Converted to Modern English by Peter Toon
Articles agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of
both Provinces [Canterbury and York] in the Convocation held at
London in the year 1562 and here presented in a contemporary
English form. Only the original text has the status of a Formulary
of the Church. For maximum benefit, this contemporary version
should be read alongside the original text.
1. Faith in The Holy Trinity
There is only one living and true God. His existence is
everlasting, without beginning or end. He is a Spiritual
Being, not limited by a body and bodily members, and
free from bodily desires and impulses. His power, wis-
dom, and goodness are infinite. He is the Creator and
Preserver of all things whether visible or invisible. In
the unity of this one true God there are three Persons,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who are one in
being, power and eternity.
2. The Word or Son of God who was made
true Man
The Son, who is the Word of the Father, is the Son of
the Father from everlasting to everlasting. He is truly
and eternally God, one with the Father in being. He
took our human nature to himself in the womb of the
Virgin Mary, so that two full and perfect natures, his
divine and our human nature, were united in the one
Person of the incarnate Son, never to be divided. There
is, therefore, one Christ, who is truly God and truly
man, and who truly suffered, was crucified, died and
was buried. By Christ’s sacrifice of himself, not only for
original guilt but also for all actual sins of men, God
was reconciling the world to himself (2 Corinthians 5:19).
3. Christ’s descent into Hell
As Christ died for us and was buried, so also it is to
be believed that he descended into hell.
4.The Resurrection of Christ
Christ truly rose again from the dead. His was a
bodily resurrection, with flesh, bones and all things that
belong to the perfection of our human nature. Further,
his ascension was a bodily ascension into heaven, where
he is now enthroned at the Father’s right hand until the
last day, when he will return to judge all men.
5. The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the
Son is one in being, majesty and glory with the Father
and the Son, and thus is truly and eternally God.
6. The sufficiency of Holy Scripture for salvation
Holy Scripture contains everything that is necessary
for our salvation. Consequently, nobody should be re-
quired to believe as an article of the Christian faith, or
to regard as necessary for salvation, anything that is
not found in Scripture or that cannot be proved from
Scripture. By the term Holy Scripture we mean the ca-
nonical books of the Old and New Testaments, namely:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1
and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos,
Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah,
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. And also, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and
2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon,
Hebrews, James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, Jude,
Revelation.
The books known as the Apocrypha or as Deutero-
Canonical are read by the Church, as Jerome said,
because of the examples they provide of heroic lives
and faithful conduct; but the Church does not use
these books to establish any doctrine. These are their
titles; The First Book of Esdras, The Second Book of
Esdras, Tobit, Judith, The Rest of Esther, The Wisdom
of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Jesus son
of Sirach, Baruch, A Letter of Jeremiah, The Song of the
Three, Daniel and Susanna, Daniel, Bel and the Snake,
The Prayer of Manasseh, The First Book of Maccabees,
and The Second Book of Maccabees.
7. The Old Testament
The Old Testament is not contrary to the New
Testament. In the Old as well as in the New Testament,
everlasting life is offered to mankind through Christ;
this is because as both God and man, he is the only
Mediator between God and man. Therefore, we must
not pay attention to any who say that in the Old
Testament the patriarchs and other godly persons were
limited in their expectation to transitory promises.
Although the ceremonies and rites of the Law which
God gave through Moses are not binding on Christians,
and the civil precepts of the Law are not essential for
the organization of any state or commonwealth, yet no
Christian person at all is free from obedience to the
commandments known as moral.
8. The Three Creeds
The three creeds, namely the Nicene Creed, the
Athanasian Creed, and what is commonly called the
Apostles’ Creed, should be received and believed with-
out reservation, because they may be proved from Holy
Scripture.
9. Original sin
Original sin does not consist in imitating the sin of
Adam (as the Pelagians wrongly teach), but is the fault
and corruption of the nature with which all the descen-
dants of Adam are born. It is due to original sin that we
have departed very far from the original righteousness
in which we were created, and are naturally inclined to
evil, with the result that there is a constant war between
the flesh and the spirit. Accordingly in every person
born into this world, original sin is deserving of God’s
wrath and condemnation. This infection of our nature
remains even in those who are reborn in and by Christ.
Because of original sin the desire of the flesh is not sub-
missive to the Law of God. True though it is that there
is no condemnation awaiting those who believe and are
baptized, yet the Apostle asserts that all ungodly de-
sires are in themselves sinful (Romans 6:12; 7:7).
10. Free Will
Since the fall of Adam, man’s state is such that he is
unable, by his own natural strength and good works,
to turn and dispose himself to believe the Gospel and
call upon God. Consequently we have no power of our
own to do good works that are pleasing and accept-
able to God, unless the grace of God is first given to us
through Christ, so that we may have a good will, and
that same grace continues at work within us to main-
tain that good will.
11. Justification
It is not because of any good works or deservings
on our part, but only by faith which rests on the merit
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that we are ac-
counted righteous before God. Therefore the doctrine
that we are justified by faith alone is most edifying and
full of strength and comfort. (This doctrine is more ful-
ly explained in the Homily on Justification in the First
Book of Homilies.)
12. Good Works
Although good works, which are the fruits of faith
and follow after our justification, cannot put away our
sins, and are subject to the severity of God’s judgment,
yet, since they are done in Christ and for his sake, they
are pleasing and acceptable to God; for they spring nec-
essarily from a true and vital faith, and are indeed the
evidence of a vital faith, just as a tree is recognized by
its fruit.
13. Works before Justification
Works that are done before receiving the grace of
Christ and the indwelling of his Spirit are not pleasing
to God, because they do not spring from faith in Jesus
Christ; nor is it true (as some say) that they render us
fit to receive grace or are deserving of grace. On the
contrary, the fact that such works are not done as God
has willed and commanded them to be done can only
mean that they have the nature of sin.
14. Works of Supererogation
Works, which are supposedly done voluntarily be-
yond and in excess of what is required by God’s com-
mandments (known as works of supererogation), can-
not be taught without self-centered arrogance and
irreverence; for it is claimed that persons who perform
such works render to God not only as much as it is their
duty to render, but actually do for God more than is
of binding duty required; whereas Christ plainly stated,
“When you have done all that is commanded, say, We
are unprofitable servants” (Luke 17:10).
15. Christ alone without sin
As our true fellow man, Christ was like us in all re-
spects, with the exception only of sin, from which he
was completely free, both in his flesh and in his spirit.
He came into the world to be the Lamb without spot or
blemish, and by his once-for-all sacrifice of himself to
take away the sins of the world as the one in whom, as
St John says, there was no sin (John 1:29, 1 John 3:5). But
all the rest of us, even though we have been baptized
and born again in Christ, continue to offend in many
things; and “if we say we have no sin we deceive our-
selves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
16. Sin after Baptism
Not every serious sin committed after our baptism is
an unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. So persons,
who fall into sin after baptism, should be encouraged
to repent. After we have received the Holy Spirit, it is
possible for us to turn away from the grace we have
experienced and to fall into sin, and it is possible for us,
who have fallen, to rise again and amend our lives by
the grace of God. Therefore, persons, who say that they
cannot sin any more as long as they continue in this life
(claiming to have attained sinless perfection), or who
deny any opportunity of forgiveness to those who truly
repent, are to be condemned.
17. Predestination and election
Predestination to life belongs to God’s everlasting
purpose. By this is meant that before the foundation of
the world, it is his unchangeable decree, in accordance
with his secret counsel, to deliver from the curse and
damnation those whom he has chosen in Christ, and
to bring them by him to everlasting salvation, as vessels
of his mercy (Romans 9:21ff). So, those on whom such
an excellent blessing of God is bestowed are called ac-
cording to God’s purpose by the Holy Spirit working in
them in God’s good time; through grace they obey this
calling and are freely justified by God; they become the
sons of God by adoption (Romans 3:24; 8:15f.); they are
conformed to the image of his only Son Jesus Christ;
they lead holy lives that are given to good works to the
glory of God; and at last, by God’s mercy, they attain to
everlasting bliss (Romans 8:29f; Ephesians 2:8-10).
The reverent consideration of our predestination
and election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant and un-
speakable strength and comfort to godly persons, who
feel the working in themselves of the Spirit of Christ,
mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly pas-
sions and drawing their thoughts upward to high and
heavenly realities. This teaching is welcome to us both
because it strongly establishes and confirms our assur-
ance of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ,
and also because it kindles in us a fervent love to God.
For unregenerate persons, however, who are moved by
idle curiosity and who do not have the Spirit of Christ,
to be constantly confronted with the doctrine of God’s
predestination is dangerous and disastrous, since the
devil uses it to drive them either to despair or to aban-
don themselves to immoral and ungodly living, which
is no less perilous than despair.
Furthermore, we must accept God’s promises in
the way in which they are ordinarily presented to us
in Holy Scripture, and in all that we do the will of God
is to be followed precisely as it is revealed to us in the
Word of God.
18. Salvation in Christ alone
They are to be condemned as false teachers who as-
sert that persons will be saved no matter what beliefs
they hold or what sect they belong to, provided they
sincerely lead their lives according to those beliefs and
to the light of nature; for Holy Scripture insists that it is
only by the Name of Jesus Christ that we may be saved
(Acts 4:12).
19. The Church
The visible Church of Christ is an assembly of believ-
ing people in which the pure Word of God is preached
and the Sacraments are ministered with due order
and discipline as ordained by Christ. Together with
other Churches (e.g. of Jerusalem, Alexandria and
Antioch), the Church of Rome has erred, not only in
matters of conduct and ceremonial but also in matters
of doctrine.
20. The Authority of the Church
The Church has power to prescribe rites and ceremo-
nies and has authority in theological controversies; but
it is not lawful for the Church to prescribe anything that
is contrary to God’s written Word, or to expound one
passage of Scripture in such a way that it disagrees with
another. Therefore, although the Church is a witness
and a guardian of Holy Scripture, yet it is not open to
it to prescribe anything contrary to Scripture, or to en-
force anything not found in Scripture to be believed as
necessary to salvation.
21. The Authority of General Councils
General Councils may not be called without the
authority of Christian Rulers. When they meet they
may err, and sometimes have erred, even in issues of
theological importance (for such Councils are com-
posed of men, not all of whom may be governed by the
Spirit and the Word of God). So nothing declared by
such Councils as necessary for salvation has binding
power or authority unless it is plainly taught in Holy
Scripture.
22. Purgatory
The Romish teaching about purgatory, pardons, the
worship and adoration of images and relics, and also
the practice of praying to saints, is a futile deception,
which, far from being grounded in Scripture, is repug-
nant to the Word of God.
23. Ministering in the Congregation
No man is permitted to take upon himself the office
of public preaching or ministration of the Sacraments
before he has been called and appointed to fulfill this
office. And those persons should be accepted as law-
fully called and appointed, who have been selected and
called to this work by men entrusted with public au-
thority in the Church to call and send ministers into
the Lord’s vineyard.
24. The Language of Public Worship
It is plainly incompatible with the Word of God and
with the custom of the primitive Church to conduct
public worship, or to minister the Sacraments in the
Church, in a language the people do not understand.
25. The Sacraments
The Sacraments prescribed by Christ are badges and
tokens of our profession as Christians, and, more par-
ticularly, they are trustworthy witnesses and effectual
signs of God’s grace and good will to us. By them God
works invisibly in us, both arousing and also strength-
ening and confirming our faith in him.
Christ our Lord has ordained two gospel Sacraments,
namely Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
The five that are commonly called sacraments,
namely, confirmation, penance, ordination, matrimony,
and extreme unction are not to be received as sacra-
ments of the gospel, since they have in part developed
from a false understanding of apostolic practice and in
part represent states of life allowed in the Scriptures.
Moreover, because they have no visible sign or cer-
emony commanded by God, they do not belong in the
same category as the Sacraments of Baptism and the
Lord’s Supper. The Sacraments were not appointed by
Christ to be a public spectacle or to be paraded for ado-
ration, but to be used with due discipline. They have
a beneficial effect and work only in those who receive
them worthily; whereas those who receive tem un-
worthily bring condemnation on themselves as St Paul
teaches (1 Corinthians 11:27ff ).
26. The Unworthiness of Ministers
In the visible Church there is always a mingling of
evil with good, and at times evil persons hold the chief
positions in the ministry of the Word and Sacraments.
Yet, because they do so, not in their own but in Christ's
name, and perform their ministry by his commission
and authority, we may avail ourselves of their minis-
try both in hearing the Word of God and in receiving
the Sacraments. The effect of Christ’s ordinance is not
taken away by their wickedness, nor is the grace of
God’s gifts diminished in the case of those who receive
the Sacraments rightly and by faith; for, although min-
istered by evil men, these are effectual on account of
Christ’s institution and promise.
Nevertheless, it belongs to the discipline of the
Church that evil ministers should be investigated and
that they should be accused by those who have knowl-
edge of their offences, and, further, that, on being found
guilty; they should by just judgment be deposed.
27. Baptism
Baptism is a sign of the faith we profess and a mark
that differentiates Christian persons from those who are
not united to Christ; and it is also a sign of regeneration
or new birth by which, as by an instrument, those who
receive baptism rightly are grafted into the Church,
the promises of forgiveness of sin and of our adoption
to be the sons of God are visibly signified and sealed,
and faith is confirmed and grace increased by virtue
of prayer to God. The baptism of young children is un-
der all circumstances to be retained in the Church as a
practice fully agreeable with the institution of Christ.
28. The L0rd’s Supper
The Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the
love that Christians ought to have among themselves
for each other, but is especially a Sacrament of our re-
demption by Christ’s death. Accordingly for those who
rightly, worthily and with faith receive it the bread that
is broken is a partaking of the body of Christ and the
cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ (1
Corinthians 10:16).
Transubstantiation (the teaching that the substance
of the bread and wine is changed into the actual flesh
and blood of Christ) in the Supper of the Lord cannot
be proved by Holy Scripture, but is repugnant to the
plain words of Scripture, overthrows the nature of a
sacrament, and has given rise to many superstitions.
ln the Lord’s Supper the body of Christ is given,
taken and eaten only in a heavenly or spiritual manner,
and faith is the means by which the body of Christ is
received and eaten in the Supper.
The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was not com-
manded by Christ to be reserved, carried about, lifted
up or worshipped.
29.The Lord’s Supper and Participation by
the Unrepentant
Though wicked persons, and all in whom a vital faith
is absent, physically and visibly press the Sacrament of
the body and blood of Christ with their teeth (as Saint
Augustine says), yet in no sense are they partakers of
Christ; on the contrary, they eat and drink the sign or
Sacrament of so great a heavenly reality to their own
condemnation.
30. Communion in Two Kinds
The cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the laity, for
both parts of the Lord’s Sacrament, the wine as well as
the bread, ought by Christ’s ordinance and command-
ment to be ministered alike to all Christian persons.
31. The One Offering of Christ
Christ’s offering of himself on the cross, once for all,
is the perfect redemption, propitiation, and satisfaction
for all the sins of the whole world, both original and ac-
tual, and there is no other satisfaction for sin, but that
alone. So the sacrifices of masses, in which it is com-
monly said that the priest offers Christ for the living
and the dead, to obtain the remission of their punish·
ment or guilt, are blasphemous fables and dangerous
deceits.
32. The Marriage of Priests
Bishops, priests and deacons are not commanded by
God’s law to take vows of celibacy or to abstain from
marriage; therefore it is lawful for them, as for all other
Christian persons, to marry at their own discretion,
where they judge that it serves better to godliness for
them to do so.
33. Excommunicated Persons
Any person, who by open discipline of the Church
is rightly cut off from the unity of the Church and ex-
communicated, ought to be treated by the whole com-
pany of the faithful as a heathen and a traitor, until such
time as he is reconciled by penitence and received back
into the Church by a judge with authority to do so
(cf., Matthew 18:17).
34. The Traditions of the Church
It is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies
should be uniform and identical in every place; for
these have at all times been varied, and they may be
changed to accord with the diversities of countries,
times, and human customs, provided that nothing be
ordained contrary to God’s Word. Anyone, who by his
private judgment willingly and deliberately breaks the
traditions and ceremonies of the Church (which are not
repugnant to the Word of God, and are appointed and
approved by common authority), ought to be openly re-
buked. This is in order that others may fear to follow his
example, as one who offends against the common order
of the Church, undermines authority and wounds the
consciences of weak fellow Christians.
Every particular or national church has authority to
prescribe, change and abolish ceremonies or rites of the
Church which have been ordered only by human au-
thority, providing all things are done for edification.
35. The Homilies
The two books of Homilies, which were set forth in
the times of Edward VI and Elizabeth I respectively;
contain godly and wholesome teaching, and ought
carefully to be read
36. The Consecation of Bishops and
other Ministers
The form of consecration of Archbishops and
Bishops and the ordering of Priests and Deacons, set
forth in the time of Edward VI, contain all things nec-
essary for such consecration and ordering and nothing
that of itself is superstitious and ungodly. Therefore,
anyone who is consecrated or ordained according to
these rites we declare to be rightly, orderly and lawfully
consecrated and ordained.
37. Civil Magstrates
We do not give to our princes or rulers the right to
minister either God`s Word or the Sacraments. The only
prerogative, which we recognize as having been given
by God himself in Holy Scripture to all godly rulers, is
that they should rule all states and classes committed to
their charge by God. whether ecclesiastical or secular,
and restrain with the civil sword stubborn persons and
evildoers.
The Bishop of Rome has no jurisdiction in this
realm.
Christians may be punished by the laws of the realm
with death for heinous and grievous offences.
It is lawful for Christian men to carry weapons and
serve in wars at the command of the civil ruler.
38. Private Property
The wealth and possessions of Christians are not
common to all, nor is their right and title to own private
property to be questioned. Nevertheless, every person
ought to give liberally and according to his ability from
the things he possesses to the poor.
39. Oath-taking
While we acknowledge that vain and rash swearing
is forbidden to Christians by our Lord Jesus Christ and
by St. James (Matthew 5:34-37; James 5:12), we judge
that our Christian religion does not prohibit us from
swearing an oath, when it is required by the magis-
trate in the cause of good faith and charity, providing
it is done according to the Prophet’s teaching in justice,
judgment and truth.