Jackson on Article XII: Of Good Works
Bernard C. Jackson, 1900
Commentaries on Article XII: Rogers (1607)Ellis (1660)Burnet (1699)Beveridge (d. 1708)Welchman (1713)Practical Exposition (1716)Veneer (1725)Madan (1772)Hey (1796)Tomline (1799)Wilson (1821)Jones (1849)Trollope (1850)Browne (1850)Forbes (1867)Boultbee (1871)Maclear & Williams (1895)Green (1896)Gibson (1896)Jackson (1900)Bicknell (1919) · Article 12: text, context and Study
Article XII. Of Good Works
Albeit that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's Judgement; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith; insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.
Text: Book of Common Prayer (1662)
Cleaned OCR; [...] marks passages cut for illegibility. See the scan. Text: The Thirty-nine Articles: a short exposition, by Bernard C. Jackson (London: Church Book Room, 1900). Short notes on each Article. Cleaned OCR from the Internet Archive scan; passages too garbled to recover are marked [...]. Public domain.
This defines the place and value of good works in the Christian life. Their place is ‘* after Justi- fication.’’ They are “ the fruits ’’ of which faith is the root. Their value is not expiatory—they * cannot put away (expiate) our sins, and endure the severity of God’s Judgement.’’ Yet they have a real value, both as pleasing God (Col. i., 10) and as giving evidence of faith (James ii., 17, 18, 26). The Article is a safeguard against the exaggeration of works before the Reformation and their depreciation which followed it as a re- action against Medievalism. It is evidently directed against the extreme form of the latter tendency, known as Antinominanism.
ee True faith is lively, and can in nowise be idle.” Bp. Jewel’s Apology, p. 53.
Articte XIII. Or Works BEFORE JUSTIFICATION,
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