View source for Rule of Faith

{{Short description|Ultimate authority in Christian belief or fundamental interpretive standard}}
The '''rule of faith''' ({{langx|el|'''κανών της πίστεως'''}}, {{langx|la|'''regula fidei'''}}) is the name given to the ultimate authority in Christian belief or fundamental [[hermeneutic]] (interpretive) standard (e.g., for biblical interpretation.). It was used by [[Early Christian]] writers such as [[Tertullian]]. The phrase is sometimes used for early creeds.

==Meaning==
[[Joseph Fitzmyer]] {{post-nominals|post-noms=[[Society of Jesus|SJ]]}} notes that the rule of faith ({{langx|la|'''regula fidei'''}}) (where 'rule' has the sense of a measure such as a ruler) is a phrase rooted in the [[Apostle Paul]]'s admonition to the [[Early centers of Christianity#Rome|Christians in Rome]] in the [[Epistle to the Romans]] {{bibleverse|nobook=yes||Mark|5:13|9}} {{bibleverse|nobook=yes||Romans|12:6|NIV}}, which says, "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith." ([[New International Version|NIV]], 1984)  

The last phrase, "in proportion to his faith" is in Greek κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως ("analogy of faith"). In Romans 12:6 this refers to one of three possible ideas: the body of Christian teachings, the person's belief and response to the grace of God, or to the type of faith that can move mountains.<ref>{{Citation | author = [[Joseph Fitzmyer]] | title = Romans | series = Anchor Bible Commentary | volume = 33 | place = New York | publisher = Doubleday | year = 1992 | pages = 647–48}}</ref> 

===Second century usage===
In the early church, [[Irenaeus]] was writing in the second century about the "rule of faith" or "rule of truth." In ''[[Against Heresies]]'' [[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume I/IRENAEUS/Against Heresies: Book I|1]].9.4 he talks about it being received by baptism and continues, in the next chapter, to explain:
{{Quote | author=Irenaeus|source= [[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume I/IRENAEUS/Against Heresies: Book I#Chapter_X|''Against Heresies'' 1.X.1]] | text= …this faith: in one God, the Father Almighty, who made the heaven and the earth and the seas and all the things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was made flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who made known through the prophets the plan of salvation, and the coming, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and his future appearing from heaven in the glory of the Father to sum up all things and to raise anew all flesh of the whole human race…}}

Elsewhere, in the preface to his ''The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching'', Irenaeus reiterates the need to "hold the rule of the faith without deviation."<ref name="apostolicpreaching">{{cite web |author1=Irenaeus |author1-link=Irenaeus |title=Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching |url=https://ccel.org/ccel/irenaeus/demonstr/demonstr.iv.html |website=Christian Classics Ethereal Library |access-date=25 January 2022}}</ref> He goes on again to express the rule of faith across three points or articles:

{{Quote | author=Irenaeus |source= [https://ccel.org/ccel/irenaeus/demonstr/demonstr.iv.html ''The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching'' 6] |text=This then is the order of the rule of our faith…: God, the Father, not made, not material, invisible; one God, the creator of all things: this is the first point of our faith. The second point is: The Word of God, Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was manifested to the prophets according to the form of their prophesying and according to the method of the dispensation of the Father through whom all things were made; who also at the end of the times, to complete and gather up all things, was made man among men, visible and tangible, in order to abolish death and show forth life and produce a community of union between God and man. And the third point is: The Holy Spirit, through whom the prophets prophesied, and the fathers learned the things of God, and the righteous were led forth into the way of righteousness; and who in the end of the times was poured out in a new way a upon mankind in all the earth, renewing man unto God.}}

===Third century usage===
[[Tertullian]] uses the phrases "rule of faith" and "rule of truth":
{{Quote|author= Tertullian | source = [[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume III/Anti-Marcion/The Prescription Against Heretics/Chapter XII|''The Prescription Against Heretics'' 12]]|text=Let our "seeking," therefore be in that which is our own, and from those who are our own, and concerning that which is our own, – that, and only that, which can become an object of inquiry without impairing the rule of faith.}}

===Fourth century usage===
In the [[Christianity in the 4th century|4th century of Christianity]], the Rule of Faith became equated with the [[Old Roman Symbol]], which was an earlier and shorter version of the [[Apostles' Creed]] and other later statements of faith. The Old Roman Symbol was based on the 2nd-century Rule of Faith and the interrogatory declaration of faith for those receiving [[Baptism]] ([[Christianity in the 3rd century|3rd century]] or earlier),<ref name = "Oxford:Old">{{Citation | editor-last = Cross | editor-first = FL | title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | place = New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005 | contribution = Old Roman Creed}}.</ref> which by the fourth century was everywhere tripartite in structure, following {{bibleverse ||Matthew|28:19}} ("baptizing them in the name of the [[God the Father|Father]] and of the [[God the Son|Son]] and of the [[Holy Spirit]]"<ref>{{Citation | editor-last = Cross | editor-first = FL | title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | place = New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2005 | contribution = creed}}.</ref>), which is part of the [[Great Commission]]. According to the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, the first text attesting it is a letter to [[Pope Julius I]] in 340 or 341, and it has recently been argued that it developed in the context of the [[Arian controversy]].<ref name = "Oxford:Old"/>  

As a historical standard for adherence to orthodoxy, rule of faith may also refer to other statements of faith including the [[Nicene Creed]], [[Athanasian Creed]], [[Augsburg Confession]], [[Canons of Dort]], [[Westminster Confession]] and others, the [[inner light]] of the spirit, as among [[Christian mysticism|mystics]].<ref>[[s:The Nuttall Encyclopædia/R#Rule of Faith|"Rule of Faith"]]. ''[[The Nuttall Encyclopædia]]'' (1907).</ref>

More broadly, the rule of faith is the name given to the ultimate authority or standard in religious belief, such as the [[Revelation|Word of God]] (''Dei verbum'') as contained in Scripture and [[Sacred tradition|Apostolic Tradition]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | publisher = New advent |url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05766b.htm |title= The Rule of Faith |encyclopedia= [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] |access-date= 2007-02-18}}</ref> as among [[Catholics]]; [[theoria]], as among the [[Eastern Orthodox]]; the ''[[Sola scriptura]]'' (Bible alone doctrine), as among some [[Protestants]]; the [[Wesleyan Quadrilateral]] of faith, which held that Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience, as among other Protestants; and [[reason]] alone, as among Rationalist philosophers.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}}

Some theologians use "analogy" as an alias for "rule" rather than its [[analogy|modern sense]] of comparison. 

===Catholic usage===
[[Pope Pius XII]] in ''[[Humani generis]]'' used the term ''analogy of faith'' to say that Holy Scripture should be interpreted according to the mind of the Church, not that the teaching of the Church and Fathers should be interpreted by some theorised norm of the Scriptures.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Humani generis |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis.html}}</ref>

In the [[Catholic Church]], the [[Bible]] and [[sacred tradition]] (that is, things believed to have been taught by [[Jesus]] and the [[Twelve apostles|apostles]] that were not recorded in the Bible but were transmitted through the church) are considered a rule for all believers for judging faith and practice.<ref>{{Citation | last = Hodge | first = Charles | chapter-url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/hodge/theology1.iii.v.i.html | chapter = 5. Roman Catholic Doctrine Concerning the Rule of Faith | author-link = Charles Hodge | publisher = CCEL | title = Systematic Theology}}</ref> The current ''[[Catechism of the Catholic Church]]'' says, "all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God<ref>{{Citation | publisher = The Vatican | url = https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__PQ.HTM | title = Catechism of the Catholic Church, Chapter 2 | at = art. 3 Sacred Scripture, ''III. The Holy Spirit, interpreter of Scripture''|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010125111100/https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s1c2a3.htm|archive-date=2001-01-25|url-status=live}}</ref>

The ''[[Baltimore Catechism]]'' used the phrase "rule of faith":<ref>{{cite web | title=Baltimore Catechism | url=http://www.baltimore-catechism.com/lesson12.htm }}</ref>

{{ Quote | text = Q. 561. Must we ourselves seek in the Scriptures and traditions for what we are to believe?

A. We ourselves need not seek in the Scriptures and traditions for what we are to believe. God has appointed the Church to be our guide to salvation and we must accept its teaching us our infallible ''rule of faith''.}} In ''[[Verbum Domini]]'' (2010), Pope [[Benedict XVI]] wrote:<ref>The Latin can be found on page 15 [https://web.archive.org/web/20101116170156/https://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20100930_verbum-domini_lt.pdf here].</ref>{{Quote |...while in the Church we greatly venerate the sacred Scriptures, the Christian faith is not a 'religion of the book': Christianity is the 'religion of the word of God,' not of 'a written and mute word, but of the incarnate and living Word' (qtd. from St. [[Bernard of Clairvaux]]). Consequently the Scripture is to be proclaimed, heard, read, received and experienced as the word of God, in the stream of the apostolic Tradition from which it is inseparable}}

===Protestant usage===
{{more citations|section|date=July 2024}}
In some [[Protestant theology]], it is a [[hermeneutics|hermeneutical]] rule of interpreting the Bible that scripture is to interpret scripture (''Sacra Scriptura sui interpres'': sacred Scripture is its own interpreter). It is an understanding that enforces the Bible as the inspired Word of God, and it is therefore consistent and coherent since God cannot contradict himself.<ref>Sproul, R. C., et al. Knowing Scripture. vol. Revised edition, IVP Books, 2009.</ref>

In [[Conservatism|conservative]]{{vague|date=December 2022}} [[Protestantism]] Romans 12:6 is viewed as the biblical reference for the term "'''analogy of the faith'''" (i.e., αναλογἰα τῆς πἰστεως).<ref>{{cite web |url= http://documents.fuller.edu/ministry/berean/analogy.htm |title= Biblical Theology and the Analogy of Faith |work=Daniel Fuller|access-date=2009-03-08}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | first = John | last = Calvin | title = Institutes of the Christian Religion | chapter = Prefratory Address, 2 and Book IV, ch. 17, 32 | editor-first = John T | editor-last = McNeill | series = Library of Christian Classics, 2 vols | place = Philadelphia | publisher = Westminster Press | year = 1950 | at = 1:12; 2:1404}}</ref>

For Protestants, the Bible alone is considered the word of God and the only infallible standard for judging [[faith]] and practice;<ref>{{Citation | last = Hodge | first = Charles | chapter-url = http://www.ccel.org/ccel/hodge/theology1.iii.vi.html | chapter = 6. The Protestant Rule of Faith | author-link = Charles Hodge | title = Systematic Theology | publisher = CCEL}}</ref> hence, for conservative Protestantism, the ''analogy of the faith'' is equivalent to the ''analogy of scripture'' &ndash; that is, opinions are tested for their consistency with scripture, and scripture is interpreted by the [[Holy Spirit]] speaking in scripture (compare ''[[sola scriptura]]'').

=== Orthodox usage ===
{{Empty section|date=August 2020}}

==See also==
* [[Biblical law in Christianity]]
* [[Faith in Christianity]]

<!--==Notes==
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==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Sproul, R. C., et al. ''Knowing Scripture'', revised edition, IVP Books, 2009. EBSCO host

{{Private revelation}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:New Testament theology]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Philosophy of law]]
[[Category:Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Nuttall Encyclopedia]]
[[Category:Analogy]]
[[Category:Faith in Christianity]]