Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

The Episcopal Church

By Dr. Richard P. Bucher

Demographics

The largest Episcopal church in the United States is the Episcopal Church U.S.A. (ECUSA), which numbers approximately 2.3 million members in over 7000 parishes. There are six other much smaller episcopal denominations. Together, these number less than 100,000 members. ECUSA is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which numbers 73 million in 38 member provinces.

Origin and History

Because the Episcopal Church grew out of the Anglican Church (Church of England), a few words need to be said about the origin of that church body. The Anglican Church traces its origins to the English Reformation in the Sixteenth Century. Henry VIII rejected the authority of the Pope, broke with Rome, and formed the Church of England in 1534, though most of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church remained. Under the next king, Edward VI (1547-1553), Archbishop Thomas Cranmer introduced into the Anglican Church thorough reform in both doctrine and practice. Two prayer books and the 42 Articles were adopted, both of which had strong Lutheran elements. The Articles patterned themselves after the Augsburg Confession. When Edward died, Queen Mary I (1553-1558), attempted to forcibly return England to Roman Catholicism and many Protestants were martyred. Elizabeth I (1558-1603) aimed for an accommodating position that would be comprehensive enough for both Anglicans & Roman Catholics on the one hand and Calvinists on the other. The Thirty-Nine Articles (1571), the official statement of Anglicanism, reflects this accommodating spirit, though it leans toward Protestantism. Apart from the time of England’s Civil War and Commonwealth Period (1643-1660), Anglican theology, as expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles, has been the official theology of the Church of England. The first Anglican service in America was held in 1579 in what is now San Francisco. An Anglican chaplain was present at Jamestown, VA, in 1607. Prior to the Revolutionary War, Anglicans were numerous, especially in the Maryland and Virginian colonies. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were Anglicans. After the War (in 1783, 1789), Anglicans chose a new name, “The Protestant Episcopal Church,” and reorganized to distance themselves from England and to adapt to the American scene.

Source & Standards for Teaching

Both the Thirty-Nine Articles and the 1888 Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral state that the Bible is the only source of doctrine and “rule and ultimate standard of faith.” Many other sources are allowed in practice, however, including the consensus fidelium (the brief summary of doctrines believed everywhere, at all times, by everyone), the authority of the church, and reason. Many Episcopalians also believe another source of divine truth is God’s self-disclosure in the religious and moral development of the entire human race.

Doctrinal Standards

The doctrinal standards of the Episcopal Church are the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1801 and the Book of Common Prayer, last revised in 1979. However, clergy and congregations of the ECUSA are no longer required to subscribe to them (Some Anglican bodies are still required to subscribe to them. The Church of England allows a qualified subscription). Because of the refusal to insist on doctrinal standards, the Episcopal Church has adopted latitudinarianism, which, from the Lutheran perspective, means that they accommodate many contradictory positions within the same church. Some Episcopalians gravitate toward Calvinism, some toward Catholicism, and some toward Methodism. Others read the Bible in a such a way so as to reject fundamental teachings of the Bible. Ultimately, what unifies Episcopalians worldwide is the Book of Common Prayer, which governs the worship of all Anglicans, and a varied commitment to the Thirty-Nine Articles. What also unifies the ECUSA is a dedication to inclusiveness and external unity at all costs. “In short, the Anglican church can satisfy churchmen of practically all descriptions: the ritualist, the formalist, the sacramentalist, the biblicist, the pietist, the legalist, the moralist, the ecumenist, the intellectual” (F.E. Mayer, The Religious Bodies of America, 280).

The Bible

ECUSA believes that the Bible is “The Word of God,” because the Holy Spirit inspired the writers. They also teach that all things necessary for salvation are contained in the Bible, but that many other things have been taught apart from Scripture. They do not, however, believe in either verbal inspiration or the inerrancy of Scripture. Episcopalians interpret Scripture both according to tradition (as a starting point) and reason (defined as one’s intelligence and experience). “What the Bible says must always be speak to us in our time and in our place” (From www.episcopalchurch.org)

The Work of Christ

“[Jesus Christ 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” (Thirty-Nine Articles, II). “Ultimately, Christians believe, in order to save us from the consequences of our own actions, God sent us Jesus Christ, God’s Son. In Jesus, God became a human being, born of a human woman, to live with us, to share our weakness, to suffer as we suffer, and to die as we die, in order to show us directly how God loves us and wants us to live with one another.” “Christians may disagree regularly, however, on how to interpret or apply what the Bible says” (www.episcopalchurch.org). Christ died for all people.

Creation and the Fall

Episcopalians believe that God made all that there is. The prevailing view among the ECUSA is theistic evolution. They are not in agreement, however, about the consequences of the Fall. Traditionally (as in the Thirty-Nine Articles), Episcopalians taught original sin and its consequences, that man is dead in sin and has no free will (See Thirty-Nine Articles, IX,X). In more recent times, such a view has been softened, if not openly contradicted: “Most Christians believe that the physical universe, including humanity itself, is fundamentally good, even though human beings cause it harm through their negligence and self-interest. Other Christians hold that while humanity may be flawed, God’s love and grace provides a way to perfection and goodness through the teachings and saving presence of Jesus Christ” (www.episcopalchurch.org).

Baptism

The Thirty-Nine Articles are not clear whether Baptism causes one to be born again, or whether it only symbolizes it. The Catechism, however, states, “The inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, birth in God’s family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and a new life in the Holy Spirit.” (The Book of Common Prayer (New York: Oxford Press, 1990), 858). Infants are baptized.

The Lord’s Supper

The theology of the Lord’s Supper in the Thirty-Nine Articles is clearly Calvinist, that is, that the Lord’s Supper is only the body and blood of Christ for those who believe, and that “the body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner” (Thirty-Nine Articles, XXVIII). The ECUSA’s web page states, “During the Eucharist, bread and wine are blessed as symbols of Christ’s body and blood” (www.episcopalchurch.org). The Catechism states that benefits of receiving the Lord’s Supper are the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of our union with Christ and one another. Open communion for all baptized Christians is their practice.

Sacraments

Episcopalians hold to two sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist. In addition, however, they teach that there are “sacramental rites,” which “evolved in the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.” They list confirmation, ordination, holy matrimony, reconciliation of a penitent, and unction as sacramental rites. They believe that these rites are also means of grace, “but are not necessary for all persons in the same way that Baptism and the Eucharist are” (Book of Common Prayer, 860).

Church

The holy Christian Church is defined as, “The Community of the New Covenant.”

Church Government and Ministry

The form of church government is “episcopal,” which comes from the Greek word for "overseer" or “bishop.” All authority is vested in the office of the bishop in each diocese, not, for example, in the congregation (including church property). He is the chief pastor, and he alone administers confirmation, ordains, and exercises the Office of the Keys. Episcopalians believe in “apostolic succession,” that there has been a unbroken line of bishops that goes back to the time of the apostles that gives validity to their ministries. Only those ministries that are part of this unbroken apostolic succession are recognized as valid. This is considered to be by divine right and necessary to believe before unity can be achieved. There are three orders of ministry: bishop, priest, and deacon.

Ordination

ECUSA ordains women as both priests and bishops. With the election of Eugene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire, they now ordain adulterers and practicing homosexuals as bishops as well. All this is contrary to Scripture.

Fellowship

Since 2001 the ECUSA has been in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). This means that members of congregations of both church bodies can freely commune at each other's altars and pastors/priests can preach in each other's pulpits. Our synod, the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, objected this union as a further example of the forfeiting of the ELCA's Lutheran character.

Sources

The Book of Common Prayer: and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies in the Church, According to the Use of the Episcopal Church. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.Martinson, Daniel F., ed. Concordat of Agreement: Supporting Essays. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1995.Mayer, F. E. The Religious Bodies of America. Fourth Edition revised by Arthur Carl Piepkorn. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1961.Mead, Frank S. and Hill, Samuel S. Handbook of Denominations in the United States. 11th Edition revised by Craig D. Atwood. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001. Manteufel, Thomas, Churches in America. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1994.