Jonathan L. Master

What Is Reformed Theology?

Written by Jonathan L. Master |
Monday, March 27, 2023
Today when people in evangelical churches refer to “Reformed theology” or to “being Reformed,” they often mean something less historically grounded. It is often the case today that when someone refers to holding to “Reformed theology,” they mean that they believe that God’s sovereign grace is at work in electing and saving sinners (the doctrine of predestination) and that God’s Word is inspired and inerrant and has absolute authority.

What is Reformed theology? What does it mean if your church is referred to as Reformed or if a presentation of the Bible’s teaching is Reformed? People in Reformed congregations ask one another, “When did you become Reformed?” or “What made you look for a Reformed church?” Maybe such questions have been addressed to you.
But what do these questions mean? What are they driving at? Are they important? And if so, how are you to understand and answer them?
Answering these common questions can be surprisingly complex. This is partly because the word Reformed has a long history and has been used in many different ways. Sometimes Reformed theology is used in a strictly historical sense and sometimes in a more theological sense. Sometimes it is meant to be precise and technical, but often its meaning is fairly basic.
Historical and Popular Views
At its most basic level, the term Reformed theology refers to the theological conclusions that flowed out of the Protestant Reformation. The early Reformers—such as Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin—had sharp and specific criticisms of Roman Catholic theology as it had developed in the Middle Ages. Among other things, the Reformers believed that Roman Catholic worship was unbiblical; they rejected the Roman Catholic teaching on the nature of justification and the place of individual saving faith. They also rejected Roman Catholic claims about the authority of the pope, asserting that the Bible alone held the place of final authority in discussions of doctrine. They taught that salvation comes through God’s grace alone, by faith alone. They rejected the Roman Catholic understanding of the place and meaning of baptism and communion, returning to the biblical definition of these important sacraments of Christ. These were historical concerns, but they still lie at the heart of what it means to be Reformed.
Within this general Protestant framework, there were divisions. Luther and those who followed him had different approaches from Calvin and the other European Reformers. These differences—largely on the sacraments and worship—set Lutherans apart from the other Protestants. Those who followed Luther became known as Lutherans; those who followed the other Reformers are generally referred to as Reformed.
So, from a historical perspective, Reformed theology refers to the theology of the non-Lutheran teaching that flows out of the Protestant Reformation. When the term is used in this historical way (as in much scholarly literature), it also normally implies adherence to one of the historical confessions of faith that bind together Reformed congregations and denominations.
In popular usage, Reformed theology is often identified with the so-called “five points of Calvinism”:

Total depravity: the belief that human beings are corrupt at their core because of the sin of Adam.
Unconditional election: the belief that God chooses those whom he saves out of his own sovereign love, not out of anything the recipients of that love have in themselves.
Limited atonement: the belief that Christ’s death pays the ransom for a particular people and his salvation is definite.
Irresistible grace: the belief that God’s grace accomplishes its intended result in those who are saved.
Perseverance of the saints: the belief that those who are saved by God in Christ will be preserved to the end.

All of these beliefs are indeed important teachings of the Reformed tradition. Although they were not specifically organized according to the acronym by which they are known today (TULIP) until centuries later, they arose as a response to false teachers who had infiltrated the Reformed community in the early 1600s. Nonetheless, as helpful as these five points are in summarizing key biblical truths about salvation, they do not fully encapsulate, or accurately describe, all of Reformed theology.
Today when people in evangelical churches refer to “Reformed theology” or to “being Reformed,” they often mean something less historically grounded. It is often the case today that when someone refers to holding to “Reformed theology,” they mean that they believe that God’s sovereign grace is at work in electing and saving sinners (the doctrine of predestination) and that God’s Word is inspired and inerrant and has absolute authority.
The Five Solas of the Reformation
There are better ways to define the term Reformed theology, however. For John Calvin and other early reformers, the Reformation was not just about the doctrine of salvation. Worship was of central significance as well. Beyond these two primary concerns, there were other matters of faith and practice inextricably linked with Reformed teaching. Because of this, many have suggested a more full-orbed starting place in defining Reformed theology known as the “five solas of the Reformation.” The five solas (sola is the Latin word for “only” or “alone”) are sola Scriptura (Scripture alone); sola fide (faith alone); sola gratia (grace alone); solus Christus (Christ alone); and soli Deo gloria (God’s glory alone). Put together, these five affirmations express very clearly the central concerns of the Protestant Reformation.
The Covenant
Beyond the five solas, Reformed theology has always been closely identified with covenant theology. In the Scriptures, God works out his saving purposes by means of successive covenants. As we will see, a covenant is an agreement between two parties with duties, promises, and obligations. In fact, the Bible speaks of an overarching “eternal covenant” (Heb. 13:20) that centers on the cross of Christ. Covenants provide the biblical framework by which we understand God’s work in Christ and his dealings with his people throughout history.
The centrality of the covenantal structure in the Bible and the Christian life can hardly be overstated, and the ramifications of this central theme in the Scriptures are significant. Indeed, this is one of the reasons that merely emphasizing predestination, or even the five points of Calvinism, does not do justice to what it means to be a Reformed Christian. Reformed theology is whole- Bible theology, and the covenant is the biblical framework that shows the unity of both the Old Testament and the New.
The Confessions
Lastly, all vibrant and enduring Reformed traditions have confessions of faith that give written expression to their convictions. The best-known of the mature Reformed confessions include the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dort (which together are called the Three Forms of Unity) and the Westminster Confession of Faith, which has its own catechisms.
From the earliest days, Reformed Christians assumed that Reformed theology would be expressed in confessions of faith. Therefore, to be Reformed is to be confessional; to be part of a Reformed church is to be in a place in which one of these historic confessions is professed, taught, and followed. We will look at this more closely in chapter 4.
Defining the terms Reformed and Reformed theology is not a simple task. But for our purposes, we might say that Reformed theology is a theology that (1) affirms the five solas and all their implications, (2) recognizes the centrality of the covenant in God’s saving purposes, and (3) is expressed in a historic and public confession of faith.
With that in mind, we can move on to examine the teaching of the Bible on these points and to see how the truths treasured by the Reformers are a great blessing to God’s people.
Questions for Further Reflection

Why is it important for us to understand terms like Reformed theology? How and where have you heard these terms used?
What makes the five solas a helpful summary of biblical teaching regarding salvation? Do they omit anything significant? What biblical questions do they raise?
Why are creeds and confessions necessary for the health of the church? In what ways do they protect us?

Excerpt taken from Chapter 1: What Is Reformed Theology, Reformed Theology by Jonathan Master. Used with permission.
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Protecting Christian Liberty In The PCA

Written by Jonathan L. Master |
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Over the last ten years, PCA members made several overtures designed to initiate the withdrawal of the PCA from the NAE. Each time these overtures were voted down. In this case, although it was clear that many within the denomination’s administration favored maintaining membership in the NAE … the vote from the floor was not close. The will of the body was clear.

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) was founded in 1973. At that time, its identification with the evangelical movement was so strong that its members, when deciding on the name for the fledgling denomination, briefly considered calling it the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The PCA’s connection to evangelicalism was also signified by its membership in the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), which it joined in 1974. That membership ended last month, when the PCA voted at its annual General Assembly to leave the NAE.
The NAE is an activist organization based in Washington, D.C. It seeks to speak and lobby for its constituents in the broader culture and within the political machinery of our nation’s capitol. The NAE describes its history this way: “The National Association of Evangelicals was founded in 1942 as a fresh voice for biblical, Christ-centered faith that was meant to be a ‘middle way’ between the fundamentalist American Council of Christian Churches and the progressive Federal Council of Churches.” Today, many denominations and networks belong to the NAE, including the Evangelical Free Church, the Salvation Army, the Free Methodist Church USA, and the Wesleyan Church.
The middle way is hard to maintain. While most of the public positions of the NAE have broad, perhaps universal, support among PCA churches, some are more contested. This was a concern for some at the General Assembly. Much of the commentary since the withdrawal has centered on the “Fairness for All” legislation that the NAE supported. This legislation, in attempting a compromise, would in fact enshrine the reigning ideology of gender and sexuality into law, while offering few religious protections. This issue no doubt lurked in the background, and it played a slight role in the public debate on the assembly floor.
The public arguments for leaving the NAE also had little to do with the term “evangelical” itself or with its historical precedents. The concerns were broad, relating to the freedom of conscience given to individual Christians and congregations on matters of policy about which the Scriptures and our confession do not speak clearly. While many issues of public ethics are clear and therefore binding, and others about which the denomination has made public statements, there are many other political issues about which there has historically been wide diversity in the Christian church, and no clear consensus in our ecclesiastical or denominational tradition. The NAE, however, speaks loudly on many contested issues: creativity and the arts, gun violence, COVID, foster care, international poverty, and voting, to name just a few. Those arguing for separating made allusions to NAE support for bipartisan immigration reform and the strengthening of nuclear treaties.
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Seminary Faithfulness

Written by Jonathan L. Master |
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Standing firm has a cost. We should expect increasing marginalization. There will come a time when we ask ourselves whether we really want institutional fidelity after all. It will always seem easier to leave the battles to the next generation. Everyone, from the trustees to the staff, needs to recognize this. But the ministers we train today are the ones who will be on the front lines tomorrow. The humility about our position, the recognition of God’s grace, and the prayer that characterizes our work is not only what is required for the time at hand, but for the coming years of struggle.

The last fifty years have been marked by institutional decline, both within the church and in society more broadly. Seminaries—designed to serve Christ’s church and to raise up ministers for her—have not been immune. Often, they have been among the most notorious examples of decline. The effects of this can be devastating, resulting in generations of ministers badly taught and poorly formed. The worst could be yet to come. One friend of mine recently remarked that, when it came to the changing moral norms being pushed by the LGBTQ+ lobby and its allies, he had no confidence in any seminary that had not already publicly declared itself and taken a side.
This might lead to a sense of despair about our seminaries. So many have fallen; can any be trusted? At the very least, it should lead to the question I am asked most frequently in my work: How can institutional faithfulness be maintained? How does a seminary avoid theological and moral decline?
There is no single answer to this question. The roots of decline are spiritual. The effects of human sin run deep within us. These are compounded by the pressure from the outside to conform or to at least remain silent as truth is assaulted. The enemies of Christ’s church can afford to play the long game and apply pressure from all directions with mutually contradicting arguments and stands. Sustained pressure is hard to resist, and in the service of survival, it is always easiest to rationalize silence and conformity, to drift, often in initially imperceptible ways.
Ultimately, both personal and institutional fidelity are gifts from God. Just as it is in God that we “live and move and have our being,” so it is by God’s grace that we stand and remain faithful. We must begin with this. We are contingent beings, dependent for our existence and looking to God for strength.
Yet more can be said. The witness of history reminds us that no institution is immune to unfaithfulness. While the church of Jesus Christ cannot be destroyed, the institutions serving her often are. This basic axiom of Scripture, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12), ought to be at the forefront of our institutional minds. None of us is beyond temptation. None of our institutions is too big or too important to fail.
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