What Does It Mean that We Are Reformed? from the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)

Reformed theology, though expressed clearly in God's word, came to its doctrinal form in the 16th and 17th centuries. At this time the medieval Roman church was the dominant church in Europe and greedily sought power and financial gain under the guise of the spiritual church. Martin Luther first sought to bring the church back under the authority of scripture, claiming correctly that scripture alone was the rule of the Christian faith. He helped to make it clear what the Evangelical faith was and split off from the Roman Catholic church and begat the Protestant church. Following in Luther's footsteps, John Calvin added depth to the Evangelical faith by intensive studies into God's word. In 1536 he finished the first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion, which detailed many doctrines which the Bible taught. In fact, much of this was agreed upon and understood by Luther and other forefathers of the faith, but Calvin was the first to put these principles into a thorough structure. This structure was labeled as Calvinism and spread from Geneva, Switzerland into the rest of Europe. Later, the doctrines which Calvin taught from the Bible were put into confessions and catechisms, of which the most clear and well known were the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dordt, and the Heidelberg Catechism. Calvinism in many ways became synonymous with Reformed theology and has been carried into modern times by churches who call themselves 'Reformed' and hold to the above confessions. As mentioned earlier, these doctrines deepened the Evangelical faith. The most profound of these was recognition of the Sovereignty of God. Reformed theology teaches that God rules over all and that all things come to pass according to His will. The Almighty is not an idle god, waiting to see how the future would come to pass, but is actively working out His plan in all of creation. This doctrine seeks to hold God in high esteem and man in humble esteem. The sovereignty of God is explained very clearly in the doctrine of election. This doctrine teaches that God has chosen the people He would save from before the foundation of the world. He works out His plan of redemption through His gracious election of them, has sent His Son to die in their stead, and has sent His Holy Spirit to give them a new heart, a renewing of mind that acknowledges Him as Lord and Savior and thereby endeavors to serve its new Master. Much of this has been challenged by others who only believe that God can be sovereign but has relinquished His control so as not to limit man's freedom. These challengers (based upon the beliefs of Arminius) deny the depths of Reformed theology, especially as it regards their individual worth and rights. They do not believe that man is spiritually dead, since they say God has given grace to all men to awaken them, and mankind is now only sick with sin. While Calvinism holds that man is saved by unconditional and efficacious grace, Arminians teach conditional and resistable grace. Reformers taught that man was worthless and needed God's Spirit to make them alive and give them faith, and that regeneration was limited to the elect. The challengers taught that all were given the possibility of faith, and that man himself became the sovereign elector. Reformed churches today still work hard to hold to scriptural views regarding God's greatness and man's depravity. At a time when the majority of Evangelical Christians do not want to deepen their understanding of the Lord of hosts, Calvinistic churches are often frustrated in their attempts to reform modern churches and share their convictions with others. Sometimes their frustration borders on depair, but only for a short time, for they recall to mind the sovereignty of God, even as expressed by Calvin: "How comes it, I ask, that their confidence never fails, but just that while the world apparently revolves at random, they know that God is every where at work, and feel assured that his work will be their safety? When assailed by the devil and wicked men, were they not confirmed by remembering and meditating on Providence, they should, of necessity, forthwith despond. But when they call to mind that the devil, and the whole train of the ungodly, are, in all directions, held in by the hand of God as with a bridle, so that they can neither conceive any mischief, nor plan what they have conceived, nor how much soever they may have planned, move a single finger to perpetrate, unless in so far as he permits, nay, unless in so far as he commands; that they are not only bound by his fetters, but are even forced to do him service, - when the godly think of all these things they have ample sources of consolation. For, as it belongs to the lord to arm the fury of such foes and turn and destine it at pleasure, so it is his also to determine the measure and the end, so as to prevent them from breaking loose and wantoning as they list." (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volume 1, chapter 17.11)