What Does it Mean to Be Reformed?

Dear New Life in Christ Church,

This month, at the end of the month on October 31, churches around the world recognize Reformation Day as the day that the Protestant Reformation began in 1517.

When people hear the word Reformed, they often think immediately of a handful of doctrines — God’s sovereignty, predestination, or the perseverance of the saints. Oftentimes these are summarized as “Calvinism” or with an acrostic called TULIP. While those truths are precious to us, being Reformed is much more than the stringing together of these few doctrines.

Being Reformed is the embracing of the fullness of God’s Word, summarized in the historic confessions and catechisms of the church, and living under the gracious reign of Jesus Christ. I wanted to reflect on that briefly here, as I was reminded in a recent discussion about the richness of our doctrinal confession and the fuller picture it presents than a simple acronym can capture.

The Reformed faith began in the sixteenth century as part of a broader effort to reform the Catholic Church according to Scripture (October 31, 1517, to be exact). Early Reformed Protestants often preferred to call themselves evangelical or Reformed, not “Calvinists.” They wanted to be known by their commitment to the gospel and to the renewing work of God’s Word. The Lutherans nicknamed them “Calvinists” because of differences in understanding the Lord’s Supper, and over time the nickname stuck. Still, it was never meant to define the entire system of theology.

Historically, the Reformed churches expressed their faith in written confessions. Protestant churches in Continental Europe adopted what are known as the Three Forms of Unity: the Belgic Confession (1561), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), and the Canons of Dort (1619). Presbyterian churches from Scotland and England, the spiritual forefathers of our denomination, adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms (1647–1648). These documents do not replace Scripture, but they summarize its teaching in a way that is clear, faithful to the Word, and useful for discipleship.

Our church formally adopted the Westminster Confession and Catechisms as our doctrinal confession in 1996. We call this collection of confession and catechisms the Westminster Standards.

Confessions like these are hallmarks of Reformed churches, and they serve at least three purposes. First, they teach by providing a framework for learning and growing in Christ. The Shorter Catechism’s first question and answer is famous for its clarity: “What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” It grows from that to explain many of the ways God relates with His church. Second, confessions guard by setting boundaries that keep the church anchored in biblical truth. And third, they unite by giving Christians across generations and cultures a shared confession of faith.

And it is a wonderful faith. The Westminster Standards show that the Reformed faith is not a small cluster of ideas, but a comprehensive vision of life under God’s sovereignty. Consider just a few of the many themes that the Reformed confessions develop:

Notice how the doctrines often associated with Calvinism — election, calling, perseverance — sometimes called the "Doctrines of Grace" — glorious and wonderful truths that have had a massive influence in my life — are just one part of this larger fabric of truth. While the Westminster Standards certainly teach us the way of salvation, they do far more than that. They show how the whole of life is lived under the lordship of Christ.

Being Reformed also means we see the beauty of the big picture. We do not begin with our sin but with creation and the glorious truth that God made us in His image. Nor do we end simply with perseverance through trials but with glorification — the promise of what we shall one day be: that God will raise us up and make us “conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). As Athanasius wrote in the fourth century: “He became what we are, that He might make us what He is.” Our hope is life in the presence of God, body and soul, fully renewed.

So what does it mean to be Reformed? It means to be God-centered: salvation is God’s work from beginning to end. It means to be confessional: we gladly bind ourselves to faithful summaries of God’s Word. It means to be comprehensive: Christ claims not just our personal faith, but our families, our work, our culture, and our future. And it means to be hopeful: our story ends not in death but in glory.

As Paul wrote, “He saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9–10). That is the gospel we confess, the gospel we love, and the gospel that makes us joyfully Reformed.

Faithfully Yours,
Pastor Sean