� The Holy Bible is the innerrant and infallible rule of faith and practice for the Christian. All of Christianity is under the authority of this, God's Word.
� The Lord God Almighty is God of all heaven and earth. He is most holy, wise, righteous, loving and just. This Triune God is of one essence yet subsists in three persons- God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
� The Lord God is a sovereign God. This means He is no mere spectator but that He reigns supreme and secure, that none can thwart His divine will. His will is firmly established throughout time according to His counsel and good pleasure.
� In accordance with His will, He has a plan of salvation for His sheep. He has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be born of the virgin Mary, to dwell among us, to suffer death and be a precious atonement for His people, to be bodily resurrected and receive all glory and honor, and to return one day to judge both the living and the dead.
� Reformation theology emphasizes the sound doctrine which acknowledges the majesty of the Lord, the lowliness of man, and the rich and amazing grace by which His Church has fellowship with Him.
What does "Reformation" mean?
The term Reformation is an historical term that goes back almost four centuries. It refers to a period when the church underwent a "reformation" as men of God attempted to return Christianity to the authority of Scripture. The desire of the Reformation was not to change God's Word but rather to bring the church back into accord with it. Led by men like Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, the Reformation churches split off from the medieval Roman church and began what we know today as Protestantism. The Protestant churches were born out of the Reformation.
What did the Reformers teach?
Martin Luther and the early Reformers spent much of their time trying to convince the church that man was saved by God's grace alone (sola gratia) through faith alone (sola fide) in the Lord Jesus Christ. They believed that all teachings and doctrines should be based upon Scripture alone (sola Scriptura). Through the work of Luther and Calvin, the Reformers recognized the clear teaching of Scripture, that God is indeed a sovereign God.
They believed that God was not an idle viewer but was active in all of nature and the affairs of man, that "He who keeps you will not slumber." They taught, as Paul the apostle did, that "in Him we live and move and have our being." They were sure that God ruled over His creation sovereignly and that all events came to pass by God's design, for He "works all things according to the counsel of His will." They also acknowledge that the purpose in all God's work and the chief end of man was God's glory alone (soli Deo Gloria).
Is God Sovereign?
Does the Creator of all have the right to do whatever He wants with the peoples of the earth? The Reformers believed not only that He had that right but that He excercized His will righteously and that this principle was clear in Scripture. "He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, 'what have You done?'" His sovereignty was especially realized in the salvation of the elect. Those who followed in the footsteps of the Reformers brought this teaching into clarity in the doctrines of grace, commonly denoted by the mnemonic T U L I P , also known as the five points of Calvinism.
What does T U L I P explain?
Early Protestant leaders found that they had to defend the scriptural teachings of the sovereignty of God against those who denied God these rights. Many felt that salvation was at least in part by their own hands and were aggravated that anyone would bring this pride under the authority of Scripture. Reformation Theology valiantly proclaimed the biblical answer to this attack on God's rightful place as Lord over His creation. Briefly stated, T U L I P stands for:
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Total Depravity: Man in his fallen sinful state does "not receive the things of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." Fallen and unregenerate man finds himself "dead in trespasses and sin." He is unable to help himself and cannot be delivered from this dreadful state except through the unmerited grace of God and Savior.
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Unconditional Election: Unconditional Election states that God chose those whom He was pleased to bring to a knowledge of Himself, not based upon any merit shown by the object of His grace and not based upon His looking forward to discover who would "accept" the offer of the gospel. God has elected, based solely upon the counsel of His own will, some for glory and others for damnation (Romans 9:15,21). He has done this act before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1:4-8).
This doctrine does not rule out, however, man's responsibility to believe in the redeeming work of God the Son (John 3:16-18). Scripture presents a tension between God's sovereignty in salvation, and man's responsibility to believe which it does not try to resolve. Both are true.
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Limited Atonement: Limited Atonement answers the question, "for whose sins did Christ atone?" The Bible teaches that Christ died for those whom God gave Him to save (John 17:9). Christ died, indeed, for many people, but not all (Matthew 26:28). Specifically, Christ died for the invisible Church - the sum total of all those who would ever rightly bear the name "Christian" (Ephesians 5:25).
This doctrine often finds many objections, mostly those who think that Limited Atonement does damage to evangelism. We have already seen that Christ will not lose any that the Father has given t Him (John 6:37). Christ's death was not a death of potential atonement for all people. Believing that Jesus' death was a potential, symbolic atonement for anyone who might possibly, in the future, accept Him trivializes Christ's' act of atonement. Christ died to atone for specific sins of specific sinners. Christ died to make holy the church. He did not atone for all men, because all men are not saved. Evangelism is actually lifted up in this doctrine, for the evangelist my tell his congregation that Christ died for sinners,and that He will not lose any for whom He died!
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Irresistible Grace: The result of God's Irresistible Grace is the certain response by the elect to the inward call of the Holy Spirit, when the outward call is given by the evangelist or minister of the Word of God. Christ, Himself, teaches that all whom God has elected will come to a knowledge of Him (John 6:37). Men come to Christ in salvation when the Father calls them (John 6:44), and the very Spirit of God leads God's beloved to repentance (Romans 8:14). What a comfort it is to know that the gospel of Christ will penetrate our hard, sinful hearts and wondrously save us through the gracious inward call of the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 5:10)!
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Perseverance of the Saints: " My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all: and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand." Salvation was not merited by any, and the eternal security of His true sheep is never dependent on them, for "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." The true believer will persevere by God's grace. Those who fall away from the faith prove that they were never really saved in the first place.
Why is the Reformation Theology important?
Four centuries ago the Reformers sought to humble man and exalt God. This objective has been carried on from the beginning of time by those who desire to know the Lord of Hosts. Reformation theology maintains that the "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." The need for today is a return to Reformation theology and the sharing of the Word of God in and out of season so that Christ's church may benefit from the sound doctrine and a deeper appreciation of the God we serve.
Reformation Theology is not an opinion on Scripture, nor were its doctrines written to bend scriptural teachings. We encourage you to search the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things are so, just as the Bereans did in Acts 17. By God's grace may you find that this is indeed the faith once for all delivered to the Saints that all may be edified according to His will and for His glory.