How is a Reformed Church defined? Is it associated with a certain denomination? And where do reformed Churches come from?
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Basically as, your worst nightmare!!Cary.Melvin said:How is a Reformed Church defined?
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1) How is a Reformed Church Defined? The most commonly accepted use of the term is essentially any church that derives it's doctrine and polity from the non-Lutheran Magesterial reformers (i.e... Calvin, Knox, Oeccalampadius, etc...). Within this broader category we all share a common reverence for the sovereignty of God, a very similar doctrine of salvation and generally similar ecclesiology. However, there are some differences in regards to sacramentology in particular. Some, typically more baptist in origin, tend to have a more symbolic sacramental theology whereas other such as reformed anglicans and presbyterians have a much more developed sacramentology.Cary.Melvin said:How is a Reformed Church defined? Is it associated with a certain denomination? And where do reformed Churches come from?
The definition of the word Reformed is not given by whim and fancy of those who wield the term to define the five solas of the Reformation, or the doctrines of grace. To use the term to simply refer to those sets of biblical propositions is to use the term as slang. The pastors and theologians of the Reformation, precisely and forcefully utilized the word Reformed, and packed it with ideologies and history. It was a word that defined the manner of a thinker in that age. He had a certain understanding of the Bible, and a certain set of convictions. These convictions ran much further than our contemporary superficial understanding of the Solas or of the doctrines of grace. The term Reformed was used, and should be used, in a much larger context than that. Its definition, as we will see unfolded in this article, is restrictive and not liberal in its application, but liberal and not restrictive in its theological propositions. It fought against the ebb and flow of papal dictatorship, heretical controversy and political expediency with a precise and swift strike of the sword of Word of God. It is a word that defines the edge of theological difference with razor sharpness. If it were abused today, then that is a detriment to its history. If it were redefined today, then it is at the peril of the definer and the Reconstructionism of what others will believe such a term defined those of the past. The historian, the pastor, the theologian of today must be exceedingly careful to have their facts straight on history, for history defines the idea.
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I do want to ensure the reader that my answer to the questions above (Where would we look for resources on Reformed Theology? and, where would we find first-class Reformed theology articulated in classical form?) are validly answered by my statement in the writings of Reformed literature. There are three areas that safely guide one to prove this out: 1) what classic Reformed Theology teaches, 2) where this classic aspect of Reformed Theology emerged from, and 3) what has happened to the term Reformed today. After surveying these 3 areas, I think we will all have to agree on the basics of what constitutes Reformed Theology. We will know what it really means to be considered a Reformed Theologian, Reformed Pastor, or Reformed Believer.
There is no doubt that the Reformed Tradition traces its historical roots to the time of John Calvin (1509-1564). Calvin, though born in Noyon, France, could be considered as a Swiss reformer due to his long stay at the city-state Geneva in Switzerland. The term Reformed is itself not ambiguous. Even the third and fourth generation reformers (and Puritans) used the term considering men like Calvin and Zwingli as prime examples of the Reformed Tradition of that time. Francis Turretin uses this term quite extensively in his work on the Calling of the First Reformers. Thus, the term was easily acquainted with Protestantism during the 16th century as its foundation and root for definition.