The following statement of faith and theology was adopted by the Administrative Board of the Richmond Nolley Memorial Methodist Church in August of 2023:
The
Articles of Religion
Originally
adopted by the Anglican Church in A.D. 1571; the Articles of Religion
were abridged by John Wesley, the 'father of Methodism,' in 1784 and
adopted by the first General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church later that same year. The Articles have remained an
authoritative 'standard of doctrine' for various Methodist Churches
since that time.
The
Richmond Nolley Memorial Methodist Church accepts these Articles,
along with the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, as authoritative
standards for Biblical interpretation and Christian teaching:
Article
I—Of Faith in the Holy Trinity
There
is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts,
of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness; the maker and preserver of
all things, both visible and invisible. And in unity of this Godhead
there are three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity—the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Article
II—Of the Word, or Son of God, Who Was Made Very Man
The
Son, who is the Word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one
substance with the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the
blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to
say, the Godhead and Manhood, 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 guilt, but
also for actual sins of men.
Article
III—Of the Resurrection of Christ
Christ
did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with all
things appertaining to the perfection of man's nature, wherewith he
ascended into heaven, and there sitteth until he return to judge all
men at the last day.
Article
IV—Of the Holy Ghost
The
Holy Ghost, proceeding from the Father and the Son, is of one
substance, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son, very and
eternal God.
Article
V—Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation
The
Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that
whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to
be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of
faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name
of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical books of the
Old and New Testament of whose authority was never any doubt in the
church. The names of the canonical books are:
Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, The
First Book of Samuel, The Second Book of Samuel, The First Book of
Kings, The Second Book of Kings, The First Book of Chronicles, The
Second Book of Chronicles, The Book of Ezra, The Book of Nehemiah,
The Book of Esther, The Book of Job, The Psalms, The Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes or the Preacher, Cantica or Songs of Solomon, Four
Prophets the Greater, Twelve Prophets the Less.
All
the books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do
receive and account canonical.
Article
VI—Of the Old Testament
The
Old Testament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New
Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is
the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and Man.
Wherefore they are not to be heard who feign that the old fathers did
look only for transitory promises. Although the law given from God by
Moses as touching ceremonies and rites doth not bind Christians, nor
ought the civil precepts thereof of necessity be received in any
commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian whatsoever is free
from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral.
Article
VII—Of Original or Birth Sin
Original
sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly
talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that
naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very
far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined
to evil, and that continually.
Article
VIII—Of Free Will
The
condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn
and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith,
and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works,
pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ
preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us,
when we have that good will.
Article
IX—Of the Justification of Man
We
are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or
deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a
most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.
Article
X—Of Good Works
Although
good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after
justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of
God's judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in
Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by
them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned
by its fruit.
Article
XI—Of Works of Supererogation
Voluntary
works—besides, over and above God's commandments—which they call
works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and
impiety. For by them men do declare that they do not only render unto
God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his
sake than of bounden duty is required; whereas Christ saith plainly:
When you have done all that is commanded you, say, We are
unprofitable servants.
Article
XII—Of Sin After Justification
Not
every sin willingly committed after justification is the sin against
the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance
is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after justification.
After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace
given, and fall into sin, and, by the grace of God, rise again and
amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned who say they
can no more sin as long as they live here; or deny the place of
forgiveness to such as truly repent.
Article
XIII—Of the Church
The
visible church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men in which
the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments duly
administered according to Christ's ordinance, in all those things
that of necessity are requisite to the same.
Article
XIV—Of Purgatory
The
Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon, worshiping, and
adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of
saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no
warrant of Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God.
Article
XV—Of Speaking in the Congregation in Such a Tongue as the People
Understand
It
is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of
the primitive church, to have public prayer in the church, or to
minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understood by the people.
Article
XVI—Of the Sacraments
Sacraments
ordained of Christ are not only badges or tokens of Christian men's
profession, but rather they are certain signs of grace, and God's
good will toward us, by which he doth work invisibly in us, and doth
not only quicken, but also strengthen and confirm, our faith in him.
There
are two Sacraments ordained of Christ our Lord in the Gospel; that is
to say, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord.
Those
five commonly called sacraments, that is to say, confirmation,
penance, orders, matrimony, and extreme unction, are not to be
counted for Sacraments of the Gospel; being such as have partly grown
out of the corrupt following of the apostles, and partly are states
of life allowed in the Scriptures, but yet have not the like nature
of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, because they have not any visible
sign or ceremony ordained of God.
The
Sacraments were not ordained of Christ to be gazed upon, or to be
carried about; but that we should duly use them. And in such only as
worthily receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation;
but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves
condemnation, as St. Paul saith.
Article
XVII—Of Baptism
Baptism
is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby
Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but
it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of
young children is to be retained in the Church.
Article
XVIII—Of the Lord's Supper
The
Supper of the Lord is not only a sign of the love that Christians
ought to have among themselves one to another, but rather is a
sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death; insomuch that, to such
as rightly, worthily, and with faith receive the same, the bread
which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the
cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ.
Transubstantiation,
or the change of the substance of bread and wine in the Supper of our
Lord, cannot be proved by Holy Writ, but is repugnant to the plain
words of Scripture, overthroweth the nature of a sacrament, and hath
given occasion to many superstitions.
The
body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after a
heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of
Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is faith.
The
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's ordinance
reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshiped.
Article
XIX—Of Both Kinds
The
cup of the Lord is not to be denied to the lay people; for both the
parts of the Lord's Supper, by Christ's ordinance and commandment,
ought to be administered to all Christians alike.
Article
XX—Of the One Oblation of Christ, Finished upon 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 none other satisfaction for
sin but that alone. Wherefore the sacrifice of masses, in the which
it is commonly said that the priest doth offer Christ for the quick
and the dead, to have remission of pain or guilt, is a blasphemous
fable and dangerous deceit.
Article
XXI—Of the Marriage of Ministers
The
ministers of Christ are not commanded by God's law either to vow the
estate of single life, or to abstain from marriage; therefore it is
lawful for them, as for all other Christians, to marry at their own
discretion, as they shall judge the same to serve best to godliness.
Article
XXII—Of the Rites and Ceremonies of Churches
It
is not necessary that rites and ceremonies should in all places be
the same, or exactly alike; for they have been always different, and
may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and
men's manners, so that nothing be ordained against God's Word.
Whosoever, through his private judgment, willingly and purposely doth
openly break the rites and ceremonies of the church to which he
belongs, which are not repugnant to the Word of God, and are ordained
and approved by common authority, ought to be rebuked openly, that
others may fear to do the like, as one that offendeth against the
common order of the church, and woundeth the consciences of weak
brethren.
Every
particular church may ordain, change, or abolish rites and
ceremonies, so that all things may be done to edification.
Article
XXIII—Of the Rulers of the United States of America
The
President, the Congress, the general assemblies, the governors, and
the councils of state, as the delegates of the people, are the rulers
of the United States of America, according to the division of power
made to them by the Constitution of the United States and by the
constitutions of their respective states. And the said states are a
sovereign and independent nation, and ought not to be subject to any
foreign jurisdiction.
Article
XXIV—Of Christian Men's Goods
The
riches and goods of Christians are not common as touching the right,
title, and possession of the same, as some do falsely boast.
Notwithstanding, every man ought, of such things as he possesseth,
liberally to give alms to the poor, according to his ability.
Article
XXV—Of a Christian Man's Oath
As
we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by
our Lord Jesus Christ and James his apostle, so we judge that the
Christian religion doth not prohibit, but that a man may swear when
the magistrate requireth, in a cause of faith and charity, so it be
done according to the prophet's teaching, in justice, judgment, and
truth.
[The
following Article from the Methodist Protestant Discipline was added
alongside the traditional Articles of Religion by the Uniting
Conference of the Methodist Church (1939).]
Of
Sanctification
Sanctification
is that renewal of our fallen nature by the Holy Ghost, received
through faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood of atonement cleanseth
from all sin; whereby we are not only delivered from the guilt of
sin, but are washed from its pollution, saved from its power, and are
enabled, through grace, to love God with all our hearts and to walk
in his holy commandments blameless.
[The
following provision was adopted by the Uniting Conference of the
Methodist Church (1939). This statement seeks to interpret to
churches in foreign lands Article XXIII of the Articles of Religion.]
Of
the Duty of Christians to the Civil Authority
It
is the duty of all Christians, and especially of all Christian
ministers, to observe and obey the laws and commands of the governing
or supreme authority of the country of which they are citizens or
subjects or in which they reside, and to use all laudable means to
encourage and enjoin obedience to the powers that be.
[The
following statement on Gender, Sex, Marriage and Family is taken from
"The Jerusalem Declaration" of 2008]
Of
Gender, Sex, Marriage and Family
We
acknowledge God's creation of humankind as male and female and the
unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one
woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the
family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call
for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and
abstinence for those who are not married.
