Last Sunday evening during our Praise & Prayer time, someone asked whether our church was “Reformed.” This led to an interesting off-the-cuff discussion about what it means to be reformed and whether our church meets that definition. As the question was a new one for many (most?) of those present, I thought it might be helpful to consider it in a little more detail and with more time for reflection.
What Is Reformed?
“Reformed theology,” says Carl Trueman, a Presbyterian pastor and professor of church history, “is the term used to refer to the belief system(s) of those Protestant churches which trace their origins to the work of Reformers such as Huldrych Zwingli and John Calvin.” To be reformed, then, is to follow in the theological footsteps of these Reformation thinkers of the 16th and 17th centuries.
For some, being reformed is simply another way of saying that you hold to the Calvinist view of salvation, believing what are often called the “doctrines of grace.” Others take reformed to mean that you hold to one of the confessions written and approved by traditionally reformed churches. These confessions include documents such as the Belgic Confession (1559), the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), and the Second London Baptist Confession (1689). Churches which adhere to these standards include Presbyterian, Reformed Baptist, and various other groups using the reformed label.
Is EBC Reformed?
According to the strict definition of “reformed” Emmanuel is not a reformed church. Rather than adhering to a reformed confession like the 1689 Baptist Confession, we teach and preach according to our own Articles of Faith. When the church formally organized in 1966 under the direction of missionary church planter Grant Rice, the congregants signed a charter in which they affirmed the Articles. The EBC Articles of Faith do not correspond directly to any previously published confession that I can find.
The church used the covenant written by Rev. John Newton Brown to accompany the New Hampshire Confession of Faith, which he wrote in 1833 to be used by Baptists in America. It is possible that the Articles of Faith were derived from the New Hampshire Confession, but they are not identical to it, so at least some measure of editing has taken place. But whatever their origin, they do not constitute a reformed confession, so Emmanuel is not strictly reformed.
Is EBC Calvinistic?
As I noted earlier, however, there is another use of the term “reformed,” which includes anyone who embraces the Calvinist view of salvation. What exactly is the Calvinist view and do our Articles of Faith say anything about that? Well, this can be a pretty big topic, but typically Calvinists summarize their system using the acronym TULIP. Total depravity says that man is dead in sins and unable to do anything to save himself or even to believe on Christ. Unconditional election says that because man cannot initiate salvation, God chose certain people to be saved based on his own will alone. Limited atonement (also known as particular redemption) says that when Jesus died, he did not die for the sins of all men, but only for those whom God had elected to salvation. Irresistible grace (also known as the effectual call) says that God’s grace never fails to save one of the elect for whom Christ died. Perseverance of the saints says that none of God’s elect will be lost, but the Spirit of God will infallibly save all for whom Christ died without exception, because those who are saved will persevere until the end.
From the Calvinist perspective, then, salvation follows a necessary logical order. First, God elects sinners to salvation at some time in eternity past. Second, Christ died to make atonement for the sins of the elect. Third, the gospel is preached to sinners. Fourth, there is an inward call by which God infallibly draws the elect to himself out of all those who hear the gospel preached. Fifth, the Holy Spirit regenerates (makes alive) those who are called to salvation. Sixth, the regenerated sinner repents and believes on Christ (this is called conversion). Seventh, the converted sinner is justified, that is, declared righteous in Christ. Eighth, having been deemed righteous by God, the born again sinner is actually made righteous. Ninth, the life-long process of sanctification ends in glorification, when he is perfected in the image of Christ.1
One comment is necessary here. Calvinists do not believe that these things follow in a straight line, but regeneration, faith, repentance, justification and sanctification occur all at the same time. Their order, then, is not chronological (one happening right after another) but logical. They say this in order to preserve God’s freedom and glory, so that he is responsible for our salvation from beginning to end.
So what do our Articles of Faith say about this subject? While they do not mention Calvinism directly, they do define the order of salvation in a way that I think is different from the standard Calvinist understanding. Here is what they say in Section 7: “We believe that salvation is wholly of grace, but conditional solely on repentance to God and acceptance of Christ by faith. When the sinner has met these requirements, God regenerates and justifies him.” In other words, rather than God’s unconditional election being the only condition for salvation, we affirm that the Bible teaches that repentance and faith are the necessary conditions of salvation. And rather than regeneration preceding faith and repentance (even logically, if not in time), we affirm that regeneration occurs only when a sinner believes on Jesus for salvation.
In light of the differences between our Articles of Faith and the standard Calvinistic understanding of the basis and order of salvation, I would conclude that EBC is not reformed in any meaningful sense of the word. Obviously, this brief presentation does not answer every question about the subject of salvation (not that any merely human system could do so), but hopefully it gives a bit of clarity about how our church relates to other churches in the Protestant tradition.
In the coming weeks, I hope to address the subject more fully using the EBC Articles of Faith to help us examine what the Scriptures say about our salvation.
1 https://www.monergism.com/topics/ordo-salutis This article on the reformed order of salvation was very helpful.