Twenty-five Articles

The Articles of Religion (also called the Twenty-five Articles of Religion or Twenty-five Articles) are an official doctrinal statement of Methodism—particularly American Methodism and its offshoots. John Wesley revised the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, removing the Calvinistic parts among others, reflecting Wesley's Arminian theology.¹²³ In particular, the article on original sin was truncated, in view of the core Wesleyan Methodist doctrine of entire sanctification.³

The resulting Twenty-five Articles were adopted at the Christmas Conference of 1784,⁴ and are found in the Books of Discipline of Methodist Churches, such as Chapter I of the Doctrines and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, ¶ 106 of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline of the Global Methodist Church, and paragraph 103 of the United Methodist Church Book of Discipline.⁵ They have remained relatively unchanged since 1808, save for a few additional articles added in later years in the Free Methodist Church, the United Methodist tradition and the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection, among other Methodist connexions.⁶⁷⁸⁹

History

The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England were intended to establish, in basic terms, the faith and practice of the Church of England. While not designed to be a creed or complete statement of the Christian faith, the articles explain the Reformed doctrinal position of the Church of England in relation to Catholicism and Anabaptism.¹⁰

Wesley revised the Articles in 1784 for the Methodist work in America.¹² His twenty-four Articles reflect both his theological commitments and his desire for doctrinal clarity, shortening some articles and deleting others if they could be easily misread.

The Free Methodist Church added two articles, one on entire sanctification and another on "Future Rewards and Punishments".⁹

The articles Of Sanctification, taken from the Methodist Protestant Church, and Of the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority were added by the Uniting Conference that constituted the Methodist Church in 1939.⁹

Twenty-five Articles
1. Of Faith in the Holy Trinity. 2. Of the Word, or Son of God, Who Was Made Very Man. 3. Of the Resurrection of Christ. 4. Of the Holy Ghost. 5. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation. 6. Of the Old Testament. 7. Of Original or Birth Sin. 8. Of Free Will. 9. Of the Justification of Man. 10. Of Good Works. 11. Of Works of Supererogation. 12. Of Sin After Justification. 13. Of the Church. 14. Of Purgatory. 15. Of Speaking in the Congregation in Such a Tongue as the People Understand. 16. Of the Sacraments. 17. Of Baptism. 18. Of the Lord's Supper. 19. Of Both Kinds. 20. Of the One Oblation of Christ, Finished upon the Cross. 21. Of the Marriage of Ministers. 22. Of the Rites and Ceremonies of Churches. 23. Of the Rulers of the United States of America. 24. Of Christian Men's Goods. 25. Of a Christian Man's Oath. Of Sanctification. Of the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority.

References

Melton, J. Gordon (1 January 2005). Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Infobase Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 9780816069835. Among the items deleted by Wesley as unnecessary for Methodists were articles on Of Works Before Justification, which in Calvinism are largely discounted, but in Methodism lauded; Of Predestination and Election, which Wesley felt would be understood in a Calvinist manner that the Methodists rejected; and Of the Traditions of the Church, which Wesley felt to be no longer at issue.
Phelan, Macum (1916). Handbook of All Denominations. Smith & Lamar. p. 113. A discipline was adopted, contianing the General Rules and Articles of Religion, abridged by Wesley from the Thirty-Nine Articles, the new form being stripped of all distinctly Catholic and Calvinistic elements, and a liturgy, also prepared by Wesley.
Hastings, James; Selbie, John Alexander; Gray, Louis Herbert (1928). Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Scribner. p. 611. For the guidance of his people he revised the Thirty-nine Articles, reducing their number by omission and abbreviation to 25 (so printed in the Wesleyan Methodist Service Book): the changes are in many instances significant. ... Article. ix., 'Of Original or Birth-Sin,' is also cut down materially: the Wesleyan teaching on Sanctification appeared to conflict with the assertion that 'this infection of nature doth remain, yes in them that are regenerated.' ... The general effect of the recasting is to emphasize the Protestant and Evangelical character of the formulary, to set aside the principle of State-establishment, and to eliminate Calvinism. ... The revised Articles of Religion were, however, from the first incorporated, with certain necessary local adaptations, in the constitution of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America (see Doctrine and Discipline, etc., of this Church, pp. 21-26).
Jonas, W. Glenn (9 October 2018). Religious Traditions of North Carolina: Histories, Tenets and Leaders. McFarland. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-4766-7646-3.
"Doctrines and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church". Richard Allen and Jacob Tapsico. 1817. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference). Salem: Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection. 2014. p. 11.
Kurian, George Thomas; Lamport, Mark A. (10 November 2016). Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 1808. ISBN 978-1-4422-4432-0.
Book of Doctrines and Discipline (PDF). Global Methodist Church. 2024. p. 17-18.
Hogue, Wilson Thomas (1915). History of the Free Methodist Church of North America. Free Methodist Publishing House. p. 327.
Milton, Anthony (9 May 2002). Catholic and Reformed: The Roman and Protestant Churches in English Protestant Thought, 1600-1640. Cambridge University Press. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-521-89329-9. Nevertheless, the Thirty-Nine Articles were certainly broadly consistent with the Reformed consensus in doctrinal matters, and the generally received interpretation of the doctrine of the church was more directly in line with the tenets of continental Calvinist doctrine.

External links

Methodist Articles of Religion. A.D. 1784. in Creeds of the Evangelical Protestant Churches. by Philip Schaff

[Melton2005-1] Melton, J. Gordon (1 January 2005). Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Infobase Publishing. p. 48. ISBN 9780816069835. Among the items deleted by Wesley as unnecessary for Methodists were articles on Of Works Before Justification, which in Calvinism are largely discounted, but in Methodism lauded; Of Predestination and Election, which Wesley felt would be understood in a Calvinist manner that the Methodists rejected; and Of the Traditions of the Church, which Wesley felt to be no longer at issue.

[Phelan-2] Phelan, Macum (1916). Handbook of All Denominations. Smith & Lamar. p. 113. A discipline was adopted, contianing the General Rules and Articles of Religion, abridged by Wesley from the Thirty-Nine Articles, the new form being stripped of all distinctly Catholic and Calvinistic elements, and a liturgy, also prepared by Wesley.

[HastingsSelbieGray-3] Hastings, James; Selbie, John Alexander; Gray, Louis Herbert (1928). Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Scribner. p. 611. For the guidance of his people he revised the Thirty-nine Articles, reducing their number by omission and abbreviation to 25 (so printed in the Wesleyan Methodist Service Book): the changes are in many instances significant. ... Article. ix., 'Of Original or Birth-Sin,' is also cut down materially: the Wesleyan teaching on Sanctification appeared to conflict with the assertion that 'this infection of nature doth remain, yes in them that are regenerated.' ... The general effect of the recasting is to emphasize the Protestant and Evangelical character of the formulary, to set aside the principle of State-establishment, and to eliminate Calvinism. ... The revised Articles of Religion were, however, from the first incorporated, with certain necessary local adaptations, in the constitution of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America (see Doctrine and Discipline, etc., of this Church, pp. 21-26).

[4] Jonas, W. Glenn (9 October 2018). Religious Traditions of North Carolina: Histories, Tenets and Leaders. McFarland. p. 178. ISBN 978-1-4766-7646-3.

[AME-5] "Doctrines and Discipline of the African Methodist Episcopal Church". Richard Allen and Jacob Tapsico. 1817. Retrieved 27 July 2018.

[AWMC2014-6] The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference). Salem: Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection. 2014. p. 11.

[KurianLamport2016-7] Kurian, George Thomas; Lamport, Mark A. (10 November 2016). Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 1808. ISBN 978-1-4422-4432-0.

[GMC2024-8] Book of Doctrines and Discipline (PDF). Global Methodist Church. 2024. p. 17-18.

[Hogue-9] Hogue, Wilson Thomas (1915). History of the Free Methodist Church of North America. Free Methodist Publishing House. p. 327.

[10] Milton, Anthony (9 May 2002). Catholic and Reformed: The Roman and Protestant Churches in English Protestant Thought, 1600-1640. Cambridge University Press. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-521-89329-9. Nevertheless, the Thirty-Nine Articles were certainly broadly consistent with the Reformed consensus in doctrinal matters, and the generally received interpretation of the doctrine of the church was more directly in line with the tenets of continental Calvinist doctrine.

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