anglicanguide.com v0.1

The Thirty-Nine Articles · Article 6 of 39

Article VI. Of the Sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for salvation

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 the 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.

Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books

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 First Book of Esdras The Second Book of Esdras The Book of Esther The Book of Job The Psalms The Proverbs Ecclesiastes or Preacher Cantica, or Songs of Solomon Four Prophets the greater Twelve Prophets the less

And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:

The Third Book of Esdras The Fourth Book of Esdras The Book of Tobias The Book of Judith The rest of the Book of Esther The Book of Wisdom Jesus the Son of Sirach Baruch the Prophet The Song of the Three Children The Story of Susanna Of Bel and the Dragon The Prayer of Manasses The First Book of Maccabees The Second Book of Maccabees

All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them Canonical.

Latin text (1563)

Articulus VI. Divinæ Scripturæ doctrina sufficit ad salutem.

Scriptura sacra continet omnia quæ sunt ad salutem necessaria, ita ut quicquid in ea nec legitur, neque inde probari potest, non sit à quoquam exigendum, ut tanquam Articulus fidei credatur, aut ad necessitatem salutis requiri putetur.

Sacræ Scripturæ nomine eos Canonicos libros Veteris et Novi testamenti intelligimus, de quorum autoritate in Ecclesia, nunquam dubitatum est.

Catalogus librorum sacræ Canonicæ scripturæ Veteris Testamenti.

Genesis; Exodus; Leviticus; Numeri; Deuteronom; Iosue; Iudicum; Ruth; 2 Regum; Paralipom. 2; 2 Samuelis; Esdræ; Hester; Iob; Psalmi; Prouerbia; Ecclesiastes; Cantica; Prophetæ maiores; Prophetæ minores.

Alios autem Libros (ut ait Hieronymus) legit quidem Ecclesia ad exempla uitæ et formandos mores, illos tamen ad dogmata confirmanda non adhibet: ut sunt Tertius et quartus Esdræ.

Sapientia; Iesus filius Syrach; Tobias. .Iudith; Libri Machabæorum. 2.

Noui Testamenti Libros omnes (ut uulgo recepti sunt) recipimus et habemus pro Canonicis.

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 VI, 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)

Historical context

Article VI states the sufficiency of Holy Scripture for salvation: nothing that cannot be read in it or proved by it is to be required as an article of faith. The 1553 Article made the same principle but gave no list of books. In 1563 the list of canonical books was added, with the statement (citing Jerome) that the other books are read 'for example of life and instruction of manners' but not to establish doctrine; the list of the Apocrypha was completed in 1571. The Article answers the Council of Trent, whose fourth session (1546) received Scripture and unwritten traditions with equal reverence and declared the deuterocanonical books canonical. It also implicitly rejects the claims of radical enthusiasts to new revelations beyond Scripture.

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); Council of Trent, Session IV (1546).