What We Believe

We are re-composing our beliefs page, not because the beliefs have changed, but because we have some new ways to express them as part of the Anglican tradition.



A condensed adaptation of The Anglican 39 Articles of Religion for Vine of the Mountains.

THE HOLY TRINITY

There is but one living and true God: everlasting; of infinite power, wisdom and goodness; the Maker and Preserver of all things both visible and invisible. And in unity within this Godhead there are three Persons of one substance, power and eternity; namely the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Word or Son of God, Made Flesh

The Son [which is the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, and is of one substance with the Father] took human nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin: so that two whole and perfect Natures [that is to say, Divinity and Humanity] were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man; who truly suffered, was crucified, dead and buried, to reconcile his Father to us and to be a sacrifice, not only for original sin, but also for the actual sins of all people.

The Descent of Christ into the Place of the Dead

As Christ died for us and was buried, so also is it to be believed that he descended to the place of the dead and proclaimed the Gospel to those in captivity.

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST

Christ did truly rise again from death and took again his body with flesh, bones and all things pertaining to the perfection of human nature. He ascended into Heaven and there remains until he returns to judge all people at the last day.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, is of one substance, majesty and glory with the Father and the Son, equally very and eternal God.

The Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Saving Truth

Holy Scripture contains all truth necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not found therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any person to be believed as an article of the Faith or to be thought essential to salvation. “Holy Scripture” or “Holy Bible” we do understand to be those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.

THE OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st Samuel, 2nd Samuel, 1st Kings, 2nd Kings, 1st Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi.

THE NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st Corinthians, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1st Thessalonians, 2nd Thessalonians, 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, 1st Peter, 2nd Peter, 1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John, Jude and Revelation.

[EXTRA-CANONICAL BOOKS such as the Apocrypha and other great writings of the faith, may be read for encouragement, example and wisdom; but they are not to be used to establish any doctrine.]

ORIGINAL SIN

Original sin is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every person, whereby all humanity is very far gone from original righteousness and of its own nature is inclined to evil. Every person born into this world, apart from the grace of God through Jesus Christ, is bound for spiritual death.

FREE WILL

The fallen condition of Humanity is such that one cannot repent and prepare one’s self, by natural strength and good works, for salvation. Nonetheless, being created in God’s likeness, humans have a will to accept or reject the leading of the Holy Spirit through whose sovereign power one may enter into repentance and saving grace through Christ. We have no power to do good works, pleasing and acceptable to God, without the grace of God through Christ.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

We are accounted righteous before God, only by the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through faith, and not by our own works or deserving. Therefore, we are justified by faith alone. Good works, which are the fruits and evidence of true faith, cannot put away our sins. Such works, however endure judgement and are pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ.

christ: sinless

Christ took on likeness to humanity in all things, except sin, from which he was clearly devoid, both in his flesh and in his spirit. He came to be the Lamb without spot and who, by sacrifice of himself once made, takes away the sins of the world.

sin after salvation/baptism

Repentance through grace is available to all who fall into sin after Salvation and Baptism. We may depart from grace and fall into sin, and by the grace of God we may repent and amend our relationship with God.

salvation only by the name of christ

There is only one name in heaven and on earth whereby humans must be saved: Jesus Christ.

the church

The visible Church of Christ is that body of people in all times and places who trusts in Christ for salvation and is reconciled to the Father through him.

the authority of the church

The Church has the authority and responsibility to boldly proclaim and faithfully interpret the transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ. It may promote and ordain such rites and activities as do advance said faithful proclamation to the prevalent culture. The Church must wisely intervene to settle destructive controversies of faith. It is anathema that the Church should ordain or promote any thing that is contrary to God's Word. The Church’s authority is only validated by its obedience to Christ.

the sacraments

Sacraments ordained of Christ are sure witnesses and signs of grace and God's good will towards us, through which God works invisibly in us, and mysteriously makes alive, strengthens and confirms our faith in him. There are two Sacraments clearly ordained of Christ in the Gospel: Baptism and the Supper of the Lord (Eucharist, Holy Communion.)

baptism

Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are discerned from those not baptized, but it is also a sign of Regeneration or New Birth. Those who receive Baptism are by grace and mystery grafted into the Church, into the promises of the forgiveness of sin and into adoption as the children of God.

the lord’s supper

The Lord's Supper is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's death insomuch as: those who humbly receive the host elements do mysteriously partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. This sacrament is also a sign of the love and fellowship that Christians ought to have among themselves as the Body of Christ.

the one offering of christ, finished on the cross

The Offering of Christ once made is that perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction, for all the sins of the whole world, both original and actual; and there is no other satisfaction for sin, but that alone.

The Creeds

In addition to the early Vine statements above, here is an excerpt adapted from Simply Anglican by Winfield Bevans, which perfectly describes why we also hold to the historic creeds of Christianity:

Anglican Christianity is unified by its center, not by its boundaries. In particular, the three creeds of the church (the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed) constitute the core of Anglican belief. But what exactly is a creed? A creed is a brief statement of faith used to summarize Biblical teaching, clarify doctrinal points, and distinguish truth from error. The word creed comes from the Latin word credo, meaning, “I believe.” The historic creeds offer us a concise summary of authentic Christian beliefs. They contain essential Christian doctrines (e.g., the divinity of Christ, the virgin birth, the Trinity) common to the majority of Christians. It is through our common faith in these essentials that Anglicans can seek unity with other Christians. Our creeds guard the faith, but they do not limit the leading of the Holy Spirit. The common ground of faith established by the creeds allows us to move forward together into the world to fulfill the mission of God.

The Apostles’ Creed

The Apostles’ Creed represents the most concise creed observed by many Christians, including Anglican Christians. As the early church spread, it needed a practical statement of faith to help believers focus on the most important doctrines of their Christian faith. The creed is traditionally attributed to the apostles, though there is no clear historical road for this belief. However, the Apostles’ Creed accurately reflects the teaching of the apostles—the apostolic faith. The earliest form of the Apostles’ Creed appeared around the second century, and it seems to have assumed its final form in the eighth century.

The Nicene Creed

As the church continued to grow, heresies also grew, and the early Christians needed even more clarification in order to define the boundaries of the faith. In the early 300s, controversy arose over the divinity of Jesus Christ. At the request of Emperor Constantine, Christian bishops from across the East and the West met at the town of Nicaea, near Constantinople. In AD 325 they wrote an expanded creed called the Creed of Nicaea, which was finalized in its current form at the Council of Constantinople in AD 381. Along with the Apostles’ Creed, Christians widely accept the Nicene Creed as a statement of true Christian orthodoxy. The Anglican church employs the Apostles’ Creed as the statement of faith during baptism and Morning and Evening Prayer, while the Nicene Creed is recited in the service of Holy Communion.

The Athanasian Creed

Finally, the Athanasian Creed was an attempt to protect the church from heresies that denied the humanity and divinity of Jesus and from false teachings related to the doctrine of the Trinity. Although it was most likely composed at some point during the fifth century, the Athanasian Creed is traditionally ascribed to Athanasius (293–373), a defender of orthodox teaching about Jesus Christ against the heresy of Arianism, which maintained that Jesus was a created being, not God. The Athanasian Creed offers a detailed statement of the doctrine of the Trinity: “That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.”