Category Archives: Reformed Theology

What Is Reformed Theology?

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What Is Reformed Theology?

Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies
by Bob Burridge ©2011

There is often confusion about what is meant by “Reformed Theology.” It’s not the “Theology” part that gives people a problem. That clearly means that this is a view about God and how he is made known to us. It’s the “Reformed” part that has acquired many different meanings.

To some, being reformed means any change of something into something different. But renovation or remodeling is not quite the same as reforming it. Reformation means changing the form of something back into it’s original shape after it had become deformed in some way.

A simple illustration always comes to my mind. When I was young my dad and I would make lead soldiers. We would melt down pieces of lead, then pour it into a mold. When it cooled the mold was opened and I had a nice set of toy soldiers to stir my imagination in games of battle.

After some rough skirmishes the soft metal would bend or even break. The soldiers didn’t look battle ready when their rifles, arms, or legs were bent or broken off. The simple solution was to take them back to the kitchen table to melt them down again. We would pour the melted metal back into the mold so they would again emerge with their original shape.

In time the same thing happens to the teachings of God’s word. Mishandling of various texts causes the truths of Scripture to become deformed. They no longer resemble what God actually said. It most often takes place slowly. Questions are asked that try to look behind the things God has chosen to make known to us. Theories are offered to attempt an answer to the questions. Soon the models we think up become part of the facts we plug into other more highly developed theories. Before long the original theories are treated with the same authority as the biblical facts. What emerges is a distorted theology.

The Reformers of the 16th century saw a need to get back to the original teachings that derive from the Bible alone. Theories were doubted when they included assumed facts which were merely based upon earlier imagined truths.

Late in the afternoon, on Thursday the 18th of April, 1521, Martin Luther stood accused of heresy. He was a simple monk, a scholar, and pastor. He had been called to stand before an awesome court. It was made up of the Emperor himself, Charles V. Along with him was the Archduke Ferdinand and six electors of the Empire. There were 24 dukes who were each powerful sovereigns over their own countries. There were ambassadors from England and France and a great company of archbishops, bishops, and other dignitaries from the Pope.

Luther was being charged with defying the beliefs promoted by the Church of Rome. There at this historic meeting at Worms, he spoke a few simple but famous words which reflected the tsunami that was beginning to wash over the world at that time.

The day before he had been asked by the formidable Dr. Eck to retract and to disavow what he had written in 20 some books and pamphlets laid out on a table there in the court. Very humbly, Luther asked for a delay of one day to carefully consider his answer. It wasn’t that he doubted what he believed or what was right. He recognized how important his answer was. He wanted to give it prayerful consideration.

The day had come for him to give his response. he explained that his writings were of various kinds, some quoting the word of God directy which could never be disavowed. But regarding his challeges to some of the teachings of the church which were not supported by Scripture he spoke these historic words:

“I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or to the Councils, because it is clear as day they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless, therefore, I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture, or on plain and clear grounds of reason, so that conscience shall bind me to make acknowledgment of error, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything contrary to conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me. Amen.”

The result of re-forming what was believe about God came to be called “Reformed Theology.” What had been accepted as fact was being poured back into the mold of Scripture to restore the original shape God had revealed in his written word.

Our Westminster Confession clearly takes the same reformed position.

1:10 The supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.”

The Reformed Theologian is not in love with his theology. He loves God’s word and grace. He lets go of his dearest beliefs in a moment if they do not conform to what he discovers in the Bible.

We humbly rest upon the warning given in Deuteronomy 29:29,

“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

We have enough to deal with in working to understand what God tells us in his written word. We dare not presume upon those things which remain unrevealed. When human inventions distort what God has said we need to be reformers for our present age. All that we believe must be poured back into the mold God has given so that a purified theology comes out, a set of beliefs that are formed by nothing less than, nothing more than, what God has revealed to us in his word. That is what we mean by “Reformed Theology.”

(Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)

Regulating Worship (Lesson Intro)

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Regulating Worship – Lesson

Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies
by Bob Burridge ©2011

Today we have published Lesson 3 to Unit 5 of our on-line Syllabus on Reformed Theology. The topic is “The Regulative Principle of Worship.” This is the first installment of a series of lessons dealing with chapter 21 of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

All believers in Christ regulate their worship according to some principles drawn from God’s word. No one would include openly sinful things to be done imagining it to be worshipful. The “Proscriptive” form of regulated worship allows for anything to be included in worship that is not prohibited by direct biblical reference. The problem with the Proscriptive approach is that it assumes that worship can be anything we imagine it to be as long as it isn’t sinful.

The Reformers questioned that approach. In it’s place they called worshipers to a more careful examination of Scripture. The view that emerged as a result of their work is called the “Prescriptive” form or regulated worship. Only God can know how he is to be properly worshiped.

Our family has often done theme parties to celebrate birthdays for our children and grandchildren. We use decorations that fit with the things they are currently interested in. I’m sure they would be disappointed if instead I designed their party around things only I was interested in at the time. Similarly, the things that may seem honoring to God to us, may not be fit for the worship of our perfectly holy Creator-Redeemer.

The Bible shows us how worship is to be conducted. It tells us by direct statement and example what specific elements are proper for the gathering of a congregation on the Sabbath Day. It also shows us how God has been angred and offended by the inovations of well intended people who approached him their own way instead of the way he had prescribed.

This lesson in our Syllabus begins a study of the biblical principles that regulate worship. The next few lessons will expand upon that in more depth. View the lesson here.

Christian Liberty

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We have added Lesson 2 to Unit 5 of our on-line Syllabus on Reformed Theology. The topic is “Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience.” It deals with Chapter 20 of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

There are many opinions about what it really means to be “free.” The Lesson deals with how the concept is defined and applied in Scripture. Once the basic principles are known we gain way of evaluating the cultural questions that so often divide and confuse Christians in our changing world.

The Lesson does not get into giving answers to specific application questions such as the morality of various controversial practices which some condemn as “worldly”, while others freely engage in them. Issues such as moderate drinking of alcoholic beverages, smoking, dancing, wearing various kinds of jewelry, eating meat, playing occult type games at parties, watching certain movies (or all movies), etc. are best dealt with independently in separate articles. We have taken up many of these issues in our Thursday night Webchat times and will continue to address them as questions arise.

The purpose of this newly posted lesson is to lay out sound biblical principles that can be used in making decisions about specific issues that may trouble the conscience, but are not directly addressed in the Bible.

Dr. G. I. Willimason in his lessons on the Westminster Confession wisely comments, “It has been said, there is a Pope in every man’s heart. We are all tempted to think that we could improve our fellow Christians if we had charge of their conscience.”

Jesus Christ is Lord of our conscience. His written word informs us of the details of how we honor that lordship.

Predicting the Future

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Predicting the Future

by Bob Burridge © 2010

There’s something in us as humans that makes us wonder about the future. For some, the focus stays pretty narrow. They just want to know what the next day is going to be like. For others, they want to know about the more distant and general things.

When I was in High School I belonged to a book club at my school. One of my favorite books was a 1964 publication called “Profiles of the Future” by Arthur C. Clarke. Here are some of the predictions he made about 46 years ago.

  • By about 1970 we will orbit a space lab, then men will land on the moon.
    Close! Of course the moon landing took place in 1969, and the space lab came some years later.

  • Machines will some day be able to translate languages.
    Today anyone can go to Altavista’s Babel Fish web site, or Google and others to do that.

  • We will have personal wireless communications by the late 1980s.
    Today just about everyone carries some kind of cell phone around.

  • There will be a global library by the early 2000’s.
    The internet has fulfilled his vision beyond anything he could have imagined.

Clarke’s detailed descriptions show that he didn’t quite anticipate the way these would actually come to pass. But he was very insightful.

On the web site of audiencedialogue.org I once found a list of interesting past predictions:

  • In 1926, Lee de Forest, the father of radio, said, “While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development on which we need waste little time dreaming.”
  • Darryl F Zanuck, in 1946 said, “Television won’t be able to hold onto any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”
  • In about 1880, Alexander Graham Bell predicted, “One day there will be a telephone in every major city in the USA.”
  • In 1900 a group of British experts said, “The telephone may be appropriate for our American cousins, but not here, because we have an adequate supply of messenger boys.”
  • In 1943,Thomas Watson, head of IBM said, “I think there is a world market for as many as 5 computers.”
  • in 1949 Popular Mechanics magazine made the bold prediction that “Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons”
  • As late as 1977, the founder of Digital, Ken Olsen said, “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”
  • Frenchman Marshal Foch said in 1912, “Aircraft are interesting toys, but of no military value.”
  • In 1903 the President of Michigan Savings Bank advised Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Company. He said, “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty.”
  • Harper’s Weekly, in August 1902 wrote, “The actual building of roads devoted to motor cars is not for the near future, in spite of many rumors to that effect.”
  • In 1943 aviation publicist Harry Bruno said, “Automobiles will start to decline as soon as the last shot is fired in World War 2. Instead of a car in every garage, there will be a helicopter.”

Anticipating what’s coming and knowing what it will be like are not the same thing. Even the smartest people can be way off in projecting what is yet to come.

Of course God’s predictions in the Bible have all come true exactly as he said they would.

At the Christmas season we are always reminded about the detailed information given about the promised Messiah. The Bible clearly predicted that he would be born of a virgin in the city of Bethlehem. That he would come out of Nazareth and be Immanuel (God With Us).

At Easter time we hear those many passages about his suffering and death for the sins of his people. His victory over evil was predicted as far back as the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15. His agony and the purpose of his death is described amazingly well in Isaiah 53.

Of course there are also the many predictions given in ancient times to people like Noah, Abraham, Moses, Daniel, and others. All came to pass exactly as God said they would. They were not always fully understood before they were fulfilled, but with out privilege of hind-sight we see how perfectly accurate they all were.

There remain promises God has made about the future too. Interpreters might debate about the details of how they will all come to pass, but as sure as in the past, all will take place just as God has said.

In Deuteronomy 18:22 God gave us this test for anyone daring to predict what will come to pass,

“When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

In warning Israel God spoke in Ezekiel 12:25 saying,

“For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; …”

Our confidence rests in the character of God himself. There is no power that can derail his plan. God knows all things eternally and his word to us can never fail. We rest in the hope that is before us, a hope that cannot fail.

Hebrews 6:18, “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: “

Note: The Bible quotations in this article are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.

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The Nature of God’s Law

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The Nature of God’s Law

by Bob Burridge © 2010

This article is a taken from our lager Syllabus lesson about God’s Law. It deals with just one brief aspect of that holy law. For the details, support texts and a more complete presentation read through the lessons on God’s Law in Unit 5, Nomology in our Syllabus. The following paragraphs were excerpted from the first lesson in this Unit.

The Nature of Law

Law is a concept many tend to isolate and examine as if it had an existence of its own. We tend to think of individual precepts and rules that bind us morally or civilly as various conditions arise. However, law ultimately has its origin in the unified and independent nature of God. It is what pleases him, and what is consistent with his purpose as Creator and Sustainer. It defines what is moral and right.

Matthew 5:17-20
The ancient sects of the Scribes and Pharisees had departed from a right understanding of God’s law and confused its use. They made it into a superficial set of regulations which they saw as a means of salvation, and as a cause for personal pride and judgmentalism. Jesus explained to them how their attitude toward the law was wrong. The context of Matthew 5 contrasts their perversions of moral law with what God had actually said and intended. He also countered the charge that he in any way degraded the ancient law given through Moses. He said …

17. Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
18. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished.
19. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus denied that his coming was intended to abolish or to destroy the law or the words of the prophets. The Greek term he use in 5:17 is kataluo (καταλυω), which means to throw down, destroy, demolish, abolish, or annul.

He immediately added the positive side showing what his purpose was regarding the law. He came to fulfill it. The word he used for fulfill is plaerosai (πληρωσαι), which means “to fulfill, accomplish, complete or to bring something to its full measure.”

John Calvin stated in his commentary, “Christ, therefore, now declares, that his doctrine is so far from being at variance with the law, that it agrees perfectly with the law and the prophets, and not only so, but brings the complete fulfillment of them.”

Jesus accomplished this in his three offices. As Prophet he brought the law to it fullest revelation by showing us the meaning underlying the symbols and practices of the ceremonial law. As Priest he was the Sacrificial Lamb satisfying the demands of the law in the place of his people. He represented them both in the keeping of the law perfectly, and in the suffering and dying to satisfy the demands of divine justice for their sin. As King he pronounced the curse of the law upon those who remain the enemies of God and of God’s Kingdom.

The perpetuity of the law is compared with the persistence of the created universe. Beginning with the solemn declaration “truly” (αμην), he said that the law would last as long as the universe lasts. It would remain until the heaven and earth pass away. Those who imagine that Jesus was declaring the elimination of the law should observe the stars and mountains and conclude that such an end to the law has not yet taken place.

He then showed that the law as a whole persisted. Not even the smallest parts were being canceled out. He illustrated with references to the forms of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, the language of the law and the Old Testament. It is represented in Greek by the gospel writer.

The smallest letter in Greek is called the iota. It is like our letter “i” (ι). Matthew uses this to represent the Hebrew letter yodh, (translated “jot” in the KJV). It is a small mark raised above the line (י) representing the letter “y”, or as a helping consonant to lengthen the vowel “i”. The “stroke” he spoke of is the keraia, a Greek word representing the little extension on some forms that distinguish between certain Hebrew letters. For example the “b” (ב) in Hebrew and the “c” (כ) look similar. The difference is the hook or projection on the bottom right which is called the “tittle” in the KJV.

The analogy in English would be to say that not a dot over an “i” or a cross on the “t” would pass away from the law until all has been accomplished. That is the attitude of Jesus regarding the stability of God’s law.

To clarify even further Jesus condemned as least in the Kingdom of Heaven anyone who would dare annul and teach the annulment of even the least of these commandments. The rabbis had divided the law into 613 commandments. They identified 248 of them as stated positively and 365 as stated negatively. They debated which were the heavier or lighter commandments. According to many the lightest was found in Deuteronomy 22:6-7 which says that if you find a bird’s nest with young or eggs, and the mother of the bird is with them, you may take the eggs but you may not take the mother. The most weighty was generally agreed to be Deuteronomy 6:5 which requires that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and might. In Luke 10:27-28 Jesus accepted the answer about the weightiest law when it was offered to him by an expert in the law.

Jesus’ comments clarify what he meant by not coming to destroy the law but to fulfill it. All the points of God’s moral law, expanded upon in the context of Matthew 5:21-48, are perpetual and are not annulled or set aside in the coming of Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus came to complete the law for us, not to take it away.

We must lay hold of the law in its true sense as a moral and perpetual revelation of God’s commanded holiness. This ought to make us live more honorably to the Lord who has transformed us by grace, than did those hypocritical critics the Scribes and Pharisees.

John Calvin comments, “If we intend to reform affairs which are in a state of disorder, we must always exercise such prudence and moderation, as will convince the people, that we do not oppose the eternal Word of God, or introduce any novelty that is contrary to Scripture. We must take care, that no suspicion of such contrariety shall injure the faith of the godly, and that rash men shall not be emboldened by a pretense of novelty.” (Calvin’s Commentary on the Harmony of the Gospels, table 1-43)

Though Jesus seemed to disobey the law, it was really only their perverted interpretations of the law that he disobeyed. He did not abolish the law by fulfilling it. This is directly denied by his own words. Instead of abolishing the law he fulfilled it.

Summary of the Practical Importance of God’s Law
To summarize the practical importance of the law of God for believers living in this age of the ascended Savior, a few principles may provide a helpful guide.

1. God’s moral law reveals what is pleasing to the Eternal King.
It shows us what is right and true. The revealing of the nature of God is presented in Scripture as a prime purpose of all things made (Psalm 19:1-6; Romans 1:20). Therefore making himself known must also be a prime purpose of his specially revealed moral law. The more we understand God’s law, the more we will respond with proper worship regarding his glory.

2. God’s law exposes our fallen nature and inability to please God.
The more we understand God’s law, the more we are humbled before the perfectly pure holiness and justice of our Heavenly Father. It shows how unworthy we are of his blessing, and how impossible it is for us to keep the law sufficiently to please God, even in one little point.

3. God’s law foreshadows the work of Jesus as the Messiah.
The ceremonial law illustrates dramatically that our sin deserves death. It teaches that unless God provides a substitute for his people by a gracious covenant, there is no hope for any one. The symbolic animal sacrifices of the Old Testament foreshadowed the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Since his death for his people has been completed, the rituals of the Levitical code have ceased to have a purpose. But what was required by divine justice remains: Death for sin is required of everyone descending from Adam by ordinary generation. The only satisfaction in place of the sinner would be a perfect Redeemer who was also the infinite God who was the party offended. The ritual laws continue to drive us to Christ as we study the principles underlying them which are now made clear in the New Testament.

4. God’s law is a perfect guide for showing us how we ought to live.
The believer is made alive spiritually. This compels him by the renewed disposition of his heart to give thankful obedience to his Savior. The law of God shows what is pleasing to the object of our love. Otherwise we would not know how to honorably show our gratitude.

5. God’s law restrains sin for the benefit of the covenant people.
The general effects of the law are applied by God to society in general to provide a restraining effect that keeps depravity from expanding into total moral chaos. Ungodly societies have laws against murder, civil violence, theft, and such crimes that would disrupt societal tranquility. These laws are not imposed by them to honor the true God, but to benefit their own peace and prosperity. There is no true benefit to this kind of obedience for the unbeliever. The beneficiary of this restraint is the redeemed people of God.

God’s law continues to have great uses and benefits today. Though some legal duties may have only temporal applications, there is an eternal element to all of God’s law. The moral principles underlying the revealed precepts are never done away. We need to learn to honor that law and to be holy even as the Lord our God is holy (Leviticus 19:2).
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