Old Doxoblogy

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

On Being Reformed

Alright. I'm finally coming out of the closet. I'm Reformed. I've kept it hidden for a while now, but I have finally reached a point in my journey where I just have to tell you. I'm Reformed. Man that feels good.

OK, enough of this silliness. The real question I would like to attempt to answer is this one, "What does it mean to be Reformed?"
Well, many assume that being Reformed means being a Calvinist. I don't necessarily see it that way.
Being a Calvinist is much easier to explain than being Reformed. To be a Calvinist you simply must believe the five points of Calvinism (the TULIP, the Doctrines of Grace, etc.) Make no mistake, I am a Calvinist. And don't give me any of those comments about how I am following a man, or how I should be following God, or how I am in love with a system, because you know as well as I do that it's just not true.
But being Reformed is different than being a Calvinist.
Many assume that being Reformed means being of a Presbyterian persuasion. I don't think so.
So what does it mean to be Reformed? Well my answer is going to be very simple. Being Reformed is being convinced of a Biblical set of truths. These truths are Justification by Faith Alone, Salvation by Grace Alone, the Sufficient Sacrifice of Christ Alone, the Final Authority of Scripture Alone, and a God who Alone deserves and receives all glory in, from, by, and through His creation.
You may recognize these statements as the Five Solas of the Reformation. Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, Sola Scriptura, and Soli Deo Gloria. These five statements properly understood are the heart of Reformed Theology. These five statements represent nothing less than the Christian faith. They are the heart and soul of Christianity.

Sola fide-We are declared righteous by our Holy God upon our act of Biblical Faith.
Sola Gratia-Even our Faith is a gift from God who owes us nothing.
Souls Christus-Christ alone merits our salvation for us through His perfect life and sufficient death, burial, and resurrection.
Sola Scriptura-The scriptures are the divinely inspired, inerrant words of God.
Soli Deo Gloria-God alone gets the glory for our salvation because it is He alone who has foreknown, elected, predestined, created, redeemed, called by the Gospel, regenerated, given faith, is keeping, and will one day glorify us.

That is what I mean when I say that I am Reformed.

Reformed! How I love to proclaim it,
Reformed by the truth of the Word!
Reformed by His infinite mercy,
Reforming forever I am!

Reformed! Reformed!
Reformed by the truth of the Word!
Reformed! Reformed!
Reforming forever I am!

21 comments:

J. Wendell said...

Now your bloggin’!

Great job on expressing the reformed view Jeremy!

I don’t think that song would have the same ring with the word “dispensationalist” in it. ;~)

Blessings your way,
brother John

mark pierson said...

Amen!!!

D.J. Cimino said...

"Ecclesia refomata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei"

"The church reformed, always being reformed according to the Word of God"




BTW Jeremy, I am glad you cleared up the fact that you are reformed... Iv'e been suspicious for quite some time now... LOL

Daniel said...

WOOT!

That is how the young folk are saying "amen" these days.

Rose~ said...

Reformed? Does that happen after you're TRANSFORMED? (Romans 12:1-2)

Seriously, I respect your position in being Reformed. I especially appreciate and embrace the 5 solas.

These five statements represent nothing less than the Christian faith. They are the heart and soul of Christianity.

Well put! Amen.

Gone Fishin' said...

What are the areas of Reformed Theology that make people nervous, or make them think you’re nuts (besides predestination—that’s a given)? Forgive the naivety, but it’s just not a term that’s used much in my circle, and I don’t know much about the actual term and what goes along with it. Everything you said simply sounds like basic Christianity.

Jim said...

No....not another one....ahhhh!!

I should have suspected with those beady eyes staring out at us. :)

Rose, it seems you have a point there, Paul missed out the need to be reformed.

Seriously though, what does the word reformed really mean to an unbeliever or novice christian?

God bless you Jeremy, you must feel better getting that off your chest now.

Jim

Wes Kenney said...

Does this mean I can be "reformed" without embracing the L? ;-)

Live, Love, Laugh said...

all I can say to that is Amen and Amen!

David said...

O, Reformed! At first, I thought you said deformed!

Wes Kenney said...

30% more confrontational? Is it still low in saturated fat?

Matthew Celestine said...

Rose~, surely you have not embraced the bit about faith being a gift in the Sola Gratia idea?

Rose~ said...

Hi Jeremy.

Dyspraxic Fundamentalist,
I am not sure that Jeremy cares what I think, but, since he is now 33% more confrontational, I will say that I don't see Sola Gratia as implying what he says it implies. I can say I embrace Sola Gratia without saying that faith is a gift. Faith is faith.

Although, faith is a gift ... just like life is a gift ... and breath is a gift ... and food is a gift ... and on and on ... We could have, think or do nothing 'cept by the grace of God.
(What's that - prevenient Grace? - whatever!) ;~)

mark pierson said...

Yes Rose, that is prevenient grace

Jeremy Weaver said...

Actually, all, you can't call yourself reformed if you don't believe what is actually meant by any of these terms.
To define the terms we must go back to the Reformers to see what they had to say about them.

Rose~ said...

It's aliiiiive!!!

OK, I won't call myself reformed. :~)

Brad Williams said...

Soooo...do you keep Sunday as the new Sabbath?

Anonymous said...

For the saturated non-confrontational confrontation look up Psalm 55:21.

I respect this new you. You aren't easily baited anymore;-)

Daniel said...

Jeremy? JEREEEEEMMMMMMYYYYYY???

How long do you normally go between posts?

John R. said...

Jeremy,

Had a good time visiting you all the other night. Thanks for the sandwich and the hospitality!

JRush

Jeremy Weaver said...

No problem, John.
You need to come down off the mountain more often! Bring your family next time.