Article 20

“The church has authority to decree forms of worship and ceremonies and to decide in controversies concerning the faith. However, it is not lawful for the church to order anything contrary to God’s written Word. Nor may it expound one passage of Scripture so that it contradicts another passage. So, although the church is a witness and guardian to holy Scripture, it must not decree anything contrary to Scripture, nor is it to enforce belief in anything additional to Scripture as essential to salvation.”

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Imagine for a moment that you are hearing the Christmas story for the first time. What surprises you the most? That a young girl is visited by an angel who tells her that, despite being a virgin, she will give birth to the Son of God? That, when her baby is born, he is laid in an animal feeding trough? That a host of angels announces the new arrival to a group of bewildered shepherds?

The Bible describes God as the creator and sustainer of the universe who enters world history in a surprisingly humble and lowly way. Some people find this idea of God unbelievable, just as others find the idea of Jesus dying for them unnecessary.

I often hear people say: “I like to think of God as…”, or “The God I believe in wouldn’t…”. We can create our own idea of what we want God to be like. But if we do, our God is just a magnified image of ourselves: he hates what we hate and is tolerant of what we tolerate!

Christians believe that we only know about God because he has revealed himself to us. He did this through his word, the Bible, and by becoming a human being, Jesus – whose birth we celebrate this month. We are simply not at liberty to decide for ourselves what God is like – he tells us what he is like!

The 39 Articles were written in the 16th century by Thomas Cranmer and Nicholas Ridley to avoid controversy and establish unity in the Church of England. These two men thought highly of the church, but knew that its authority has important limits. They wrote: “although the church is a witness and guardian to holy Scripture, it must not decree anything contrary to Scripture, nor is it to enforce belief in anything additional to Scripture as essential to salvation.” The Bible tells us everything we need to know to be saved – and what the God who can save us is really like!