Concerning the cult of the saints our people teach that the saints are to be remembered so that we may strengthen our faith when we see how they experienced grace and how they were helped by faith. Moreover, it is taught that each person, according to his or her calling, should take the saints’ good works as an example.—AC XXI:1
Also worthy of note: the cult of the saints was included among the articles in which there was presumed doctrinal agreement. The AC starts with the Holy Trinity and ends those presumed undisputed articles with the Saints. There’s a beauty there—I had never noticed it till Pr. Heath Curtis once pointed this out.
"Also worthy of note: the cult of the saints was included among the articles in which there was presumed doctrinal agreement. The AC starts with the Holy Trinity and ends those presumed undisputed articles with the Saints."
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if perhaps you could flesh out this thought. How does this jive with the rest of Article XXI, where it goes on to talk about the abuses of invoking the Saints in prayer?
I think they were quite circumspect in what they said there. The AC doesn’t actually call the invocation of the saints an abuse at this point; instead it lays the ground for recognizing it as an abuse: it cannot be shown from Scriptures that one ought to invoke the saints. But it can be shown from Scripture that we are to call upon Christ Jesus with our whole heart. They didn’t expect an argument about either of those things; as they are manifest to anyone who reads the Sacred Scriptures! Saintly invocation is absent; and calling on Christ is commanded with great promises.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response. I'm tracking with what you're saying now. "Circumspect" indeed!
ReplyDelete