The 25 Articles and EUB Confession do NOT say the same thing. The 25 Articles are an abridgement of the 39 Articles from the Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Bible alone is insufficient and that the Magisterium is needed; that tradition is equal in authority with the Bible. Our 25 Articles rejects this. Again, our 25 Articles does NOT limit the inspiration and authority of the Bible to matters pertaining to salvation only, *rather, it merely states that everything pertaining to salvation can be found therein* It is the EUB Confession that weakened our views on Biblical Authority. The EUB Confession was created in the 1960s by leftists EUB leaders who were more interested in merging with the Methodists (and hence the liberalization of their confession) then in preserving Orthodoxy or properly representing their more conservative lay people. Again, the EUB Confession's stance on Biblical Inspiration and Authority represents the Soft Liberalism (aka the Neo-Orthodoxy of Karl Barth) that was the popular fad in those days among theologians. The Original United Brethren Confession, which the EUB inherited and kept when it was created in the 1940s, and which was the main Confession of Faith for the EUB for most of its existence, did NOT make this error of Soft Liberalism. Also, I would point out that even though the term "Inerrancy" is new, the substance of it is not. Methodists have always affirmed inerrancy since the beginning. The substance of James Arminius' views on Biblical Authority is essentially inerrancy as well! Thus to say that the Bible "contains" the Word of God, or that it is only inspired and authoritative on matters pertaining to salvation, is neither Arminian, nor Wesleyan, but Socinian.
The 25 Articles and EUB Confession do NOT say the same thing. The 25 Articles are an abridgement of the 39 Articles from the Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Bible alone is insufficient and that the Magisterium is needed; that tradition is equal in authority with the Bible. Our 25 Articles rejects this.
Again, our 25 Articles does NOT limit the inspiration and authority of the Bible to matters pertaining to salvation only, *rather, it merely states that everything pertaining to salvation can be found therein* It is the EUB Confession that weakened our views on Biblical Authority. The EUB Confession was created in the 1960s by leftists EUB leaders who were more interested in merging with the Methodists (and hence the liberalization of their confession) then in preserving Orthodoxy or properly representing their more conservative lay people. Again, the EUB Confession's stance on Biblical Inspiration and Authority represents the Soft Liberalism (aka the Neo-Orthodoxy of Karl Barth) that was the popular fad in those days among theologians.
The Original United Brethren Confession, which the EUB inherited and kept when it was created in the 1940s, and which was the main Confession of Faith for the EUB for most of its existence, did NOT make this error of Soft Liberalism. Also, I would point out that even though the term "Inerrancy" is new, the substance of it is not. Methodists have always affirmed inerrancy since the beginning. The substance of James Arminius' views on Biblical Authority is essentially inerrancy as well!
Thus to say that the Bible "contains" the Word of God, or that it is only inspired and authoritative on matters pertaining to salvation, is neither Arminian, nor Wesleyan, but Socinian.