What It Means to Be Reformed

What It Means to Be Reformed (9) The Church – My Chief Joy (2) As a Reformed Christian, I love the church of Jesus Christ. And love for the church commits me, as it does all Reformed Christians, to devotion to the church. So much is devotion to God’s church a part of being Reformed that, if I did […]

What It Means to Be Reformed (16—Conclusion) The Reformed Christian Life (3) 5. Church and world: dual citizenships Controversy about the Christian life becomes very sharp when we speak of living in both church and world. To be Reformed is to have a unique view of the Christian life, and that view includes a clear […]

What It Means to Be Reformed (15) The Reformed Christian Life (2) The Christian life is the fifth of the five “C”s we have used to summarize what it means to be Reformed. To be Reformed has to do with life as well as with faith, how we conduct ourselves in everyday affairs as well […]

What It Means to Be Reformed (14) The Reformed Christian Life (1) The Christian life: how vital! If being Reformed referred only to what a person believed, being Reformed would be hard enough. But being Reformed has to do with one’s whole life. That not only makes matters harder, it brings our discussion of “What […]

What It Means to Be Reformed (13) Reformed, yet “Always Reforming”? If being “confessional” means holding the traditions, maintaining the old paths, and not removing the ancient landmarks, how can a Reformed church be “always reforming”? If being Reformed is embracing the confessions—both ancient and Reformational—what use is the motto “always reforming”? Can the church […]

What It Means to Be Reformed (12) Reformed Is Being “Confessional” (2) As we now pass the 90th anniversary of the Protestant Reformed Churches, I remind us that these editorials began as a call to be faithful to our name and our roots. I have been explaining that to be Reformed, a church must be […]

What It Means to Be Reformed (11) Reformed is being “Confessional” (1) The church that is Reformed is also a confessional church. That is, the church officially embraces, genuinely believes, and actively teaches the Reformed confessions in her life. For the PRCA, these creeds are the Three Forms of Unity and the ancient ecumenical creeds in these […]

What It Means to Be Reformed (10) The Church – My Chief Joy (3) Am I Reformed? Is my church Reformed? These are important questions for those who identify as such. And these are the questions we have been answering in this series of editorials—partly because being Reformed is somewhat faddish these days, and many […]

What It Means to Be Reformed (8) The Church – My Chief Joy (1) Introduction For some Christians these days it’s almost trendy to claim a Reformed identity. But being Reformed takes more than claiming “I am Reformed,” just as being a Christian does not come from saying “I am Christian.” Being trendy is not […]

What It Means to Be Reformed (7) CALVINISTIC – Implications (2) There is one more implication of Calvinism that deserves treatment on its own. Last time we saw that Calvinism’s doctrines of grace, genuinely embraced, will lead to humility—humble worship, humble assurance, and humble treatment of others. That is, proud worship, proud assurance, and haughty […]