In the Reformed faith one is able to see the Christian faith in its fullest and purest expression. The Reformed faith, in line with the Scripture, teaches the doctrines of the sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, God’s unconditional election, the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement on the cross, etc.
In Christian theology, Calvinism clearly expresses the Reformed faith. Calvinistic teachings were earlier formulated by St Agustin in the fifth century, and later expounded by John Calvin, taught in his Institutes of Christian Religion, and the Westminster Confession of Faith (and its Larger and Shorter Catechism) in the seventeenth century. It is also known as the Covenant theology.
Here we will discus few salient features of the Reformed faith.
1. Bible-Based
The Reformed faith takes the Bible with the utmost seriousness. It finds its authority in the teaching of the Word of God. The Bible is the only infallible rule of what we are to believe and how we are to live (2 Tim 3:16-17).
2. God-Centered
God’s Glory
The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins with the Question: What is the chief end of man? And the answer is: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever (Q 1). It certainly reflects the Holy Scripture, Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cori 10:31; cf Ps 73:25). Glorifying God or seeking the glory of God is indeed a very central concept in the Christian faith. God will not give His glory to anyone else. It belongs to Him alone! Because He is so wonderful. He deserves our constant praise and worship. The Reformed faith confesses such, and insists that the glory we are to give God is nothing else but lifting up His name, magnifying Him, and consciously acknowledging His perfection.
God’s Salvation Plan
The Reformed faith teaches the salvation plan of God, designed and executed by the triune God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Shorter Catechism Question 20 asks: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? And the answer is: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation, by a Redeemer. Question 21 asks: Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect? The answer is: The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man, in two distinct natures, and one person, forever. The role of the Holy Spirit is explained in Q 30: How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? The answer is: The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. This truth is taught in Eph 1:3-14 and 1 Pet 1:2.
The great advantage of the Reformed faith is that in the framework of the Five Points of Calvinism it sets forth clearly what the Bible teaches concerning the way of salvation. The Five Points of Calvinism may be more easily remembered with the word TULIP:
T – Total Depravity of Man
U – Unconditional Election
L – Limited Atonement
I – Irresistible Grace
P – Perseverance of the Saints
(1) Total Depravity of Man
Man in his natural state is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). Because of the fall in Adam, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. The sinner is spiritually dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt (Rom 5:12-20; 1 Cor 15:21-22). Therefore he will not and cannot choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. As a result it takes the assistance of the Spirit of God through regeneration to bring a sinner to Christ. The Shorter Catechism Q 16 asks: Did all mankind fall in Adam’s first transgression? The answer is: The covenant being made with Adam not only for himself, but for his posterity, all mankind, descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in his first transgression.
(2) Unconditional Election
God the Father has sovereignly chosen those who will be saved (Eph 1:4-7; Titus 3:4-7). God’s choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely on His own sovereign will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response or obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. These acts are the result, not the cause, of God’s choice. Election therefore was not determined by or conditioned upon any virtuous quality or act foreseen in man. Those whom God sovereignly elected He brings through the power of the Holy Spirit to a willing acceptance of Christ. Thus God’s choice of the sinner, and not the sinner’s choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation. The Shorter Catechism Q 20 asks: Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery? The answer is: God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation, by a Redeemer.
(3) Limited Atonement
The Lord Jesus Christ died for all whom the Father had given to Him, and for them only. His death was substitutionary endurance of the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified sinners. In addition to putting away the sins of His people, Christ’s redemption secured everything necessary for their salvation, including faith which unites them to Him. Some of the passages that deal with this truth are: 2 Cor 5:14; John 11:50; Rom 5:8; 1 Thess 5:10; 1 Pet 2:21; 1 John 3:16; Matt 1:21; John 10:11; Rom 8:33-34).
(4) Irresistible Grace
The Holy Spirit sovereignly and effectually applies salvation to the elect. If men were left to depend upon their own strength and ability at any point in the process of salvation, none could be saved. But such is not the case. The Reformed faith teaches that which Jesus prayed, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (John 6:37), and that which Jesus affirmed, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:44). It is here that we see the saving work of the Holy Spirit. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by His Holy Spirit (Shorter Catechism Q 29). The Spirit does so by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling (Q 30). The Scripture passages that teach this doctrine are: John 1:12-13; 3:5-6; Tit 3:5-6; Eph 2:8; John 15:5; 1 Cor 1:9; 1 Pet 5:10, etc.
(5) Perseverance of the Saints
This doctrine teaches that those who are truly saved will never be lost. All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by the Spirit of God are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God and thus persevere to the end. The Shorter Catechism teaches, The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are: assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end (Q 36). Following are the passages that deal with this doctrine: John 6:39; 10:28; Phil 1:6; Rom 5:1, 2, 5; Col 1:10-11; 1 Pet 1:5; Rev 14:12.
3. Covenantally Ordered
By covenant we understand that voluntary condescension on God’s part (WCF, VII:1) by which He, the Creator, enables man, His creature) to obey, glorify, and enjoy Him. The Westminster Confession of Faith identifies two covenants:
(1) The Covenant of Works
The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works, wherein life was promised to Adam; and in him to his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience (VII:2). Adam, constituted by God the federal head of the entire human race, broke that covenant. He and all mankind sinned and fell by transgressing God's command. It became impossible that any descendant of Adam by ordinary generation after that could enjoy eternal life. Every last person, unless God should intervene, was dead in sin, condemned, and destined for everlasting punishment.
(2) The Covenant of Grace
God did intervene! God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer (WSC, Q. 20).
The Reformed faith insists that there is one, and only one, way of salvation—through that Redeemer, Jesus Christ. All who are brought into that estate of salvation, from Adam to the last person born upon this earth, enter it through that Covenant of Grace. The most basic division in the Bible is not between the Old and New Testaments (as dispensationalists affirm), but between Genesis 1:1-3:6 and the rest of the Bible. Upon the field of that broken Covenant of Works, God enters with a gracious covenant of salvation for Old and New Testament saints together.
There is one church of the ages. That one church has existed both in the age of promise (the Old Testament) and in the age of fulfillment (the New Testament). There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations (WCF, VII:6). That one church has One Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Word of God come in the flesh, He is its Prophet. As the bearer of sin and the perfect obeyer of God, He is its Priest. As the ruler and defender of God's church, He is its King.
This is a brief summary of the key aspects of the Reformed faith.
Covenant B-P Church
