Anglicanism / Episcopalianism

Apostolic succession and the threefold ministry — bishops, priests (presbyters), and deacons, with bishops standing in an unbroken line of ordination reaching back to the apostles. The Ordinal claims these three orders have existed 'from the Apostles' time.'

Their basis
Paul tells Timothy to entrust the message to faithful men who will teach others (2 Tim 2:2); ordination came by the laying on of hands (1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6); the apostles appointed a successor to Judas (Acts 1:20-26) and ordained elders in every church (Acts 14:23). Very early church fathers (Ignatius of Antioch, c. AD 110) already center the bishop.

Scripture answers
The New Testament uses 'overseer/bishop' (episkopos) and 'elder' (presbyter) for the SAME office, interchangeably — Paul calls the Ephesian elders overseers (Acts 20:17,28), and tells Titus to appoint elders who must be blameless 'as an overseer' (Titus 1:5-7; cf. 1 Pet 5:1-2). That is a two-fold pattern, not a three-tier hierarchy. And the succession Scripture guards is succession in the APOSTOLIC MESSAGE — 2 Tim 2:2 is about handing on sound doctrine, not a chain of hands. The one foundation is Christ and the apostles' teaching (Eph 2:20; Gal 1:8), which is why any church faithful to that gospel is a true church regardless of its bishops.

Acts 20:17Acts 20:28Titus 1:5Titus 1:71 Peter 5:11 Peter 5:22 Timothy 2:2Ephesians 2:20Galatians 1:8

In fairness: They have a real point: ordered, ordained, accountable leadership IS biblical (Titus 1:5; 1 Tim 3:1-7), and episcopacy is genuinely ancient (attested by the early 2nd century). Most Anglicans hold it as a good and apostolic ORDER, not as the thing that makes salvation or a true church — and generally do not unchurch other believers over it.

Sacramentalism — infant baptism spoken of as regeneration. The Prayer Book baptismal service declares of the baptized child, 'seeing now that this child is regenerate,' and Article 27 calls baptism a 'sign of Regeneration or new Birth.'

Their basis
Jesus said one must be born 'of water and the Spirit' (John 3:5); baptism 'saves' (1 Pet 3:21); 'the washing of regeneration' (Titus 3:5); Peter's promise is 'to you and to your children' (Acts 2:38-39); whole households were baptized (Acts 16:15,33; 1 Cor 1:16); baptism is presented as the new-covenant counterpart to circumcision, given to infants (Col 2:11-12).

Scripture answers
Scripture ties salvation to grace received through personal faith, not to the act itself: 'by grace you have been saved through faith... not of works' (Eph 2:8-9; John 3:16). The consistent pattern is repent-and-believe, THEN be baptized — Peter says 'Repent and be baptized' (Acts 2:38); the Samaritans 'believed... and were baptized' (Acts 8:12); the eunuch is baptized only after Philip preaches Jesus to him (Acts 8:35-38). Most tellingly, Cornelius and his household received the Holy Spirit — the mark of the new birth — WHILE Peter was still speaking, BEFORE any water (Acts 10:44-47); and the thief on the cross was saved with no baptism at all (Luke 23:43). Baptism beautifully pictures and seals the gospel, but it does not automatically confer the new birth apart from faith.

Ephesians 2:8Ephesians 2:9Acts 2:38Acts 8:12Acts 10:44Acts 10:47Luke 23:43John 3:16

In fairness: Baptism is commanded by Christ Himself (Matt 28:19) and is no mere option; household baptisms are really in the text, and the covenant-continuity argument (children included in the covenant sign) is serious and held by many godly Reformed believers, not a fringe idea. Anglicans also affirm faith is necessary — hence confirmation, where the baptized personally own the faith — and Article 11 keeps justification by faith, guarding the core. Many Anglican evangelicals read the 'regenerate' language covenantally or by charitable presumption, not as automatic new birth.

The 'real presence' of Christ in Holy Communion — the bread and wine are more than bare symbols; the faithful truly feed on Christ. (Anglicanism firmly REJECTS Rome's transubstantiation — Article 28 calls it 'repugnant to the plain words of Scripture' — but affirms a real spiritual partaking.)

Their basis
'This is my body... this is my blood' (Matt 26:26-28); 'unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man... you have no life in you' (John 6:53-56); the cup and bread are 'a participation' (koinonia) in the blood and body of Christ (1 Cor 10:16).

Scripture answers
Jesus routinely spoke in vivid figures — 'I am the door' (John 10:9), 'I am the vine' (John 15:5) — and in the very John 6 discourse He explains, 'The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words I have spoken are spirit and life' (John 6:63). He defined the Supper Himself as memorial and proclamation: 'Do this in REMEMBRANCE of me... you PROCLAIM the Lord's death until He comes' (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24-26). The point is remembering and receiving by faith, not a physical presence in the elements.

John 6:63Luke 22:191 Corinthians 11:241 Corinthians 11:251 Corinthians 11:261 Corinthians 10:16John 15:5

In fairness: This is one where the Anglican position is close to Scripture: they reject transubstantiation, and 'we spiritually feed on Christ by faith' is essentially the Reformed reading. Paul does call the cup a real 'participation' (1 Cor 10:16), so treating the Supper as an empty symbol undersells it too. The difference from most evangelicals here is often more of emphasis than of substance.

A three-fold authority — Scripture, tradition, and reason (popularly the 'three-legged stool,' rooted in Richard Hooker) — with the creeds, church councils, and the Prayer Book carrying real weight alongside the Bible.

Their basis
Paul says, 'hold to the traditions you were taught' (2 Thess 2:15); the church is 'the pillar and buttress of the truth' (1 Tim 3:15) and 'a witness and keeper of Holy Writ' (Article 20); the ancient creeds faithfully summarize the faith.

Scripture answers
Scripture is the final court, God-breathed and sufficient 'that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work' (2 Tim 3:16-17) — and here Anglicanism's OWN Article 6 agrees, saying Scripture 'containeth all things necessary to salvation.' Jesus drew the line sharply when tradition competed with the Word: 'You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men... making void the word of God by your tradition' (Mark 7:8-9,13). The noble Bereans measured even an apostle's preaching against Scripture (Acts 17:11). Tradition and reason are useful servants; they must never sit as judges over the text (Isa 8:20).

2 Timothy 3:162 Timothy 3:17Mark 7:8Mark 7:13Acts 17:11Isaiah 8:201 Timothy 3:15

In fairness: The 'stool' is often caricatured. Hooker himself made Scripture PRIMARY, with reason and tradition as its ministers, not its equals — and Article 6 is robustly close to sola Scriptura. Wholesale contempt for tradition is itself naive: the creeds guard the gospel, and every reader brings SOME interpretive tradition whether they admit it or not. The danger is only when the servants start to rule.

Set liturgy and a ministerial priesthood — worship ordered by the Book of Common Prayer (fixed prayers, vestments, the church calendar, weekly seasons), and ministers titled 'priests.'

Their basis
God commanded ordered, reverent worship — 'all things should be done decently and in order' (1 Cor 14:40); the Psalms served Israel as a set prayer book; Jesus gave a fixed prayer to pray (Matt 6:9-13); 'priest' is simply the English contraction of 'presbyter' (elder), the New Testament word for the office.

Scripture answers
Under the new covenant EVERY believer is a priest — 'you are a royal priesthood' offering spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet 2:5,9; Rev 1:6) — and there is only ONE mediator and High Priest, Jesus, whose single sacrifice is finished (1 Tim 2:5; Heb 7:24-27; 10:12,14). Worship is not bound to prescribed forms or holy places but is 'in spirit and truth' (John 4:23-24), and Jesus warned against 'heaping up empty phrases' as if many words earn a hearing (Matt 6:7). Forms are fine; forms treated as the essence of worship, or a clergy set apart as a mediating priesthood, are not.

1 Peter 2:51 Peter 2:9Revelation 1:61 Timothy 2:5Hebrews 7:24Hebrews 7:27John 4:23John 4:24

In fairness: The word 'priest' really does descend from 'presbyter/elder,' and Anglicans do NOT claim their clergy re-sacrifice Christ (Article 31 explicitly rejects the sacrifice of the Mass as a 'blasphemous fable'). Their liturgy is saturated with actual Scripture — large stretches are the Bible read and prayed aloud — which teaches and guards against error; and spontaneous 'free' worship has its own unwritten ruts and fads. Order and beauty in worship are genuinely biblical.