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The Thirty-Nine Articles · Article 15 of 39

Article XV. Of Christ alone without Sin

Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only except, from which he was clearly void, both in his flesh, and in his spirit. He came to be the Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the world, and sin, as Saint John saith, was not in him. But all we the rest, although baptized, and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things; and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Latin text (1563)

Articulus XV. Nemo præter Christum sine peccato.

Christus in nostræ naturæ ueritate per omnia similis factus est nobis, excepto peccato, à quo prorsus erat immunis, tum in carne tum in spiritu. Venit, ut Agnus absque macula esset, qui mundi peccata per immolationem sui semel factam, tolleret: et peccatum (ut inquit Ioannes) in eo non erat. Sed nos reliqui, etiam baptizati, et in Christo regenerati, in multis tamen offendimus omnes: Et si dixerimus quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est.

Source: the first printed Latin edition (London: Reginald Wolfe, 1563), as given in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, vol. 3 (1877), via CCEL. Original spelling kept.

Commentaries

Article-by-Article commentaries on Article XV, oldest first.

  1. Thomas Rogers, The Faith, Doctrine, and Religion, Professed, & Protected in the Realme of England (first published 1585 as The English Creede; 1607 ed.)
  2. John Ellis, A Defense of the Thirty Nine Articles of the Church of England (first published in Latin 1660; 1700 English ed.)
  3. Gilbert Burnet, An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England (first published 1699; 1700 2nd ed.)
  4. William Beveridge, Ecclesia Anglicana Ecclesia Catholica; or, The Doctrine of the Church of England Consonant to Scripture, Reason, and Fathers (written before 1708; 1846–47 ed.)
  5. Edward Welchman, The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, Illustrated with Notes (first published in Latin 1713; 1790 English ed.)
  6. Anonymous, A Practical Exposition upon the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England (1716)
  7. John Veneer, An Exposition on the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England (first published 1725; 1734 2nd ed.)
  8. Martin Madan, A Scriptural Comment upon the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England (1772)
  9. John Hey, Lectures in Divinity, Book IV (1796–98)
  10. George Pretyman Tomline, Elements of Christian Theology, vol. 2 (first published 1799; 1818 ed.)
  11. William Wilson, The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England, Illustrated by Copious Extracts from the Liturgy, Homilies, Nowell’s Catechism, and Jewell’s Apology (1821)
  12. Thomas R. Jones, An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles by the Reformers (1849)
  13. William Trollope, Questions and Answers on the XXXIX Articles of the Church of England (1850)
  14. Edward Harold Browne, An Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles, Historical and Doctrinal (first published 1850–53; 1895 printing)
  15. Alexander Penrose Forbes, An Explanation of the Thirty-Nine Articles (first published 1867–68; 1871 2nd ed.)
  16. Thomas Pownall Boultbee, A Commentary on the Thirty-Nine Articles (first published 1871; 1877 ed.)
  17. George Frederick Maclear and Watkin Wynn Williams, An Introduction to the Articles of the Church of England (1895)
  18. E. Tyrrell Green, The Thirty-Nine Articles and the Age of the Reformation (1896)
  19. Edgar Charles Sumner Gibson, The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, Explained with an Introduction (1896–97)
  20. Bernard C. Jackson, The Thirty-Nine Articles: A Short Exposition (1900)
  21. Edward John Bicknell, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England (1919) · with Articles IX, X, XVI

Historical context

Article XV teaches that Christ alone was without sin, in flesh and spirit, and came to be the Lamb without spot; all others, even if baptized and born again in Christ, offend in many things. It stands substantially as in 1553. The Article was directed especially against perfectionist teaching among some sixteenth-century radical reformers, who claimed that the regenerate could live without sin. Older commentators also note its bearing on medieval claims about the sinlessness of the saints, but the Article itself is framed against the perfectionists, quoting 1 John 1:8. It complements Article IX on original sin and Article XVI on sin after baptism.

Sources: C. Hardwick, A History of the Articles of Religion (1851); E. H. Browne, An Exposition of the Thirty-Nine Articles (1865); E. C. S. Gibson, The Thirty-Nine Articles (1896).