
copies were printed and only two survive today, of which the only complete copy
is in the Methodist Archives in